Life in Sally's World

Yeah, I'm feeling really neglectful right about now.  How does time pass so quickly?  I've gone back in my photos and chosen a selection to show what's been going on since I last posted.  This is certainly not a complete visual list, but it gives you some idea.  They are in no particular order.

There was a lot of celebrating here this fall, as my husband is a life-long Cubs fan.  He spend many an evening in the garage watching all of the play-off and World Series games.  By the end, we had quite a crowd out there.  Although, I just want to say that I do not make him watch games in the garage, he just likes to do that.

Our niece graduated college in May and she is a complete California girl and has a group of friends that call themselves mermaids (at least that's what I gather from the hashtags on her Insta and FB photos).  I thought that Mendocino would be perfect fabric for making her a quilt.  I'm a little behind on this one, because I'm actually just putting this in the mail tomorrow.  I had the quilt top pieced very early on and then basted it, but couldn't seem to get going on the quilting for the longest time.  Finally, I think around Thanksgiving, I finished up the quilting and got it bound.  Then, I was sick with a lingering cold for a month and didn't do anything.  At least it will soon be on its way.

In April, my husband retired from the fire department.  He had worked there for 24 years.  He was 12 hour part-time paid and unfortunately that does not actually come with a pension.  It was great money, for a part-time job, but he is happy that he doesn't have to go to work every third night in addition to his full time business.  It has been an adjustment having at home every single night.

In May, we had our 10 year anniversary.  You'll notice this is not a picture of us taking a fancy vacation.  We spend the weekend in Indianapolis at a Pace Car Reunion car show, the weekend before the 100th running of the Indy 500.  The car in the middle is actually the one that is my husband's.  It was a beautiful weekend to sit outside and visit with some of our friends who were also there.  Although, it got hot that Sunday and I ended up with a horrible sunburn on my legs which resulted in having some cankles for a few days.

I did some pattern testing for some quilts.  All of the patterns that I tested were for Erica Jackman at Kitchen Table Quilting.  I would really recommend any of her patterns as I have found them to be very well written.  I haven't finished this one up yet, but I have the backing done and binding fabric all picked out, just waiting for me to be motivated to baste it up and quilt it.

At some point this year, I saw the brightest rainbow I can ever recall seeing in my life.  To top it off, it was visible for what seemed like a super long time and it was a double rainbow, too.  It's not too often that you see the rainbow form end to end.

Our friends' daughter got married in July and I made my husband buy a new suit.  He needed it.  I bought a new dress, too.

Back side of the next quilt, pattern (for the front side) also by Kitchen Table Quilting. This will eventually go to some little boy, but for now it does not have a home.

Another pattern by Kitchen Table Quilting.  I haven't finished this one off yet, but I'll get to it eventually.  The design is so pretty, but turned out way more pinky-peachy than I imagined.  I really winged it on the planning and used fabric that I had in stash.  I'd really love the blue and green to be more prominent, but that's what I get.

This is part of a quilt top that I started years ago, after I joined Chicago Modern Quilt Guild.  I started it one day, when I went to a then new friend's house to sew.  The pieces were cut and partially sewn for years, and this past fall, I picked it up again when I wanted something pretty mindless to work on while at a sewing social evening.  I still plan to add some "border" to this with some add-ins, in order to make it bed sized and usable on our bed.

One of my nieces, and one of my nephews at Christmas.  We are so blessed to have them all in our lives, but especially the little guy.  After he was born with dysplastic kidneys, we weren't sure what life would bring him or all of us.  He's been on dialysis for a year now (starting when he was 4-ish months old) and will continue until he is able to have a kidney transplant.  He's not yet big enough.  We just pray that he continues to grow and be in otherwise good health and that we are blessed to see many, many, many more years of his life.

In June, after school was out, we went to Universal Studios Orlando.  That was sort-of our anniversary trip.  My husband had been wanting to go for quite a while, but it always seemed like we had other places to be (and I was in no rush).  I really enjoyed the Wizarding World of Harry Potter portions of the park.  During this trip, I also learned about better living through "drugs", in this case Dramamine.  I've never had issues with regular roller coasters, but the roller coasters combined with the video portion just about did me in on the first day of riding.  I was miserable!  Luckily, it occurred to me to try the Dramamine on the second and I was so much happier - although we walked so much I thought my legs were going to fall off at the end of the day.  

I hope to make it back here sooner than say 9 months from now, but I won't make you any promises.  I hope the New Year finds you all healthy and in good spirits!