Shaking the Tree

I've been working on a quilt - it's one crazy quilt.  There are lots of fabric colors and designs, and I had this insane idea to hand embroider over the seams.  The squares are uneven and the embroidery is crude.  It's a bit of a hot mess, but one of a kind.  And I am spending a LOT of time to finish it.

When my dad died, I realized I knew almost nothing about my family name.  My dad was the only child of essentially a single mother.  That's when I became interested in genealogy.  I've been shaking the trees on both sides of my family since then and I've been amazed and amused at what I have found.  I have learned that even though it's exciting to know you are a descendant of Charlemagne, Holy Roman Emperor (really!), at some point the names become meaningless without some backstory.

Watermelon Blues

As the summer ends, there are things that go away. One of those things is watermelon. There are also people who are going away - high school graduates off to college and a dear friend who is off to the seminary. A week ago we had a party to celebrate our new seminarian and I made this recipe.

My New Toy!

My relationship with Singer Confidence has hit a rough patch.  The machine is chewing on thread, stretching it tight between the tension disc and the needle.  I've been very patient and caring, and Confidence is responsive about 50% of the time.

This morning I was casually looking over Craig's List.  OK, I'll admit, I was looking for a casual fling to take my mind off Confidence.  Then I saw it, advertised at 10:00 a.m. this morning: