Memorial Day

Service and sacrifice.  Being willing to serve knowing that you could lose your life.  For all those who have lost life in battle or in other service to our Country -- we won't forget.  Thank you.  I took the pictures below at the Vietnam Women's Memorial one July morning before class in 2011.  The light was perfect and I circled it many times, trying to capture its beauty.

This has been a weekend of two halves.  On Saturday, we drove over to Amherst so that Selim could play in a soccer tournament.  In typical New England fashion, Saturday was the hottest day yet this year by many, many degrees.  Both my car and Mom's listed 97 as the air temp.  And that didn't factor in the humidity.  Instead of playing two halves, the games were played in quarters so that the boys could have water breaks.  Substitutions were frequent.  We had a cooler in the back of the car with bottles of sports drinks, water, and watermelon.  The games were hard fought and Selim's team lost both.

Finding a scrap of shade before game #1

So hot and also proud of Selim's play

A bit of cloud cover before the 2nd game. 

At the end of the game, a rainbow appeared behind us.

We got home and formed a line for the shower.  Around 9:00 I realized that I should wash his uniform in case he played in his whites on Sunday morning.  Dang!  By 10:00 we were in bed.  The alarm went off at 6:00 and we just made it out the door by 7:30.  The game Sunday morning was at a different field and I took a scenic, round about way to get there.  At least I wasn't the only one that got lost.  The goalie arrived as the boys took the field.  A cold front had blown through during the night and all the spectators were dressed in long pants, jackets, and hot coffee in hand.  A mere 62 at playing time, the boys had a bit more pep in their steps.  The game was closer than most, but in the end, they were not victorious in the score.  Selim had fun, and that is what counted.  He was disappointed that they didn't win a game, but he has improved so much in the short month that he joined the team, that he can't really be sad about the final scores.

High knees? Lunges? Windmill arms?  Stretching pre-game.

Post game photo op.

Tired boy, proud mom.

We got home in the early afternoon and I curled up on the couch under a comforter and took a long nap.  I think the heat from the day before really did me in,  I've had more energy today and had fun my sewing room in the morning.  I finished a couple of The Splendid Sampler blocks that had been waiting for some attention.  In the afternoon, Selim and I went into town and got him new running shoes.  We enjoyed a sweet day together.

Stitching Fashion, a paper pieced block. 

Block #30 -- a real joy to sew. I will be making more!

Auditioning background fabrics.

I liked the pink the best. It made the blues pop.

My last 6 The Splendid Sampler Blocks.

The Splendid Sampler is proving to be very interesting.  I've veered off in my own direction on a couple of blocks after thinking that I would stay true to the designer's intent.  For now, I have chosen not to do Block #25, Sunday best.  It is a very sweet bunny applique square.  I have found over the last 30 blocks that I don't really enjoy applique very much.  I'm thinking about how I can get them done the quickest -- not really loving the process.  So for now, I've given myself permission not to count that block as still on my to-do list.  Instead, I substituted a bonus block and love it (see the top left blue block in the  top left above).  It is everything I love; a focus on geometric pattern, a great showcase for fabric, and taken in smaller units, can be combined in so  many interesting ways.  This is basically a take on the Bento Box or Log Cabin blocks that I have made many times before.

And I'm discovering that I love paper piecing.  I love the exactness of it.  Granted, my dress is a bit off as I wasn't able to get the bodice seams matched up just right.  But I love the process.  I made two of the Scrappy, Happy Hearts.  Here is #2.  I hope there are a bunch more in the remaining 69 designs in this mystery sampler series.

Paper pieced heart, colorway #2.

This week coming up is going to be jam packed.  Selim has a big field trip mid-week.  Heather arrives for an overnight on Thursday!  Woot!   I'll work a 1/2 day on Friday and then drive her down to her Wellesley reunion.  Saturday is the Seacoast Modern Quilt Guild monthly meeting followed by a soccer game.  Sunday he has his last soccer game.  It is against Jacob's team.  As Selim says, "friend versus friend...who will win?"  I hope both boys play well.  Fingers crossed for a good game.  And then the countdown to the last day of school is on.  Oh my.