I like to entertain, but I don't feel like I am very good at it. I am fairly confident in my cooking skills and the menu planning. But I get all insecure about my dishes, table linens (or lack of the right ones and the ones I have not matching my plates...) and my serving dishes, decorating the table....weird stuff. I try to tell myself that people aren't worried about all of that. They are here to enjoy time with friends. So, after a little pep talk to myself and a good reminder from my friend Rhonda ("just remember, you are among friends") I decided I'd get done what I could get done and be happy with that. It all came together lovely. Brunch was fairly simple, but when my guests were here, I was able to sit down and actually RELAX and enjoy the company.
I think I see a trend starting in my neighborhood that I am so excited about. We are taking turns hosting a meal. Last month Amy hosted a birthday lunch for John, another neighbor, who turned 80. We all joked that we should do this every week. Tanya joked that it was her birthday next month. Well, that was what today was about. Today Tanya started talking about doing a soup supper in January. I am so excited that this idea seems to be snowballing. I'm starting to feel a great sense of community building right here in my little neighborhood. It is thrilling me, since I had wanted to do something very similar to this the last place I lived. Now it is happening here. I have some great neighbors...some retired and some with young children. It's really a nice mix. I have never known so many of my neighbors. I like it. A lot. Sorry I am going on and on...can you tell that I am more than a little excited about this?
My little one isn't feeling so good today. :(
Now, on to something quilt related....I decided I'd post photos of a quilt that I made last year for a friend of mine.
Kristin was a master gardener, thus the color scheme and the quilting design, which I did free motion on my junky old sewing machine. (I won't get into all of that today, I'll just say that I have had more than my fair share of sewing machine woes for my young life.)