Yay!  I am RETIRED!  It's the second month of retirement after 34 years of civil service !

I have been spending time with my granddaughters, traveling, lots of knitting and quilting.  I really can't figure out how I managed to have time for work!  Life is great!

Where has the time gone?

Haven't posted in awhile because I've had to do that thing called "Work"!   Was on the road to St. Paul , MN 2 weeks ago, then in Portland, OR last week.   My husband's aunt passed away last Tuesday and her funeral is today.   I'm home this week and then I'm off to Denver for a week.
I get back Friday, then I go back to the airport to pick up my friend, Cindy.  She's flying in from Rochester to join me and our group of quilting friends for a week in Bodega Bay!   We do a yearly week retreat to a house we rent every year.   Usually , at least 11 of us do this!  We quilt, sew, craft, eat , watch chick flicks and just have a great week to ourselves and no families!  Can't wait since I haven't been able to touch my sewing machine in weeks!
It'll be a much needed week, since when I get back, I'll be back on the road again!   This is my schedule until after March!     It's getting a bit old!!!

Giveaway

There's a great giveaway at :   http://suzanneearley.net/2010/01/suzannes-great-big-giveaway-and-sale/!   Check it out!

Where did the weekend go?

I can't believe how fast time flies!!  It's early Sunday morning already!  I am up because of this awful cold and bronchitis I have.  Woke up coughing up a lung  ( almost!) .  So I'm up waiting for my cough meds with codeine to kick in!!
Planning to go to the Queen Bee fabric sale in Antioch, CA later today with my friend , Laurie.   I really don't need more fabric, but how can I resist a sale!!!

I have almost finished packing for my trip to St Paul, Minnesota on Monday.  I have to go there for work for a week!  Hope I don't freeze!!  Trying to decide on whether just to bring a knitting project for the week or maybe some handpiecing stuff for my Grandmother's Garden quilt that I have been working on for 4 years!!  Decisions, decisions!!

I have almost finished cutting out my fabric for "You Need a Rita".  I'm taking a Linda Ballard class through my guild, Carquinez Strait quilters , later this month.  I always enjoy Linda's mystery retreats, but this was fun because I knew what the quilt will look like so it was a little easier to choose the fabrics.  I'm using a red and black batik print as my border and focal fabric with red, green and a off white small dot fabric.  Will try to post some pictures later - need to figure out how to do that!!!

Hope you all have a wonderful rest of the weekend!

My quilt featured on my friend's webshot page

 It actually got chosen for Webshot of the day!!  The quilter is Laurie Grant of Finishing Touches!  She is an amazing long arm quilter and great friend!

Monday Morning

and back to work!!   The 2 weeks vacation went by fast!!   I only managed to get my quilts hung up on my walls in my living room and family room and also finished 6 blocks for a block exchange.  I still need to catch up on my Paper Piecing round robin blocks.  I'm behind 3 blocks!!!    Need to get these done before our next meeting at the end of the month or I'll be 4 blocks behind!!   Will have to figure out how to do that between being on the road for work 2 weeks out of this month!!  YIKES!

Giveaway

http://bookgiveaways.blogspot.com   is haveing a giveaway.  Go to her site and post a comment!
Beautiful reading glasses!!!