Friday Coffee Date

 

Welcome to Friday once again. This week has been crazy even though I only left my house once in the past 7 days, and that was to bring dinner to my husband in the field. It is time to link up with Diary of and Addict's Friday Coffee Date, and check in and see what is going on in my world.

 

Spring planting season has begun here in Wisconsin, even though preparation for it began a while ago. Crops are beginning to be planted, but are at a standstill for a few days, as we are getting a few days of rain. As much as I want my husband to get the crops in the ground, it is really nice to have his help getting ready for our move in two weeks.

 

Speaking of the move, we are almost there! In fact, we move in exactly two weeks. I am SO ready to just be in our new house and settled. I do not cope well with transition, or chaos. I tend to like my life scheduled and organized. The closer we get to the move, the more chaos there seems to be, and I am beginning to struggle with it. I just keep trying to keep my eye on the prize and know that God is not going to give me more than I can handle.

 

Because of all the moving and packing I haven't worked on any quilt projects in a while, and that tends to be my therapy.

 

 

This fabric is for the first project that I make once I get my sewing machine set up. I might just make myself work on this before ALL of the boxes are unpacked, just so I can have some time to relax! This will be for a quilt going on a little boy's bed. The colors are bright and the pattern is so fun. I tend to REALLY like polka-dots! I can't wait to get it all finished and get to have some time with my sewing machine once again.

 

I have spent a bit of time this week writing some new blog posts, I am just not quite ready to share them. I would like to get some pictures in them, and all of my pictures, like the rest of my life, is all packed up in boxes (mostly John Deere boxes!) I would really love to invest more time and energy into my blog and others, and I plan to do so once we get settled a bit. I have connected with some really amazing people through blogs, made some great friendships, and truly get a lot of great encouragement from other bloggers.

 

 

Well, that's about all for now. I will be spending my week packing, cleaning and having a garage sale to get rid of all of our unwanted or outgrown stuff. I anyone needs anything for a baby girl, I'm sure we have it!

 

I pray that you all have a great week.

 

 

Friday Coffe Date

 

Welcome to Friday once again. Happy Easter to you all!

 

 This week could not have gotten over soon enough. I think that lunar eclipse had something to do with a lot of the crazy behavior in our house this week. The kids were just something else! So I am very thankful that it's Friday and time to link up with Alissa at Diary of an Addict for the Friday Coffee Date.

 

 

This is about what my house looks like all over. Boxes, boxes and more boxes, and a bit of emptiness! It sounds like our moving date is going to move up, so we move in one month now. There are some days that I just don't know where to start. If anyone has any packing tips, or advice I would love to hear it. I want to get busy packing, but I don't know what all can be packed ahead of time. I really need to go through the girls' bedrooms and sort through for the garage sale that we are also having in the mean time, but that is very hard to do with a house full of little ones. They tend to take out twice as much as I pack up.

 

I thankfully have three of the four quilts finished that I have to make before we move, and will hopefully get a good start on the last one this weekend.

 

 

This is the one Caroline got for her birthday. She will be in a big girl bed once we are in the new house, so I wanted her to have her quilt all ready for her. I made a scrappy Dresden that my mom had cut out a lot of years ago. I added to it, made it bigger, and finished it for Caroline.

 

 

This last one is one that I actually pieced years ago, and quilted up to donate for a benefit for one of Neil's distant relatives that is quickly loosing her battle with cancer.

 

That is about it for this week. Have a blessed Easter and a wonderful week!

Friday Coffee Date

 Happy Friday to you all! I am so thankful that it is Friday. It has been a couple of long and busy weeks in our house, hence the reason I haven't gotten a post up in two weeks. So its time to link up to Alissa's new blog Diary of An Addict for the Friday Coffee Date and share the big news we have!



Our current home

I am so excited to say that we have finally sold our house, and will be moving into our dream home on Memorial weekend! It has been a long journey for almost two years, 37 showings, lots of cleaning, but we did it! Now the real work begins of packing everything up. I moved from my dorm room at age 19 into this house, and now 10 years and three kids later, we have A LOT more stuff. Our new home is three times the size of our current home, with enough bedrooms and bathrooms for everyone, five acres for the girls to have their horses in the backyard, and I will also get to have my very own quilting studio.

 

 

 

Despite that we love our new house, I will be sad to leave our current home. This is the house that we made into a home, where we became a family. Neil moved in here three weeks before we got married, and it officially became mine on our wedding night! Sorry for the picture overload, I was just reminiscing about what I love about my first home. Pictures of the new house will come once we are all moved in.

