Catching Up...

Boy it's hard to believe it's been more than a week since I posted... and it's been a very busy week.

First off - remember the house we want to buy - well that isn't going so well.  Last week we signed papers to end the process and get our deposit money back because the owners cannot provide the paperwork to prove a leaking oil tank was properly removed from the ground when they purchased the house.  And since it would be such a costly mistake for us to buy a house that has contaminated soil... we decided to just walk away.  This week our realtor called and asked if we minded giving the owners a little more time to find the paperwork - apparently our bailing out of the deal made them realize that we were serious about wanting the proof...?  So - this is an on again maybe off again thing... in the mean time I'm starting to look at houses online again...  I am not having fun.

We went off for a long weekend with the dogs in tow to visit family in VA.  My nephew earned his Eagle in Boy Scouts and we went down to attend the ceremony and help celebrate!  We are very proud of his efforts and the fine young man he has grown into.

Cool thing about The Engineer being a virtual employee... he sat in the back seat and worked during the 5 hour trip on Friday (and again on Monday) so he didn't loose work time.  Just plugged in his Blackberry and had no problem keeping an Internet connection all the way down and back.  Ain't technology wonderful?  Oh - I'll bet you are wondering why I make him sit in the back seat huh?  Well - the first time he climbed in the front seat and opened his laptop - all I could see in my tiny little 'what if' brain was the airbag deploying.  They would be picking computer keys outta his teeth for days... just gives me the willies thinking about it.  I get squeamish when ladies tell me they sit and knit while their husbands drive... think about it.

I ran across a new blog - Balancing Everything and she has the coolest method she's using (her folks before her) of growing a garden... go check her post out if you are a gardener.  I've got to send this link to those in my family who garden... might be a great method for one of my sisters who has back problems - she won't have to bend over to pick some of her crop.  Now I want a garden - I want to grow things... but I need a house first.

I received my Nashua 10/10 Challenge Quilt last week.  I can't remember if I mentioned this challenge before.  A group of us submitted 10 Fat Quarters - those were given to someone else who added at least 10 FQ's and what ever other fabric they deemed necessary to make a quilt.  When everyone was done - the quilts were sent back to the person who owned the original 10 FQ's.  Quilting was optional... and about half the folks quilted the tops before returning them - sadly I wasn't one of those overachievers.

Here are pictures of the quilt I made for a quilter friend Teri.

After looking at the quilting she did on a New York Beauty quilt she made - I'm glad I didn't try to quilt this one for her.

I was inspired by the Scrappy Bargello Quilt from Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville site. I just made shorter sets and set them to 'echo' from that off center 'center point'.  Then I added a quirky sorta curvy border.

Here are some pictures of the quilt I received back from a quilter friend TJ... and oh my goodness it's hand quilted - TJ spent over 90 hours quilting it! 

I had sent in a variety of blues and browns and she found wonderful fabrics to complement what I had started with.  It is truly YUMMY!

She said that the pattern is Pinwheel Pirouette out of a book called Strip Clubbing.  Did I say it was Yummy?