Home safe, so Far.....

Mom and I got home from VT safely.....Now to brace for Hurricane Irene! I'll post photos when we have power (hopefully, we won't lose it)...

We did have a great time in VT...

Coming onto Rte 30 in Brattleboro, VT, it's always nice to see the highway I just left (Rte 91), except that this is interesting with the low lying clouds hanging on...

What is more picturesque in VT but covered bridges?

 You can tell they had some kind of storms the day before, as the weather is starting to clear this morning (Friday).This shot is looking at Bromley Mountain and it's just at the spot I always thought was the best plot of land to build a house!

 Stopping in at the Vermont Welcome Center is always a pleasant stop. It always has some non-profit organization offering weary travelers some food and drink (donations only). Malakai couldn't wait to have the chocolate milk and I picked up some muffins and breads for the trip.

Without having anyone else up at the cabin to play with, this is Kai's entertainment... running up the stairs to the deck...

 ... and jumping off!!! Many, many times! (I know this photo is out of focus, but the expression is priceless!)

How sad to 'stop playing' to come in for dinner... At least he found a great fishing hat (in the bathroom on a hook) to wear. Yes, I know it's not good manners to have a hat at the table, but we made an exception at the camp. And besides,... he was tired!

Somehow, he thought this was gonna be his bunk...on top. But he was so tired, he fell asleep on the bottom bunk, so I moved up top.

Due to the fact that I didn't want to babysit a campfire, we decided to do the 'cheater method' to making s'mores....use the gas stove.

He liked them... although he tried to put a majority of it in his mouth all at once.

After a nice sleep, we woke up to deer in the back field! Three of them (actually a fourth one was by the pond to the extreme right of this photo.

oh! I forgot!!!

I woke up at 4:10am to use the bathroom and as I'm watching out the screen window (I LOVE looking up at the night sky off the deck, usually, since it has such a HUGE expanse of space. You can actually follow the satellites across the sky if you are still enough!), I heard this awful sound! A barking/howling/yipping kind of sound which made me think of a pack of foxes/wolves. It went on for a few minutes and THEN I heard the grunting/growling!!! It was the bear I ran into a few years back! the soulnd was coming from the pond area. I am SO glad I wasn't outside in the dark watching the sky!

These are some shots of the sunrise before it got too cloudy. Beautiful....

Here is my buddy, coming out to get dressed and run in the grass...

Notice the footprints? He loved it...

We even made it home before the Hurricane Irene hit!

We may not have much power for the next few days, so I'll check back in when we do. In the meantime, I have knitting (kids hats) to keep me busy.

Now for Hurricane Irene!!!

Sure, I just survive an earthquake, and now when I'm heading up to VT to visit with my mom (at a distant cousin's cabin- one room no less- we've vacationed there every year since I was a kid) to help her close up the cabin and come home Sunday, we're getting a direct hit with Hurricane Irene!!!

I'll try and take photos of the changes in the views up there, but I think we'll be heading home on Sat afternoon, instead of Sunday. We may even be without power for up to a week. I'm writing this as my last post, but I'll be keeping a journal (on paper-- imagine that!) while I'm away from the electical devices. LOL.
Really, though, it's supposed to be the biggest since Hurricane Gloria (and I remember that one!!)

Keep us in your prayers....

Earthquake???...At lunch?

Well, this is a first for this northern Yankee.... I got to experience my first earthquake!! During lunch, at work!

Carol and I were eating lunch and getting ready to go back to work, when I realized the table, chair, BUILDING were swaying back and forth! Along with me!! Then we heard the train (within 50' of our building), but I've felt the train before, many times. When the train rumbles through, the floor vibrates in the lab (Century Color Labs). My feet WERE NOT RUMBLING! And the thin venetian blinds in the window behind me were swaying back and forth, clinking against the wall frame. We looked at each other and said..."that's NOT the train. That's an earthquake!!" We no sooner said it, then it seemed to dissapate (maybe lasted 15 seconds or so, but felt like a few minutes). We got up to see what the rest of the employees in the lab had felt, and I called the local TV station to ask to talk to the weather dept. She asked if it was about the earthquake and I (surprised!!) said, "Yeah! We felt it during lunch." She asked where I was and I informed her, "East Hartford" and she said they were getting more info and they'd have more to report shortly.

The epicenter of this 5.8 (richter scale) earthquake was Mineral, VA, but I'd heard they evacuated the White House, the Capitol, the Pentagon, (I'm sure shades of panic from 9-11-11, after all the 10th anniversary of 9-11 is soon upon us). They shut down airports all over the east coast and even evacuated tall buildings in NYC; New Haven, CT; Hartford, CT. It was felt all the way in Boston. I sent a text message to Leslie (who works in Boston), but didn't hear anything back. I know she has class (law school) on Mon, Tues, Thurs, so maybe she was without her cell phone on.

Wow.... my first (and probably only) earthquake. Now that it's over, it was kind of unsettling, but exciting. Especially, since it was just rocking and rolling... nothing like a huge disruptive shift of ground and building. (Thank you God.)

The Wedding

I guess it's now time to post the event of our year. Oldest daughter, Leslie-Anne's wedding to Scott Taylor. Rather than put photos up on this post, I may put a link to a slideshow. Much easier (although I will put some special photos).

