The Eagle Has Landed!

Whoop-dee-doo! (Is that how you spell that?) This baby came a little while ago and I am so excited!!

 It came a few days before I went to Florida for 10 days to see the adorable grand babies. Mr. Handsome and I set it up and I was able to get nearly 3 quilts quilted before I left.

 It is gorgeous and huge! I love it!

Now that I am back and the laundry is done, I'm off to quilting heaven! It is amazing and lots of fun to use. Still tinkering a bit with the tension, but it's coming together. 

It is so nice to be back home in the fall, since fall is my favorite season, the leaves are changing and it's nice and chilly - the best!

Life is good!

Need a Bigger House for my Hobbies!

     It's still pretty dang hot around here, but I am holding out hope for some coolness in the (hopefully) near future, as tomorrow is September!!!! (Yay, birthday month!)
     My friend gave me a hand quilting frame this week, I already have a regular old-fashioned one, but this is a fancy roll up, tilt-y one. I brought it home and it's bigger than I expected and I don't know if I can find anywhere to keep it! It looks really big in my little grandma house and I can't disassemble it a keep it under the guest room bed where my other hand quilting frame is.  I have it downstairs in the studio, but a couple of times a month I have friends and family over to quilt and it would be pretty squishy down there with that puppy in the way. If I hadn't taken up piano playing, it would fit where the piano now resides - shoot!
     I sometimes get after Mr. Handsome for leaving things lying around, but I have to remind myself that I pretty much have all of the closets/extra basement space, etc. all filled up with MY stuff.  I would hate to buy a bigger house just for stuff! One of my favorite shows is "Hoarders", but maybe because I am a closet hoarder myself (Bahahaha, I AM a "closet hoarder" - sometimes I just crack myself right up!).  I think it would be easier if I: a) didn't have any hobbies (but how boring) or b) didn't want to have people over so I could fill up my house with all of my hobbies and the equipment that comes with them. (again, how boring). I guess I will just have to work out some happy medium - there is that moderation thing again that I am soooooo not good at!

 This little guy is 3 months and his mother says his bib should say "I'm afraid of my big sister" (She just turned two)

These two little monkeys were playing quietly upstairs in their rooms, when their mom discovered that Izzy had cut Beckham's hair down to his scalp! He now has a nice buzz.

Here is my next project, for my cute niece having a little girl this fall. My colors will be different, I got this from Google Images and I actually think I can figure this out without a pattern! (I know, progress, right?)

 Their wedding is coming closer, it is also this fall and the nice thing is I think that all of my kids will come from all over America to witness it! (Family reunion!)

Hope your life is happy and quilt-y and not too hot (unless you like that sort of thing)

Balance, Will I Ever Find it?

     When I was younger and busily raising 5 children, running my Mr. Handsome's business, serving at my church and all of the other tasks associated with living, I would wonder if I would ever get my act together.
     Fast Forward about 25 years and I still struggle with this! Now it's not the laundry that is towering over me (thank goodness!), but it's all of the things I love and want to do! My children and grandchildren don't take the day to day caring (except in the summer when they all come over), but they have lots of birthdays and love care packages and phone calls and face time. These are some of the joyful tasks I get to do.
     I am again doing the paperwork/organization for Mr. Handsome's real estate business, since he sold his brokerage awhile back. Luckily, now I have some lovely cleaning ladies that help me out a couple of times a month - good trade for me, I'd rather organize than clean.
     Even though I don't have to clean, there is still shopping, cooking, straightening, laundry, etc.
     I am still trying to learn to play the piano, that's definitely a work in progress!
     I am quite active in my wonderful church and am currently working with the youth there as well as still serving in the Addiction Recovery Program (12 step), trying to be a good neighbor, taking some time to read my scriptures, ponder, etc.
     I look at my yard and want to play with my flowers (but it's awful hot!). There is always exercise, which I enjoy, but don't particularly like getting up early for, however it seems to be a must to get it done daily  regularly.
     Then there is QUILTING, which is what I want to do all most of the time! Each year I attend 3 four day/night retreats, plus a few 2-3 days daytime only retreats. I belong to two guilds, 2 bees, and have a "quilt night" at my house a couple of nights a month, and of course, I love to hang out in my basement studio and watch my "shows" - favorites include: "Hoarders", "Fons & Porter", "Bones" and random Netflix movies.

     So there you have it, my life in a nutshell - nothing to complain about - FULL of blessings to be grateful for, I will just keep seeking balance, just like everyone else, I imagine! Hope your life is balanced and full of quilting!

Summer is officially OVER (now would someone please tell the weatherman?)

School Starts around here this week and I'm DONE with non-quilt related trips for 2 months! I am signed up and paid for 3 upcoming quilt retreats (YAY!). Just waiting for my lovely quilting machine to arrive from overseas, hopefully in a month!  Here are a few pictures of who I got to see this summer:

Mr. Shane popped by (without his family a couple of times)

 This little munchkin got his quilt from Grandma:

 This darling girl turned 10 yesterday! Our oldest grandchild:

 We helped this sweet family get settled in Kansas:

 Lucky for us, this cutie still lives in Utah and is coming over for a sleepover this week!

 This one will not know us by October when we head to Florida!!!!

