mark + ange guinn

My first wearable top.

And here’s the quilt I’m working on.  Just waiting on quilting thread to start the last bit.  (Anybody in need of a toddler bed size quilt?  I don’t know what I’m going to do with this yet…)

Has it really been a whole week since I posted?  The computer says so, though it only feels like a few days have gone by at the most.  You can likely imagine what last week was like, as Mark’s show was in performance mode.  He was on stage every night from Monday to Saturday with the final show being followed by a cast party (to which I was kindly invited).  Mark was still working and I was back to class.  I did a good bit of work on the quilt and it’s now totally together and ready to be quilted.  I spent evenings with friends who referred to me as the show widow.  And I was enormously proud of Mark when I finally did see the show.  He was FANTASTIC!  (Yeah, I was kind of yelling that.)  The week was full and good.  Just how we like it.

One of my favorite things about the Glee Singers, though, is that they’re part of AIMS (I can only guess at what it stands for – Amatuer Irish Music Society?).  And they practically have a Grammy Awards Ceremony at the end of “musical season” for nominated performers.  If anyone knows the movie Waiting for Guffman and knows how much I love it, you’ll get the depth of enjoyment I get out of this situation.  We’ll be sure to let you know if Mark gets nominated.

Here’s hoping…

We just had one of those weekends that passes in a hurry. It was full, but not too busy.  What did we do, you ask?  Well…

• date night
• all-day dress rehearsal (Mark)
• Stitch and Craft Show in Belfast (Ange)
• cookout at a friend’s house
• visited a new (to us) church in Annalong
• had our weekly LOST viewing
• lots of housework here and there (Ange)

And that was about it.  See – not too busy.  We’ve now entered the week of the show (y’all) and things are going well.  The first performance was last night and Mark came home all bubbly an excited.  I’m taking that as a really good sign.   I’ve had tickets to go with friends on Friday for a few weeks, so I didn’t think about going another time.  I realized last night that it was really lame of me not to be there on Mark’s opening night!  So I bought him flowers on my way home from dropping him off.  Not quite the same.  I’ll not make that mistake again.

I’m back to class today.  Having to face my final project, which I’ve been putting off for a good while.  Other things are so much more interesting than this quilt!  It’s okay, but I’m definitely not in love with it (like I was with the first one I made).  And I’m not looking forward to all the hand quilting, especially since someone else has already claimed the frame.  Enough complaining.  I’m glad to get to learn how to do it because I’ll want to make them for my kids and grandkids.  My Mom and Grandma Druber both made quilts and I cherish the 2 I have from them.

I can’t really seem to gather my thoughts enough today for a more flowy post.  So I’ll leave you with this. You are here to read about the real Ange (and Mark), right?  Hope you don’t mind me taking advantage of that!

To those of you wanting to read something related to Ireland…sorry.  This is solely related to my craft (and vanity?).  I had a white t-shirt that got a rather conspicuous stain on the front and I was trying to come up with a fun way to save the shirt.  So I sewed on a bib front from an old gray shirt that had already been cut into.  The bib is on to stay, as I think it would be really hard to undo the machine stitching without seeing needle marks everywhere.  The buttons could stay or go and the flowers are pinned on – not sewn yet. It doesn’t look finished, but neither Mark or I could quite figure out what it needs.  And here’s where you come in.  Anyone have any brilliant ideas as to what I could add (or subtract) to finish it off?

(forgive my hair, please)

a closer shot

Thanks for your help!

I woke up at 6am this morning, needing to pay a visit to my favorite porcelain structure.   When I hopped back in bed, I had a hard time falling asleep again because the sun was already making our room rather bright!  Come on!  Luckily, I did get back to sleep and continued to sleep for hours.  I am on spring break, after all.

I’ve taken it real easy since I’ve been on break.  And I’ve liked it!  I’ve not been doing as much sewing, as it’s hard to find space in our wee house to do it.  So I’ve pulled out the pencil, art eraser, ink pen, and watercolors.  I’m having fun finding things on Etsy that I like, then trying to recreate them.  I can’t draw things from my head to save my life, but I’m getting better at drawing what I see.  That’s been really fun.  Any commissions?

Mark’s been getting more and more busy while I’ve been taking it e-a-s-y.  His musical opens on Monday and they’ve had rehearsals every night this week with a day-long dress rehearsal coming up on Saturday.  Whew!  He did get his costume last night and narrowly escaped wearing tights.  I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little disappointed.  I’m getting more and more excited to see the show and experience what he’s been working so hard at for the last months.

During hi few moments of free time, Mark has done some hefty work in our garden.  When we moved in, the back garden was already in a state.  But in the last few months, things have gotten really out of control.  Here’s a picture of what Mark cut OUT of the garden:

And here’s a shot of what the garden looks like now (Mark found the bird ornament under some of the bushes):

And some lovely wee flowers by the fence:

We still have a bit of work to do in he garden.  We need to get the washing line secured in a hole, then get new pea gravel to cover the freshly weeded ground.  I can’t wait until it’s warm enough to put our table up outside and eat by the garden.  Won’t it be pretty?

And now, for some house pictures as we continue the “tour”…

Mark at work in his office (part of the living room). And no, we didn't pick the yellow.

A kitchen shelf.

The table, half open.

The cooker and counter.

I’d show you the living room today, but I’ve been making a mess trying to put together felt flowers to put in my hair and covering cans to make pencil cups.  Have I told you I love making things?  There’s a big Stitch and Craft Show in Belfast for the next 3 days.  I’m hoping to get there at least once.  I’ll try to remember to take my camera.

And after a long post, I’m going to sign off.  Happy Thursday to you all!

So, we’ve (again) been seriously m.i.a. here lately.  Sorry about that!  We’l be back this week with some fun posts and the week after with pics of Mark’s pirate debut.   Until then, we wish you a happy Easter.  Be blessed as you get glimpses of his love and power.