Vacation by Numbers...

There was an awful lot of stuff going on while we were supposed to be relaxing!  Since I deal with numbers all day long, it sort of filtered down into how I was planning my wrap-up post of stuff that I wanted to share with you all, so here is our family vacation by the numbers:

6...total days away from the real working world.

10...tea parties out on the porch.  We managed to pick up a miniature tea set from an antique store downtown for $5 - big sister was in heaven.

5...average time in the morning that little sister woke up.  Didn't she get the memo that we were on vacation??  This is awfully rare behavior at home, so I'm going to attribute the early morning wake up calls to bright sunrises and a lack of room-darkening curtains.

17...letters completed on my Superhero Alphabet so far!  Driving time was well spent cross-stitching these adorable little heroes.  I still haven't figured out exactly how to deal with those few color stripped patches, but I did end up getting the mystery stains out.  I'm sure that I'll work it out.

18...total times we went swimming.  My little fishes love their swim time.

6...total times we went swimming for 2 minutes only to have to get out and trek back up to the bathroom.  In spite of the fact that we did a bathroom break BEFORE going in the water in the first place.  Damp swimsuits are hard to hike up and down, but I got awfully good at it.

1...hour spent ripping the paper out of my paper pieced blocks for my "Red Nails" inspired LQF mini.  More on this later, I promise!  Paper ripping was really tedious (seriously, this was just for a mini - how do people survive doing this on a full-sized quilt??), but wine and an audiobook made it a little more palatable.

3...fabulous lunches of homemade lobster quiche made with love by my Mom using a recipe from a local bed and breakfast.  This is seriously, seriously good stuff - unfortunately I was too busy eating to get a decent picture of it.  It also goes exceptionally well with a glass of white wine.

7...yards of binding that I finished using this subtle motorcycle print fabric.  This is for that custom quilt that I've been dragging my feet on finishing.  I love this fabric because it will (hopefully) be highly personal to the recipient but it's not an in-your-face novelty print.  Just the right mix for a modern quilter, right?

3...books loaded onto the Nook before we left.  I'm on the last of the third right now (Big Brother by Lionel Shriver) and my queue of books to read or listen to in the car is pretty low.  Anyone have any good suggestions to keep up my summer reading list??

And back to that custom quilt...

8...finished appliqued letters and

4...hours to baste and quilt before finally calling it a day - yes, I am a slow, slow quilter and basting takes me FOREVER.  But now all that's left to do is attach the binding and I can finally hand it over!

7...hours spent in a theme park.

6.75...hours spent in a theme park in the rain.  We were total suckers and let the girls talk us into getting their faces painted in spite of the weather.  Shockingly, they stayed in fairly good shape all day long with only a couple wet-wipe touchups.

0...complaints about the weather from the kids.  I guess rain can't dampen a chance to go on rides and have tea with Cinderella.  I think I need to take a cue from their good attitude.

I left Maine feeling recharged and very accomplished - I'll have more on each of these projects and finishes over the next few weeks as I dig out from the pile of real work sitting on my desk!