The Ohio Road Trip, a College Graduation and Surprises from Secret Santa!!

I took a long weekend off from work to drive down to Ohio with  one of my best friends, Teresa. It was a miracle she was able to take off and we left after work on Thursday evening! We drove almost to Milwaukee and spent the night. We planned on heading out fairly early in the morning in hopes of making it to Ashland, Ohio around dinner time.

Why road trip to Ashland, Ohio? Well, my oldest son Matthias, who turned 23 years old on Thursday December 12, was graduating from Ashland University with a double major in Political Science, International Politics and a minor in Business Administration. At first he didn't want me to come but decided it would be alright so I got real excited and couldn't resist the adventure! I was so proud and happy to watch him walk across the stage.  The realization that he wouldn't be going there anymore really sunk in. He spent 4 1/2 years there, working hard, longer then he was in high school and now, he needs to figure out what he wants to do with himself. He currently has no real plan, he came home last night after visiting with friends for a few days and today he worked on the farm.

Another joy of this journey was finally getting to meet the special woman in my son's life. He has been spending the last 3 semesters with Rachel, she is a sweet, outgoing, precious young woman from Ohio. She has a big heart and I opeo she will be around for a long time. I found out she is coming to visit the end of the month!! I am so excited!! Here is the lovely couple!

While in Ohio, Teresa went and got us matching nighties. They say "Is it too late to be good?" I realized she is a freer spirit then I am. She was so much fun to have along! Here we are in our matching nighties!! She was ready for mischief! We played some games and enjoyed a cocktail. It was a lot of fun to have along! I love her dearly! 

When I got home I was surprised to find a most wonderful package from my Secret Santa from the Coloradolady's Secret Santa Soiree!! It couldn't of better topped of a great weekend!! 

It is a Hexie fest!! I was amazed to find the most wonderful handwork created by my Secret Santa!! Isn't this the most amazing pin cushion? I love her fabric selection!! Thank You, Thank you!! I love it!!

Look at this beauty!! She made a hexie table center piece, I also see it as a mug rug! It is absolutely gorgeous and again what great fabric selection!!  I feel so spoiled!! 

Now, look at these beautiful coasters!! I am telling you, she must have the most fantastic fabric stash!!! I love these too and really like using them in the living room!! 

This is one of two panels of cute Christmas Stockings on it! It says I can embroider names at the top of the stockings. I think I will do that and by sending two panels she actually allows me to personalize one for each member of our home as there are 5 of us!! Thank you so much Secret Santa!! This will be fun to work on!!

 She also sent these cute Christmas towels and Christmas knives for spreads and dips! I have already used them for a Pate' my mom made for us!! 

Dear Secret Santa, I can't thank you enough for all the time and effort you put into the goodies and I so appreciate your work and that you thought enough of me to spoil me with such goodies!! I am overwhelmed and truly thankful!!! What a great week it has been!! 

God's Blessings be on you all and a Merry Christmas to you and yours!!

Baby it's cold outside!

This may sound funny, but I am a home care nurse and get to tootle around the rural countryside of Western Wisconsin and I came upon an old outhouse. Now, why would I even mention such a thing? Well, our young'uns don't really know what one is any more and I found one!!  One of my clients still had one standing out in the back yard and it looked so natural, so I just had to post a pic of it. Imagine sitting in there today on a -11 degree morning? Brrrrr! Frozen buns, literally!! 

My husband shared a story with Eliah, our youngest, this morning that back in the late 70's and early 80's his highschool used to do a bonfire after the homecoming football game at his school and they would go around the countryside collecting old outhouses to burn in the bonfire. They don't do that anymore here in town. I think I can remember one when I first moved here, but what fun that must of been on a cool autumn night with a nice roaring fire to hang out with your buddies. Faculty and families all participated. Memories....

I have been seduced by my fellow  Coast to Coast Bee members to join the Catvent Quilt-along hosted by Oh fransson! It can be found here if you find yourself also so tempted: http://www.ohfransson.com/oh_fransson/catvent-quilt-along/

 It was an easy seduction. They just posted it on one of our threads and I was hooked!! You know I just adore kitties if you couldn't tell. Molly and Milo are dear members of our family. So I just had to do it!! I have made the first 4 kitties and plan to get caught up on the next 3 today. 

