Mommy Vacation...

A couple of weeks ago I was blessed with a much needed Mommy Vacation! 

 

 

Caroline and I flew down to Dallas, Texas to visit my aunt, who has recently taken a position with Southwest Airlines  and moved down there from our hometown in northern Wisconsin.  I am very blessed to have my Aunt Terri and Uncle Jack in my life.  I love and miss them dearly and don't know what I would do without them in my life. 

 

 

 

 I had the most wonderful time, loved every moment of it, and can't wait to go back.

 

The weather was amazing.  My body didn't know what to think, when I left home it was

 -16 degrees (actual temp) and when I walked out of the airport in Dallas,

it was 71 degrees!!

 

 

Caroline and I got some much needed R&R.

 

 

 

And we spent some time here.

 

 

 

Got to see some really cool places.

 

 

 

And the sky is always bigger in Texas.

(excuse the van in the picture, it was taken driving down the freeway)

 

 

 

The farmer's market was amazing, 

and was a great place for some color inspiration, 

even in January.

 

 

 

Spent a day being a cowgirl at the Stock Show.

 

 

 

Enjoyed some great food!

(real Tex-Mex, not Taco Bell's version)

 

 

 

But in the end, I missed these two little beauties,

 

 

 

And even my Mr. Amazing,

 

 

 

And I had to come home to this,

 

 

 

So we could be our crazy little family once again!

 

Thank you so much to my Aunt and Uncle for an amazing time,

I can't wait for my next adventure!

 

 

 

Now a little Horsin' Around

Since Allyson made her monkey quilt with me, Olivia couldn't be left out and wanted a quilt of her own.  So, on one of my many trips to the quilt shop, Olivia came with and picked out this horse (of course!) fabric for her quilt.
 

I decided to do something similar to Allyson's monkey quilt, at least along the same lines of simplicity, and this is what we came up with.  

Christmas.... A Little Late

I am trying to get caught up on posting some of the projects that I have made.  It just seems easier to move onto the next project, then to sit down and write about the one that I just finished, so I am a little behind on posting. 

I try to make some Christmas presents every year, and I got a few things made, just not as much as I would have liked to.  But here are a couple of the things that I did get done.

  These snowflake ornaments were an idea from Pinterest, and were fun way to use up some of my buttons. A lot of the buttons came from my mother-in-law, so inevitably, she received one as a gift. 

The red and white table topper was given to one of my daughter's teachers and was one of four toppers I made from a charm pack.  I had wanted to make something else out of this charm pack and I got it together and did not like it at all, so I took it apart, and made  several small projects instead.

Again this is a charm pack project and again was gifted to one of Olivia's teachers.  I got the idea from the owner of my local quilt shop. It is a version of the cathedral window pattern, and was fun to make.

Well, that is all for now.  Maybe this year I will get my Christmas things posted at Christmas time and not over a month late!

Pillowcase Dresses for Haiti

So this week I have been spending some time making dresses from pillow cases for girls in Haiti.  A member of our church is leaving in a couple of weeks on a medical mission trip to Haiti, so a few of us from church are making some dresses to send with.  

Here is Olivia, Hailee (a little girl I watch), and Allyson modeling a few of them. 

The picture is a bit blurry, but it is not at all easy trying to get the three of them to stand still!

The pillow cases were donated from a local hotel and some youth members spent some time tie-dying them all, and others of us are sewing them into dresses.  The are very simple to make and are quite fun. 

The girls are having fun helping me with them, and I hope it is teaching them to give to others that aren't as blessed as we are.

Monkey Business

First of all, I apologize for not posting in forever.  I didn't have time to get one done before Christmas, and since then I have not been able to upload any pictures. But finally today I got it figured out.  I have several blogs written, just waiting for pictures, so now I can get them posted.  

Here is my little Ally-Kitten all covered in snow.  The girls sure loved the 20" of snow we got right before Christmas.  Myself, not so much, but the girls spend most of their waking moments outside, if it's not too cold!

Allyson, picked out this monkey fabric while at the quilt shop on the first day of school for my oldest daughter, Olivia. There was only a 1/2 yard cut left in the shop, so we had to get creative. It is adorable fabric, so it was easy to be creative with it!

 Allyson was really missing her big sister and felt very left out not getting to go to school herself. So to keep her busy, she and I made this quilt together while Olivia was in school. I had a great time teaching my three-year-old to sew, and it was a great way to keep her mind off of her sister.  

She got a chance to be a big girl for once, and now she has her "monkey quilt" to snuggle up on the couch (or in this case on the floor) on those days that it doesn't get above zero and it's way too cold to go out and play.

Small Things...

We have decided to move, not too far, just a few miles away, so that we are closer to my husband's family farm. That way we can spend more time with Daddy while he is doing his farming thing, and we will have more space! 

We now live in a small rambler in town and it is just not big enough.
With all of three girls, their horse activities, Daddy's tractors, and my quilting, we have out-grown our house.

So, in preparation for the move, I have had to pack up my quilting frame and store it safe and sound in my parents basement. 

 

Since I can't quilt any tops at the moment, I have been trying to keep myself busy with small projects.  Here are just a few to show:

Here is a scrappy 30's table runner. 

This was just left-overs from a quilt that I made this summer.

 

Blossoms in the Garden

 

And I also have been having fun using up scraps to make yo-yo's. 

I don't know what I am going to make with them yet, but they are fun and keep me busy.

 

And this is a fun apron that my Mr. Amazing actually picked

out all of th fabric for me.  

The pattern is Spring Cleaning by Fig Tree & Co.

 

 

This was a pre-cut that my mom got for me called Hot Dish.

 

 

And this is my favorite of all, my Sweet Caroline!

She sure had fun this fall playing in all the leaves. 

I just can't get enough of that sweet smile.

 

I'm Back!

So needless to say... I've been a bit busy the last couple of months.  Busy with life, and not so much quitling.  But, between vacations, school, horse stuff, weddings, selling our house, and just the crazy's of life, I have gotten a few projects done. 

 

In my last post, I had a project going that I couldn't say a whole lot about because it was a gift.  Well the gift has been given, so now I can show you.

 This is Winner's Boquet. 

I made this quilt for my sister-in-law Kristine and her new husband Luke as a wedding gift.

This quilt was a blast to make.  My first attempt at curves, so I had prepared myself for a challenge, but it was very easy. I found it a bit time consuming with all the pinning, but very simple to make.

 

 

I had a good time choosing all the batik fabric for this quilt. And it was also a lot of fun to quilt. A bit challenging because it filled my entire frame (I actually had to cut it down by 2 1/2" to get it to fit), but fun.

 

Kristine and Luke's wedding was the highlight of our fall.  It was beautiful, so much fun and we are so happy for them. The girls are especially glad to have a new Uncle Lukey (who they adore)! 

 

 

Here's the happy couple!

 

 

And that's us. 

Olivia and Allyson were beautiful flower girls, and had a great time getting to be princesses for a day!

 

 

I even got to dance with my Mr. Amazing! 

The last time I got to do dance with him was at our wedding 8 years ago. 

He only dances when he has to:(

Well, that's a little of what we have been up to. Can't wait to tell you more, but that will have to wait for another day.

 

-Rebekah