Cross-country adventure

Hello again folks :) Lots has happened since my last post, and although I thought about the blog lots, it just hasn't been the right time to take it up again until now. In keeping with all the recent change in my life, I've given the blog a do-over too.

I finished med school and recently drove a U-Haul 1500km across the country to set up shop for the next five years of training in OBGYN. How was driving a U-Haul all that way? Never again! I decided to move all by myself, oh I don't know, to have some independent-woman-transitional kind of roadtrip. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Driving a 14-foot truck was hunky-dory on the highway, but that quickly turned into a nightmare when I reached my final destination.

I am not a city driver, no way. And suddenly here I was getting turned around on a bridge in major traffic, getting lost, trying to follow strange traffic patterns in a new city. I finally made it home, and then drove that baby all over again to the grocery store, etc, etc. After getting lost twice, I finally found the return station and barely parked the thing in the lot. The attendant proceeded to tell me that I was 1/8 of a tank short on gas, and instructed me to go fill up at the nearest station. Well, I didn't know where that was, and he directed me to one on a road I actually knew. So off I went. It turned out to be a small and very busy gas station. I pulled in and, CRUNCH! Yes, I hit a car parked at another pump. I was so embarassed, luckily the guy was nice and even helped me back the truck out when it came time to leave.

Since then, I've been learning to like this city. The people here actually stop for pedestrians and the work environment is great. We'll see what the next year brings.

In other news, the quilts have been hopping off my machine. After learning how to free-motion quilt, I've started to love the process even more as I don't feel like I'm ruining my quilts during the final steps. Here's one I finished a couple weeks ago:

Pattern: Madeline - Miss Rosie's Schnibbles

I loved making this quilt. The fabric had a wonderful feel to it, and the pattern was gratifying. The pieces were cut from fat eights, instead of using pre-cut 5" squares.

Fabric: Maison de Garance by French General

This quilt was finished while I was home visiting my parents. My mom fell in love with it so it now sits happily in her living room.

I had a lot of fun with the quilting on this one, and did a meandering vine pattern. In retrospect, however, I would have chosen a tan color instead of off white for the quilting.

And to end, I stumbled upon a nest of three baby robins under the deck. The babies have since flown off, and there are three new eggs waiting to hatch!

A surprise under our deck!