It's a busy,busy time and life is good!

Well since my last post I got to go on my first quilt retreat in 4 years!! I was so excited to finally get to one. This November 14th-16th.  I went to a place called the Villa Maria in Frontenac, MN. The weekend was sponsored through Rather Bee Quilting in Lake City, MN. Here is a picture of the Villa. It reminds me of a castle. 

It almost reminds me of a castle! We were on the 3rd floor and we were sewing as a group in the 2nd tower. I loved it there. I hope to do another one next year. 

Anyway, I had so much fun, I got a lot accomplished and a good start on other projects. I signed up for 2 mini swaps with ship dates of December 1st. 

The first one is the Instagram Miniswap, #igminiswap. I was in the #ashleybteam . I made a 22 inch mini-quilt to send to my swap buddie Anna from North Hamptonshire, England. She doesn't know I have her and I have no idea who has me either, I think that adds so much fun to it!!  The pattern is called a woven star and I have to make one for myself one day.

The other instagram swap I was involved in is called the #jollyswap where we send a mini quilt, again to a secret pal and someone I don't know has me and I made a winter themed wall hainging for Gerdia in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I have to say this one is one of my favorites. 

This was my first attempt at free motion quilting and I found it very easy to do and I love the results I got. The buttons are also from my mother-in-law's button collection she left here when I married my husband 25 years ago. She has been gone now for about 10 years so they have a special memory for me. Also I chose these buttons because each snowflake is unique in it's shape they say so the butttons represent that as well. I hope she loves it because this was very fulfilling for me to make. 

I also got my last Lucy Boston Block finished for the year and sent out. It went to Uschy in Switzerland, my homeland as well. 

                           
I also participated in a swap earlier this fall called the Sweet Penny Designs Mini Quilt swap, I sent a mini using Kaffe Fasset fabrics and solids to coordinate with the fabrics in warm tones. I had a brain fart and forgot to take a picture of my own creation. But I was blessed to receive a lovely quilt from Cathy from Australia. She hand appliqued this beauty and it now hands proudly on my living room wall. I absolutely love it. She says it is from an Austrailian Block of the Month. Isn't it pretty?

Finally I want to introduce you to Delilah, she is a new kitty friend we adopted from our farm. She is small for her age and goes to the vet this Friday to get spayed! She has a super high voice and is very playful. We are happy to have her in our family, but Molly the Queen isn't sure what she thinks of this playful kitten.

I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgving with your families and are now ready for the race to the Christmas Holiday!! Blessings to you all!! 

Sweet Penny Designs Mini Quilt Swap Show and Tell!!

I joined an online mini quilt swap on facebook called Sweet Penny Designs Mini quilt swap and I received the most amazing Mini this week!! I had a partner in Canada and she got her mini the same day I got mine, the only problem I had was forgetting to photograph the mini I sent Marika!! How blonde is that? And I'm not even a natural blonde, I get highlights!! Hehehe. I was blonde as a very young child though, some day I'll have to post a flash back pic of me as a little one.

Anyway, I received the most amazing mini from Cathy in Australia!! I couldn't believe it!! She said the pattern was from an Australian Block of the Month. I just sewed on the sleeve so I can hang it up. She appliqued it all by hand and I LOVE what she made. I can't thank you enough Cathy, I am so honored to receive this beauty!!

She said the border is a Tribal Aboriginal fabric and the back has Australian animals native to Australia on it. She also sent a mini Merino Wool Bale they make in her home town, some fun FQs of Australian fabric including a fq of the Australian animals fabric and some beautiful Koala Bear Earrings and key-chain/zipper pull . I am one spoiled woman.

Thanks again Cathy!!  Hugs! 

Autumn days and Celia's Wedding went great!!

Well Celia became Mrs. Johnathan Burg on August 30, 2014 and the day was wonderful and everything went well! I will have pictures to post hopefully soon!! I have been waiting for my daughter to get her pics back. I was so happy with how the day went. She was a beautiful bride and her groom is an amazing man of God as well. She says marriage is what she expected and is happy with her choice!!

I made the happy couple a quilt for their Wedding gift from me. I made a queen size "Giant Plus Quilt" in their favorite colors : Aqua/turquoise and orange. I added assorted grays to balance it out. Here is the lovely couple showing off their quilt!!

Here is a better picture of their quilt!!

