My Talented Mom

My mom has been quilting and sewing for as long as I can remember. She is happiest when she has a project going, and one lined up for when that one is done. For the first time ever, she has entered one of her quilts in a contest at the Holiday Traditions Quilt Contest.

This is her entry - her "Christmas Fireplace" quilt. If you like it, please use the link above to vote for her!

It is an original design - designed by my mom and stepdad, and measures 54"x78". (Their cat, Dexter, really does look like the cat in the quilt. And the 2 presents on the mantel are actually picture frames and have photos in them.)

Here are some more of my mom's quilting projects:

This quilt is from a pattern in an asian quilting book entitled "Quilt Artistry" and measures 54"x40".

This quilt, "Grandma's Garden" has dimensional flowers and fits a queen sized bed.

This is one of my personal favorites, as it was a gift to me. The quilt is a Piecemaker's Times & Season's calendar design and each house panel has substantial hand embroidery. It is large enough for a queen-size bed but I prefer it on a wall.

My mom made this quilt for my sister as a gift when she graduated from U.C. Santa Cruz. My sister was a biology major and now works for the Audubon society, so it definitely fit her. (That's my mom, Sandi, in the picture.)

This quilt is "Sailing at Night past Lighthouse". My parents are sailers and my stepdad designed this one. This picture shows it hanging, but it's usually on the queen bed in the guest room at their house.

This small quilt measures approx 20"x30" and was designed from an architect's elevation drawing of an award-winning craftsman house in Sonoma, CA. A family friend was the architect and this quilt was a gift to him.

This quilt measures approx 24"x24" and is an original design made as a graduation gift for a family friend who was graduating from CSU Fresno with a degree in ornamental horticulture.

I believe this one was my mom's first original design. She made this many years ago for my best friend when she was expecting her child. It hung in the nursery above the lavender and white checked crib.

This quilt measures approx 20"x30" and was designed from my uncle's ham radio calling card.

Another ham radio calling card - this one is my grandpa's and is also approx 20"x30".

Well, that's a look at some of the things my mom has created over the years. I wish I could say that some of her talent has rubbed off on me, but at least I get to have some of her finished projects!

Kristi

Wow, that's old

Conversation from a few moments ago...

Kristi: Matthew, did you know that on Saturday your Grandma is going to be 85 years old?
Matthew (eyes as big as saucers): How many is THAT?
Kristi: This many. (I count 10 x 8 with my hands, plus one more hand)
Matthew: How old is my Papa?
Kristi: He's 64
Matthew: And how old is Momo?
Kristi: She's 62 years old.
Matthew: Wow. That's old.

Fall Fun!

Yesterday we headed out to Goebbert's Pumpkin Farm for some fall fun. We had a blast, though I wish I had paid closer attention to the weather report. It was FREEZING! Thankfully I had a hat and gloves stuffed in my pockets left over from last winter (Matthew wore my hat and I wore the gloves) and a fleece blanket in the trunk (that we had used this summer for impromptu picnics). I guess better lucky than prepared?

The hay ride.

Which was hilarious. Once he warmed up a bit.

Posing in a wooden fire truck

They had a great sort of petting zoo where you could feed the animals. (I say sort of b/c we weren't allowed in with the animals) The pigs were the clear favorite, particularly this little guy with the white on his snout.

Feeding a white camel.

I believe Matthew thought this was the highlight of the day....the "Pumpkin eating Dinosaur"

It would pick pumpkins off the ground (while roaring, of course), crush them in it's teeth, then belch.

Running through the corn maze

Lost in the straw maze

Pig races!

Making our selections to purchase...

Mmmmm, and some tasty treats.

Tiger Woods He's Not

On Monday Matthew started an 8 week "Golf & Soccer" class with the Oak Park Parks District. Hilarious! It was fabulous to see him having so much fun, and a great time for me to sit on the sideline and watch 30 4 year olds try to swing plastic golf clubs.

Receiving instruction at the beginning of the class from 3 of the 6 instructors

Matthew with his instructor

I'm a lefty!

Carrying his ball back to the "starting line"

No wait! I'm a righty! (kid changed his mind practically every swing)

Playing in the sandbox after the class. If the sandbox looks familiar, it's b/c the class was at Barrie Park, just 2 blocks from home

Pirate's Cove

Last weekend Matthew requested that we take a trip to Pirate's Cove, which is a kids theme park in Elk Grove Village run by their park district that Matthew had visited over the summer with his Summer Camp.

They had an old 1950's child-size carousel

And one of the highlights of the park - a kids paddleboat ride! Matthew was an expert.

In addition, there were 2 train rides, several slides, a kids rock climbing wall, a pirate ship and playground. It was a fun afternoon!

Camping

Sorry for the delay in posting photos! It's been a little bit crazy around here, what with the bat flying around the bedroom and the cat allergies and golf lessons and all. I am delinquent on so many levels and in so many things that it's hard to know where to begin to catch up.


So...camping pics!

Our Campsite

The path from our campsite to the beach

On the beach

Collecting rocks

Getting wet

Playing by the water

Roasting hotdogs over the fire

Eating lunch

Amazing Trip to Colorado

I just got back from a beautiful and relaxing trip to Bachelors Gulch, Colorado. I went with my dear friend Rochelle and her parents, who had a gorgeous 3 bedroom condo rented for several weeks. Bachelors Gulch is located near Beaver Creek and Vail, and is absolutely gorgeous! We had the best time hiking, strolling the towns, and relaxing.

This is in Beaver Creek. The flowers were amazing.

In Beaver Creek looking up at some of the ski runs

In Beaver Creek we took one of the chair lifts up the mountain. These are some of the pics taken from the chair lift...gorgeous!

On the left is the lodge where our condo was. I took this pic standing on the back patio of the Ritz Carlton, which is next door. That's a ski lift straight ahead. Would be great in the winter!

Rochelle and her mom on one of our hikes

Shopping in Vail

No explanation necessary

The Storm

Holy Cow!

We had a freak storm blow through this afternoon! It was sunny, humid and hot and all of a sudden, it hit with a vengeance. We got about an inch and a half of water in 10 min, then it stopped. The ground couldn't soak it up fast enough, so tons of flooding, and the wind...well, take a look.

This is a chunk of one of my trees that came down in my backyard

This is my barbecue...my big, heavy stainless steel barbecue that until the storm was standing upright on top of the deck.

My basement. Water seeped in all along the south wall. You can see I've pulled back the carpet to mop it all up. Now I've got the carpet back down and 2 big box fans blowing to try to dry everything out.

And the big doozy. This tree was on the corner of Harvard & Humphrey (3 houses down).

It apparently took out a car when it came down. Hit the hood of the car. Driver panicked, hit the gas instead of the brake, ran into a truck parked across the street from my house, bounced up into the yard across the street from me, and drove through 3 yards before coming to a stop. Driver got out w/ only a couple of scratches. Amazing! I missed the whole thing.

The village was out fast to remove it.

Matthew will be so bummed he missed all the excitement.