A few days away

DH and I are heading out tomorrow morning for a short trip to the Oregon coast. Tomorrow is our 39th anniversary. We will head first to Tillamook where I will visit Jane's Fabric Patch, and then we'll head to the Tillamook cheese factory. A few years ago we took the full tour to see how the cheeses are made - absolutely fascinating! This time we're going for lunch and ice cream - Tillamook ice cream is some of the best! Then we'll head south. DH has agreed to stop at quilt shops along the way - what a guy! We have reservations for two nights in Newport - right on the beach with an ocean view. I'm so looking forward to the trip. It's been years and years since we've had a chance to do something like this - Shadow just wasn't healthy enough for us to take off and leave him.

I spent most of the last few days baby sitting - taking care of Joseph is so much fun! Rick's mom is currently battling a bad asthma attack so I did her Wednesday in addition to my Tuesday and Thursday. Our nice weather is back - finally! - so we walked to the park yesterday. They have a baby swing, and I was eager to see how he liked it. He just loved it, and laughed and laughed the entire time he was swinging. Next time I must take my camera!

Fred set up the camper in the driveway this week so we could get it cleaned out, the water tank drained of antifreeze, and the beds remade. Today I finally had a chance to wash the sheets and remake the beds with our new camping quilts. Don't they look great? I can hardly wait to sleep under them. It was so satisfying to put the filthy worn out 37 year old down sleeping bags into the garbage. We've been using them as blankets by opening them up and stretching them over the sheets, but the down was so lumped and clumped that they were mostly unsatisfactory. We'll put a couple more blankets in one of the storage benches for cold nights, but I imagine with the wool batting these quilts will be all we need for most nights.

Peg at Happy in Quilting has issued a UFO challenge. Anyone accepting the challenge is to change at least five unquilted tops - flimsies - into finished quilts by the end of July. I've thought about this challenge ever since she issued it - should I accept it or not? I've finally decided hey - what the heck - why not accept it. I certainly have enoughed finished flimsies! So, starting with the Irish chain I loaded onto Gandalf last Monday, I'm pushing myself to satisfy Peg's challenge. Hopefully this public acceptance will spur me on to success!

Once again I'm caught up on my blog reading. I just stopped commenting and started skimming so it wouldn't take another week or more. seems like I've said this before - I sure hope I can stay caught up this time! Now that I'm current I'll start commenting again. I really miss doing that! Have a great weekend, everyone, and I'll "see" you when I return early next week.