Where Have I Been?

I started to tell you all about my flying adventure, but suffice it to say, Flying just isn't like it used to be.
My daughter in law made it her business to see that I got to visit the Quilt Shop in North Platte. It's called the "Quilt Rack" and I was pleasantly surprised. What a great Shop. It has tons of fabrics and notions and the Shop owner was very helpful. She mentioned that the Quilt Guild would be meeting on Thursday night and invited us to attend.
All I can say about that is - It wasn't an AQG meeting. When our ladies do "Show & Tell" and hold up a beautiful new Quilt, we applaud! There were a lot of beautiful new Quilts shown, but the audience kept silent. It was different.
I have been teaching my Grand Daughters, Cassidy and Caleigh to piece by hand. We spent a lot of our time doing hand work. Cassidy is nine years old and does nice work. Caleigh is six and her idea of piecing is - "Sew Granny". Every chance we had to spend time on it, Caleigh Anne would put the needle in my hand and tell me to "sew". She said she could learn better if I would do it for her. I made six 'nine patches' so she could be 'caught up' with her sister.
Cassidy is quite the little 'Horsewoman'. She and her horse, Pony Joe, were in a horse show on Saturday. Cassidy won all 'first places' and two 'Best of Shows'! For a tiny little nine year old, she does very well. She takes Equestrian lessons at 'Jumprope Stables' in Ogallala,NE. If you like, you can go to their website and from there to a link to the photos of the show. You'll be impressed, too! Cassidy jumps like a "Pro" and her instructor says she could be an Olympian. Time will tell.
We left North Platte at 4 A.M. on Sunday, driving east on I-85 to York, NE. and from there South on Hwy 81, a nice 4-lane that took us to Kansas. North of Salina, it turns into Hwy 135 an in Wichita in turns into I-35. That beautiful drive took us all the way thru Oklahoma and into Dallas, TX. just in time for morning rush hour traffic. Now there's a stark contrast. From no traffic to "mega" traffic. We made our way to I-45 south and headed into Houston, TX. Leslie and the Babes were going to The Woodlands,TX. just north of Houston. Their old neighbors were hosting them while the Kids visited their friends.
My friend, Crayola, was picking me up and I would be going on into downtown Houston, to her home in the River Oaks area. It was wonderful to see my friend. Her husband James works out of town all week so we had the house all to ourselves.
Since moving to Houston, a year ago, my friends life took an ugly turn. She found she had breast cancer and has spent the past year taking care of that. Surgery to remove her breast, treatments for the cancer, reconstructive surgery. Anyway, she had not been able to fix up her Studio. Well, I was there for a week and now she has one. All of her fabric is out, both of her sewing machines are hooked up and sewing and we made a beautiful Quilt top. When I left, it was all layed out on her design wall. All she has to do is sew the boarders on. We were both pretty proud of it.
There's more to this story, but EC is awake and it's time for breakfast. I'm home now so we'll talk more soon,
See ya,
Carol Ann, Quilter