Update on the road trip to Maine

Tessa arrived in Portland ME yesterday without any mishaps on the road! She sounds very happy to be there and able to spend time out from behind the wheel for a change!  She lives about 10 minutes from her work site so she can easily walk or bike there. She said Lily's school is also within walking/biking distance so she won't have to deal with bus transportation when she gets there.

We are all doing fine here--a couple of teary moments on Lily's part but she seems to be okay for now.  The question is, "How will she be spending her time from now until school starts?"  With summer school having ended, there's lots of time to be filled.  There are a few activities planned--county fair, family reunion in Illinois, school shopping, and of course, golfing with Papa!  But still, there will be lots of hours where she'll need help filling the time. She knows no one in the neighborhood since she goes to a different school than the kids around here. And there's not much reason to make new friends since she's going to be moving soon.  

We decided that once a week, Lily will be in charge of dinner, from planning a menu, shopping for ingredients, cooking and serving.  And she's a good cook, too, so I'm looking forward to her meals!  She also will go golfing with her grandfather at least once a week and she and I will have a weekly event--movie, science museum, park and picnic, etc.  

But this morning, while I was looking through the most recent issue of McCall's Quilting magazine, I found this quilt and showed it to Lily. She loves it, but would like it in bright neon colors instead of the autumn colors shown.  Of course, I offered to make it for her but then the light bulb went on! Instead of me making this quilt for her, she can make it herself!  She's had a sewing class and she's used my machine for making other things, and now that I have my new Husqvarna, she can use the Lily (It's a Husqvarna Lily 545. Coincidence?)  to make her quilt! Both she and I are excited to begin this project, but it has  to wait for a week or two.

Lily is going to Illinois for Don's family reunion on the first Saturday in August. I'm staying home to avoid having to get a hotel room--Don and Lily will bunk in with relatives.  But I'm leaving tomorrow for Champaign, IL for 2 days of a Bonnie Hunter workshop!  My friend, Barb S. and I are going together as we did last year--we call ourselves "the Two Barbs from Wisconsin."  We're going to be doing a cumbs workshop one day, something I've never done before and since I never save those tiny pieces, I've had to scramble to come up with enough scraps to take along. Barb assures me she has enough crumbs for both of us, and I believe her! She keeps her crumbs in a laundry basket by her sewing machine!  The second day we'll be making the "My Blue Heaven" pattern.

I've been wanting to make a blue and neutral quilt for awhile now and have a large collection of fabrics to use, so I've been spending a lot of time cutting fabric into strips and triangles so I don't have to spend my time doing that at the workshop.  I'll just enjoy being in the company of great quilters and the most upbeat quilter I know--Bonnie Hunter!  But last night, I looked over my things to make sure I had everything ready to go, and I realized I still have to cut about eleventy thousand half square triangles in neutral!  

Before I allow myself to go to the sewing room, however, I have to do my daily housekeeping chores.  So now, it's off to scrub the toilet for me! Oh joy!