Friday, October 29, 2010

Hello, again....

Has it really been over a year since I last posted?  My, how time does fly.  Let's see, what has happened in the more-than-a-year since I last wrote to you....

Probably the most important event was the first year in our newest granddaughter's life.  Lindley Marie Rose is now 13 months old, walking, talking, laughing, and has the sweetest personality of any one-year old I've ever known.  She is the bright spot in the day, the light of our lives.  Her first birthday celebration was the party of the year, complete with decorations, lots of people, and decorator-style food.  Her mom and dad went all out, and it was definitely a party to remember.  (I hope Lindley remembers it.)  Here is the linen dress I knitted for her first birthday.  You can find more information about it here:  http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Quilter300/baby-dress

Most of our extended family joined us for a week at the Outer Banks of North Carolina last June.  We assigned each family unit a night to prepare dinner, played games, sang our hearts out to Beatles Rock Band and relaxed togther in the heat (and wind) of the beautiful NC coastline.  It was a vacation to remember. 



Soon after returning from our wonderful week together at the beach I had back surgery to remove a bone chip that had seated itself at the base of a nerve which was causing extreme pain and numbness in my foot.   My good friend Diane came to the hospital and helped me prepare for surgery and kept Gordon company while I was "under".  She was definitely our "angel" that day.  I'm still recovering, definitely improving every day, and thankful to God's gift of modern medicine and physical therapy.
Lucas started his Junior year at Lincoln Charter High School in August.  He also played soccer on the school's varsity team.  He has elected to play winter soccer this year, so we anxiously await the schedule for practices and games.  He really keeps us running up and down the roads, following his busy soccer schedule.

September brought its usual hectic activity with Lindley's first birthday, Lucas's 16th birthday, Gordon's and my wedding anniversary, and a knitting retreat thrown in for good measure!  Baskets of Yarn celebrated it's first fall retreat the last weekend of September this year.  It was great fun seeing good friends after many months and learning some new knitting techniques.  My good friend Maggie Farrell and I "tag teamed", teaching a sweater class together, and I taught a beaded lace scarf.  The hot, hot summer finally began to cool off that weekend, making it much more comfortable to be working with wool.

The first weekend of October started the annual quilting retreat at Beech Mountain.  Eleven quilters lived for an entire week in a 5-bedroom cabin atop Beech Mountain.  We participated in 10 different classes during the week, learning new techniques and interesting projects while working on quilts that we brought with us, too.  We took turns preparing meals and enjoyed the mountain air and changing leaves.  Here are some of the projects we completed: 
 
The next "big event" for me was the Southeastern Animal Fiber Festival (SAFF) last weekend in Asheville.  http://saffsite.org/ is an annual festival of all things fiber including animal competition, fiber artists, vendors and classes.  Sue Dial of Harvest Moon/Clay Cat Designs allows me to help out in her booth where we sell her hand-dyed roving, handspun yarn, polymer clay jewelry and stitch markers, and wet and needle-felted items.  The "Popular Girls" make it a weekend, too, and we have a great time every year.

The highlight of the SAFF weekend this year came during a phone call from my oldest son, Cory, on Saturday morning.  He called from his home in Orlando to tell me that he and his wife Sandy are expecting a baby!  This will make 14 grandchildren for us!  We are absolutely thrilled, and they are "over the moon" with excitement and happiness.  This will be their 2nd child; their son Jesus Alfredo is 12 years old and is very happy to welcome a new baby into their family.  Can you imagine how much love there is for this unborn baby already?  I've already started knitting a blanket, even though it will be several weeks before we know the gender of this baby.  But between you and me, I can't wait to find out the baby's sex so I can start knitting dresses or rompers.

I think that pretty much brings you up to date.  I'll try to do a better job with this blog for those who enjoy reading about my chaos that I call life.    On the docket now is the Myrtle Beach Quilt Party in January 2011, and the 2011 Winter Knitting Retreat with Baskets of Yarn.  Of course, you can expect to be reading about babies for awhile, too.

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