Thank a Vet Today!

Although this cartoon was created for Veteran's Day - the message holds true today. My dad was a veteran - served in the Navy during WWII, and was even present at Pearl Harbor. My father-in-law served in the Army in Panama; both of my brothers served in the Navy during the Vietnam War; my brother-in-law was in the Reserves, and my husband served in the Army during Vietnam. Scott was a singer with the U.S.Army Field Band and Soldiers Chorus. He traveled the U.S., performing mostly in schools. You can hear them, here. I am so proud of my family's military service - and of my country. Happy 4th of July, everyone!

Color Challenge #4 & 5 - Peach and Bright Yellow

I have always loved the color peach, and I had a nice selection in my stash. One of my favorite fabrics right now is the dotty print, which ranges from peach through yellows, into green - with splashes of hot pink. The fabric provided a starting point for my scheme. Here is one piece of my made fabric. From the made fabric, I cut triangle sections using a paper template and rotary cutter and ruler.

Finished peach block - I love how it turned out! The pink/gold print, used for the "X", is also a favorite. This block reminds me of the actual colors of a peach - not just peach, but the goldy-yellow tones, and the hot pink/magenta inside. Yum!

Bright yellow proved to be a very fun - and also delicious - challenge! For this block, I assembled all of my various yellows, plus a couple pops of pink and lime green. I used a pale lime for the "X".

Finished block - I call it Lemon Meringue Pie - sweet and tart!

Color Challenge #3 - Avocado

Time to catch up on my color challenge posting - and on posting in general!

Our home laptop is a little old, and a little slow, and - well - that's about my only excuses. So here we go:

To review - Victoria, over at 15 Minutes Play, has been issuing a weekly color challenge. We assemble scraps of the assigned color, plus other colors to match and/or contrast . It has been interesting to see how different colors work together (play together?), which I would not have usually chosen to "match". I had lots of green prints - from my deep stash - including this spashy Alexander Henry print, which is gorgeous! I ended up adding hot pinks, oranges, and golds with the avocado.

I used a red batik for the "X" of the block.

First three finished color challenge blocks: mauve, ochre, and avocado.

Stay tuned for more colors!

Not a typical week - but a great week!

Paris Opera Ballet at Millenium Park.

We love going to concerts and plays! We don't do it very often, but in the past week or so - we've seen three great performances! We saw the musical play, "The Light in the Piazza", at Theo Ubique in Chicago. A dear friend recommended it - and we are so glad we went! It was outstanding!

Featured in a supporting role is Justin Adair, who was a high school classmate of our daughter, Emily. Justin sang like an angel back then, and now - oh my goodness, he is amazing! A lovely, strong, rich lyric baritone voice, with the sweetest high notes, too - and a great actor, too - Justin just received the Jeff Award (the Chicago version of the Tony Awards) for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical. If you go here, you can hear him singing a selection from the show.

We also were able to attend not one but two performances at Chicago's wonderful Millenium Park. Don't you love the Pritzker Pavillion, designed by Frank Gehry?

We attended opening night of the Grant Park Symphony, and also a very special performance by the...Paris Ballet! They were performing live, in the Harris Theater (located behind the pavillion), and it was projected onto a HUGE, state-of-the-art screen, on the stage. We sat on the grass, had a picnic, and enjoyed the Paris Ballet. What a night!

Meeting the Boyfriend

We recently had the pleasure of hosting a special dinner at home - to get to know "the boyfriend" - and as we expected, all went well, and we think he is great!

We had a casual dinner at home, out on the breezeway, then drove over to Naperville to have drinks and dessert at Potter's Place - where we know an EXCELLENT waitress! (Hannah)

Our honorary daughter, Genevieve (darling girl, we love her!), and her special bf, Nick.

Nick obviously has good taste, to be dating Gen - we think Gen is tops! It has been 7 years this month, since Gen became a very special part of the Hudson family. And we couldn't be happier about it!

Waitress extraordinaire, Hannah Hudson - in action! She went from new waitress to seasoned/excellent waitress, almost overnight. Her first day was Cinco de Mayo (it's a Mexican restaurant), very busy - and about her second day was Mother's Day, also very busy - and oh yeah, their internet connection wasn't working, so they couldn't run credit card orders through, cash only. She weathered it well! (I'm proud, can you tell?)

It was a great evening! You've got nothing to worry about, Nick - we think you're great!

Cohie Boy

This darling puppy is now almost 4 years old, and lives with us. His name is Cohen, and he is actually belongs to our daughter, Emily - but due to his incessant barking whenever she would leave the apartment, he has lived with us for the past year.

Emily adopted him from the local Brew Beagle Rescue group, as Cohen is part Beagle.

LOTS of dogs are part Beagle.

Isn't he precious? Doesn't he look like he'd be no trouble at all?

Looks can be deceiving! Sometimes, I call him "Mr T" - as in, Mr Trouble, or Mr Tinkles. Although, he is much better on the second thing now!

Cohen is obviously part Beagle - just take a look at his pretty, pretty coat.

Yes, he IS pretty - even though he is a boy. Pretty boy!

But he is also part JACK RUSSEL TERRIER. Have you heard of this breed? SUPER high energy, SUPER high intelligence - which means he is very smart about finding ways to get into trouble. Hence the Mr Trouble part.

He has been known to get UP ON TOP OF THE DINING ROOM TABLE, if something up there is very interesting. Once, he dug in a potted poinsettia. Thankfully, he didn't eat the plant.

Recently, Scott left a partially eaten pizza on the table while walking Dora (our other dog). The pizza was GONE when he got back into the house. Also thankfully, Cohen suffered no ill effects.

This IS Cohen - a fun, free-spirited doggie. Yes, trouble sometimes - but he is so sweet, and charming, and we love him to bits.

Concert May 6!!!

This is the FUMC 4 - a GREAT men's quartet from my church, Downers Grove First United Methodist Church (FUMC, get it?).  Left to right - Ward Feste, Mark Kostelny, my husband Scott, and Brett Goad. They are great guys, one an all, and their music is TOPS!

Come out and support a good cause - and hear a great concert! They rock!