On Saturday my Mom was going to go to Raychel's so I decided I was going to go over and give her the quilt I made for her. She had an idea that I was making her one but it was still a surprise.  Out of everyone I have ever given a quilt to my Mom appreciates the time and love that has been put into one.  She is the one that got me sewing when I was big enough to get up to the sewing machine.  I think this is how so many woman my age got  sewing and I am so happy she did.  My Mom is not a quilter but does understand the obsession                  

The picture to the right is a quilt that I saw about a year ago on someones blog but never found out the name or the designer.  I printed out a picture of the quilt back then and every so often I would pull the picture out and try to see if I could figure out how to put this quilt together.  I would realize that it was not something I was not able to figure it out and would put it away.  As I was reading one of my favorite blogger, Megan, there the quilt was.  She was talking about how she had gone to the quilt shop her sister works at and had taken pictures of the quilts her sister had made.  There is was.  I thought I was going to piss my paints, I could not believe that her sister had made it and I was that close to knowing what the name of this quilt was.  I emailed Megan immediately and asked her to ask her sister the name of the quilt.  After doing so I clicked on the picture to see it closer and there was the tag with the name of the quilt.  I googled the name and was amazed that the first link was a quilt shop right here in Minneapolis.  Saturday morning I called the shop and found out the owner of the quilt shop was the designer of the quilt.  After going to Raychel's and giving my Mom her quilt I went to the quilt shop which is only a couple of miles away from Raychel's and there it was.  It was so funny now that I think about it, I went in the shop and found the pattern right away went up and paid for it and practically ran to my car and opened it up and started reading.  I think if anyone was with me they would think I was weird.  Well anyone that might be reading this blog is going to completely understand my excitement. I can't wait to start buying just the right fabric for this one.

 Here is the quilt that I am making for my nephew and his wife as of this coming Saturday.  Yesterday I went to the local fabric store to get the backing and they had their 108" backing on sale so I figured why not.  I really wanted to get it loaded last night so I could quilt it this morning.  I was pressing the backing and opened it up and there was a bunch of ink marks and worse of all a piece of material cut out in the size of 5" x 5".  I was so pissed off.  Of course it was late and the store was closed.  I am tempted to go back return it and go somewhere else to buy my backing.  I'm not sure why someone would put it back on the shelf like that.

What I have been quilting

When we left for vacation we were planning on being gone for 5 weeks but ended up coming home a week early. The week before we left Mike had taken Raychel in for a EEG so the Neurologist could figure out why her seizures were not being controlled with her medicine. Well the first Friday we were gone Raychel called to say that the dr had called and explained to her that since the first EEG 3 years prior there has been a lot of damage done to the front right lobe of her brain. This part of the brain I guess controls her short term memory (which has gotten so bad) and motor skills. The dr wanted to see her the next week to go over all of this and I was sick that I could not be there to hear what the dr said. The day came for Raychel to go and due to a snow storm the clinic canceled all appointments for the day. Raychel agreed that she would reschedule the appointment for when we got home. Mike and I decided to shorten our trip by 1 week and come home so we could both go to this appointment with her. The dr also wanted to put her in the hospital and take her off her seizure medicine and watch her have seizures. Raychel has grand mal seizures and after one she is in so much pain due to her body becomes rigid during the seizure. Well long story short Raychel decided that she did not want to hear any more negativity and she was not going. A friend of the family is telling us to just wait this out and for the first time in 4 years she finally has control over herself and what is going to happen to her. This is very hard to sit back and let happen as a parent but she is 30 and we can't make her do anything. So here we sit and wait for her to decide it is time to go.

In returning home a week early that gave me some extra time before going back to work on March 1st. The Thursday before returning to work my boss called and asked if I could be a little more flexible about returning to work. So this week I went back to work for 2 days and the rest of the month I will work 3 days a week, April 4 days a week and then May I will be back full time. As much as my financial budget is screaming get back to work I love being home and working part time. Mike is screaming we have spent enough time together go back to work (just kidding).

So I said that I would write about what I have been sewing since I have come home from our wonderful vacation. Before I left on vacation I had started on a quilt for my Mom's new bed which she got while I was gone. She said she never realized how bad her old bed was, she no longer wakes up with her shoulders and hips hurting. Well here it is:

I still need to get the binding sewn on and hoping I can get that done this week.