 This one loves her Grandma and the quilts Grandma makes for her:

I'm officially READY for Fall, but it's still terrible hot! I've noticed that as Menopause has its evil way with me, I keep setting the A/C lower and lower, last year, it was 74, this year started off at 73, but it's pretty steady at 72 now, I hope that is not going to cut into my quilting budget too much! 

Oh well, I'm off to the studio to get some quilting in!!!

Trunk Show - Done

     I did my trunk show today, I talked fast and it went quickly. It was fun and I had lots of great friends there to support me.

      I took 25 quilts and since I talk so fast, I was done showing them in about 17 minutes! I finally finished and photographed these last couple of quilts:

Asteria:

 Emerald Pools:

 Halloween Block Exchange:

     I did decide what to do with "Asteria", I'm giving it to my momma, for her birthday this month, these are her colors! I hope the dog doesn't get it, but hey, it's up to her!  I will probably keep the Emerald Pools, since non-quilters do not love Batiks. The Halloween one will be a hot commodity in my family because it has lovely soft minky on the back (black, of course).
     I'm back from all of my trips for a couple of months, after a quick hop to San Diego next week. Then I plan on immersing myself in quiltiness!  And, I'm super excited that it's August, the gateway to the best season of all, Fall! I made chili tonight and turned up the A/C and it was yummy. Quilt Fest coming up next month, then quilt retreat, and it's just quilting season! Happy Quilting!

Finishing Up!

I managed to get all of my quilts quilted and bound for my trunk show next month! Here are pictures of a few of them, I still need to take pictures of 4 more, I'm getting to that! We have had kids/grandkids here for 3+weeks and it's been crazy/busy/fun!

This one, "Hometown X" has been languishing in the 'to quilt' pile for a year! (I still don't know what I will be doing with it!)

This one is a birthday present for my sweet daughter, Amanda:

This one is called "Dreamy Dresdens" from a Riley Blake Kit I got for half price! I added the prairie points and extra border, it had finished a funny size, kind of too big for a baby quilt, but too small for a lap size:

The quilt cabinet is getting STUFFED!

AND, GUESS WHAT I ORDERED?????

 My days of only meandering are coming to a swift close! (Well maybe not too swift, apparently it takes like 8-10 WEEKS to get here!!!!!) I was so excited when Mr. Handsome and I planned our trip to Logan - a couple of hours north. I have been saving my pennies for a year and we were finally ready to go pick it up. I called the guy to make sure his shop was open, etc. and was CRUSHED when he said, that no, they would not be there and we couldn't 'pick it up', it is something they have to ORDER!!! So, we ordered it, I've watched all the training videos and got the cloth leaders in the mail, the frame should be here next week, they are torturing me! I'd better get some tops done so I will have something to quilt! Since I finished everything partially done around here, I pretty much will be starting new projects. I'm so excited!!!

Life Just Gets Busier...

     Well it's been a while since I've blogged. I think I've been a bit depressed since both of my boys that lived in my same town have moved across the country to Florida!  Kind of lonely around here now. But, I have traveled to Florida three times in the past few months, and also stopped in at Texas to visit my daughter and her family, but I did miss grandchild number 10 by a couple of days! However, he is coming to visit next month - yay!
   

This quilt is for my niece and her new baby boy, it's called "Vintage Baby" and I was able to make it completely from my stash. It's a pattern from "The Block" by The Missouri Star Quilt Co.

These two were made from a block exchange I did with one of my quilt groups - 6" blocks in brights. The top one is a baby quilt for another niece and her new baby girl, the bottom one is a twin sized for busy Izzy who moved up into a twin bed. It has a strip of  minky across the top for her to cuddle, but just plain cotton on the rest so she won't melt in Florida.

 I'm doing a trunk show this summer at the local quilt show, so I'm madly quilting the quilts I've had finished or nearly finished but no plan for; so they were languishing in the cupboard. I've sent one out to be quilted and have quilted 3 of them so far. This one is complete with the binding, a sweet little wall hanging, that I have nowhere to put since I live in a grandma house with not too many walls, but I'm going to give it to some granddaughters for their room:

 The great thing about a trunk show (I have 30 minutes to show and tell about a bunch of quilts) is that it's not like putting a quilt in a show, where judges critique it, etc. So it's just going to be fun!

 These two cuties are going to tie the knot in November, so we are super excited about that!

Life is busy, and full of changes, but still pretty dang good!

Happy Quilting!

Busy Life

Christmas was great, but a little quiet compared to last Christmas since we were missing 2 kids this year.  I've been to several states over the past couple of months for a wedding, baptism and a move.

I made this quilt for my new bedroom, to drape over the old chair in the corner, flannel on the back - perfect size and very cozy:

 Here is the quilt I made for the baptism boy - soft minky on the back:

 These two moved away to FLORIDA for a few years, their daddy is in graduate school (My heart is breaking, since we saw them nearly every day, we walked by their old house yesterday and it was so sad):

 Here's the piñata skirt baby in Texas on a quilt I made her when she was teeny:

Still not done traveling this spring (I know it's technically Winter, but it doesn't seem like it here in the west). Headed to the Caribbean and Bahamas on a cruise soon!!!!! Then to Nevada for a fun Sister Retreat, I think we've been doing it for 14 years now.   But, unfortunately before I get to do the next fun things, I have to get the taxes together and go to our tax appointment, no easy feat when you're self employed. Wish me luck!
P.S. We welcomed the 9th grand baby on Christmas Eve - she is darling!