tea time . . .

My husband often tells me that I give him information in bits and pieces, and that sometimes it takes a while for him to get a whole picture, without a lot of prodding on his part. It's not uncommon for me to "all of a sudden" remember things I wanted to share with him, just as we're falling asleep -- or rather, just as he's falling asleep -- or sometimes, right before someone else is going to tell him something I've known (and *really* meant to tell him) for several days.

It shouldn't surprise me then, or anyone reading, that I stumbled across a set of pictures taken while my family was here (three weeks ago), that I'd definitely meant to share here!

One of the things I really wanted to do while everyone was here, was take all the girls to my favorite tea room, Emma's, for lunch! We worked it out so everyone -- my mom, my sister, her two daughters, my Jocelyn and Kim -- could make lunch and trekked off to Emma's on Monday.

Wendy, the younger of Laura's daughters, had never been to a tea room before, so she was very excited.

What doesn't excite her is having her picture taken. She did, however, enjoy having her own cup of tea! I think she and her mommy shared a pot of "Almond Rocker" red rooibus tea (which is one of my personal favorites).

Alison, whom I blogged about here, is a beautiful young lady and enjoyed our lunchtime as well. And all you have to do is look around in the background of the photo, to see all the fun things Emma's offers to make tea parties at home a fun and pretty experience!

I believe Alison had a chocolate mint tea. Add a little sugar and cream, and it's like drinking dessert!

The wait staff at Emma's is as wonderful as the food and tea; they made sure that Wendy (and so all of us) had a wonderful dining experience!

And then there was dessert. Laura made the mistake of thinking she and Wendy should share a dessert. Wendy didn't think so.

She was taking her bites off Laura's spoon before Laura could get it to her mouth!

Did I mention dessert was good?

No. I mean it was REALLY good!

Here's our group shot -- what a lovely family of ladies!

And there's Wendy . . . she cracks me UP! Love that face.

I did manage to catch a good one of her by the sign. It's work! I took six pictures of her standing there -- this one was the winner!

But this photo . . .

Caps it off as a great afternoon!

:)

greens & purples . . .

My first trip into a quilt store in MONTHS! (Mainly because I could both actually drive and walk comfortably with a single crutch -- and I was in the area.) I didn't purchase a lot; mainly I went in because I wanted to GO IN A QUILT SHOP! LOL!

It was a fat quarter day . . .

The greens and purples (and it's purple, I swear, not blue) are for Patches for Lissa. I need to get those off early next week!

It kills me what my camera sees -- or what the flash does to color. They're such soft, peaceful colors, but the photography (or perhaps, the photographer) can't do it justice! I'll be happy to have these sewn up and on their way to a bigger project, to provide comfort and quilty hugs to a young woman who's been through so much.

While I was at said quilting shop, I happened upon this darling little pair of embroidery scissors. And though I'd just recently commented somewhere about the number of pairs of little scissors I already have, these called to me. They just did. I immediately answered. :)

In just two weeks, I'll be headed to Maryland, to meet up with this precious group of girls from way back . . . my beautiful sisters!! I'm the oldest on the far left. I love this picture, though it's always made me giggle -- we're looking in three different directions!

My folks are celebrating their FIFTIETH anniversary on September 10th, and we're going up to party with them!! Whoohoo! Something I'm much looking forward to.

August is quickly coming to a close. I have two more Charming Girls goals to accomplish -- but I think I'm not quite (physically) ready to take on one of them. But I'm determined to finish up the quilt!

Buenas noches!!

:)

weekend wedding fun in hotlanta!

This is a story about my dashing nephew, Michael Jr. . . .

and his lovely bride, Erin! They got married on Saturday, in Atlanta.
Actually, there's another story; the mini-family reunion that took place while we were all there for the wedding!!

My mom & dad (getting ready to celebrate their FIFTIETH anniversary) were there . . .

As were Todd & I . . .

The oldest of my younger sisters, Julia, and her husband, Michael Sr. They are the proud parents of the groom . . .

The second oldest of my younger sister, Cynthia, and her husband Ed . . .

And Cynthia with our youngest sister, Laura (she left her four young children at home with her husband, Joseph) . . .

Aren't we a great looking family????

There were two other married couples there, my oldest daughter, Jocelyn, and her husband Jason (they just got married in June)! James (my son) and Kim were there too, but I didn't get a good picture of them. Pooh . None of my pictures were great -- the settings on my camera were off. Plus it didn't help that we were in the dark, with mostly candle light!
Also along for the ride was Ben, brother of the groom (isn't he handsome? he's a freshman at Virginia Tech) . . .

Megan (Cynthia's middle) and Hazen (Julia's third) had fun kicking up their heels at the reception . If you look closely, you can see that Cecilia (Julia's second) is doing a little barefoot boogie . . .

