Big birthday

DH had his 60th birthday yesterday. Maybe a few more wrinkles, but not much to suggest he is 60. Nothing much happened. He took some home-made biscotti to work and they had a celebratory coffee break. I cooked his favourite meal when he got home and G and I made a wild cake with lots of sprinkles and candles on it. An interesting parcel came today from Amazon.com which will be the DSLR camera I am giving him for his birthday. Maybe the blogspot pictures will improve from now on.

First quilt

I finished my first quilt - here it is. OK so it is pretty small but we needed a table runner for the coffee table so I adapted this pattern from a magazine. It was a good try out for my new sewing machine as it includes piecing, machine applique and machine quilting. I have to say it handled all those things pretty well.

I am going to 'quilt till you wilt' at the quilt shop this afternoon - 4pm until - well, until you wilt. So expect better things.

First quilt guild meeting last night. It was good but the standard of the 'show and tell' left me breathless. Don't expect anything that good from me. It is a pretty busy group with lots going on, including a quilt show for April. Will I finish anything in time - doubtful!

Snow

We had about 4" of snow overnight. So far this has been the mildest winter on record here in Idaho Falls. I don't think 4'" is that unusual most winters but we were pretty impressed. I didn't know if the school buses would be running so I rang round a couple of people. Idahoans are much too polite to laugh but I think they thought we were pretty feeble. We trudged out into the snow and sure enough along came the big yellow bus. I bravely took out the Ford Focus later on - the only real danger was those big pick-up trucks sliding all over the road. Once they start to slip, they've gone! It looks pretty though and it is probably going to stay - it is definitely getting colder - Brrr.

Walking the Mall

OK so I finally did it and went for a walk round and round the Mall. I felt extremely silly but it is the only way to escape the ice and the biting wind and there are dozens of people doing it. 2 rounds of the Mall = 1 mile and I did 3. I will build up to 4. It is not the stamina - I could walk 4 easily but the embarassment factor that gets me. G missed the bus this morning and I had to drive her - neither of us really felt like negotiating the ice and the traffic to cross the road to where the big yellow bus stops. She came home on the bus, but I have to meet her because she can't find her way home. I have told her there are only 2 directions here in Idaho Falls - towards the mountains or away from - so she should get off the bus and walk away from the mountains. She still isn't getting it though. I think the embarassment factor (having Mum meet her) will soon get to her too.

quilting again

OK - so those pesky Y seams are driving me crazy. I have made 5 blocks so far - only another 10 or so to go - oh and then the border blocks. Here are a few for you to see - aren't they really wild. I am going to take a break from them though. We need a new table runner for our coffee table so we can take off the christmassy one. It needs to be heat proof and big enough to cover a couple of scratches ( it was a cheap mark down table but pretty smart if we cover the scratches.) A long quilt would be ideal and give me a chance to try out a few things like applique and quilting with my new machine - here goes.

School

It is G's first day at school today. I bravely drove her there, it was OK really the traffic was pretty light. We want to get her onto the big yellow bus as soon as possible though. We were both nervous but she really needs to go. She misses her friends and is finding it hard to get over the jet lag. She needs a shape to her day. This is the first time I have been completely alone in the house and I am find it hard to settle to anything. The house is really quiet and I don't really know how to use the CD player or the TV - I hope I haven't broken anything while trying. Back to the sewing, of course and those pesky Y seams.