A Bright Star Quilt

I made a 60" x 68" bright star quilt for dad & Sheila for Christmas. They are going to decorate and have a lemon and deep-red living room so I tried to pick colors that would match. This was my first attempt at a star and I think I did okay! I hope they spend time snuggled under it watching telly.
I picked the most wonderful, soft, mustard-colored flannel backing and chose a contrasting light blue binding that tied in a little with the flower squares. I love this quilt and hope they do too.

American Quilt

This is the 60" x 80" American flag quilt that I made Craig's mum & dad for Christmas. I picked fabric that I thought they'd love, with some hints of Americana. The backing is a pretty zigzag flannel fabric that's very soft. My attempt at a homemade label looks, well homemade, but I guess that's the point.

While it was being made I loved picturing them using it. Throwing it onto their living room carpet for their great-grandkids to play on, or snuggling under it in winter when they watch Eastenders. I hope they get lots of use out of it. It was definitely made with love.

A Memory Quilt

I made this 65" x 65" quilt for mum and Tom for Christmas. It was my first "disappearing 9 patch" quilt. It has a warm grey flannel backing and polka-dot binding. I chose the cotton fabrics carefully, ordering many of them custom-printed from Spoonflower.

It represents their adventures in America: the trips across the wild west, the heartfelt moments at Gettysburg and their love for Johnny Cash and guitars. It's bright and possibly a bit busy but then it holds so many memories.  I hope they look at each square and think back to the amazing times we've had together.  My favorite is the Native American square. I wonder what theirs will be?

A Beautiful Tree

Our neighbor's Christmas tree is amazing. Every year I say this and I probably have 50 posts on here talking about it, but look at it. What a beauty.

Christmas Eve Eve

The sickness that has invaded our lives is subsiding. We are both off work now for a few days and we are (sort of) ready. Time to have fun with the kids and be jolly!

With friends at the Fantasy of Lights

Warm sticky buns for breakfast

A drive through the Fantasy of Lights

Porch Love

The porch is done! The city came today and signed off on the permit so we hung some lights and set out a chair & ottoman.  It looks a bit hillbilly as we have yet to paint it and put railings up but I loved sitting out there. It will be my most used "room". I'm going to sit on it in the morning before work with my coffee and at night with a glass of wine. I'm going to sit and watch thunderstorms and snow fall. I'm going to decorate it and escape to it when my kids are driving me up the wall.
Loving my porch.

Housebound & Happy About it

I wish I was the resting kind. I can't nap, or lay around and do nothing, even for a minute. So the last two weeks have been busy as usual, but also abnormally brutal. I've had two big conferences (speaking 6 times) and a trip out-of-state to Texas and an overload of end of semester grades and school stuff for the boys and then all the regular stuff I'm supposed to do. Like hoover my house and walk the dog. Neither of those things have happened so my house has hairballs the size of footballs and my dog might just have gone crazy ape shit bonkers through being cooped up so long. New Years resolution number one - get a dog walker.

I got home from Texas at 10.30pm on Wednesday night and hit a wall: earache, sore throat and achy bones. Turns out I have strep throat and my doctor ORDERED me to rest. Told me not to leave the house for two days. Yay! I can be a slob and not brush my teeth till noon. And be in the house on my own. No kids following me from room to room saying "mum, mum, mum, mum, mum, mum...."

So I'm cleaning, wrapping, cooking, dealing with work stuff and of course not resting. But it's a damn site more enjoyable when you are at home and bra-less.

"Bring out yer dead!"

Santa Visit 2014

We took the boys to see our favorite Santa. Is this guy the real deal or what? Completely rotund. I'm fairly sure both my boys still believe. If Jack doesn't then he's doing a good job of pretending he does.
 
We also took them to Toys R Us to spend their money from grandparents. They were like kids in a toy shop obviously. Jack got army figures and planes and Daniel got a huge teddy and some Minecraft stuff. I feel a bit weird letting them play with it before Christmas but also don't want to make a big deal about making them wait another week. I just don't have the energy for that right now.

December Started with a Flourish

December so far has been bonkers. Filled with parties, work conferences and events at the boy's school. But I am not complaining, we love the Christmas season. There's still a work trip to Texas to get out of the way before I can really feel relaxed and excited but today we are going to see Santa.

