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.

Winter Adventures

This past weekend my husband and I ventured out across our family farm on snowshoes. A first for both of us! It is something that I have wanted to try for a lot of my life, and finally I got a chance. We live and grew up right here in the northland of Wisconsin where there is A LOT of snow, why we haven't tried snowshoeing before I don't know. My six year-old daughter has even tried snowshoeing before I got the chance.

 

We love to do other outdoor activities such as snowmobiling. The winter actually provides us time to do things like this because my husband isn't as busy with work and the farm, and being so cooped up in the house all winter gets old really fast! Snowshoeing was a great way for my husband and I to connect and have a chance for some great conversation. I truly haven't had that much fun and relaxation with my husband in a while.

 

 

We ventured out into the woods on the farm where all of the rusty old machinery has been laid to rest over the years. We got to step back in time for a while, enjoy the peace and quiet of God's creation, and imagine what life was like trying to use these old pieces of machinery that seem so rudimentary in comparison to what we now have.

One thing that I really love about snowmobiling or snowshoeing is that you get to see things and places that you typically see from the road, in a different viewpoint. The trails around here usually wind across farm fields and through the back side of most farmsteads.

 

 

Most people hide their 'junk', as it tends to be called, behind the shed or in the woods along the back forty. I tend to be quite nosy or curious and like to see the old, junky stuff. The trails allow you to see a little more of that. The trails lead you to places you never knew existed. Past 100 year-old broken down farmsteads that you can't see from the road, even occasional cemeteries from Civil War times I have discovered this way. And I find this fascinating!

 

Snowmobiling, snowshoeing or just adventuring out just gives me a different point of view to the place that I call home.

What do your adventures look like?

Quilts, Quilts...and more Quilts!

First of all, I hope you like all the new look to the blog, I was really ready for a change. It was in need of a new look, something bright, springy, and fun. The old barn wood just wasn't doing it for me anymore.

Speaking of spring, it is on its way, or at least I hope so. It is 50 degrees out right now, and I am sitting here writing with my windows open. It has been a really long winter here in northern Wisconsin. Although I am sure we will get one more big dump of a snow storm here, we always seem to get one in March, after we had a little glimmer of spring. Last year May seemed like our typical March. We got dumped with 17" of snow in May 17 and still had snow on Memorial weekend.

 

 

But enough about winter, I have two major things on my mind this week, and that is the amazingly warm temps, and quilts! I am leaving in less than two days for a quilt retreat, and am really excited. I have some really fun projects ready to work on. So since I have quilting on my brain, I thought I would post some more pictures of a few of the quilts that I have made over the years.

 

I love to venture out once or twice a year and use our farm as a fun background for my pictures. I love the old buildings, fences, rust and chippy paint. It makes for some beautiful scenery. So I load up the trusty old John Deere Gator with my quilts, and usually my husband too, and trek out across the farm to get pictures like these.

 

  Did you notice that not one picture has snow in it?

I don't know that last time that happened...

And they remind me that spring is almost here...

 

 

And the grass will be green...

 

 

And there won't be a cloud in the sky...

 

The corn will be knee high by the 4th of July...

 

And soon this grain bin will be filled to the brim from the fall harvest... or so we hope.