Philippians 4:11...I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content

Well, I'm still working on that but I am in a new state!  Well, new to me, that is!  Tony bought a house in Virginia and I arrived here February 5th!  I only saw it in pictures until the day we drove up the driveway!  He did a great job finding this house!  Great location, a yard that the Scotties absolutely love (I can hardly get them to come in the house!), beautiful hardwood floors that Tony refinished before I got here, an already remodeled kitchen and bathrooms, great space, and wonderful neighbors!  Since it's been a while, let me give you a brief run-down of my time away from you over these past several months:

Tony decided to retire the end of May 2011 with his official date of August 31 2011, just short of 21 years in the Army! June, July, August were stressful months for me as he was searching for a new job and we were preparing to move with no idea where we were going.  In August Tony got a job (after only 2 interviews!) and we made the decision for me to move in with my parents due to my mom's declining health.  My dad needed some help and we needed time to figure out housing for us.  I blogged about this here and here.  September was an especially difficult month.  Tony had already moved to a one bedroom apartment in Virginia and started his new job September 6th.  My mom died September 13th. You can read what I wrote here and here.  October through January was taking care of my dad, and having good times with my sister!  Here, here, and here. And now, finally, I am back with my husband in our new (to us!) home in Virginia!  I am still living out of a suitcase though, as our household goods are, keep your fingers crossed, arriving by March 12.  Since I don't have all my stuff, I am working on some hand-piecing projects that I can't show you yet.  I can tell you this: one has 4543 pieces in it, if I counted right!

When we lived in San Antonio, Tony and I were able to go the Houston quilt show.  Wonderful times there! Here in Virginia they have the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival!  Luckily for me, it was this past weekend.  Tony and I had a wonderul time and the quilts were amazing!  I took so many pictures!  You should have seen some of the hand quilting!  Such tiny stitches, such precision!  Here's just one example of the hand stitching:

There were quilts that brought tears to my eyes (unfortunately I didn't get pictures of those because I was so overwhelmed), quilts that made me laugh out loud (the expression in his eyes is priceless!)

and quilts that made me stand there in awe.  Can you believe this one came in third?!

It was a cold and very windy day, but we stopped by the beach 15 minutes from our home!
Aye, just a wee bit windy!

I think Tony and I will be very happy in our new state! 

LaDonna

Sister Time

As stated in the previous post, LaDonna has been staying at my house for a couple of weeks before her move.  Well, our time has come to an end.  We tried to make the most time, so what did that entail? Trips to quilt shops!  Of course living in a map dot, we had to drive anywhere from an hour to 2 hours but it ended up being worth it.

One of the shop we went to was called "Backyard Fabrics".  It was a small shop located  next to the owners home.  Now it may have been small, but oh my was it packed!  Such a wonderful selection and so well arranged!  I walked in, stopped, gazed at everything and just absorbed the "feeling" of the shop.  Wow! But then again I live in a map dot with not much of anything around. Then LaDonna and I got down to business. We are collecting fabrics for a couple of different projects, one being a Christmas quilt.  Now this project calls for an assortment of white/ black fabric and an assortment of greens. We found some to add to our stash. The other projects are kinda the same but different patterns.  LaDonna is collecting bunny fabric and I am collecting cat fabric.  One of the quilt shows that we went to had a quilt that LaDonna just fell for.

About a month ago, I received Keepsake Quilting  in the mail and was "just looking" and found two books...one of them was the bunny book and the other was a cat book.  Each bunny/cat is in a different fabric. So, I told LaDonna and ordered them.  They came in while she was at my house.  We had such a good time looking! We are slowly getting our collections together but at times it is not easy to find different prints.
    
Another quilt shop that we visited was .........

We had such a wonderful time in this shop! Most of us have heard of Eleanor Burns, maybe even watched her to TV, but oh the shop was a treasure trove !  We had to plan our strategy so we could see all the lovely fabrics...my,my.....the colors, prints, and feel! Of course we found way too much! A few bunny/cat fabrics but mostly just adding to our "collection"!

The last place we explored was.....

Once again, you just walk in and have to absorb and plan!  This place is so mind boggling! We didn't even get 1/3 of the store covered!  We were very put out with ourselves! We ran out of time!!...but we both added to our stash.

On all of our explorations, we had such a wonderful time not just adding to our collections, but being together and being sisters!  (Our husbands just don't get it!)  But our time together has now come to an end for a time.  LaDonna is now in the process of heading toward her new home.  It is far away...but at least it isn't in Germany like she was for 3-4 years! After all, that what phones, email, chatting, cars and planes are for! It would just be nice if everyone could stay in the same time zone!