Becky’s Adventures in Quilting and Travel

 I've followed Carol' s Virtual Christmas Cookie Exchange for several years but this is the first year I've joined because I really don't do a lot of baking.  The farm market near us makes such good cookies and there's so much less mess to clean up! While I don't bake we do have a number of traditions we've made as our little family of two.  From the first year we were married one family tradition has been that I make a breakfast casserole we had on our mini-honeymoon for Christmas breakfast and I stay in the room  while my husband watched The Christmas Story (he watches it many times but I'm not really a fan so this is one of the only times I watch it with him.). I will also make this casserole for my church's fellowship time occasionally and I'm often asked for the recipe. Croissants A'La Orange 6  plain croissants (I usually buy pre-made from the grocery store and use the whole package)   1 (9 ounce)  jar orange marmalade   3 ounces orang...

Thanks to Carla at  Creating’ in the sticks  for organizing this blog hop.  This summer I celebrated my 40th birthday with a 40 and fabulous girls weekend at Berkeley SpringsWest Virginia with a group of friends.  All but one of us were turning 40 this year so I thought a little gift for each would be nice.  I thought mug rugs would be nice so we could sit our drinks on them to not get them mixed up. By the time I got around to making anything I was pressed for time and forgot to take  pictures of all of them, but I was able to get pictures of my own and two of the others.  My mug rug-the thread even looks like Mettler, which is my machine’s preferred brand!  My friend Jess is a nurse and pink is her favorite color.   My friend Jena loves cherries.   Then I decided that since their hop is in the fall I needed something more seasonal.  I am participating in a block exchange from Fat Cat Patterns in her Facebook group.  When...

 Carla  couldn't have possibly known how appropriate this hop would be for me.  Our challenge was to make a project featuring orange and the MS awareness ribbon is orange. The timing made this especially appropriate, I requested August 19 because it is exactly one year since I heard "we need to do more testing to rule out MS." I had been experiencing numbness in my hand that was initially attributed to a pinched nerve but wasn't responding to treatments and an MRI showed possible lesions.  I went for testing and at the end of September they confirmed an MS diagnosis.   I'd been considering making myself an orange ribbon wallhanging from Sew Kind of Wonderful ‘s free pink ribbon pattern, for a while and conquer sewing curves in the process; this was the push I needed to get it completed.  Now I know it sounds odd to make a quilt commemorating my illness for "orange you glad."  I'm certainly not glad that I have MS, but in the year since I've learn...

We had been scheduled to take a cruise over the 4th this year, so when that was cancelled we started to talk about where else we could go.  With many museums and indoor attractions still not open we wanted something that we could spend the majority of the time outside, somewhere we could camp and we wanted to add at least one state to our visited totals, so we were definitely traveling west.  I came across a post from another blogger I follow from a few years ago in which they compared Door County Wisconsin to the Outer Banks in North Carolina and ran it by my husband.  Initially he couldn't imagine Wisconsin being like the Outer Banks but once we started to research he agreed.   We were very late to the planning process but were able to get a site at Fish Creek Campground, which we estimated would be a nice central location on the Peninsula.  I am always nervous booking private campgrounds because some are very close together and you never know what to exp...

 When  Carol  announced this hop was about using masculine fabrics or making a project for one of the guys in your life I hoped it would be the inspiration I needed to finish the next quilt from my Grandfather's shirts.  However, in the back of mind I knew I had a back up plan of two projects I'd finished and hadn't blogged about yet and sometimes when there's a clear back up plan it is so easy to let other things come between you and your goal.  Alas, my cousin's quilt is still just a top, but that is probably still further than I'd have gotten without this hop.   When my grandfather passed away in 2018 I gathered his shirts and set out to make a quilt for each of his children and grandchildren.  I finished the one for my mom, the youngest of his children, when everything was shut down and gave it to her rather than making her wait for me to be able to take pictures and blog about it.  For her quilt I chose Bonnie Hunter's Virginia Bound pat...