Hands To Work

Busy Weekend

My parents spent the weekend with us and we all went to the air show in Martinsburg on Saturday.  I whined and complained because I thought it would be boring.  Hot.  Too many people.  You know how I am.  I never want to leave my house.  But I put on my big girl pants and joined the family.  So glad I did.  It was a lot of fun.  Especially since my son Matt spent the whole day with us!

I'm so happy that my kids enjoy each other.  Matt and Courtney are 18 months apart in age and when little, were so close.  Then they spent many years pretending they didn't know each other.  Now that they are adults, they have a great time together.  That makes a mom happy.

The day wasn't without it's problems.  Lots of kinks in the shuttle schedule to and from the parking areas.  We spent quite a bit of time in line waiting for buses and still had to walk and walk and walk.  It was tiring for my parents.  My mom was a good sport but Dad.  Cranky.  Very, very cranky!!!

Sunday we went to church and out to eat TWICE!  Sunday evening we took the parents to Five Guys.  A first for them.  Who doesn't need a healthy portion of fried food once in a while.  We sat outside as the weather was perfect and Lily entertained us with made up songs.  Dad finally got out of his grumpy pants!

Yesterday was spent at the farmer's market, cooking delicious fresh veggies and washing lots and lots of laundry.  All in all it was a great weekend and hated to see it end.  But I'm reluctantly getting back in the groove today and hope to get a lot accomplished this week! 

So how was your weekend?

Dislaimer: All pictures were taken by my iphone and since I'm too lazy to carry a camera any longer, this is the best that my photos will get.  Please accept me with all of my quirks!

Hello Friends

I've held on to my blog as I've been unable to make a decision.  Do I keep it and start posting?  Do I accept the reality that I'm not a needlework designer any more.  Does anyone care whether I post updates?  After reading an article here about the friends that are made online and how special they can be I realized that I can't just quit posting.  I have so many long distance friends.  People that I can count on even though I have never seen them face to face.  We have shared loves.  Our families, our stitching, our crazy animals.  Even though I won't be showcasing new designs here, I will be talking about stitching.  I love needlework.  And even when I'm not holding a needle, I'm thinking about what I can start, what needs finished, drooling over another's recent finish.  Ahh, I feel better. 

Recent news from the Riffle family: It's been a HOT summer.  You can see that we have more dirt than grass in our yard.  Between the heat, lack of rain and dogs my yard is looking seriously bad.

Lily and Elisabeth are moving back in with us.  I'm okay with it.  I enjoyed my year with them in the apartment but now that E is back in school she doesn't have the extra money to stay on her own.  She is taking classes at The Temple A Paul Mitchell School and will be finished in late June 2011.  She is loving it.  Finally found what she really wants to do.  And I will get all the hair cuts and color that I want!  And pedicures. Ahhhhh...

Courtney and I will be traveling to Spring Green Wisconsin to attend Boxwood and Berries Workshop with the Blackbird Design girls, Maggie Bonanomi and Stacey Nash.   This is one of Maggie's projects.  It's a box with wool applique' on the top.  Cool, huh?  I'm so excited.  This is a much needed trip!

Chuck and I recently celebrated out 30th wedding anniversary.  I remember when we got married, talking about what we would be like in 30 years.  Funny cause I feel the same now as I did when I was 20.  I'm so blessed to have such an awesome husband.  He obviously loves me as he has tolerated me for so long!!!

I also turned 50! in June.  Wow oh wow.  That came along in a hurry.  Where did my 40's go???  The last ten years have just flown by.  And a lot has happened in those ten years.  My life has dramatically changed.  But mostly for the better.  I have an awesome grand daughter, an amazing son in law, Chuck and I both have great jobs.  We love where we live.  I was able to be a needlework designer for 5 years.  And I have met great friends over the last decade.  Lifelong friends.  Lucky me.

Thanks for hanging in there with me.  I have lots more to talk about.  Hope your summer was wonderful and so long August.

  
  

My Remains of the Day Journal and video

Here is a video of my Remains of the Day journal from Mary Ann Moss.  This has been the most fun class I have ever taken!  I can't quit making pages.  I'm working on a second journal and am going to use the same concept and make a little book for Lily.

If you aren't familiar with Mary Ann, check out her blog and watch her video about the class.  She is so clever and creative!

Sorry the video is oh so long.  Skip through parts if you just can't take it! 

Remains of the Day Journal from Tracy Riffle on Vimeo.

