Something Quilty for my Birthday

We are still in Sarasota for another month.  Today is my birthday.  I got a wonderful surprise this morning when the FedEx truck pulled up.  My sister Katy sent me a package with this cheerful apron and potholders!

Upon closer inspection, some of those fabrics looked very familiar!  When we moved from our Raleigh house, I gave Katy several huge bags of fabric scraps.  She works with an organization that helps disabled adults with careers and living arrangements.  The recipient of my fabrics made this cute set.  The pockets and potholders are my fabrics!  Now look what I could have been doing!

She also sent me this beautiful card that matches the apron, and also looks like patchwork butterflies.  Be prepared to see these again, perhaps on my Bible journal pages!

Charlie took me shopping for my birthday at the Apple store.  He said he has not been able to shop for me because I am always with him down here!  No complaints, I have this beautiful Apple watch with a ribbon watchband.  It is fun trying to learn how to use it.  I have this flowering watch face that changes to different colored blooms.

I bought him an i-Watch when we were down here in 2015 for his first radiation.  So now I have an expert on hand to show me how to use it.  He also bought me this nice product that we were introduced to at the Table restaurant.  Their restrooms had this great-smelling hand scrub made from salt filtered from the gulf waters in this area.  We found some of the product when we were looking for a gift for our sister-in-law who is coming down tomorrow.  

Tonight we are going on a party boat cruise around Sarasota Bay at sunset.  This was a gift from my children before they left last week.  There will be a musician playing Jimmy Buffett music, live palm trees, and a bar mixing up some birthday margaritas, I hope!  

I feel very grateful to be in this beautiful city for my birthday, even though I have to be away from home.  Healing for Charlie, and wonderful experiences and memories for both of us.

Family Fun

Lily's Birthday card...one of my watercolor prints with a few additions!

Our family has been with us in Florida for almost a week now!  We have had so much fun.  Four extra adults and five extra kids, including nine-month-old Baby Layla.  Lily turned eleven on Tuesday.  We have had great meals, fun at the beach, and trips to the park.  The weather was rainy only one day...the rest of the time we have dodged the showers and even seen rainbows.

Our family...fighting cancer together!

Before they arrived, I ordered bracelets from a company called MudLove.com, with the word Together on each one.  I had bought one at the Mast Store in Boone that said Hope.  When I went to the MudLove website to order more, I found out that you could have the bracelets customized with the word of your choice.  Together has been our family codeword for fighting cancer for the last two years.  

Baby Layla has been delightful.  Baby Kasey is a little jealous.  She thought she was the baby.

Well, it is hard to blog when you have four extra adults, five kids and a dog in the house.  They have all gone back home today.  This house is very, very quiet.  

Big Six-O

Today is my sixtieth birthday.  Yikes!  How did I get so old so fast?

I got a great card from BIL and SIL Richard and Phylis at the beach last week.

I got a good laugh out of this.  So far, I can relate to Rocky, Wrinkly, Squinty, and Saggy; but I'm not looking forward to the others except maybe Nappy.  :)

Here is another great gift from Dave and Emily.  I love the color combination, which is more aqua and coral than the picture shows.  Dave pointed out the special stitching- a true son of a quilter!

Tonight we are going to a great fondue restaurant called The Melting Pot in Raleigh, but I feel like I have been celebrating for a week! Party on!

Happy Birthday, Bryson!

It seems like it took no time at all to go from this:

To this:

To this:

My oldest boy is thirty-three today.  My, how time flies!  Enjoy the day with your little ones, Bryson!

What a weekend!

Another big weekend in the mountains...this time for a gathering of the Turner family and friends to celebrate my father, Pete Turner's, 85th birthday! For the first part of the gathering, we rented the local community building and had birthday cake, fellowship, and story-telling. One of my contributions to the party was this crown for the birthday boy! Since he is an artist, his crown is trimmed with paintbrushes. Here is Dad with another artist he worked with at Ferree Studios in Raleigh.

Dad started off the story-telling. Here he is showing an illustration he is working on for a children's book. The author is another resident of his retirement community, who also came to the party.
After the birthday party, we retired to my sister's land at the family homestead where the men have created what I call the "city park." Here we had music and singing, horseshoes, barbecued chicken, and lots of fun. This is me with my new short haircut, and three of my five brothers: Pat, John, and Tim.

My family was there, including the grandkids. Here is Lily in a very good mood when she woke up in the morning. Notice she is wearing "jewelry" with her pajamas!

Here are two of our neighbors' grandkids that we often see in the mountains. Ricky and Aaron were very amused by one of those musical birthday cards. This one plays the beginning of the song "Wipe Out."
With all the cooking and party prep and visiting, I did not get to spend much time on the mountain this weekend. But after everyone left, Charlie and I took one Gator ride to the top. The leaves are just starting to change color.
It was a gorgeous weekend, with cool temps and clear blue skies.
A last look from the top of the hill before heading home.

Today I will be getting two quilts ready to send off to Innovations, and getting ready for the kitchen floor to be installed on Wednesday. Better get going!