 I laid it out on the grass before the wedding to try to get a good picture of it. I am so pleased with how it turned out!! 

I just had to share this picture of my daughter in her Wedding dress on the day before her wedding when we picked it up! She has what is called a French Bussel and I loved how it hanged. The alterations lady made us practice tying the bussel before we were allowed to take it!! Her Maid of Honor - Samantha came along too!! Afterwards we went and checked out shoes. 

          Here is Celia and Samantha!! We were just having girl shoe shopping time!! What girl                                                                   doesn't like shoes, right? :)

Besides the wedding quilt I signed up to do a mini-quilt swap with Sweet Penny Designs group, we are a FB group and we have a secret pal and I made her a wall hanging using these fabrics and solids that coordinated with them. The stupid thing is I forgot to take a picture of the finished product!! OMG I must be losing my mind!! I hope I can find a pic online from my swap buddy. I sent it out on October 10th as was the deadline for the swap, looking on Facebook tonight she posted it still has not arrived, however, she is from Canada so their postal system doesn't move like ours. I also have not received my mini yet, but I have my fingers crossed and am excited for what will be coming!! 

I also have a few baby showers coming up in the very near future so I have been having fun making some baby bibs!! I tried to make them so they wouldn't show dirt easy and be gender neutral. Here is are some I have made so far:

I went to New York City with my sister last weekend, I don't have time to write about that now, but details and pictures next time! Enjoy the beautiful season!!

One Week to go and Ms. Celia becomes a Mrs.!!

Well, a week from today is my only daughter's wedding and I am at the point where everything is lined up to go, there's not much more to do, except for friday which will be go cut the sunflowers for the tables, pack up vehicles to take all the stuff we need ie: candy and popcorn for the candy/popcorn buffet, decorations for the tables, banners, ser up the venue, nails with the bridesmaids, rehersal and rehersal dinner, pick up the wedding dress....this is just off the top of my head for Friday. Saturday all I have to do is pick up the bridesmaids bouquets at the farmer's market and hopefully enjoy the rest of the day! OH, Oh, Oh....I think I can breath!!

25 Years together and holding!

Tuesday I had my 25th Anniversary to my Dairy farmer husband. I can't believe I have been married that long and that I have fully grown children already!! I don't feel old enough for it to have been so long already, but I know I look it!! Hhahaa. So, just for fun, here is a picture of My husband Mike and I  on our wedding day. This is our favorite picture:

This was taken after a brief shower as the photographer came to collect his money I said to him, "I thought we were going to do some outside pictures so we stepped off of the parking lot by some trees and shot these pictures, which I am truly thankful for as they are our favorites!!


Now, don't laugh, this next picture is one I took of my husband and I last week for an Instagram post on a whim and I could of looked better, but with hair pulled back at the drop of a hat, here we are now!!

So here we are now!! He is mostly grey!! Can't believe it! I am still a brunette with blonde highlights because I like them!! Also, no make up either, so I have the "natural" look! It's just....us!!

We got together with some dear friends of ours, one being my husband's best man at our wedding and his lovely wife who was my personal attendant. Also another precious couple and we went to an Irish Pub and had Irish food that was really good!! Seasoned well and tasty. There is nothing better then being surrounded by those you love!! Then we were surprised by a beautiful Anniversary cake made by Batters and Bowls in Mondovi,Wisconsin. It's how amazing a cake made completely from scratch can be so yummie!! She did a great job and we enjoyed every bite!!

 It will be fun to see what the next 25 years will bring!! Have a good week!!

Three weeks and counting!!

Wow, where does the summer go? I can't believe I haven't written here for quite a while. I guess it's time to do a little catch up!!

The biggest news is that Celia and Johnathan's wedding is sneaking up on us super fast!! August 30, 2014, it all seemed so far away at one point.  Three weeks to go and all the time spent planning and doing things and just as one list gets completed there is another whole list to complete. Right now I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of the other 50% of the wedding response cards that have NOT arrived yet and are due back here my Wednesday August 13th. I have already warned the lovely couple they may be spending next weekend trying to follow up with their guests as the caterer would like his numbers. The kids decided on a Southwestern flair for their meal. They want chicken and steak fajitas and Chicken and Bacon Quesadillas along with a black-bean and corn salad, cucumber salad, fresco beans California style, thank you sister for the recipe!! Fresh fruit and then some lovely cupcakes in Chocolate, Almond white, lemon poppy seed and Celia's favorite Apple spice. We are also having a popcorn/candy buffet. Can you believe we ordered 60# of candy? We also ordered Lindt Truffle balls in three delightful flavors: Dark chocolate orange, coconut and white chocolate with cocoa bean! YUM!! Also looking at Dove Chocolates the chocolate mint and chocolate peanut butter as the wrappers match their color theme Coral and Turquoise.