My sister in law came for a weekend of sewing and she was able to get 3 quilt tops loaded and quilted. This was her first time on the longarm and was amazed on how much easier it was from my Janome. This is what she worked on:

There was one more quilt that she did that I didn't get a picture of. The multi colored patch quilt her Mom had pieced about 5 years ago and Pat found it in her Mom's stash of fabric. I didn't like it at first but after she got it quilted I loved it. The other quilt is a kit she found at a garage sale and paid $5 for it, it will be a wall hanging I guess.

My nephew is getting married on Saturday and I am trying to finish a quilt that I am doing for him. Tomorrow I will have to stop and get the backing so I can get it loaded and quilted. Hopefully this will all get done before Saturday and can show pictures soon.

It has been a long time.

I know it has been a long time since a have posted and just not sure why. There has been so much going on in my life since Jan.


We have a HHR which is kind of like a small SUV. When we headed out on our vacation the car was full from the front to back. I was bring down fabric to AZ for the woman that make quilts for the homeless. My friends work at a kitchen that servers a lot of families that are either homeless or just don't have enough money to feed everyone. They mostly make quilts/blankets for the kids. I was figuring that after I unloaded all the fabric from the car we would have a lot more room but that was not the case, I forget that everyone wants to send stuff back to Minnesota for their families. Our car looked like this all the way home.

We stayed with some friends in Santa Fe and boy did we like it there and then it was off to Apache Junction AZ where we stayed for 1 week. When we left AZ we headed to Vegas where we had never been before. We originally were going to San Diego but we really wanted to see the show "Love" in Vegas so that is where we headed. We never got to see the show due to the fact that the tickets were $109 each. We just did not want to spend that kind of money on a show. We stayed at Bills Gambling Hall which was very nice. We got there on a Tuesday afternoon and left there on Friday morning.

When we left Vegas we headed to Santa Monica which was unbelievable. Mike and I have decided that we want to move there as long as we can live on the ocean. It does not need to be Santa Monica but anywhere along the southern west coast. We have already decided that we are going back there next year for 2 weeks and will be flying this time. This surprises me because Mike has only flown once and said he will never fly again but now he has changed his mind. We have never traveled until that last 3 years and up until then he did not understand the reason for it. Now that he has had a taste of it he wants to go all them time. What perfect timing now that our kids are grown and we can afford to travel with some serious saving. We stayed at my bosses place one block off the ocean. Could life be any better then this?

Went to Vince Beach on 2 different Sundays and absolutely loved it. Mike and I could live there. This guy will just stand there still for a long time and people will go up and get their pictures taken next to him and all of a sudden he will go into a Michael Jackson dance and scare everyone.

The next post will be all the quilting I have gotten done since being home.

Mike and I are suppose to be leaving in 40 minutes for our 5 week vacation but guess who is still in bed? We really wanted to be on the road by 6am because I think it is almost a 10hr ride from Minneapolis to our 1st stop Wichita KS. We will be heading to Phoenix for a week and then off to Vegas for 3 days then Santa Monica for 3 days and then Pomona Ca for 1 week and then back to Phoenix for our last week of vacation.

My goal will be to try and find a quilt shop in every town that we stay in and am hoping that Mike will cooperate. I will not be doing any sewing for the whole 5 weeks but when we come home that Thursday my sister in law is coming to sew with me on that Friday for 2 days. She is anxious to try out the new long arm which I can't imagine life without it. This is why in the past years I have never wanted to try one at quilt shows because I knew at that point I would absolutely hate the setup I had.

I will try and post a few pictures now and then, would hate to bore others.

Till Later

My Mom's bed

My Mom is 83 years old and still works. She worked at the local hospital from 1966 till 2 years ago on the I.V. Team. She now works at Costco serving samples and she loves it. She is not one to sit home day after day. My Mom has always put everyone first no matter what. If she knew someone was going hungry she would feed them first before feeding herself. I truly believe that my Mom is one of the kindest woman I know. I found out recently that she has never had a new bed and the bed she does have she has been putting down blankets and foam to cover the springs coming through. My brothers and I put money together and got her a gift certificate to a local furniture store and to buy herself a new bed. She wanted to wait until spring so that the store would not have to deliver in the cold and snow. We told her that she does not need to worry about this since this is what they do for a job. I decided that this new bed was going to need a new quilt and blue being her favorite color I thought i would do something with half square triangles. After browsing around the blogs I follow for some kind of idea or inspiration I found this quilt made by Red Pepper Quilts which I love her work and the colors she uses. I think this quilt will look great in blues. I have started sewing them together and hopefully I can get it done soon and get it to her before I leave for 5 weeks.

