Family Ties

I took time off last week to spend some time with my family.  For the last several years, I've gone to visit my folks for a few days around Labor Day.  My folks live right outside Washington, D.C.  The timing is perfect for spending a few days at Rehoboth Beach with my sister's family.

This year it was a quick trip to Rehoboth.  Mom had a meeting Thursday evening and the beach rental ended Saturday.  So we drove over Friday morning.  If you remember, this is the time that Hurricane Earl was making its way up the East coast.  We only had light sprinkles on the way there and arrived just in time for lunch.  Timing is everything!!!

We walked to Grotto's Pizza with umbrellas in hand.  Had a great pizza lunch and then wandered down to the boardwalk to look at the waves.  I did take my shoes off and walked to the water's edge.  Had to stick my toes in the Atlantic while I was there!  There were lots of people walking up and down the beach but the lifeguards were keeping people out of the water and the tricky rip currents that accompany a hurricane.  By mid-afternoon, the skies had pretty much cleared.

Mary, Bob, Diane & Mom on the Boardwalk.  Look at how tall Diane is! 

Back to the house to work on some sewing projects.  I brought materials to make a Snap Bag and so that's what we started on.  Of course, the first seam I had my niece Diane sew was in the wrong place.  And because they FORGOT to pack the sewing supplies that Diane had gotten for Christmas (how could anybody forget those important articles???), we went to several places looking for a seam ripper. 

Finally went to Mares Bears Quilt Shop up in Lewes and bought not only a seam ripper but some fabric for the other project Diane wanted to complete - another tote bag.  She uses the one we made last year so much that she wanted another.  The saleslady at Mares Bears was nice enough to cut the fabric for the tote bag into the sizes we needed.  Then back to the house.

The next challenge was finding an iron so that the fusible fleece could be fused to the fabric.  No iron.  By this time, it was close to dinner time so this is a project Diane will get to complete at home.  Hopefully the instructions (created for a Kid's Club project at Gabrielle's Quilts and Comforts) are clear enough so they'll be able to complete this.

After a wonderful dinner at Jake's Seafood House, back to the house where it was time for bed - at least for Diane & Mary.  They both are programmed to crawl into bed early.  So....that was the end of the beach sewing projects.

We broke camp Saturday morning and had an uneventful drive home.  It was good to see them if only for a few short hours.

Cheers!
Margaret