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!