Engineer in Training

The FE exam is typically the first step in the process leading to the P.E. (Professional Engineer)license. The exam lasts 8 hours and is administered in April and October. In October, Chris took the exam. Last Thursday, he found out he passed! So proud of him and so glad all his hard work paid off. Now he is an EIT, or Engineer in Training. This picture seems more like the kind of engineer his dad would like to be.

November card swap complete

The theme for November was trees. I was lucky as we were using a tree die cut in my die cut card club. The cards are all different and so beautiful this month. The talent of the women involved is great.

Top row: Becky, Fran 2nd row: Sandy, Cheri, Barb 3rd row: Nancy, Tina, Monica Next month the idea is blingy without a sentiment. Can't wait to play with glitter!

Ornaments for my boys

Of course the Packers ornament is for Chris, and Paul loves the 25th anniversary Star Trek ornament.  And what says Christmas to Caleb but John Deere.  But a favorite memory to me is from the Darth Vader ornament. Two years ago when we got new phones, Chris and Paul quickly got the light saber app.  On Christmas day, Star Wars was on tv, it was the big fight scene between Luke and Darth Vader, and there was Chris, fighting as Luke, using his light saber app.

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Block of the Month update

I am TOTALLY up-to-date on the wool block of the month I am doing. That is such a relief for me, as I don't usually keep up with things. These two were done on the drive to Texas for Thanksgiving; thankful to Paul for driving.

Thanksgiving in Texas

Paul and I took my Aunt Mary and my dad to Texas for Thanksgiving. My Aunt Carol and Uncle David live there and my other aunt from California flew in and my cousins from Nebraska drove down too. We had a very relaxing time. We didn't get to tour Cowboy Stadium, sold out the entire weekend. This is as close as we got!

We did go to Southfork on Friday, which was really fun. Paul remembers watching "Dallas" when he was a kid, and we got hooked on the new "Dallas" as well. The odd thing was, Larry Hagman died that evening in Dallas. So the next day it was surrounded by media.

Birthday Luck

My birthday was spent traveling back from Phoenix where I went with mom and we met Monica and Carole. Monica, Carole, and I took a class with Merry Cox, the Nouveau Palais Royale Sewing box. It is the first class from Merry that I completely finished before I got home! We worked on it a couple nights after the class, but I am so proud of it; must have been the great help from the girls and my birthday luck. We went to many quilt stores and scrapbook stores as well as Sedona. It was such a beautiful day. Came home to a cake from my wonderful husband. Flowers, wine, and donuts from Chris. The wool bee things were made by the "oh so talented" Monica....truly special.

I am so lucky to have such good friends and family, made my birthday truly wonderful.

Two more blocks done

Finished two more of my blocks of the month. One more ready to prep and sew, and the next should arrive soon. Keeping up pretty well.

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All things are right with the world...

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I finished the pre-stitching for a class with Merry Cox. Knew I could get it done, but shouldn't have waited until the last minute. So glad to be done....no stitching on the plane for this girl.

2nd Annual Shaker Basket

I was again able to take a Shaker basket with Joann Kelly Catsos. We made a Shaker Lidded Knife basket. Here is Day 1: the basket, Day 2: the lid almost done, Day 3: completed incredible basket....I had a great time with such wonderful weavers.

Sharing the Rainbow

I try to remember that you need the rain to have the rainbows.

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RHQG Quilt Show 2012

Finally, the quilt show arrived. One of the best parts is the homemade cinnamon rolls, but the quilts are nice too! The first two are ones that my friend Cheri entered. They looked so lovely hanging there. Beautiful. The next two pictures are mom with two of her quilts. The yellow and black one she made for my brother and sister-in-law and the other one is just really lovely. I think this was the one that Carole really liked. She has made some really nice bright quilts, stepping out of her comfort zone. The bra is from a contest that was held with breast cancer education. This one was a favorite, it is titled the National Treasury Chest.

Since we missed the Norfolk & Southern family reunion in North Carolina in July, we planned on going to North Platte, Nebraska for Railfest this year, which was also celebrating Union Pacific's 150th birthday. Let me tell you, my husband knows LOTS about trains. And not to brag, but I can hang with the best of them on my knowledge, at least the best of the wives along, which is a small number. We saw lots of "meets" which is when two trains pass going the opposite way. Paul said I was lucky. I watched him in the rearview mirror alot. I was able to work on my wool applique while he watched the trains. There are several overpasses built by the trains for pedestrian viewing. On Saturday, it took us four hours to travel 100 miles because we were able to stop so much. We were also able to do some video while we were driving next to the trains.

This last picture was funny. We went up in the Golden Spike to view the UP rail yard; the largest in the United States at 2 miles wide and 6 miles long. When we entered, the man asked for my hand. I told him that it had been a long time since a man had asked for my hand.