First I must say that we truely lucked out with weather! We'd had a full week of over 95 degree weather the week before she got married.
I don't think I asked her if she had the usual... "Some old, something new, something borrowed, something blue", but I told her I had a gift for her.... This garter, was my grandmother's (Florence Jones Smith Moses) who gave it to my mom when she married her son (my dad). Mom gave it to me when I married Leslie's dad, and I gave it to her. My assumption if she has no children (I think that's the plan), she'll pass it on to someone else in the family (maybe her sister).

This is the photo of her after she got her dress on... this is when I cried. I had first cried when I was watching the girls get their makeup put on (I had mine done-waterproof, good thing). She looked radient!!

He dad got to walk her down the aisle, although one of the ladies I work with asked me if her grandfather walked her down... No, he's just 10 yrs older than me, so I guess he's just getting older. (A hard life can take a toll on someone).  She was so lucky to have him around to do that. I really had hoped she'd have asked both her dad and Lee (my husband) walk her, because Lee really brought her up, but her loyalty to her dad won out. That was fine.

The ceremony was lovely. Short but lovely...I was worried about how long we'd be in the sun (I've had skin cancer already, so I was concerned), but I was assured by the JP that it would be 14 mins. including the procession in and out. Not sure I wanted one SO short, but the hand ceremony and the words spoken, were just lovely.

" I now pronouce you husband and wife..."

 Mr & Mrs. Scott Taylor! Yaaaa-whooooo!!!!

 These were those lovely centerpieces that Janice and I worked on so many hours. They looked lovely on the tables.

 And all the foods (fruits and veggies) came from the owners garden on the premises!! Rasberries, blueberries, starwberries, green beans....(Lee even said that there were free-roaming chickens up in the back. I had chicken. -I hope it wasn't 'named'! You can't eat them if you name them, isn't that the rule?)

It was wonderful to see that the whoopie pies were made so nicely. Wicked Whoopie pies in Freeport did a great job!! (Besides, who wanted to be in the hot kitchen cooking, and wrapping and such.)

 I'll share a few photos of the family...here am I, my mom (she's going great for 83yrs old), nephew Nick and him mom, my sister, Janet. She took a lot of the great (in focus) photos that I'll have in the slideshow.

This is the moment that made me break down and really cry. Leslie and her sister, Julie. They aren't really all that close (she wasn't asked to be in the wedding party, but had a special wrist corsage made for her... thank you Leslie). They actually spoke nicely with each other. They are so different in oh, so many ways, but they don't realize how alike they are in others. Love you two!

 Janet's husband, Tom, is Leslie's FAVORITE uncle!! He is such a sweetie! They are really close.

Lee and I --I don't even think I finished that drink in my hand. I don't remember having much of anything to drink (alcohol-wise). And I really missed the champaigne tower...I saw the champaigne glasses, but never saw what was pouring out of the fountain. Too bad, I heard it was good.

This groomsmen, Billy Fritz is Leslie's best friend from high school... Love him!

 Here is Scott dancing with his mom. I think this was happening when I went up to see the garden, before Lee left (he went home with his daughter Amber just about when the dancing started, as her had to be at work the next morning at 7am). I think that was my only regret. I really wanted him to stay longer and go home with my daughter Julie and her beau, Chris, but he was concerned about how late they would stay. I wish I'd insisted. Oh well, no use feeling bad about it. I think it will bother me, if I see the parents dancing in the professional photos in our albums that we're getting.

 Don't they look wonderfully in love?

And let's not forget the wild dancing put on by Steve, Scott's dad. LOL....

What a great wedding One thing to note. They never threw the bouquet, nor the garter. And they ate cake with style. Thanks, Leslie and Scott. You two are definitely classy. I expected nothing less.

To see all the photos of the wedding, click on this link.

Secured Flange/Flat-piping Tutorial

Okay, here is the tutorial that's been asked for. I hope it helps explain how to add a flange (1/4" flat piping) to the edge of a quilt. It can usually be seen on the inside edge of any border, but I'm making it part of a block for this example.

Cut your flange/flat piping fabric 1" wide. Fold in half, lengthwise- wrong-sides inside the fold, and iron.

Open up and pin, right sides to right sides, to the edge of your border.

Sew slightly off the edge of the fold (not ON the fold), towards the raw edge.

I'm using pink thread so you can see the stitching. Unfortunately, I didn't sew enough OFF the fold, so when I closed up the fold (below) you can see it's not folded back EXACTLY in half. (There is a fix for this, so don't be dismayed if it happens to you-see below).

This is slightly off when re-folded .

Some of this was sew OFF-fold.

With the flange folded 'closed' and sewn to the border fabric, lay it on top of the quilt fabric (my sneaker fabric), right sides to right sides, with the flange between the two fabrics.

Sew a 1/4" seam. The stitching you see is the fold of the flange (that is really about 1/2" from the raw edges).

Here is the 'fix' mentioned above... If you want to ensure PERFECTION in having a 1/4" strip showing, sew 1/4" from the fold' stitching, not from the raw edge of the fabric.

This is how it should look once sewn to the fabric (quilt top).

Lay the fabrics with the border fabric on the table. Open the top fabric (quilt top) so that your 'thick seam' is laying flat under the quilt top (sneakers) fabric. Press. Even if your stitch just off-fold isn't straight, you still have a perfect 1/4" strip. 

This gives your quilt an thin accent fabric, without having to repeatedly iron it to keep it straight on your quilt.