Our friends Gene and Dawn are coming up from Ft Dodge IA today to spend the weekend with us. I am so excited to see them. In the summer of 2008 they were in a really bad motorcycle accident, nothing life threatening, but a bad one. Dawn broke both wrist and is still doing physical therapy. She also is battling Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from this accident. I wanted to make her something that she could take home with her that she could wrap herself up in when things are just really tough. I had 4 different charm packs and a lot of white fabric and made this. I was surprised how quickly I was able to get this made and quilted. This morning I have to get the binding hand sewn and that will be my down fall of getting it done before they get here. I'm thinking I am going to have to come up with and excuse why I am having to work on it while they are here.

Goodbye 2009

I am so excited for 2010 to come into my life.

This past year has been a life changing experience for me. Mike had his second heart attack in 2 weeks 1 year ago today and since has been working out 5 days a week and has lost 60 lbs. He was smoking 2-3 packs of cigarettes a day and quit that day. I am so proud of him.

Raychel 1 year ago weighed 79 lbs and now weighs 130 lbs. She will never work but is able to live on her own and seems to be happy. She has a great team of doctors that make sure she stays as healthy as can be. It has been 1 year since Raychel has been in the hospital which is a huge step in getting healthy. She had been in the hospital 75% of the previous 2-1/2 years.

Justin our son is moving out again come March 1st. He moved back home after a fall out with his roommate and will be moving in with some friends that are buying a house. I love him dearly but Mike and I are looking forward to having our house back. Justin is thinking about having the gastric band done. With everything that Raychel has gone thru due to gastric bypass this will never be an option for him. He is a big kid and after having 2 heart surgeries when he was 11 and again at 18 being extremely over weight is so unhealthy for him or anyone.

Jessica and the 3 kids are such a wonderful thing in our lives. Amazing how grandkids can make you smile. We are hoping that this next year will be better to her and Aaron. He is a cement mason and he has had to go out of the state of Minnesota for work and that is really tough when you have 3 kids. Seeing Dad/husband once every 4 to 5 weeks is tough on all of them.

My goal for 2010 is to spend more time sewing. Mike is very supportive of this and with every ones health on the mends this should not be a challenge to make happen. I really would like to get back into sewing cloths and the grandkids would benefit from this.

Hope everyone out there has a safe New Years Eve and a WONDERFUL 2010.

Till Later

Absent

I know that I said I was going to start back on writing on my blog about quilting but it just seems that there is so much going on in my life that is private. I use my other private blog as a journal and it is amazing how well if feels to get things down in writing.

Ok so much about that. I finally got Justin's pirate/skulls quilt done and gave it to him last night. It was funny how I handed it to him and he went right into his room with it and within 5 minutes you could hear him in there snoring. I guess he liked it.


I am working on a quilting this weekend for a friend who lives about 3 hours from me. We have come to the conclusion that we are sisters not friends because we are so much alike. Neither one of us has a sister so this works for us. She is really having a rough time after a motorcycle accident. Her body has healed as much as it is going to and now the mind is having to heal. The doctor's are saying she has a form of post traumatic stress disorder. I want to bring a quilt to her so that she can wrap herself in it when she is needing a hug.

My boss and my son each got me $50 gift certificate to Joann Fabrics. I am excited because they are now carrying the Warm and Natural packaged so I want to buy some of that and also rotary cutter blades. I'm sure I will find somethings to spend my certificates on.

Well adjusting to a longarm from a midarm is such a huge difference. I have found that I have to have both hands on my machine because if not I my machine will have skipped stitches. I must be pulling it weird when I use just one hand. It is very nice to not to have to change my bobbin so frequently. I quilted almost 2/3 of the quilt before I had to change bobbins. As much as I love this machine it is harder on my shoulders. I have been taking breaks and taking Motrin to give my shoulders a break. I have arthritis in both shoulders so practacing will help get my shoulders use to this. I have spent a almost a month getting use to this machine and have not spent anytime piecing. I really need to get back to that so I can finish Justin's pirate quilt, he is being very patient. Here is what I have done so far