Hola Friends

I've been silent for a week and a half, and for a very good reason.

I managed to escape work and life for a little bit and take a little trip to Costa Rica with my sister.

I had no access to the internet, which means no access to email or anything else going on in the world. It was weird yet liberating.

It's so hard to pick a few pictures to share with you from my trip, so I'm just going to pick a few at random until I have time to go through the 1000+ pictures I have and really pick my favorites.

No, that sunset picture is not edited in any way. This is directly from my camera. It was absolutely stunning, breathtaking and unbelievably moving.

Okay, now that I'm nice and refreshed, I'm ready to start sewing again. 

Happy New Year

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year.  I had a wonderful time with my family, celebrating the New Year in from Puerto Rico.

We had a great time and enjoyed soaking in the 85*+ weather each day.

We visited the rain forest one day.

And spent quite a bit of time on the beach or by the hotel pool just relaxing. I had lots of sangria while lounging around.  We even visited Old San Juan a few times.

It was a great trip.  It was nice to spend six wonderful days relaxing, enjoying some time away from work (and the cold) with my family.  It's back to reality now.  Time to start working on my UFO stash, finishing some quilts, and obviously, starting even more. 

Back from Bermuda

I just got of this baby this weekend after spending 7 nights on her:

My cousin got married on a cruise from Boston to Bermuda last week and my husband and I joined 30 other family members for the big event. 

The water was a beautiful 84* and a beautiful blue.

I had no access to the internet, email, or any insight into what was going on in the rest of the world - and I enjoyed every minute of it.  Typically, I prefer getting to my destination as fast as possible and spending as much time in a location as possible, but being on a ship in the middle of the Atlantic has its benefits. 

I managed to finish reading three books of varying intellectual stimulation (sometimes you just want a mindless read, but after two mindless reads, I needed to stimulate my mind and feel more intelligent). 

I spent some great, quality time with my extended family and will enjoy the special memories we created during this trip.

Now that I'm back now, I can dig into this nice pile of fabrics and play! 

Mother Daughter Trip

Last week my mom and I took a mother/daughter trip to St. Thomas.  I had some vacation time to kill or lose by the end of this month, so we took a nice, relaxing vacation for four nights.

We lounged on our balcony (above) reading and enjoying the view (below).

We lounged on the beach and by the pool.

And we had a great time.

Now it's back to work, just in time to head out to retreat this weekend!

Yes, I'm Still Here

Life has been a bit busy lately and I haven't had much time to quilt.  Two weeks ago I was traveling for business and last week DH and I went down to Disney World for a long weekend.  It was DH's first trip to Disney and my 4th trip.  We had a great time but were tired when we got back. 

Something happened with my camera and I was only able to download about 15 pictures of the 200+ that I took.  I only have a couple of pictures from our final day at Hollywood Studios.  No pictures of the two of us, none of the flower & garden festival at EPCOT, none.  :(  It turns out that every time I had turned off my camera the photos I took right before that would get deleted.  The camera is only a few months old, so I'm really bummed about this.  I just wish I didn't lose all of my photos from our trip.

On a quilting front, I have one row left to quilt of my Eva quilt. 

After a lot of debate, I have decided to go with my first choice of binding for my "Fire & Ice" Quilt.  The maroon.

I'd like to enter this quilt into a couple of local quilt shows, so I'm trying to come up with a name for it.  "Fire & Ice" is the name of the Carol Doak pattern.  I think I want something that's fun, a nice yet bold name.  Any ideas? 

Mt. Washington

I just got back from a mini vacation with my parents and sister up in the White Mountains of NH.  We had a great time and experienced one of the most clear, beautiful days of the year.  Some of the employees were even seen photographing the beautiful scenery because they've never seen a more beautiful blue sky.  Here are some great pics:

I'm Back!!!

Well, I'm back from our vacation.  "What vacation?" you're probably wondering.  Well, we went on an Alaskan cruise with my hubby, my parents, and my sister.  Here are a few teaser pics.  I haven't had the chance to go through all of my 1000 pictures yet since we just returned what was supposed to be last night but ended up being 3 am after several delays.  Lets just say it was one of the most frustrating trips home ever.  

I even managed to find a few quilt shops.  The fabric that's rolled is a panel of one of the towns we visited designed especially for that town and printed by Robert Kauffman.