We went to Olson's Ice Cream Shoppe in Chippewa Falls while wedding shopping and here is the lovely couple!! Don't worry, we were not dress shopping, Johnathan was not allowed for that part!!

Matthias' Rachel was here from Ohio for 3 weeks too! She actually worked for a little while for the Pioneer Seed Corn pollinating corn. She helped in providing food for the world! She said she really enjoyed the research part of it and they liked her so much the wanted her to stay till the end of August, however, she has only 1 more year of University left and she starts school next week so that wouldn't work. She is a wonderful woman to have around and fits right in with the family.

I have been sewing some, it is real hard to fit in with all that is going on, however, I did manage to get Celia and Johnathan a wedding quilt made!!!! It is completely finished and I would LOVE to post pictures now, but my daughter is snoopy and can be sneaky and I have been keeping her completely in the dark about this. She "thinks" I may of made her a quilt, but she is not sure. I have been very careful to not let her see me work on it at all as I want it to be a surprise, so as much as I would love to post pictures now, I don't trust Ms. Snoopypants so I will wait to post till after the wedding. I am so happy wit h how it came out though.

I have also been doing some english paperpiecing, I am enjoying the Lucy Boston Block Bee I am in. Here are  some of the blocks I've made!

It's amazing how different each one is and the different tastes that people have in fabrics and color requests. I am happy with each one of these!!

The following two are for the Sunday Morning Quilts Bee, she wanted anything goes. 

This bock is for Leslie in the Coast to Coast Bee. this block looks mildly intimidating but I loved making it and it is on my to-do list someday!!

There are 5 blocks here. This is a postage stamp type block also for the Sunday Morning Quilts Bee. She requested 30's repo fabrics and I was truly happy to make them for her!! I was supposed to make 4,but I was having so much fun I made 5 and they arrived at their Australian destination!

These fun colorful homespun plaid blocks were for Marta in the Coast to Coast Bee and I just love how they turned out. I have a small stash of these too and I think I now know how I want to use them if they still live here, I am thinking I might have just given them away. I will check someday. :)

I have done a few more things lately, but I will get more pics soon!! I won't stay away so long either, you know, writing is truely a good and healthy outlet!! 

The Perfect Day!!

Well here on the farm, it seems the water works have stopped long enough for the men and boys to be out in the field. Here it is 10:30 pm and not a soul but myself is in the house!! Yesterday my husband shared they planted 108 acres of corn and they are going to plant till they drop or get rained out. Eliah has been doing field work, he came in at midnight last night only because he ran out of fuel for that big John Deere tractor he is working with. The amazing part is he managed to still get up with out any difficulty for school this morning. That is very unusual as it always seems I have to pry him out of bed with a crow bar on most days.

This past week was an amazing week for Eliah as well. The FFA banquet was Wednesday night. He was Vice President this past year, but was blessed to be elected for his senior year to come as President of the FFA. The banquet was very nice and the food was great and I was honored to be present. My  son bought me a ticket to attend. Here is a picture of him and his officers from last year. There are 3 Seniors in the group. Eliah second from the right in the back row.

Here are the incoming officers for  2014-2015 

Eliah is the President and he is the second from the left in the back row. For a boy who wants to spend his life farming, I am so happy for him. He has a passion for farming. 

Then Saturday May 17th Durand hosted their Junior Prom and Eliah and his girlfriend Lexi went together. Can you believe they have been dating a year on this dear boy's 17th birthday April 19th? 

Here is a picture of the lovely couple!!

Talk about a 17th Birthday, here is Eliah on his big day!!  

Lexi isn't fond of smiling as she very recently started to wear braces, however, what you don't see in the Prom pictures  is that the rubberbands on her braces match her dress!! She makes him very happy and they seem to get along so well. Her daddy is a true country boy like my son.They come from the same cloth. 

