Catching Up....

Hello, my poor, neglected blog.... I've missed you~ and all my blog friends, too. 

Life has a way of "getting in the way" sometimes... 

I've been spending a little time away from the computer trying to help my Dad... 

He was sick for a couple of weeks after Christmas, 

but lately I've been having to sort out some problems with insurance and his medicine. 

This whole process has been very frustrating for me, 

and I can only imagine how frustrating it is for him, or any older person for that matter. 

Growing old should never have to be this complicated.... *sigh*...

He will be 78 this week and even though his steps are slow these days, 

he is still a hoot to be around. 

You never know what will pop out of his mouth next, and that makes life interesting. :)

I thought I would share some things from my sewing room with you here today....

I finally finished the baby quilt~ 

(and before the baby arrived too! Yay, me!)

This was my feeble first attempt at "stippling"... 

I didn't do as bad as I thought I would, but I can see where I need improvement.

 The other big news from my sewing room~ 

Hubby felt sorry for me after seeing me try to quilt on my old machine... 

I was really struggling to fit the quilt inside the "throat" of the machine, which was very small. 

So....

He surprised me for Valentine's Day with a brand new machine!! 

*squeeeeal*

He had been looking at some online and doing research on which machines were better for quilting 

(isn't that sweet? I think I'll keep him...) and he said "I think you need this one." 

Well, after putting up quite a fight, (you know I really did... not...) 

we took my old one in to trade it for the new one. 

I shed a tear when I walked out without my old faithful because I had spent many hours with that machine, but I'm okay now. *giggle*

I made my first "real" quilt block over the weekend...

 By "real" quilt block I mean the first one I actually cut out all the squares and triangles and pieced myself. It took me sooo long to do just one, I'll have to get a lot better and quicker to tackle a whole quilt like this. I think I'll make another one and turn them into potholders. :)

Oh, and here are some fuzzy-bottoms for your viewing pleasure...

(which has nothing to do with sewing or quilting, I just thought it was cute... *squeal*)

  

 And here is a picture of Lily, gnawing on a stick.

(Which also has nothing to do with sewing or quilting....)

Happy Wednesday, everyone~ 

I'm off to get caught up on my blog reading and see what's been going on with you!