This log cabin quilt was made by a friend of mine, she shared with me she found these fabrics all cut out at a thrift sale for only $2 dollars!!! What a find! She was told an older woman had lost interest in quilting, in her late 80's and had all the pieces cut out and all she had to do was sew the log cabin blocks together. She decided block placement and I was so impressed she let me take a picture to share!! Nice job Judy!! 

As I mentioned before, here is Ms Molly. I had started this quilt in 2012 and it sat around always in my visual field, but I just couldn't make myself finish it, well, it must of yelled real loud because all of a sudden I had the inspiration to finish it and quickly I did. Yes, Molly is always my quilt inspector. I guess she approves!! Hope to quilt this one real soon! 

In the last post I posted pictures of Karen's Holiday apron, well I had a wonderful surprise from Lyanna!! I could not believe it!! I absolutely love it and I have been using it in my cooking and baking. During Thanksgiving I even used it and it really helped me keep clean!! I am a wild woman in the kitchen, especially with my hand mixer! I had whipped cream everywhere!! Thank you so much Lyanna!! I really love it! She made these awesome potholders too. She really spoiled me. I am not worthy! Thanks again!!

         Here is the other side of the apron!! It is reversible and I am crazy about both sides!!

Deer Hunting was very successful at out house!! All 3 of my fellas got a beautiful buck!! They all weighed around 200 pounds. There is a smaller doe in the middle which will be used for making our favorite Venison recipes.  The bucks go to the locker for processing as the bucks always have such a gamey/wild taste to them. Here is a picture of 3 out of the 4 deer harvested. Eliah's was shot the day before so it isn't here, but I will try to find a pic to post for him. I even have a picture of all 3 of them with their beautiful bucks. I have been told 2 out of the 3 will be head mounted as a wall decoration. I already have 2 hanging on my walls, one dressed up as a Green Bay Packer! 

This is Matthias, my oldest, with his buck. It was also a very very cold day for hunting, plus he prides himself in never smiling for me. You should of seen him on Thanksgiving day! We all laughed so hard as he tried not to smile for a picture, he couldn't keep a straight face either.

Matthias graduates from college next Saturday from Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio. My best friend called me yesterday and said she will road trip with me to Ohio to see him graduate!! I am sooo pumped! It should be a blast, her and I. We have done this before, but it has been many years, since before we had children. He will have a major in Political Science, International Politics and Business Administration. No wonder he needed an extra semester to finish! Now he just needs to find a job! Any takers? Hard working farm boy!! Great work ethic, that is one thing I can say, all my kids have a great work ethic!  Congrats Matthias! I love you so much!!

I made this block for Svea in the Fat Stash Bee. It is a feather block from AMH. She wanted it scrappy in these color ways. I am happy with how it came out.

In Coast to Coast Bee we were given freedom to make any block as long as it was autumn oriented so I chose to make these two for her. The Ozark Maple and then an appliqued block with a crow in the middle. On the farm the crows like to steal corn from the corn field. 

 Stay warm out there!! I am thankful for heated car seats when I drive! That's all for now!

Deer Hunting started and a buck hangs in the shed!!

Well, Matthias got home early this morning, 2:00am from College in Ohio, but he and Eliah went out in the woods at 8:00am. That is late for opening day of Deer Hunting here in Wisconsin, but I am happy to report  Eliah got a rather large buck so that means good eating and another year of summer sausage, ring bologna and beet sticks!!!  He looks like an 8 pointer, but it appears a tine was damaged.

Last night I went to Winona and did some Hunting shopping for the boys. In Winona, MN they have a store called Mills Fleet Farm and they have been advertising "Buck Friday" for all the hunters. It is a play on "Black Friday" all the crazy women go shopping for. The commercials were really cute, well I just had to get Eliah a hoodie highlighting this event, I am happy to report he loves it!! Here is a picture I took in the store before I ever decided to buy this!

Today I have been working on a UFO that I started last year and put aside though it often stared at me as I walked by it, but I really feel good about it and I hope I will be able to finish piecing the top in the next few days. I used a layer cake from Moda by Figtree. It has a shabby chic feel to it. I will post a full pic when I finish the top. 