Train chasing

Paul had heard that the Norfolk & Southern Nickel Plate 765 was going to be in St Louis for an employee excursion. So we took off on Sunday for some train chasing. We actually got lucky and got to ride the early excursion (always act like you know what you are doing) and then chased the second trip to see the train in action. It was the fourth steam train ride for Paul.

Train chasing involves photos from overpasses as well as video from outside the car window. I am getting experience at both.

Labor day visitors

Thank goodness they settled down for a decent picture. Chris and Brittany came in for Labor Day. They ate their way through town.....toasted ravioli, Imo's pizza, Stephanina's, White Castle breakfast, Lamberts throwed rolls, Pappy's Bar-b-que, and Ted Drewes after a Cardinal game. Whew....

September Card Swap

This year we are making 8 cards to swap, all one design. It was a lot of fun for the first month, which we used a sketch that Tina provided. October is my month and I just said to use either a die cut or Cricut machine on your card. We all have so many dies that we (I) have never used.

Top row: Sandy, Tina, Cheri middle row: Fran, Nancy (mom) Bottom row: me, Monica, Becky

I'm in a monthly Memory Box Die club at a local store where we make three cards each month and get the Memory Box die. The shop owner is really talented and the cards are always fun with great ideas. These are two of the months.

Little late....but done

Finished a small wool candle mat....mom's birthday was last week, so I am just really early for next year!

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Catch-up #3: new Nantucket basket

After taking last year off, Becky and I went to Gina's house to make our annual Nantucket baskets with Fred & Kay. It was so good to see Becky, she is such a good friend and we had a blast. Then we were able to spend a couple nights with her and her boys.....such fun. This is Megan's Swing basket, it is a nice market size with two swing handles. A great addition to all of my baskets. It is always so much fun to see all of the Nantucket weavers at Gina's house and to see all of Gina's basket additions in her house.

Catch-up #2: Birthday tradition

Even though we never remember for other birthdays, we always remember to go to Hodak's for Paul's birthday. I think it is his love of fried chicken. You get a free fried chicken dinner on your birthday, and yes, you have to show id. Here is the 2012 annual picture and his cute little cake.

Catch-up: Bed shopping with #1 & Rod

Playing catch up.....hopefully many posts this week. Chris needed a new bed, already had the frame and dresser from Ikea. Convinced him to wait for us and look at Sam's. Mom, Dad, and I were going up for the Rod Stewart concert at the end of July, so our first stop was to meet him at the store. He tried them out and picked out the one.

But then, we had to get it in the back of Dad's van. Of course, we were parked up front and put on quite a show. Brittany and I were pushing and Chris was pulling, but it wasn't moving. So we switched, and Chris "the ox", pushed that bed right in. We put on a good show, based on the round of applause we heard from the yellow-vested workers. Thank you, thank you.

This is the four of us before the concert, Stevie Nicks and Rod Stewart. June said that he would really be singing to her, but I'm sure my mom would agree that he was singing directly to my mom.

A wonderful concert and a wonderful trip. Rod changed clothes at least 3 or 4 times, was all over the stage, sang so many songs. The stage was like an American-Bandstand look, very clean lines and the musicians were spot on. So much fun.

Happy birthday sweetie

Happy birthday to my love.....his favorite fried chicken for dinner.

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Block #1 is done

Done with the first of 16 total block of the months for Jacqueline's album. #2 came this week, so no rest. It is the first time I have done wool applique on cotton, I am used to wool on wool. This was fun as I know others are doing the same thing.....thankfully, some are faster and aid in my being less knowledgeable.

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The wait is over

We have been waiting all summer for peach shakes to return. Guess they had to get rid of the banana pudding shake mix first.

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Inspired to finish

Monica is always finishing things....almost daily! Love to see what she has finished, and today she inspired me. Monica, Carole, June and I are working on a wool applique block of the month. The base is cotton fabric. Since "I am not a quilter" (imagine hands in front of me as I say this!) I took the fabric to mom's house (who is a quilter) to cut out the squares and borders. I even took...borrowed...an artbin to house the project. On returning to my home.....my new artbin with my project were at mom's house...ughhh. Needless to say, will make trip to get said artbin and see her again. But today, Monica posts her picture of block #1.

Since I don't have my block, I figured maybe I should finish a couple things that were close. Here are 2 of my wool mats that are finished. I also put the cow charm, for mom, on this lovely group project that we did in 2009. That's been sitting on the table for a while now.

On the paper side of things, did finish decorating a book that I took with Nancy. I've discovered that I love making my own books. May not always have something to do with it, but LOVE the process. This book has lots of fold outs and telescope pages that pull out. We mixed and matched our own paper, Nancy did hers in Patriotic and I happened to have some of the same paper...imagine that. Funny thing is, I don't have any pictures to go with a Patriotic theme, but love the way the red, white & blue go together.