fiberhart

A Red Letter Week!!

No, not from a quilty perspective, although I have gotten quite a bit done on one project. This week's events were of a more personal nature.

Not long ago, I blogged about welcoming a new member to our family, and joked that it wasn't an in-law or baby. Well, this week we again welcomed a new member into our family, and it most definitely is an in-law- in this case, a beautiful daughter-in-law. My oldest son finally decided to take the plunge into the matrimonial waters, and eloped with his chosen, Marly Sydney. I've had the pleasure of getting to know her long distance; they are in Florida, and we are in Utah. Thank goodness for today's technologies; without Instant Messenger, and, more recently a webcam, it wouldn't have been nearly as much fun. And, to add spice to the mixture, she is from Colombia. So I have been frantically brushing up on my very rusty high school Spanish, and learning everything I can about her homeland. But, speaking as one who had the opportunity to travel and live overseas when I was younger, I am incredibly excited. We Americans are sometimes just to insular for my taste! And, speaking of technology- I've also been able to use instant messenger to start to get to know Marly's mother Mary, who is still in Colombia. That most definitely would not be possible without the online translators! Can't wait until spring, when we'll be travelling to Florida and I'll have the pleasure of getting to know her in person. Bienvenida a nuestra familia, Marly!

Closer to home, you can tell Halloween is almost here when pumpkins make their way home. Bentlee and her dad Lance came over one night last week, and we carved pumpkins for their step. Bentlee was given the chore of pulling out the seeds and fiber, and doesn't seem too thrilled with her assignment.



Lance came up with some inventive facial features for his pumpkin--



A couple of days later, Shannon and I carved the last two pumpkins for our porch. We decided to take a different tack, and carved leaf shapes. Fortunately, I've collected quite a few to use as patterns, so we had a good variety to draw from. Here's lefty Shannon, hard at work on hers---



And, I've managed to get a lot done on the house quilt. I started thread painting the plants for the yard, and am quite happy with how they are coming out. Here's a couple of samples--



The larger 'bush' uses both thread and fabric 'confetti', which was fun to make. I've been using Aqua Magic for the soluble stabilizer, and am very happy with how it is performing. It washes out easily, and doesn't seem to leave a residue like Solvy sometimes does.

I pinned the piece up on my design wall for the first time, to audition fabrics for the bottom part- the sidewalk, as it were. I finally decided to go with the same fabric I've used for the walk and the driveway- which means I'll have to find more somewhere. Then, I'll have to figure out what I want to border it with- I'm thinking something that will help give the effect of a picture frame. Here's a picture I "photoshopped" to audition the fabric, with some "plants" pinned into place.



A few more bushes and plants to make, a rather large tree in the front planting bed, and a rock or two- and it will be ready for quilting. I think I'll make my self-imposed deadline on this one!