 

 

 

 

I will certainly miss all of the beautiful hardwood floors.

 

I love the barn boards in my dining

room, it was always my favorite room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I will always miss the beautiful bedroom that Neil built for us in the basement, after we found out we were expecting Baby Bug, and knew we were running out of room.

 

 

This week has not only been busy with packing but my Baby Bug, Caroline, turned 2 yesterday! I can't believe she is already such a big girl. We love her so much and she fits right into our family. She has literally turned our world upside down since even before she was born, but I can't imagine a moment without her!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Wednesday, Neil and I, chaperoned a field trip to the Minnesota Children's Museum with Olivia's kindergarten class, and had a great time.

 

On a much more sad note, Neil's new truck that he bought last month threw a piston rod through the oil pan and wrecked the engine on the way to school for the field trip. I feel so bad for Neil as that had become his baby that he was so proud of.

 

 I will be spending my week finishing the two customer quilts that I have left to finish before we move, and then will have to get my tail in gear and finish packing the rest of my house!

 

Have a wonderful week.

Friday Coffee Date

 

Happy Spring to you all! This has been once again a busy and challenging week in the Gustafson home. It may be spring, but we are still buried in snow here in northern Wisconsin, the temps have been warmer thankfully.

Once again it is time to link up to Rags to Stitches blog for the weekly Friday Coffee Date. 

 

 

I spent much of last week and the weekend at a quilt retreat just outside of Paynesville, MN, about 2 1/2 hours from home. I had a wonderful time, enjoyed some wonderful fellowship and caught up with some great friends. I finished only two of the three projects that I had prepared to do because I just ran out of time. My little baby bug wasn't feeling well, so I ended up coming home a day early.

 

The above quilt is one quilt that I did complete last weekend. It is a Mini Swoon quilt designed by Camille Roskelley of Thimble Blossoms. It was a fun project, and I can't wait to get it quilted and hanging in my dining room. It is just perfect for spring.

 

I also made this quilt, and I used Scrumptious fabric also from Camille Roskelley of Thimble Blossoms. The fabric is beautiful and again perfect for spring. I wrote my own pattern for this quilt and hope to get the finishing touches on that soon. I might just make some changes to this and add some cornerstones to break up all of the white. I just haven't decided for sure. The other thing that I can't decide on for this quilt is the name. Any suggestions out there?

 

And finally, this is what is next: a rag quilt for a client. I have never made a rag quilt so it is fun to try something new for someone else. It is going to bright and fun!

Well, that's all for now. I am hoping for a quiet week around here along with more quilting progress. I have so many quilts that I want to make, and not enough time to make them all. Once I get the few projects completed that I have going right now, I will have to get busy cleaning and packing as we have finally sold our house and plan on moving around Memorial Weekend. I also would like to have a garage sale in the end of April to get rid of lots of stuff!
I pray that you all have a wonderful week.

Friday Coffee Date

 

Once again it is Friday, and once again I am writing this post from a few hours away from home. Its time for my weekly link up with Rags to Stitches. I am quilting away at a retreat this weekend in Paynesville, MN at a resort called Bug Bee. This resort is so nice, I have even been able to relax in the pool and hot tub and sooth the back ache from bending over my machine. It has been several REALLY late nights, but I am almost done with a challenging quilt pattern. I can't wait until it is all done so I can show pictures of it. I am with the great friends, eating way too much delicious food, really relaxing and enjoying this getaway.

 It will sure be nice to get home on Sunday though, as I really miss all of my sweet loves at home, but this is a really nice break from life (not that I needed another break, as I have been gone a lot) and it feels really great to get something done. Well, that's it for now and I need to get back to sewing away, so you all have a wonderful week!

Friday Coffee Date

 

It's Friday once again. Time for my weekly Coffee Date link up with the Rags to Stitches blog. I don't have a whole lot of anything new to share. It has been pretty quiet week in the Gustafson house. Last weekend we were down in Madison playing at a waterpark while Neil was at meetings. Sadly Olivia came home with the stomach flu, which is not the way we wanted to end a vacation, but we all enjoyed the waterpark and catching up with friends.

This is just one of my favorite pictures of Caroline from last weekend. She looks like a big girl here, despite the fact that she is kind of shrimpy!

 

This week I did a post and linked up with the Dove #BeautyIs campaign. I took a no make-up selfie and gave my definition of what true beauty is to me. That was a lot fun. I am really starting to get in to these link-up blogs.