Daniel took a little while to warm up to his concert but then rocked it!

British Expat Party

Jack and his friend David

Becoming an American

Swearing allegiance to another country is not a small feat. We woke up this morning with knots in our chest and feeling jittery. Both of us didn't get a good nights sleep, but Craig let me lie in a bit as he never gets to see the boys in the morning, so he got the boys to school and we got all the paperwork and stuff ready. I wore my union Jack socks because I still love England and wanted to have that little bit of loyalty. Silly I know. And off we went.

When we parked I saw a young couple. She was wearing a red scarf and they both looked smartly dressed and I had a feeling they were going to the court house too. As we walked towards and into the courthouse we were joined by a few people and you look at each other and smile and feel a certain bond.

When we entered we went through security and then met the woman (I'm going to call her The General) who would be in charge of the proceedings. She was very commanding but so friendly and funny. I was in awe of her all day.  She marched up and down telling us what to do, herded us into the right room, to the right seat, with the right paperwork, at the right time. Craig and I were immediately separated which we thought was horrible but we came back together for the important bit, the oath.

In the preparation room. The General is front center. On the TV is a message from President Obama

After we did a lot of the paperwork (including voting registration) we watched a lovely message from President Obama welcoming us as citizens and then The General gave us flags and we all sang "I'm proud to be an American". The General riled us all up and made us sing as part of a competition. I was in group A and Craig in B. She was stood right in front of Craig and kept egging him on, which if you know Craig was torture!  If you look you'll see the girl in the red scarf on the bottom right supporting her Spanish husband and she's crying, then a man comes and hugs her. He was from the Ukraine, and he's crying also. That's how this event was - very loving and emotional.

So here we all are, singing.  I'm filming, Craig is center right.....

I was sat at next to a young Indian man who wanted to talk about politics but I steered him to more fun topics. The lady sat on the other side of me was from Jamaica and  obviously missed it very much.

After two hours of paperwork we were led through to the courthouse. On the way The General told a woman wearing jeans that she might be told by the judge to leave (no jeans allowed). She also said that if our mobile phones rang we'd be fined $100 so I had mine on airplane mode, and turned right down and I was still nervous about it. But I wanted to take pictures and capture the moment since she told us it was allowed.

At this point Craig and I came back together and were allowed to sit together. The judge entered and we all rose. And now comes the BEST part.  Each person had to stand up and say their name, country of origin, how long they had been in the states and what citizenship meant.

There was 56 of us, from 32 countries. Countries like the UK, Canada, South America, Mauritania, Somalia, Ghana, Bu tan, Iraq, Morocco, Ukraine, Russia, Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, Ghana, and Ethiopia.

Many people had come from countries with civil war and horror and certain death. They were so thankful to be in a country of freedom and civil rights. All of us said we loved the USA. Many spoke of hope, opportunity, friendliness, liberty and love. A Moroccan man told us that the day he arrived he went to Kroger  and didn't speak English but someone helped him buy food. A 79 year old Indian Grandmother tapped me on the shoulder,  held my hand and touched my face with love.  A woman broke down as she talked about living in America her whole life, since she was a baby, and wanting to be a citizen. A young Canadian Couple befriended me and Craig and she shared tissues with me when we got emotional during the event.

I might not always remember their stories or their faces but I will always remember that feeling of absolute love and solidarity in that courtroom. It was an amazing thing to witness and to feel. When we left I held the old Indian woman's hand to steady her and we hugged.

The judge was so great - funny and kind and welcoming. He made an effort to welcome each one of us. After the oath to the US we all did the pledge of allegiance (I kept thanking Danny in my head for saying it so often) and then we celebrated! We all kissed, hugged, and took pictures of each other. I'll never see those people again but we have a lifelong bond.

One of my favourite lines of the day - as The General was guiding us all into the courtroom she had an order: older people, then women and children, and then men. Some men tried to push in and she sent them to the back and said "You're American now. Women first. You better get used to it".

After the oath

A letter from President Obama

Afterwards, at 3pm,  Craig and I finally went for something to eat and talked about it all. We both feel so lucky to be here. We love the USA. But we also love England of course and aways will. We can love both, right? 

November 1 Second