Pennsylvania

I'm in Wellsboro Pennsylvania for three days and a snowstorm is coming!  I'm so excited I can hardly stand it.  We have only had about an inch and a half of snow at home.  There is about six inches on the ground already and the roads are clear and apparently it's no big deal here.  I walked up the street this afternoon and visited the nicest quilt shop.  While there I had to buy a few things.  So I stocked up on a few books, patterns and fat quarters.  The girls there were so very nice.  Then I ate a huge dinner at an authentic 1938 diner.  Now I'm in my pjs and knitting to my heart's content. 

Another exciting event in my day is the new season of The Closer on TNT.  I love, love, love Brenda.  Woo Hoo, life is good.

later guys.

ps  see some beautiful snowflake pics on Paulette's blog.

Home again, home again.

Oh Neptune, how I miss you.  (I called him King Triton....looked just like Ariel's father to me).  You were there to greet me each day as I schlepped down to the beach in my cute little skirted bathing suit.  You were there every evening looking over the live bands that performed on the green beside the hotel.  I hope to see you again someday my friend.

Sorry, had a moment missing the sand, sun and surf. 

I'm home again.  Back to reality.  As I sit here I'm listening to Lily fuss in her crib.  Sounds like she is standing up and bouncing on the mattress.  She is way too mobile for six months.  Anyway, thought I would share a few things from my trip.  I had a marvelous time.  Robin picked my up on a Friday, we loaded the Jeep and away we went.  The drive was about four hours and we had a lot of sitting in traffic.  But all worth it when we arrived at the Oceanfront Hilton where a bellhop and valet parking service boys were waiting.  Ahhhh.  How nice to hand over the keys and forget about the car. 

Our room was a little smaller than we expected but who cares.  We were at the beach!  And it was a freebie trip for me.  Robin was there for a conference and I was there to hang out.  Nice. 

Our first trip was to Dyeing To Stitch.  This is the shop that is owned by the R&R girls, Pat and Anne.  It's a beautiful shop with tons of models.  Oh, I had such fun!  Everyone was so super nice and made me feel special.  Thanks girls!

 

I visited Dyeing To Stitch two times....first dragging along Robin who is not a stitcher and again on Tuesday by myself.  Robin even bought two graphs and a piece of linen.  I was excited as she a) hasn't stitched since the early 90's and b) doesn't part with her money very often.  Guess I'm a bad influence! 

Another highlight of the week was seeing the movie Baby Mamma.  Oh how I laughed.  Crazy funny!  I highly recommend this movie.  I'm sure this one will be purchased for our dvd collection!

The best part of the stay?  Guess I would have to say the accomodaions.  Not only was the service amazing, but the roof top pool.  Oh it was awesome.  Perfect place to lounge and read.  This isn't such a great picture but you get the idea.  Too bad the water had just lost the top coating of ice and only the Polar Bear Club would attempt to swim in it.  That's okay, I enjoyed the view.

We ate at some wonderful restaurants, my favorite being Gordon Beirsch.  Yum!  We also ate at a quirkly little restaurant called Tautog and was set in a 1926 cottage.  We ate on the porch and watched it rain.  Then we ran back to hotel....all 7 blocks and felt better about ourselves since we could add exercise to our week's activities!

 

Here is Robin before she left for one of her meetings.  I am sitting beside her in full pool attire.  And I didn't feel one bit of sympathy for her!

My parents drove home from Florida and arrived here last Friday for a few days.  They coudn't get over how big Lily had gotten.  They left for Florida after Christmas and she was so tiny then.  Lily loved my Dad and couldn't quit looking at him.  Here they are the morning Mom and Dad left.  Don't you love that bed head that Lily is sporting?

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you about the James Taylor concert.  Wow!  We had great seats in row P.  Row P.  Yep, that's not the front row seats that I had somehow convinced myself that I had and told every single person at the Hilton that I saw.  But still pretty dang good.  Jimmy--I feel close to him now so I think I can call him Jimmy--gave a great concert...wide range of songs and three encores.  I sang along, danced in my seat, standing and in the aisle.  Okay, I can't dance but I swayed and clapped and totally enjoyed myself.  His singing was so awesome, just like he sounds on his cds.  I love him.  I would marry him just so he could sing to me every day.  And I could harmonize with him.  And we would make beautiful music together............

So there you have it.  A week in review.  I highly recommend Virginia Beach as a weekend trip if you are in the area.  It was very nice.  The Hilton was fabulous.  Dyeing To Stitch was such fun...so great to be in a shop again.  I got very inspired.  So now I'm off to work.  See ya!