Babygirl...

Last night Babygirl got to spend the night, all by herself. She is a nice girl to have over. She is like me in the mornings, a little slow to wake up and get moving. Grandpa had already been up and in the jacuzzi and to the temple by the time we woke up. She climbed up in my bed and we had a little snuggle and story (3 little pigs), while Grandpa was showering. We have the same wild hair in the mornings:

(Believe it or not - in this photo I am wearing NO make up and it is un-retouched - I'm just like a movie star - hehe.)

We also like to have our toenails painted:

I treasure the time I have with this sweet girl, since she is moving 3 states away this summer!!!!

Studio News

Mr. Handsome made me this cool ruler holder/shelf. I have seen these at quilt shows, but didn't really need one for a long time. I only had a couple of rulers, however, they seem to have multiplied! I didn't make it up to the Home Machine Quilting show earlier this month, where I was planning on buying one for about $40 - so I didn't get one - BUT - I saw this shelf at Robert's (craft store), used a 40% off coupon and explained to my hubby how I wanted the grooves to hold my rulers. He said he could do it, sold! The only problem was when he went to do it last night, the router bit broke! We sped off to Lowe's and paid $15 for a new one. He even put a little stain on it for me - I love it! (I was a little disappointed that it wasn't quite the money-saving item it would have been if the bit hadn't broken.)

I finished this block today for the breast cancer fund-raiser:
(Please don't tell me I shouldn't have put the button on until AFTER quilting - it NEEDED a button - it was all pucker-y in the middle! Maybe not a D-cup, but definitely an A-cup!)

Fun, Busy Trip...

We had a really nice time down at Jeff & Deanna's for the fab all weekend-long birthday party. Deanna fed us really well, we played fun 60's trivia games and Jeff took lots of us out to the lake. It was SOOO nice to see our Jeff and spend some time with him. Our family all went to Zion on Friday (Me, Stacy, Ben, Brooke, perfect grandchildren, Doug, Tricia and Jeff). Stacy went to Walmart and got Natti this cute, sun hat, but there weren't any with ties or snaps, to keep her from pulling it off, so he cleverly bought a ribbon and sewed it on with my old sewing machine at the condo! I was very impressed with his brilliance. (He did only manage to get one side sewn as the machine came unthreaded - no problem I finished it up)

The kids loved the water at the top of the hike. Natti-bear was loving her backpack seat. It was a little warm, which always wears me out - I am a wimp in the heat (and most of the rest of the time too).

Here we are on the bus on the way down the canyon from the hike - you can only see some of me, a tiny bit of Ben and no Natti (Stacy took the pic) - but I liked how we are all just piled on the back of the bus - exhausted!Unfortunately, I got the boot:
Apparently I have some weird bone growth on my foot that was exacerbated by the hiking, etc. I have to go and see a specialist - the dr. seemed puzzled - never a good sign. This is also why I took no pictures after the hike, I was moping around. We missed our other kids, but got to see everyone for the big birthday party at OUR house on Sunday for all 4 of the May birthdays.

What to do...

Well, Mr. Handsome left for the week on Sunday night. I had a big, fat stack of books to read:I also had a couple of movies to watch, and I thought I might get pillow shams, throw pillows, and valances done to match this ginormous quilt:(Oh, yeah and maybe get the back for it pieced and maybe get it loaded on the machine.)

Well, I am half-way through ONE of the books. I did watch 2 movies (28 days and Ironman - both very enjoyable) and while I watched the movies (and a couple of "Oprah's" that I taped) - I got 2 shams done, the 2 valances started and I bought the pillow forms.
In all fairness to my cute self, I was busy this week, which is why I didn't head down to Vegas with my man. I am headed down today - big party this weekend, Lake Mead trip, more hiking in Zion, etc. There will be 10 of us staying in the little condo, so we'll see how it holds up! Toodles!

Finally a Friday...

I love Fridays, they are my favorite day of the week. Fridays aren't usually too busy, I am planning on getting some sewing done today. It is date night with Mr. Handsome - always fun. We usually go out to dinner as part of said date, I do enjoy cooking, but it's nice to go out. (This week I made a soup that I saw on Rachel Ray's 30-minute Meals and can I tell you, it took me a full HOUR to make! AND it wasn't even that good! This is not my first pot of soup, so I was disappointed that it took me so long and I was starving by the time it was finished, so it should have been delicious, given how hungry I was. I have some other soup recipes that are much better, although as I think about it, they are cream-based soups, which somehow are usually pretty tasty.) Back to Friday...