 

I have been busy cutting away at fabric, getting a some projects ready for the quilting retreat I am going on next week. I am excited to have 5 days of pure quilting bliss! I hope to get 2 full sized quilts pieced, 1 mini quilt, and also dabble in a few other projects. It is amazing when you have 5 days with no interruptions how much you can get done.

This coming weekend we have absolutely nothing planned, which is really nice for a change. I have a couple of errands to run tomorrow morning, a last minute trip to the quilt shop, pick up some groceries, and I know Neil wants to do some work on his new truck, other than that, we will be spending our weekend hanging out with the girls.

Pretty boring week around here, so that's all for now. I do hope to get a post or two up next week while I am gone, but I am not positive what the internet is going to be like, so there is no guarantees.

I pray that you all have a wonderful week.

Friday Coffee Date

Once again it is Friday!  This time I am writing from four hours away from home.  My husband has a meeting down here in Madison (Wisconsin), at the college for the John Deere Ag Technician program, and we get to tag along for some fun.  The hotel we are staying at has a waterpark, so that's where you will find the Gustafson girls for the weekend!

This week has been one of those weeks where God has shown me that he has plans for me, and they are certainly not the plans that I have had for myself. He has opened many doors for me this week. As I said in last weeks coffee date, I gave a speech at a get together for my UEC weekend.  This speech was very out of my normal, as I was asked to pour my heart out and speak about my journey with Christ. I was so nervous, shaking uncontrollably, as I haven't given a speech is over ten years and only ever for a speech class. But I got up there and did it! I poured my heart out. My husband said that there were people crying and laughing, and praising the Lord during my speech but most of all my message was heard. I spoke about my personal journey with Christ, but I also wanted everyone to know that we need to open our hearts completely to Him and trust Him to lead us in the plans that He has for us. Here is a blurp from the ending of my speech that might help with some insight:
"God says in Isaiah 43:1 “Do not fear for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name and you are mine.” We are truly His now with opened hearts, His to execute His plans and trusting him to lead us just as he said in Jeremiah 29:11 “I know the plans I have in mind for you declares the Lord; they are plans for peace, not disaster, to give you a future filled with hope.” And that is what we have, plans for a hopeful future overflowing with God’s Grace."
I have had so much encouragement from my message, and have even had several pastors calling and asking to either use me and my speech in their sermons or asking me to come and speak. Not in a million years did I think this is what God would be calling me to do!
In this same way God is also telling me to continue with the direction that I thought my life would be going. I have been working hard at making a successful quilting business out of my home the last couple of years and this week I have had booming business.

Well, we are off to do some more splashing around, have a great week.

Friday Coffee Date

 

I can't believe its Friday already! It has once again been a crazy week around here. Busy in the Gustafson house. Last weekend was nice and quiet and was spent catching up on sleep, and also spending an afternoon snowmobiling, of which is one of my favorite things to do with my husband. My husband got his wisdom teeth pulled yesterday, which is just no fun at all. I feel so bad when he is in pain and there is nothing I can do to help him. Dentists aren't really on my good side right now as I get to make my 4th trip back in next week to get a filling fixed from over a month ago, that is still giving me lots of problems.

 

 

But to cheer him up, he did buy himself a new truck this week. We needed something bigger than our F-250 Super Duty, so he bought an F-350 Diesel Super Duty with dually tires. Boys and their toys!! So one evening this week, the entire family piled into the new truck and took it out for a joyride, which is always fun to do.

 

Quilting rulers work great for other things too!

 

We also have been dumped with lots more snow this week. Monday we got about 6 inches, and we woke up this morning to another 13 inches and it is still falling. It took almost two hours just to get all plowed out this morning, and sadly I had to pull out my husband's John Deere 455 tractor and snow blower with my Ford Expedition this morning.  (Yes, we really love our Fords!) I usually love winter, but with all the snow and the dangerously cold temps, this is getting to be a LONG winter. 

 

 

Yes, there really is a house behind all that snow.

 

I have certainly have been challenged this week a lot in my personal life, as Neil and I are trying to find our new normal after a couple of life-changing experiences with UEC. I have also been asked to write and give a speech at a UEC event this weekend. I haven't written a speech since my freshman year in college, more than 10 years ago! I have it all written and am practicing it like crazy, but I am still scared to stand up in front of a lot of people and pour my heart out about my personal journey with Christ. It seems so easy when I am just writing it down or blogging about it, when there isn't a live audience. Well, that is about it for us here in the frozen tundra of Wisconsin. Hope you all have had a great week.