Swap Fabric Is Going In The Mail

I had hoped to have this done sooner but at least it's not past the deadline. I had a great time at the fabric store on Saturday and my swap fabrics are going in the mail today. I'm excited and really hope my partner will enjoy working with them. It was nice to have Judy go with me to the fabric store and she was helpful in making some decisions about what fabric to keep and which just didn't go. However, it is vital to all future fabric store missions to ensure that she is properly fed and watered before going, that or only go when there is a football game on and leave her with the other husbands in the TV room! I could have wandered for hours and she was dying of thirst which thwarted my plans. I can't wait till my swap fabrics arrive. I have a baby rag quilt I'm going to be working on over the next few days to get back into the swing of things. I love quilting so much.

Blog Blog Ago.....

In a land not so very unlike ours..... I wrote a blog entry about our future wedding rings. I left the pictures on my Parents camera out at the coast though. So I waited until today to finally post the entry but I kept it original date. Click the picture to the left to check out the entry.

Blackberry Season

So we've been down to the coast nearly every weekend since mid August just waiting for the blackberries to really be on and ready. Judy and I picked some early in the season when we were hanging out with Grandpaw for the weekend and they were few and far between and tart. Two weekends ago we were invited to pick but we managed to stay too busy. This weekend I knew was potentially the last. The berries are starting to get mushy and there was rain in the forcast. So Saturday night we left Judy up at the house to work on dinner and Uncle Andy, Daphnie, the kids, and I went down to the Neals where we'd been invited to pick and went to it. Uncle Andy doesn't really pick he just enjoys using the loppers to get you into the places with lots of berries. The kids ate. I mean they picked, however they picked right into their mouths. Daphnie and I managed to fill a half flat to the top and overflowing. I was happy because it meant we'd be able to make up the low sugar blackberry jam I was hoping for. Ruby was a blackberry mess. She was down in the downstairs kitchen playing under the stairs and Granny got a cute little shot of our blackberry girl before she got a bath. In the morning Granny and I started on the jam. Ruby was a good helper in stirring the berries while they work cooking down. Letting her around the stove always makes me extra nervous and I think she sensed that my paranoia was going to thwart her full participation in the activity. She quickly abandoned us. As we cooked each batch and processed the jars I was ever so thankfull to be spending time with my Mom doing something to benefit my family in the year to come. Mom and Judy had this experience over 200 jars of tuna a few weeks ago. I can't handle the smell of fish even for a cause as worthy as the worlds best tuna. I look forward to next year in hopes of being able to put up salsa with my Mom, that's what she did all day Saturday while we were off playing at the waterfall. Together we'll be able to can more and maybe not let her spend the entire day in that basement.

The Blogosphere

It seems so strange that someone like me who has been living on or around the internet for many a year is just now really discovering the fabulous world that exists in the Blogosphere. I've been jumping around just enjoying different things but was having a hard time finding my way back to things. I decided that I'd start by clicking through a friends blog roll one at a time.

I managed to get myself involved in a quilt swap that I'm so excited about through a link to Angry Chicken. I was so excited because I though tomorrow night was fabric shopping night and then I realized Judy has school. Ooohhh I can't wait to get my swap package in the mail.

Today I found one of the coolest ideas at Thinking Mama. She makes these coffee sweaters which are a reusable coffee sleeve made of wool and also she ventured into making covers for kleen canteens. Since I've come up with this crafty little idea of making cool reusable lunch kits for christmas gifts these will be the perfect addition. I have the common sense to know I can't make them myself and have them be so cute. I hope she'll make a couple for me. Follow the link on my blog to enter to win one of her cool coffee sweaters or just visit her etsy store and buy one for yourself.

The Saddest Fabric Story Ever

Really it's not that sad as my Aunt is still alive, my daughter is still alive, I'm still alive, and it was just a possession. Any one of those would have made this one of those true heart breakers. None the less, in my book, it's still a tragedy.

One weekend I went out to the coast to spend a few days with my Mother. My Aunt Evelyn happened to be down for the weekend too. Which if you've ever been down to the Dawson compound you know it's not unusual that we have a gaggle. I think Mom and I were working on Ruby's nap blanket at the time and needed something from the fabric store in Wheeler. (Creative Fabrics Highway 101 Wheeler, OR 97145 - 503.368.5900) Any excuse really though. While we wandered I discovered a pair of fabrics that screamed "ANGIE".

I showed them off and told everyone someday I'd make something out of them. In the same trip I found a great bag pattern by Amy Butler that I loved and really wanted to make.

