Back Porch

Now I can go sit on the back porch and enjoy myself at least until the rain starts.

Spring

Another beautiful day on the farm. I am cleaning the grill and the back porch today cause I cant stand sitting out there anymore until it is clean. I washed the tables and chairs down, what a difference that made. I dont know why I am going to so much trouble when it supposed to rain tomorrow unless it is just to enjoy it today.

Town

I did get to town later in the day yesterday and found everything I was looking for at the store. RedDog and I planted peas in the garden last night. I have so many lovely projects to work on I cant decide what to tackle first. I love it.

Watching the world go by

Have you ever had one of those beautiful days thought out in your head? You know the ones I mean where you go shopping and get everything on the list, seeds for the garden, rugs for the new bathroom, quilt batting and buttons. Then you get ready to go and the truck wont start Argh. Oh well the best laid plans arent always the best. I have been sitting on the front porch in the swing watching the world go by and it is great. With the whole day stretching out in front of me I have already vacuumed, done the dishes, cleaned up our room and now I have time to just enjoy the birds singing and the nice weather. I may grabbed my knitting and spend the morning on the porch soaking up the sun. What a great day.

Landen turns one

We went to Landen's first birthday party last night. He had several of his girlfriends from the babysitters there and it was great fun watching the little ones play.

Dancing shoes

Tell me you dont love a good shoe show. Di changed her shoes for different music she was playing. Brooks and Dunne for the leopard boots and Ruby slippers for Jim Morrison. We had a great time. The only problem is the time goes by to fast.

This weekend

Went to visit Sonny and Di this weekend and had a great time. Sonny had made turkey and dressing and all the fixins for Friday night. Saturday morning he fixed his famous fried taters, bacon, and gravy. Yummy. After breakfast on Sat. we had Bloody Marys made with homemade V8 juice that Sonny and Di make. OMG. How did we get so lucky. Really a fun time.

Abby dabby doo

Since Daddy and Uncle Jerry are big Illini fans I made Abby a sweater for next year. I think she is going to be soooo cute in the hat with her curly blonde hair. She is Aunt Candy's big girl.

Spring rosebud quilt

This is a quilt I quilted for Lisa's mom. It is called spring rosebuds and I think it is a very pretty pattern. I did hearts and feathers for the quilting and just went crazy.

Tif's quilt is done

I finished hand sewing the binding last night. We left the middle unquilted so when the baby comes I can put her name and birth date in the middle. I loved doodling the quilting.

Tif and I put the baby quilt in the frame

Sunday I called Tiffany to see if she wanted to come over and help me put the baby quilt in the frame. We had it done in half the time that it takes me by myself. I dont know why I was so surprised at what good help she was. I mean really, the girl can hunt and butcher her own deer she is amazing. After we were done putting the quilt in the frame we picked out what quilt thread to use and I showed her how to quilt. She was not aware that I controlled the quilting. I guess she thought I pushed a button and the machine did it all for me. Anyone who knows me should know something that fun I want to do myself. LOL

Last Saturday Tif and I went shopping.

About a week ago Tif and I took off the Anna shopping. We were on the hunt for material to make her nursery set. We had good luck finding the right colors and she especially likes the butterfly fabric cause it sparkles.

Fun stuff

Also in the package I sent off on Saturday was some smaller projects I had been making. Some of these were really fun to try. Like the checkbook cover, card case and the petal purses. All in all it was fun projects and hopefully money will be coming back my way.

bunny hanging

I just sent this quilt hanging off saturday. It had quite a bit of detail work with making the tails out of pompoms and adding ribbon to the neck. You cant see it in the photo but there is a lot of added features to the bunnies themselves. I thought it turned out pretty good. The colors were not what I would have chosen, but the customer is always right.LOL

Let it snow

On Monday morning we woke up to lots of snow. It was so pretty and I got to enjoy it from the comfort of my living room all day.

Lisa's visit

Levi had an interview and SIU on Saturday so Lisa and I made plans for them to come visit us Saturday night. We had a great time and RedDog did an amazing job cooking as usual. I couldnt believe how much we all had in common and how easily the conversations flowed. Way fun weekend

Hanging out on the back porch with Koda

The winter weather missed us so we had the opportunity to sit on the porch to grill out steaks and play with Koda and his new ball he got for Christmas

Pretty sky

Sitting on the back porch the sky is beautiful.

Busy quilting

I finally got my Bernina sewing machine back after 3 months at the repair shop. While I was up north Lisa's mom sent this wall hanging to be quilted. So I got busy quilting. I think it turned out really good and I am proud of my quilting.

The new master bath

While I was gone to Charleston Red Dog finished all the dry wall and painted the master bath. It is really looking good. Today he is putting down the tile. Yah

Crissy learns to sew

I spent Wednesday with Crissy teaching her how to sew. I had made up a vocabulary list for her and we went through basics and then on to a few extras such as darts, pleats, and zippers. Her first project was a rice bag to heat in the microwave to put on your tummy or neck. Once she was done with that she was on a roll and we did a Walmart run to find a pattern and some fabric. We had so much fun picking out patterns and fabric. She settled on a skirt pattern and brown corduroy with blue flowers. She got some extra sewing tools, such as pins,pin magnet and a tape measure.
We started cutting out the skirt about 130 and had it done by 400 that afternoon. Crissy put in a zipper all by herself, I was very proud of her. What a fun day and then we had homemade rueban sandwiches for supper. Yummy.

Hot water bottles

I got on a hot water bottle kick and made covers for three bottles. The grey knitted one is for Stephanie, the green knitted one is for Kathy and the leopard fleece one is for Di. I really had fun doing this project hope they enjoy them.

Mom's Dr. visit

We didn't receive very good news at the specialist. Mom is having problems with her kidneys and is not able to get any pain medicine to help her with her arthritis. The doctor also said we need to find a nursing home or assisted living for mom, but we are not ready to do that just yet. The appointment was a real eye opener for Steph and me. I think Mom knows what shape she is in, we just dont want her to get old.
But Stephanie and I did have fun when we went back to her house that night. She had gotten a small lap top for Christmas and we loaded pictures to Shutterfly and made a little book of Abby helping Grandpa with the chores. We were having so much fun we stayed up to 1130 and didnt even notice the time. I cant wait to see the book.

Visit North continued

On Sunday I went to see Mom for a short visit and Clayton,Cara, and Bella came over to see us. It was a great visit with Bella being really cute. She showed Grammy how to make a banana out of string cheese and Cara and Bella made me a wallhanging. Bella cut out all the shapes and Cara sewed it up. I am so pleased with it. Clayton ran to the store for Gma Martha and while he was out he stopped at Rural King and bought pig ears for Koda. Yah I know Koda will be pleased.
Then I went out to Stephanie's house to spend the night.

Visit North

I had planned a visit north to take my mom to the specialist in Champaign,Il when the weather looked like it was going to get worse so I took off a day early on Saturday and spent the day with Kathy and Crissy. I took some baby stuff for the girls that I had been working on and they were very pleased with the projects. They have started a tote to keep all the baby's things in. The yoyo monkey was a big success.

company is coming

up at 5 this morning starting to clean the house,cause I quilted all day yesterday. Our friends Sonny and Di are coming today for a visit. We are making deep dish pizza for supper so it should be a fun evening. Pictures to follow. LOL.

Missy's quilt

Well I got a good start on Missys quilt this morning and I stopped to make pizza dough. Our friends Sonny and Di are coming to visit us and we promised them RedDog's famous homemade deep dish pizza. Sometime today I need to dust and sweep the house, but I just cant get very interested in doing that yet. Maybe I can squeeze in another hour of quilting.