Memorial Day Weekend--So Far

On Saturday morning, we were up and out of the house by around 9:30 to head south to Salinas. On the drive, I was busily stitching the binding of the quilt I made for my brother and his wife. In fact, we stopped a mile before reaching their home for about ten minutes so I could stitch the last few inches of binding!

Jon and Debbie have a cabin theme going on, and I thought this quilt would go well with what they have. I've been working on it on and off for the past year and a half--more "off" than "on." Unfortunately, this isn't a great photo, but it's the best out of three I took, and the quilt holders were getting tired.

Hubby had decided on a different route than I had in mind, so we were able to stop at only one quilt shop, Homespun Harbor, in Hollister, California. What a cute shop, and the people were so friendly too! I really liked the way they packaged their FQ bundles and decided I really NEEDED to take one home with me. They had a nice selection of "man" prints, and since my son works in kitchen cabinet refacing, I found a bundle that seemed just perfect for making him a small quilt--

And then, because I don't want it to be TOO small, I found a few more FQs to go with the bundle.

We enjoyed a nice visit with my mom when we arrived. As little old ladies seem to do, she's lost a lot of weight and seems tiny and fragile, but other than recovering from the hip fracture, she's in pretty good health and is looking forward to returning home to her own apartment soon.

I really SHOULD have taken more photos at my brother's house. We hadn't seen Debbie's son, Nick, for a few years, and in that time, he's gone from being a teenager to a young man. My brother and his first wife divorced about 15 years ago, and we hadn't seen any of my brother's three kids in that time, so it was a real treat to see his oldest boy, Mark, who is living with them and going to college now. Both boys are great--very friendly and helpful.

Jon and Debbie LOVE animals and they've always had quite a menagerie. At current count--if I haven't forgotten anyone--they have four cats, a dog, four birds, and a tortoise, as well as a koi pond, a few bullfrogs, and an aquarium where they're raising tadpoles who will eventually turn into more bullfrogs.

After our afternoon visit, my brother took my mom back to the nursing home for her dinner, while Hubby and I checked into our hotel. After freshening up, we met up with my brother's family for a nice dinner out.

Stuffed to the gils, we returned to Jon's house and sorted through old photographs my mom had given him to divide up. Most were from our "growing up" years, but I found these old photos in the bunch--

The black and white photos were taken in the 1950s of my mom and dad as well as the "bathing beauty" one of my mom on the beach at Santa Cruz. The colored photo on the bottom is of my mom's mom taken in 1970 at Monterey. I want to have copies of these made for my kids.

After a good night's sleep, we had a fantastic breakfast buffet at the Courtyard Marriott and headed north again to Sacramento. I persuaded Hubby to divert from the freeway briefly for a stop at a Morgan Hill quilt shop, but the shop was closed. Morgan Hill was having their Mushroom Mardigras, and it was tempting to stop for some mushroom treats, but we were still stuffed from breakfast and ready to head home, so we settled on a quick stop at Starbucks instead.

We arrived home around 2 p.m. Hubby thought he might take a nap when we got home, but for some reason, he changed his mind, so I took the nap for him! Later, since there wasn't anything on TV I cared to watch, I cleaned house and read a little bit. I MEANT to post before going to bed, but by the time the house was clean, I was too tired to write anything that made much sense.

Today I plan to work and play in the Sweat Shop. It's time, again, to get the room under control, because it's starting to look like a fabric bomb exploded in there again. I hope you're having a great weekend too!