I participated in a Holiday Apron Swap where it was a secret, we were not to let our partner know who we had and we in turn had no idea who had us. It was to have a holiday theme for Christmas and our partner could give hints as to their preferences but anonymously. I made a sample apron to try it out and see how it came out. I absolutely love the apron pattern, it is called Chatterbox from Mari Mulari. The first two pictures here are the actual apron I made for Karen from Chippewa Falls, WI. Yes, she lives only an hour away, some day I hope we meet!! The apron is made with Riley Blake fabrics and is reversible. I love how it turned out. My daughter is modeling it for me!!

 These pictures are of the first Apron I made. It is a Michael Miller fabric with pink elephants that appear to have had too much to drink if you can see the lampshade and wine glasses. It is quite whimsical, but it turned out great too. I was told by a bartender that there was a drink back in the day called a pink elephant.  I am real happy with it and hope to use this pattern again!! Once again Celia humored her mother and modeled the apron for me, also reversible so both sides are represented.

Well, that is it for now. Have a good week!! 

A Harvest Day on the Farm

Amazingly it is the beginning of November and we are having some fairly nice weather! We have had snow on Halloween in the past and it stayed so this weekend is a real blessing. As you know, Autumn is truly one of my favorite times of the year and one of my most favorite sounds of all time is the unloading of corn into the corn silo. 

This picture is the cornfield across the street with the Awesome John Deere Combine harvesting the corn. This is the view I have every day. Sometimes I wish I appreciated it more, but I so do enjoy the scenery. 

Once the corn is harvested by the combine, it is trucked back to the home farm, where I live and it is loaded using gravity to unload it. The sound that this makes is my favorite sound of harvest on the farm. I went over and took a picture so you would know what I mean. This is my brother-in-law Joe guiding the corn into the Silo loader.

This is a close up picture of the corn actually unloading. My favorite sound. from the distance it has an amazing sound but up close it is almost deafening. My BIL Joe was wearing ear protection, I can see why. I think you could go deaf in a hurry!

I just need to show off this little cutie. My son Eliah, yes, the one with the smooshed truck, calls her Red. We usually only have black and white cows on our farm, so she is a real special little lady. She is in a calf pen enjoying the sunshine on this beautiful day. 

I have always wanted to share my favorite sound. I only get to hear it for a brief time every fall and I even crack the windows so I can hear it all the better. It just makes it feel more like fall. Have a great week!

A Cool Autumn and Creative Days

Happy Fall Y'all! Here are some beautiful Maples to inspire you all locally grown!

Last week we had a brief storm and I was delighted to see a Rainbow, a full double rainbow from one end to the other and so bright! Such a rare thing for an October day, but what a sight it was to behold! Gorgeous. This is outside my front door!! 

 This is a block I made for Alia for the Bee Sew Modern Bee. I got behind because of my brother's wedding, but I promised her I would get it done after the wedding and I did! I had always been intimidated by this kind of pattern with the diamonds, but this technique and tutorial was awesome!! I will do this again someday!

This is for the Simply Solids Bee - Viradian Group. 

This is for Susan in the Fat Stash Bee. She sent a fq of the turquoise solid and asked us to add from our stashes to make a scrappy wonky bento box block.  

These are some blocks for the We Bee Learning bee. She asked for 2 blocks but they were so fun I ended up making 4. 

These are Moni's blocks for the Coast to Coast Bee, she wanted Bento Box Blocks and  here is what she sent. These are fun and I can't wait to see her finished quilt!! 

     My daughter came home tonight to have dinner with us!! I called her this morning and invited her to dinner and this is Celia and her sweetie Johnathan. They are enjoying a Red Velvet cupcake! I love these two!!

Eliah's smooshed truck

I promised pics from Eliah's Dodge Ram with it's owies. Here they are:

He bent the frame and the cab was actually pushed up. As you can see the passenger front side has extensive damage. So thankful to God for protecting my young'un. I believe a big lesson was learned by him as well as the other men in my family,  The following are famous words uttered by a very wise person I know: 

"Every child should have a beater of a car for the first few years until they have their driving skills down. Everyone of them will have their little adventures as they grow in driving abilities and get the feel for all weather conditions. Once they have that down, then they can invest in a nice vehicle."