Then Megan continued to enjoy the dance floor with a partner who was a little more her height (although, like Hazen, I think he was still shorter than her -- she had to duck when he twirled her) . . .

Hazen wasn't happy about being replaced . . .

Lucy (Julia's youngest) was happy dancing with her mommy and daddy. Julia has the look of a mom who's child is married and her responsibilities are DONE! (I know, I've worn that look twice, now!)

Nick, Cynthia's youngest, had a good time watching everyone carry on . . .

Whew! After the reception, and back at the hotel for the night, I had the opportunity to FINALLY get Julia the rooster wall hanging! I think she liked it! :) I had a special rod made just for it, using the same finial that I used as the basis for the weather vane.

I always struggle for a little bit naming/tagging my quilts. Naming this quilt was easy, though . . .

It's certainly ruled me for the last month! :)

The day after the wedding, Julia's family (minus Ben), mom & dad, and the six of us Alabamians, headed over to Copeland's for a lovely brunch. The food was incredible, but the time spent with family was even better. Getting a posed smile from Michael Sr. is tough, but I caught him chatting it up during the meal; or perhaps he's smiling at all those peel & eat shrimp . . .

Hazen really enjoyed the buffet. Particularly the Belgium waffles with strawberries and whipped cream, and the chocolate fountain. Once he was done, he settled in for some game time.

Lucy was sharing sugars to her right . . .

and then to her left . . .

Puckering up definitely runs in this family . . . !!!

Dad and mom, still a sweet couple!

There's my James and Kim!

And another of my Jocelyn and Jason!

A nice shot of Aunt Julia, Jocelyn, and Cecilia . . .

And a final parting shot of Aunt Denise, Jocelyn & Lucy . . .

We had a wonderful weekend, and celebrated the marriage of a darling couple. Memories to cherish.

Cheers!

:)

time!!!!

I do not have it!!  Do you ever fall victim to the conundrum of not having the time to blog about the things you're doing / thinking / feeling, because you're too busy doing / thinking / feeling the things you'd blog about?  It's where I am!

I didn't have a "Sew-freely Monday" because my boss, who had been out of the country for a week, returned to work yesterday and wanted me there to help catch him up.  Understandable.  I have today off instead, which is a pretty decent trade! 

I'm still working on finishing the table topper I started for my mom two weeks ago.  I've finished quilting the appliqués, and now I'm quilting "leaf swirls" in the center.  I'll probably machine quilt the sides . . . or not.  I haven't quite decided on that yet.  I'd like to have it ready to sew the border on tonight, though.  I have until Saturday to get it into the mail.  My folks leave today for Texas, to visit my youngest sister and her family, and they (mom & dad) won't be back until next week.  So I've bought myself a little time there!

I got a sweet call from sister Cynthia this morning.  She returned from Israel on Sunday evening.  I got a brief glimpse of her trip, but can't wait to hear more about it and to see pictures!!!!  I love to see the pictures people take on their trips.  The things people take pictures of gives one an idea about the picture-taker's perspective.  When I see Cynthia's pictures, I won't just be seeing Israel, I'll be seeing it as she saw it.  Interesting.  And, I can't wait!

Then the oldest of my younger sisters -- Julia -- called at around 8 am.  I'm sending BBSQ to her today.  She's using it in a display this weekend.  I need to get busy!!!!

I did something I've never done yesterday; a NEW thing!!  I entered an online quilt swap!!!  Doesn't that sound like fun?  It's a mini-quilt swap -- the largest it can be is 24" X 24", so it's not too overwhelming.  And the deadline for mailing is January 29th, so it's all cool.  I may use the topper that I've patterned and do a fourth.  I dunno.  I'll post the link for the swap this week -- it's a pretty cool concept.

What else?  Let's see, hopefully we'll hear something about Camp Macoba this week.  In the meantime, I just keep praying the prayer that never fails:  Thy will be done!  :)

I forgot to get a picture of my secret pal's gift this week.  It was cute!  I found some fun fall stuff at the dollar store -- a pretty stuffed pumpkin, a leaf-shaped votive candle plate, a bag of Hershey's kisses (ok, they weren't fall, but they were chocolate!), and an autumn angel with maple leaf wings -- very cute (and my sp collects angels).  I found a basket I'd had and arranged the things prettily and wrapped it with clear cellophane draped in fall-colored curly ribbons.  It was pretty!  I may have mentioned this, but I truly believe that half the fun of the gift is the packaging.  A simple gift, thoughtfully packaged, feels extravagant!  :)  At least, that's how it feels for me. 

Goodness.  I feel like there's so much more for me to say, yet if I stay here to write (type) them, I'm not quilting, or scanning more clippings, or going to the post office, or getting laundry done (which wouldn't hurt my feelings too bad)!  And the more I do today, the more I'll have to talk about later!

Enough!!!

:)