So my Auntie being the fabulous and talented woman that she is decided to make the much loved bag out of the much loved fabric. It turned out perfect! I loved it and took it everywhere. I received so many comments and just couldn't have been happier with it, it was so me. One day the little love of my life who happened to be having trouble not disturbing all her friends at nap time was supposed to bring a bag of stuff to quietly do during this torcherous time of the day for her. Due to a communication breakdown between the Mom's I got to school and had to throw it together with things from my car. The only thing to carry the goodies was my beloved bag. I figured it would be fine for one day. I was wrong. There was no bag when I went to pick her up and we looked all over. It didn't turn up over the next days, weeks, or months. After they lost and returned Ephraim's Special Blankie months after we no longer attended the center I finally had to acknowledge that it's never coming back. Immediatly upon the discovery it was missing though we started looking for more of the fabric just in case. Apparently there are many a fabric monger out there who are hiding it in their stash or have already put it to good use in a project because we've never found more than fat quarters. Why post about this now? I've been struggling with the direction I want to go with my BTRS lap-quilt. I can't let my love of that fabric go. I keep looking on-line for something that will speak to me like that one did. I want something that my partner can have fun with and will be able to know that I am so in love with the fabrics that whatever they do with it will only bring me more joy. I went through Mom's stash this weekend and pulled out the one piece of my favorite fabric we have left and am praying for inspiration when I go to the store on Wednesday night to pick out the things for my swap quilt.

Arr.... Me Be Forgettin It Be Pirate Day.

I canna b'lieve I forgot 'tis gentleman o' fortune tide! We`ve been celebratin' this holiday fer th' last several voyages an' tho 'tis totally silly we sure do be havin' fun wi' 't. Life be so busy I totally forgot till I saw a wee blurb on th' MSN fore page. Maybe next voyage we`ll get aft t' an actual party. We`re goin' ou' t' th' coast fer th' weekend an' I be lookin' fore t' goin' into th' quilt shop t' pick up me fabrics hopefully!

http://talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html

Kids and Germs

Don't you ever just wish you could put your kids in a bubble. Some kind of protective something that would keep them from catching and bringing home every virus that walks past them. Oh wait.... I think that's called an immune system. Poor Ephraim, his system just doesn't have the same strength as Ruby's. He got sick with a nasty fever thing last Thursday night. He was feeling well enough to go to school on Friday but then quickly took a turn for the worst and I ended up having to go get him from school. Judy did a great job of taking care of him for the rest of the day and handled his barfing like a champ. He was just a sad little sick boy. Every time the fever would go up he'd start barfing until the next dose of medicine got the fever back down. On Saturday we ended up taking him into the ER at the advice of his endocrinologist and got fluids and hydrocortisone and he was like a new kid. Unfortunately trying to get the compounded prescription filled on a Sunday was a real treat but in the end we got it all figured out and he has been doing well. We kept him home from school the first day to continue his recovery and yesterday because the steroids were making him a rage full little man and we were afraid he'd just get suspended. I'm curious about going to see Dr. Thompson today and what she'll say about it. For some reason I am having a lot of feelings right now about this. I was talking a little to Jen about it last night and she wondered if it might have had something to do with Megan's death and the guilt feelings of wondering if we shouldn't have done something sooner. I don't know. I can't put my finger on it. I do know that I don't like it. I feel so insecure, like here again I don't know what my child needs. I think that's actually a lot closer to the issue. We've gotten so used to Ephraim as Eph that knowing what to do for him and when is routine. Now that is shaken. Parenting is sure a roller coaster.

What Have I Done?

Ok I'm really excited about this and totally freaked out at the same time! I have always wanted to join a swap and now I have. I've joined the next Bend-the-Rules Sewing swap. It's a lap quilt. I'm actually really really excited about it.

http://btrsswap.blogspot.com/

Who Knew Getting Tomatos To Grow Would Be So Hard?

We have spent all summer nursing these our little plants along and we finally were able to harvest a non-green tomato. It looks like we might even get a couple more. The peppers were great and so easy but these tomatoes have been nothing but trouble. They grew big and leafy with lots of flowers but had no fruit. Now we've managed to get a few fruit on each plant but it's going to be October before they ripen. I think we actually may have to consider putting plastic over them or moving them inside.

A Wedding To Plan

I think the world might stop spinning on it's axis. I, Angie Dawson, am going to have a wedding. The getting and being married is of no real surprise to those who know me and know how much Judy means to me. I have never though in any of this imagined myself as the bride type. In fact it scares the crap out of me. My social anxiety and desire not to be the center of attention makes me totally freaked about this. Yet, there is nothing I want more than to go before my friends and family and have them recognize our life as it is. That this amazing woman in my life is more than just my friend or lover, she is my partner for life, she is my wife. She is a gift that I didn't believe was even possible and one that I neither felt I deserved or desired. She has shown me true love and what it means to find your soul mate. My life is still my life with her, only now it feels whole. There are still good days and bad days. My bi-polar still effects my life daily, I still have children with special needs, I still have to work and pay bills. It is that I am able to live those things to their fullest now with Judy by my side. She accepts me as I am, my children for who they are and the potential they hold, and supports me in the every day things of life. Where before I struggled now I thrive. I am so very lucky. However..... a WEDDING???? I get excited then I freak out. I want it to be great and fun and just right for us. We are almost 100% that we want to have it at the Nehalem Bay Winery. Well... we are 100% that we will be having Oregon Riesling and the Peach Wine at the wedding so why not just have it their at the winery and save the wine travel! I said we're getting married in hoodies and jeans. However, it seems that we may be opting for something a little more formal. I think though we are seriously going to make hoodies and jeans the dress code for our guests. More plans to come.