Favorite pictures from the quick trip over Labor Day

We made a quick trip to Utah over the Labor Day weekend. Shirl and ElDora were coming from Roseville, CA to visit Mom. We made the trip too. It turned out very well. Jeff and Shirl were able to have a nice visit. We had dinner together as a family too. Jeff and I were able to stay with Uncle Mark, Mama's brother, in American Fork. It still feels like Alpine to me. It was so good to connect with all the family on this trip. I even learned a few things about my mom that I didn't know before.

We were also able to spend a bit of time with Alex and the boys. They are growing so fast. The part I loved best was when Sean asked Aaron to write something for him on the toy. Aaron didn't know how and told Sean, "Can Grandma help you?" Grandma was more than happy to help. I also loved it when Sean told me my hair smelled nice.

We had a nice dinner at Marjorie's apartment on Sunday afternoon with Hawaiian Haystacks. They were yummy and Dad loved them. Alex and the boys came along with Gloria and her family.
Monday we stopped at the Purple Turtle on the way out of town and saw Steven. He invited us to come up to the Paiute Trail Family Campout October 10-15. That is for another post.
We were afraid of the traffic on the way home from Las Vegas. It was fine and not any trouble at all.
It was a great trip!

The perfect patch and it's done!

 When I turned the fabric to make the binding on the edge, you could see the hole. This is the fabric patch to cover the other patch the the hole.

The finished patch
I think it looks great if I do say so myself.

I went on and finished the rest of the binding around the edge.
Now I just want to put a label on it and it will be ready to send.

Patch over the Patch

I didn't like the way the patch looked on the binding. I made a patch and sewed it on over the hole. Now I will just trim down the patch and sew it in the binding.


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What Came From Stirring The Pot

Saturday we went on our annual apple trip. We were able to listen to Conference on the Jeep speakers. A swarm of bees hit the windshield right after a talk about bees. We were able to get golden delicious apples. They still had apple dumplings at our favorite little restaurant in Oak Glenn.

The apple this year were expensive and not as good. They were still green in color. The firmness and flavor said they were ready. I started last night and Jeff came straight home from work to help. He was on his way to get a new amp. The one on the sound system died. Jeffrey turns off those apples so well. It goes better and faster when he helps. He has such a talent.

I think bottled fruit is one of the most beautiful sights around!


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Patched fussy cut

I used an iron on patch to cover the little V-shaped "fussy cut" I put on the edge of the quilt that will be the binding. I will use fray lock on the other side so it won't fray.


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A New Fussy Cut

In the quilting world there is a term called fussy cut. It means that you cut out exactly what you want from the middle of a piece of fabric to use in another place. It is like you want to put a beautiful rose from the middle in your design so you fussy cut just the rose to use.

Here is a new definition of fussy cut. I was out of sorts and fussy in the middle of the night. I wanted something to do so I didn't waste time. I decided to trim the batting on this quilt to get it ready to turn the back for the finding. I took one wrong snip and got the back of the quilt right where it is supposed to turn. Now I have a new fussy cut and this one I have to fix. Don't work on cutting things in the middle of the night.

My Birthday Train Ride

We are at the Irvine Train station the morning of September 15 for our train ride down to San Diego. I told Jeffrey that is what I wanted for my birthday several months before. During the week i found out there was a quilt show at the San Diego Convention center. So that turned into our destination.  That made a great trip!

 This is the walkway to get from one track to another. There are either stairs by the oodles or elevators.

The inside of the train looked alot like an airplane. There were no doors on the overhead storage. There was a lot more room and there were no seat belts. Jeff and I both kept looking for them and trying to do them up.

 The only seats left when we got on were right behind a wall with no window at our seats. This was our view for several stops. The man in front of us got off and we moved up.

 This was our view after me moved.

Ocean waves out our window

Another view

Favorites from the quilt show

Love the colors in this one

This is so good. I think it is one of my most favorites of the whole show. So appropriate for our house.

Love how the placement  the colors makes this quilt look so 3 dimensional. I want to make one like this one day.

Love the colors in this one! I got a couple of kits to make boy quits. I will blog about those as I do them.

Crossing the street to catch the trolley back to the train station.

Crossing the street

Dinner at the train station before we head home.

train station from the outside

The plaza outside. It was nice to sit in the shade. It was a very hot day! There was no air conditioning in the station. The trolley is in the background. It is called the green line but the train is bright red.

Sunset on the way home

Happy to be riding not driving

Happy smile after a wonderful day

When we got back to the Irvine station, there was a little lady that came back on the same train with us. She had ridden down to celebrate her grandson's birthday. When e got to the parking structure we were able to help her find her car. She was a sweet little lady.

Just as we walked in the door Curtis called to remind me of the BYU-Utah game. I immediately went and got on my jersey. I took my knitting up and finished one rag and got 1/3 of another one done while watching that game and the unbelievable ending.

It was a wonderful day start to finish! Thank you Jeffrey for  such a wonderful gift.

The quilt is done

Last night about 11:30 I finished the quilting on this one. You can see all the stitching from the back side. That is the reason for this picture. It amazes me how straight, neat and orderly everything looks from the back.

This is the front side. All that needs to be done is turn the back over onto the edges of the front for the binding. I also need to make of have someone make labels for the quilts. I want the labels to say Lovingly handmade for Katie or Kourtney by Grandma Hart. Then a date with month and year. I finished Katie's quilt just before Valentine's day. so that one will be February 2012. Kourtney's will be September 2012. It only took 7 months. Not bad I think.