I can stay up late without worrying about getting up early on Saturday, (which is another favorite day of mine). I usually putter around the house doing laundry and random cleaning items - which doesn't sound fabulously fun, but doing the laundry for 2 is such a piece of cake after doing laundry for 7 for so many years that it's not a problem. -And heaven forbid I clean the whole house in one day, I just break it up a little at a time, for example today I wiped down the stove top and stainless steel appliances, I'm saving, dusting, vacuuming, bathrooms, etc. for another day - oh make that another 2 or 3 days, I wouldn't want to overload myself!

I finally finished this quilt for my wonderful soon-to-be-a-grandma-sister:

I could have used higher-contrast fabrics, but I think she'll like it. It turned out pretty big, so it will last till those grandbabies are in school! (The pattern is called "Layered Stars")

I was very proud of myself, piecing my leftover Minkey scraps for the back, I am turning into a true quilter - using scraps and all that.

My Motto...

I've decided that my motto in life is: "If it isn't fun, I ain't doing it"I have tried to stick by this motto pretty much always, sometimes it is hard. Especially when I had lots of cute little babies and kids (diapers, huge piles of laundry that you could NEVER catch up on, parent-teacher conferences, endless soccer practices, children fighting over EVERYTHING, etc.) We used to raise Labrador retrievers (giving puppies shots, cleaning up LOTS of puppy poo, etc.). I also used to run our construction company office (lots of phone calls - trying to get 5 kids to be quiet during such phone calls - getting the bills out, payroll, quarterly reports, banking, etc.)

There is lots of work in this life, but as I'm getting older, I am appreciating it more. I spent a couple of hours working in the flower beds yesterday, weeding, planting, putting out more bark and even though my back was so sore yesterday that I went in the jacuzzi TWICE, I am thankful. Thankful for those cute little babies and kids that have grown up to be such amazing, wonderful, beautiful, talented, awe-inspiring adults. Thankful for my home with the flower beds that I can enjoy. Thankful that we don't have dogs anymore (sorry, you dog lovers). Thankful that I don't have to worry about paying the bills now, there seems to be more money around now that we don't have to buy so many pairs of shoes and feed so many mouths - plus, Mr. Handsome is pretty dang good at 'bringin' home the bacon'. I am also thankful I have a jacuzzi to soak these old bones in.

I know there is plenty more 'work' for me to do, but there are lots more "fun" choices in my life now, and I think I can really appreciate them, because of the work I've done so far.

Ta-Da...

I added the bottom "churn dash" row - hooray, I'm even done a week early
(Okay, it's on your left, I can't figure out how to get it to turn right side up!) This quilt will get 2 more rows, then Dixie can add borders or not and it's done!

Row Quilt Due Next Week!

This is the row quilt I am working on this month. It belongs to Dixie and it is my job to add a row by next week. I have been mulling it over on my design wall for weeks already! I have been adding lots of log cabin blocks to the row quilts I've had previously, but this one isn't calling out for any log cabins... I've got these pieces cut up and ready to sew while I watch American Idol and Glee on the DVR tonight - I'll keep you posted of the progress, plus, I am nearly finished with my sisters' quilt!

Back again...

Back from the condo with the girls this weekend. It was MUCH nicer weather down south! We did a little hiking, chatting, shopping, eating, working on projects (quilting, card-making, scrapbooking) Good times. It was our first annual Girls' Getaway. There were only 4 of us this year, but we're hoping all 6 of us make it next year.
The girls, in front of Zion Lodge:Saturday, we went into St. George to see part of the "Ironman" race. (Tricia was hoping to see people collapse at the finish line) It was amazing to see these athletes! They swam 2.6 miles, then rode their bikes 112 miles AND THEN they ran a 26 mile marathon!!!!! We saw some of the professionals cross the finish line (fastest time 8 hours, 25 minutes), then moseyed over to the bike/run transition and saw lots of people just starting their marathon after 10 hours of swimming/bike riding!!! It was unbelievable.
All in all a great weekend, now, back to real life. (Which isn't half bad)