Let's see, I have done some sewing, I finished Celia and John's quilt top for their wedding quilt, but I am still scared to post pictures anywhere in fear they may see it some how, so pictures will be posted, but at a later date. Here are some of the works I have worked on:

These two blocks are for Katie in the Sunday Morning Quilts Bee. She lives in Texas.

This is 4 paper pieced blocks for Aimee from the Coast to Coast Bee

This is a Lucy Boston block for Jan. 

This quilt is from a local quilt group at the Burlington Hotel Quilt Shop and we are doing a around robin and I added the pinwheels on the left side and the bottom to put some contrast and pull out colors from the center panel.  

And of course, it wouldn't be a post if it wasn't for Molly inspecting the latest aquisition of fabric I bought at a LQS. She also is the chief inspector for any sewing/quilting I do. So far everything meets with her approval. She is a very precious kitty. 

HAPPY SPRING!! It has finally arrived. Time to plant my garden this upcoming Memorial Day Weekekend. 

Great News!! My only daughter is betrothed!!!

I am so happy and excited!!! I am now officially helping my lovely daughter, Celia, plan a wedding for August 30th, 2014!!! We went to David's Bridal and found a dress right away. I would love to post pictures of her in it, but I am so concerned her Fiance' would somehow find the pictures so I can't do that at this time. This is her after we went dress shopping, then we were hungry so we went out for a Bento Box at Fuji!! It was so good and we had so much fun!!

My husband also had a hernia repair beginning of February. No wonder I haven't posted for a while! There has been alot going on!! He had a laproscopic repair. Here he is freshly awake from his anesthesia. 

The scary thing is, when he was like this, I really believe he didn't not know who I was. It was so unusual. I also realized he looks like no spring chicken either. I do believe I look alot younger then he does, he is just a cradle robber!! He is all grey, and I barely have a grey hair on my head!! LOL! 

Now this is the guy I know!! He looks just like he should!! Still old, but now he knows me!! Haha.

Matthias' Rachel came to visit us as well at the Beginning of March. She had spring break and wanted to spend it with him. We tried to sneak her here, She wasn't going to tell him she was coming, we had plotted for me to come pick her up at the airport and watch him walk in with her here. He said "I would of dropped dead." Here they are hanging out on the couch!

Rachel with my precious putty Molly. 

I have indeed been sewing. I have been busy with my bees and trying to use my stash, even though I did splurge on some fabrics until the very beginning of March, now I am committed to a fabric fast, I hope! 

Here are some of the works I have done:

This is a throw size quilt using the BQ pattern and fabric by Basic Grey - Little Black Dress by Moda. 

I totally adore this line. Since then I have come across Little Black Dress 2 and I love it even more!! Molly is modeling on it for you. There is no quilt like one with a kitty. 

This quilt was created with the intentions of being a Plus quilt, however, the pattern I used had the dimensions wrong so the blocks wouldn't go together as intended so I pieced it with hopes of making a scrappy large throw size and it worked!! I based the colors on a few fqs I had from Chez Moi. I love how this one turned out. Milo is modeling on this quilt. He is getting a little too big for his britches. He is our fattycat! He likes to lay on his back to sleep. He snores real good too!

Here are some bee blocks I have made for the I Love Lucy International Bee

These blocks are for the Sunday Morning Quilts Bee: We use the book by the same name and I have to say this is an amazing book to use up scraps and it is so creative, so check it out!!

For the Coast to Coast Bee I got to make these amazing Elephants for Jan!!

I have gotten to know a very precious woman who is 90 years old who made this quilt. She has vision problems and I absolutely adore her and just want to share with you what she made for a great-grandchild that is only an infant and she feels will never know her, but that the baby will know was made by her.

It is a twin size quilt and I think she did an amazing job!! Not bad for being legally blind!! I do truly love her, she has such a beautiful and fresh perspective on life. God Bless you my dear friend for making my life better by knowing you!!

Well, I think that is a real quick synopsis of it all. I will leave you with a wonderful picture of a barn quilt that I found here in the Rural landscape of Western Wisconsin. The owner was kind enough to let me take a picture!! Can't wait to tell you more of the adventure ahead!!

Everyone needs a good laugh too!! This was posted on a convenience store the end of January. Notice the snow and we had -20s for temps!! They have the best signs!!  

Tata for now!!