Spring has certainly arrived, as evidenced by the blossoms on my crabapple tree. I planted it three years ago, and each spring I am pleased to see it growing and sprouting new branches.  I am enjoying the weather and all of the beautiful flowers and trees that are now in full bloom.  I feel like I spend the whole of winter just waiting for spring. Now my husband and I are in full summer-vacation-planning mode!  We have decided to go to Canada this summer and are now busy with planning dates and getting our passports in order.  On the itinerary so far are a visit to my sister in Indiana on our way up to Ontario.  We will spend time in London visiting a friend of my husband’s and also make our way to Niagara Falls.  When my husband first had the idea he was trying to convince me to go along with it.  The way he chose to convince me?  An email detailing knitting shops in and around London, Ontario.  Lol.

In other news…we are doing well after our earthquake scare and only having mostly imperceptible aftershocks.  I say mostly because while I may not notice them, one of my cats certainly seems to.  He goes a little crazy meowing and running about the house in a frenzy.

This morning at 4:37 a.m. my husband and I were awakened suddenly by the vibrations of an earthquake. It was rather unnerving. It measured 5.4 5.2 on the Richter scale and the epicenter was in West Salem Mount Carmel Bellmont, IL – about 125 miles from us and near the Illinois/Indiana border. Our local news said that it was felt in St. Louis, Indianapolis, Chicago, and even as far away as Ohio, Wisconsin, Kentucky, and Tennessee. So far, our local area is reporting damages such as broken windows and concrete debris under bridges and overpasses. Once it is light, I will check both the inside and outside of our house for damages, but we have not seen anything obvious yet. I just hope there are no aftershocks.

10:30 a.m. update: We just had a 4.5 magnitude aftershock. It was rather freaky! My mug on the table rattled, as did some pictures and a potted plant on my entertainment center. As I stood under the archway between our living and dining rooms I noticed the chandelier swaying back and forth. It was creepy and exciting at the same time.

Image courtesy of www.myfoxstl.com.

I have emerged from hibernation and I am hoping that spring is finally here! The first buds of spring are gracing both our neighborhood and my sewing table at the moment. I am trying, rather unsuccessfully, to machine piece my first quilt. This is difficult for me, as I am used to having supreme control of matching up corners when I hand quilt. I can make those seams behave so well when sewing by hand. It all started about ten days ago. We got a new shipment of fabric at work and I simply could not resist, so I purchased the Dandelion Girl layer cake. I decided then and there that this would be the perfect batch of fabric for my first machine pieced quilt. I had already picked that pattern I wanted to do, so when I popped over to Tammy’s blog yesterday and saw her finished version it motivate me to get busy! I really want to make a disappearing nine patch, so I carefully cut the layer cake into charm squares, laid them all out on the floor in a pleasing fashion, then neatly stacked them up and put them away. I decided to practice first with the remaining squares. I have worked like a busy bee this afternoon and found that I still need lots of practice.