Now for something fun to leave you with, my boss bought these amazing shoes!! Anyone who craves yarn and yarn related activities these are for you!!!

Knitted shoes made by Dansko!! I admire the person who came up with these!! Enjoy!!

Wedding Weekend and a precious son

     Well, it happened, my only brother, Daniel Cornelius,  got married this weekend to his sweetheart Elaine! They got married in Eau Claire, WI at the UW-Eau Claire Davies Center and they are now enjoying a honeymoon out in Washington State. I have been enjoying keeping up on his adventures as he is posting pics on Instagram and so we can catch peaks of their adventures. 

For his wedding I made a Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt for them to snuggle on the sofa with. take on a picnic or however they want to use it. Anyway, I have to say I love the pattern, but boy that was a lot of work. Next time I would press all the seams open because some of the seams made it difficult to quilt on my long-arm, but I think it turned out great! I did it all myself beginning to end. Here is a picture of their completed quilt. I bound it in a marbled kind of black/dark grey and the back has a paint splatter kind of look to it, it is modern and just made me think of Daniel when I picked it out. 

    The groom wore an amazing outfit. He wore a bright pink gingham check shirt with a black tie and a grey suit. The bridesmaids wore black, elegant simple dresses and the Wedding meal was chicken or beef fajitas. There was fresh guacamole, hummus, tortillas, fresh pico and all kinds of good stuff. The wedding cake was a tri-leche cake and to top off the evening, they brought Dunkin donuts!! My brother loves Dunkin donuts, they are kind of a family tradition. When I lived on the East Coast we always used to stop and get Dunkin Donuts after church. It is a fond memory my brother obviously shares as well! We danced and shook our grove things and enjoyed being together. We had some nice family pictures we took so here is an update on my family. The only person missing was my eldest son, Matthias. He is in the middle of mid-term exams in college and didn't make it. 

This is Celia, my 19 year old daughter and her sweetheart Johnathan. He is truly a precious soul and a good thing for my daughter. I love these two young'uns! This is at our home as they headed out to the wedding!

This is my only sister Pascale with her beloved husband Brian. They live in Orange County. California and came for the wedding. Some more people for me to love!! 

 Here are my sweeties Eliah, the handsome dude and my daughter. Gotta love em!!

Here is my sweetie, Mike and of course myself! He doesn't get dressed up that often, but he sure looked good to me!! I love my Mikeypoo!!

Here is my brood, missing Matthias. Love the motion of this!!

Here is my sister with her son, Zechariah. He is 2 years old and soo much fun. He is a busy little bee. 

Sunday morning as I was getting ready to watch church, my youngest, Eliah, with his new pick-up truck was driving a pail of apples to his girlfriend's house when he ran off the road and did severe damage to his pick-up. His air bags deployed and how he did not roll his vehicle is a miracle. So it has been an emotional few days and we are giving thanks to our wonderful Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for saving this boy and keeping him  safe and unharmed except for a few aches and pains. 

The Auto Body guy thinks it just might be totaled. Again, we are sooo thankful we did not lose a son. The truck axle is broken, the tire had to be chained to the frame to be able to haul it away. I will post pictures at a later time. Otherwise I have been sewing for bees. Here are some of my most recent blocks. 

Simply Solids Bee Blocks. This makes me think of stop lights! :)

Christmas presents blocks

Crown Royal front block for Nancy of C2C Bee

Back block for Nancy of Coast to Coast Bee

I made this apron and potholders for my Sister-in-law as a bridal shower gift she had at the end of September. 

Here is Elaine, the new bride at her shower with her apron!!!!

On October 1st I aged another year, I had quilt club that night and I got to enjoy a wonderful meal and margarita with my quilting buddies from my Wabasha Quilt Group!! Love these ladies. We have been together for quite a while now. 

Autumn is now here. Here I am outside of the Burlington Hotel Quilt Shop in Alma, Wisconsin. I took a a picture facing the Mississippi River this past Saturday morning. She had a fabric fondling party as a representative from Blank Fabrics was there. We were to pick our favorites to help her decide what to buy in the near future. 

One more picture of harvest time. Acorn squashes and they sure are tasty. Enjoy fall y'all!!!