Now I am ready to go pick fabrics for Aaron and Sean's quilts. Jeff and I are riding the train to San Diego Saturday to the quilt show there. That is also part of my birthday celebration. I am so blessed!

This Part Is Done

All the quilt you can see is done. There are only 4 more squares to quilt and this step is done.


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A New Meaning for Rodewarrior

   Yesterday was the first day of a new era. The former Barcelona Hills School started doing business as a full-time public charter school. It is now called Oxford Preparatory Academy. The students now come from all over the Capistrano school district. They are picked in a lottery. None of the students are from this neighborhood. or at least very few of them live here. That means all of the students are dropped off by parents or a carpool. It makes our street a nightmare most of the day or at the very least 3 times a day; 7:50 am, 11:30 am and 2:45 pm until about 3:30. This new condition will change my life. I have started parking backwards in my own driveway so that when I have to drive out in the middle of the day I will not have to back onto that street. There are cars in front of our house most of the day for one reason or the other.

   There is also a fire hydrant across the street from our house. The parents think nothing of parking in front of it. I will be calling the city whenever I see a car parked in front of that fire hydrant. It is for the safety of my neighborhood.

   Years ago when Marjorie and Curtis were at Capo Valley High, I made many trips to the high school for different things. I needed a name for an email. roadwarrior was already taken. I changed it a little to rodewarrior and it worked. In this new situation, I feel like a rodewarrior, working to keep my street clear. I know it is a homonym, but it sounds good to me.

Figuring it out

I only have 2 more rows of a zigzag line with a small square. Then one more zigzag line across the end and the quilting will be done. I actually have the pins in the corner. So close to the end!

The End of the Quilt

This is the last turn of the quilt. I only have to go across the quilt 2 times doing a zigzag and a small center square. Then I will have to do the last zigzag that sits on the  board at the end of the quilting frame. The binding of this quilt can be done in about a day. Then it will be ready to send. I am already looking for fabrics for my next project. That is inspiring me to hurry and finish this one.

One of the Last Turns

Last night about quitting time, I turned the quilt for one of the last times. On the other side of that purple stripe on the edge, there is an 8 inch border. That is the end of the quilt. Then the quilting will be done. Near as I can figure, there is only about 3-1/2 more rows. Cool!

The end is getting close

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Letter Writing

In General Conference I heard one of the speakers say that a real letter, handwritten, is a true gift and something that you can hold in your hand. That is so true.
I remember letters from my life
I wrote letters to the missionaries from our ward when it was the boys my age on missions.
 I loved letters when I was away from home Thinderella, Rexburg, San Antonio, Tacoma.
   I don't remember exactly when it was but I noticed a difference in the way it felt to get a letter that was written on a word processor instead of hand written. I loved getting all the information and news from home. It was not as personal when the only writing on it was the signature.
I wrote letter to Stevens on his mission.
When we moved to  California I wrote letters home on the computer. At first I wrote a letter to each family. Than I started writing the letters to both families. I really love to get letters from home too. Mama wrote about once a week. Loved getting letters from Mama most weeks.
 I wrote Gloria on her mission wrote home every week, It helped me in ways that I didn't realize it would. It helped me to look for the positive things and look for inspiring messages.
 I wrote every week to Scott on his mission in North Carolina. We even got 1 or 2 emails from him people sent from the field.
I wrote to Alex on his mission in Italy. Half way through he started doing email. I really looked forward to the day and time they would show up in my inbox but I missed getting the letters from the mailbox.

   Now once again I have important people to write real letters. I am writing real letters to Katie. I am showing her that I can be her friend without being on Facebook. I send her real letters. I love it when she writes back. I can also send letters to my other grandchildren.  I am also writing to Grandma Hart. I am also writing to Joshua Cadden on his mission. Right now he is in the MTC in Provo. the middle of August he will go to Santiago Chile, Michael Hart, Troy's son is on his mission in Las Vegas Nevada West Mission. I have written him too. He is in the area where I was born, near Nellis Air Force base.

I love to write letters and get them too.

Favorite Pictures from my Utah Trip July 2012

Aaron building the Angry Birds house.

Chillin'

Sean

Birthday cake

Aaron and his pink camera

Presents Galore!

Gloria and Breanna
We bowled 3 games. Gloria is a pretty good bowler.

Breanna in her new outfit. When did she get that grown up?

This is the best of the fmaily pictures grandma tried to take.

Marjorie, You are lookin" good!

The empty baggage claim at Long Beach Airport. They are remodeling the airport and the new one is on the other side of the wall.

A Day at the Niabi Zoo April 12, 2012

This is our rental car. We needed it so we could all go together to the Niabi Zoo and the Coral Ridge Mall in Iowa City. It was just the right size for all of us.

The first thing we did when we got to the zoo, was ride the train around the whole zoo. It is just the right size of a zoo.

Scott really loves to take pictures. He was snapping them all over the zoo.

A swan in the water over all these fish. They are hanging out around the place where people throw in pellets.

Katie and Stacy standing by the pig pen

I didn't know pigs would bite!Yikes!

Kourtney rode around in the stroller most of the day 

Katie

Kourtney and Grandpa

Heading home

Posing for the camera

Grandpa and Katie posing

Katie posing one more time.

It was a great day at the Niabi Zoo. We went home and had dinner wi left cooking in the crock pot.
It was such a fun day!