1/4 of a Century

I am officially one year older (and wiser too...ha, at least I am hoping). When I was younger I never quite understood how anyone could forget how old they were. The older I have become the easier that concept has been to understand. I have spent the past year of my life attempting to calculate my age each time I was asked how old I was because some how I managed to forget. Maybe the big "1/4 of a century" landmark and the fact that I can now get a rental car without paying the extra fee will help me to remember (but...probably not! Let's face it, the memory is fading quickly the older I become).

It was a wonderful birthday with a surprise visit from my Grandma who lives in Arizona. We enjoyed lots of good food, visiting, and seeing a movie. Dave made us all breakfast that morning (stuffed french toast with strawberries-my favorite). I also decided to go straight for opening the presents to kick off my day. I already had received my gift early but Dave wrapped it anyway (in Christmas paper along with a home made Christmas card).

The story behind the paper is that we always seem to fight over wrapping paper. I always want to get fun paper when I am giving someone a gift...his response it typically along the lines of "just use the Christmas paper, we have plenty of it!" I suppose I shouldn't have expected anything less on my birthday! He gave me an external flash for my camera and my parents sent me a spice holder that I have wanted for a while. Each spice container measures in 1/4 tsp. increments with each turn of it's base (convenient if you love to cook and you can keep count). I am pretty excited about the new flash, although I have no clue how to use it yet. For Dessert, (since I am not much of a cake fan) Dave made me Flan, which is one of my favorites!

On to one more year of getting older (and wiser too)...

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Pillows

I found this wonderful greenish/blue fabric with a trellis pattern a while back and I fell in love with it. I figured since I was having my major surgery soon, it might be a perfect project to do with my mom while I was down during recovery. I bought several yards with the intention of making throw pillows for my sofa. I have to admit that this was my first big sewing project and I enlisted the help of many to get it done!

A thank you goes out to Andrea for letting me borrow her sewing machine, my mom for letting me talker her into getting them started after my surgery (we cut out the pattern, and made the piping), and Meghan who came over on my lonely days at home (after my mom had left) and gave me a great lesson in sewing!

The picture doesn't do them justice, because you miss the wonderful textural quality of the fabric and the beautiful coloration. But I simply couldn't help post a picture to show them off and to send out a big thank you to all who contributed in the process.

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