Weasley On Wednesday, We're Back!

A couple of weeks ago I left my house in Massachusetts to go to Central New York, then Pittsburgh, back to New York, back to Massachusetts, up to New Hampshire, and finally back home again! It was crazy, but now I'm staying put for awhile, and Weasley is glad. It may be the papaya, though, that he's interested in.

Got more? Please?

Can I really be expected to resist that face?

In New York, I joined my parents, and we travelled on Easter down to Pittsburgh. We got to enjoy Easter dinner with my brother's family. Holidays are best with little kids around.

Unfortunately, our reason for being in Pittsburgh was not a fun one. My oldest Daughter had to have some laser surgery on her good eye on Monday. My girl was a preemie, and has an eye condition known as Retinopathy of Prematurity. Cryosurgery saved some of her eyesight when she was a baby. Her eyes had been stable so long, that we had stopped thinking of them as a problem. She began to have some changes recently, and the retina specialist decided the surgery was necessary to keep the retina from detaching. The actual surgery was very fast, with only some redness and scratchiness as side effects. Next week she goes back to make sure the surgery did it's job, and healed correctly.

We stayed in Pittsburgh an extra day, because the Daughter wanted us to. I wasn't very familiar with the city, but it is really very nice. We did some exploring among the various neighborhoods, and interesting shops. The city has kind of a European feel in some ways, and the architecture is amazing. This is my girl when we stopped for coffee break at a very nice cafe.

After that, my Mom and I dropped my Dad in New York, came back to Massachusetts for one night, and then headed up to Meridith,  New Hampshire for a Quilt Retreat. The retreat was organized by a fantastic little shop in West Concord, Ma. called Quilters Way. We stayed at a complex of small inns known as  the The Inns At Mills Falls. The work space was great, the rooms were incredible, and the food was completely delicious.

It was so inspiring, being among a group of people who were all working hard on very different projects. We kept a group scrap bag during the weekend, and did a block project from it that involved making a block, cutting it up, exchanging pieces, and recombining them a number of times. The block below doesn't look like much, but when they were all combined with black sashing it looked great. This will be a charity quilt when finished.

Several of us also took time out to use the indoor/outdoor pool. I never thought I would be swimming outside in New Hampshire this time of year, but it was very pleasant. And you couldn't beat the view. That's Lake Winnipesaukee in the background.  

We finished the weekend with a trip one town north to visit the always overwhelming Keepsake Quilting.  Of course I spent more than I meant to!

Then we went back to Massachusetts. Mom stayed some extra time, and we played with fabric paint, took the younger Daughter out for lunch after an AP Exam, and then Mom beat us soundly at Phase 10.

Now, I plan to stay put for awhile, and feed Weasley more treats. And catch up on blog reading. I think that's going to take a long time!