Advance or Retreat!?

My household has taken a dramatic turn!

I've gone from just me and the boys -- easy living, really.  There's the running, but we mostly foraged for food and went to our corners of the house:  Sam with his drums, Will with his video games, and I in my sewing room!!  So from me and the boys to me and the boys and the husband (home on Sunday)and the college age daughter (home on Wednesday) all home at the same time!!

Yesterday morning I was struck the by the CROWD!!
In my little sewing room, first one boy then the other came in.  Then Emily, then Jeff....FIVE people in my sewing room. Asking me stuff.  Needing or wanting my attention. All talking at the same time.  Wanting to be fed!!

Calgon take me away!!!!

Advance or retreat?  Too late.  I already retreated BEFORE they came! LOL  I spent Thursday, Friday and Saturday at a retreat center in Central KY far out in the country.  I live in the country! This was even further out in the country. And it was lovely!  The gals were such fun. Games, giveaways, stories, projects, food -- all the good stuff!

I mostly worked on one UFO -- my Thimbleberries Hometown Christmas -- and a new project, Spools, from Edyta Sitar's book, Friendship Strips and Scraps.

Autumn took some great photos of the different projects and quilts at the retreat and you can see them here.  I took photos while I was there, but hers were so much better than mine. So pop over and take a look!!

I came home from retreat on Saturday and picked Jeff up on Sunday.  Then Wednesday, we packed up Emily's dorm room at Asbury and headed south. 

It really is good to have the whole family under one roof again for the first time in over a year!

It will take a while to get back into our routine.  Jeff will return to his "real" job in a few weeks; he's an Agriculture Extension Agent for a local county through the University of KY Cooperative Extension Service.  He'll take some much needed R & R time at home, though. :-D  My sewing time may get curtailed a little! :-D

Emily is spending her summer home with the family, too.   In previous years she did summer missions work with a camp in Lafollette, TN, but this year the luxury of our family being together is one she's going to take advantage of.  Jeff says there is work enough here at home to keep her busy if she doesn't find a summer job locally.

So advance it is!
Into renovated routines.  Into postponed projects (UFO #9 - the Circuit Rider and another recently  "discovered" (that's what I get for cleaning out the closet! :-D)  UFO, Star Sprinkles from Adkinson Designs).

Into the haven of home!

I am so very, very, blessed!

Psalm 13: 5-6
But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing to the LORD,
for he has been good to me.

Blessings!

Getting Ready!

Twice a year, a bunch of my Quilt Club gals and I get away from it all for three days and two nights of games, food and quilting!! It's always a hoot -- and I was so afraid I wasn't going to get to go!!  Jeff was scheduled to return from Afghanistan this same week, so my plans were to skip the spring retreat and hope for the timing to be better in the fall.

But the army is never predictable! LOL and Jeff's Welcome Home ceremony is Sunday!! Which means, I get to go to retreat (which ends Saturday), AND I won't have to keep him waiting at the armory while I diddle-daddle with the gals! :-D (As if I would!!)

So I've got double duty for getting ready.  Retreat stuff, the house, my toenails!! :-D

(Don't mind the grime; I just fed the cats and chickens -- and Oh! Look at little "Smokey" (? tentative name since we don't know if it's a he or a she, yet! :-D)! It's a wonder my feet didn't scare the little thing!! LOL

I've got most of my sewing stuff ready to go:

I always take way too much.  I wanna be prepared for whatever I'm in the mood to sew, you know? That's the thing with UFO's ....the reason they are UFO's is that you get out of the mood to finish them!

Some things are mandatory, though.
My leaders-and-enders 2" squares.

Chocolate (the good stuff! :-D)

My annual hauling out of the scrappy-spools-which-I-have-already-made-two-large-quilts-and-one-lap-quilt-of project:
Then, of course, there's the new project that I'm totally inspired with and wanna get started on!
I spent the better part of this week sorting my scraps by color. I'll eventually cut  them into Bonnie Hunter's Scrap User's System, but I had to sort them so I could find scraps for this quilt by Edyta Sitar in her Friendship Strips and Scraps book!!

The pattern calls for 1" strips!! I'll be using some small stuff on this one!

(What is it with me and spool quilts!?!)

So after cleaning up my messes and packing clothes (I should probably wear some on retreat! Jeff probably won't mind if I don't! LOL), I'll be ready to walk out the door. 

I can't wait! No dishes. No phone calls ('cept to check on the young-uns). Just friends, fabric and fun!

And Jeff on Sunday, home for a good while, thank the Lord!  I'm so ready!!

“Hallelujah!
For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and be glad
and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready."
Revelation 19:6-7

Blessings,