Birthday Recap

I had a wonderful 30th birthday this past week. It was quiet and calm, but it was fun. My actual birthday started off with a wake-up call from my Mother-in-law — pretty impressive considering she’s not even in the US. Thomas immediately brought me a couple presents in bed. One was from his mom – a beautiful quilted wall hanging that reminds me of the trees in our backyard.

Quilted Wall Hanging by my Mother-in-law

The other was from Thomas – a print out for an online auction he won (it was delivered today). I still don’t believe it, but he bought me a sewing/embroidery machine – a Pfaff Creative 2140. He did his research and got me a really cool machine that does all kinds of tricks. I’m actually a little intimidated by it – it just has a screen, no dials.

My New Sewing Machine!!

The day continued with lots of birthday wishes, Facebook messages, phone calls, and flowers from Thomas’ dad. That night, Thomas and I went to the Melting Pot for a delicious meal of cheese, bouillon, and chocolate fondue. Yum!!  This weekend, we got together with a few of our friends to celebrate with some beef ribs at Smokejacks. Yum again! Afterward, part of the crowd headed back to our house for a game of Apples to Apples.  Thomas will post the photos from that later this week.

Birthday flowers from Thomas' father

I didn’t expect my 30th birthday to be so calm, but it was a lot of fun, especially going out with my friends. Thomas was so excited about getting me a new sewing machine.  He already had it set up when I got home from work tonight. We messed around with it until we figured out how to sew letters and a few basic stitches. I can’t wait to see what else it can do.

Pizza Night

Pizza

Friday night, we made our own pizza for dinner. Thomas decorated it with:

  • tomatoes
  • basil
  • olives
  • Italian sausage slices
  • mozzarella cheese

It was delicious! I’m also a fan of mushrooms or pineapple, but they didn’t really go with the other ingredients on this pizza. What’s your topping of choice?

The Big Three Oh!

The Big Three Oh!

Thirty years ago today, I was born – here’s the story.   :)

Happy 86th, Mama C!!

Muskatatauk Wildlife Reserve

We stopped by the Muskatatauk Wildlife Reserve in Seymour, Indiana for a quick birding break on our drive back to Atlanta last weekend.  It has a few trails you can walk, but we mostly bird by car at it. We had to keep our trip short because a storm was rolling in, but we got to see a few interesting birds before we left – Grebes, Wood Ducks, Mallards, Gold Finches, Swallows, Starlings, Martins, Geese, Great Blue Herons, possibly an Eagle, and we saw wild turkeys on the way there.

The full set is posted on Flickr:

160 Vintage Sheet Squares

I was in need of some good friend time tonight, so Jane came over, and as we chatted, I worked on cutting up my vintage sheets that I’ve been collecting.  These are just the ones from the Vintage Sheet Swap.  It’s160 squares – 4.5 inches each. I’m hoping to eventually have 460 squares, but I have a ways to go.

160 vintage sheet squares

I think I’m going to do something really simple – just plain squares. I have some different shades of solid yellow sheets or white that I might mix in, but first I want to get the patterned squares cut out.

Just so I can keep record, these are some of the quilts I’m using as inspiration.