What I did on my Summer Vacation...

     The last of my wonderful houseguests left yesterday morning!  It was a fun time around here for sure this summer! We had Brooke and her whole family here, my sister and niece, Jeff was here from California and all of the "close-by" kids were here hanging out with the "far-away kids".  Party on!
     We got a picture of all 6 of the grandbabies, although they were not all cooperating: Beckham cracks me up, lying there in the front where he was placed, not moving or smiling. Natalie had just woken up from a long nap and I believe a couple of the kids had thrown up this morning - ah well - life!

    
                   They did do a bit better with Grandma & Grandpa there to steady them. 

     A week into their two week visit, I decided that Natalie-Bear needed a twin sized quilt to go on her bed, now that she is in a bunk bed, so I whipped this baby up and managed to complete it before they left.  Of course, Brooke  completed 4 quilts out of my scraps and got them all quilted and bound and the binding sewn on before she left and she was only here for a week!(She was in Hawaii the first week). The funny thing was, she was digging in my scraps/stash and managed to use my new Block of the Month fabric that I had left sitting on the cutting table, she was mortified, but I just get to buy more fabric! No problem. Natalie was so cute, calling it her "qweelt", she  was super excited - very gratifying for this granny!

 

     I also managed to complete this throw for a friend's birthday, it worked out very well, the legos were downstairs in my studio, so the kids played down there a lot and I got some quilting done! Win-Win for sure!

     While my sister and niece, Katrina were here, Brooke taught her how to quilt, so she made a quilt from my scraps and her mom bought her a backing and batting and she completed her quilt - mind you they stayed up until 3 and 7 a.m.!! My sister's remark "Quilting is expensive!" (She bought her minkey for the back) In my frazzled state, I did not get a picture of her cute quilt.

     In July we had our family reunion, as mentioned and I got this picture from my sis-in-law:

    August is almost over and it is going to be Quilting Season!!!!!! My birthday is coming, 3 quilt retreats and cooler weather, could life get any better????

Mr. Rooster

     I finished the beading on Mr. Rooster tonight while enjoying the Trunk Shows at the Springville Art Museum this evening.  A big thank you to Mr. Handsome who took care of not only 3, but 4 of the precious grandbabies! They went to the "Splash Pad", then home for waffles for dinner.  Poor Natalie who misses her nap everyday while she is here got a little over-tired, but she is fast asleep now.

     Even though I am a bit bleary-eyed from early wake up nudges, I surely enjoyed the quilt show! It was so nice to just sit and drink in the beauty of the quilts and mingle with my fellow quilter friends. I have actually gotten a quilt quilted this week, will post soon when I get it bound.  Lucky for me my quilt studio is in the (cool) basement where the Legos also live, so the kids have been down there quite a bit, so I just join them and work on my quilting.
     Mr. Rooster is bound for the September Quilt Festival for the mini-quilts fundraiser, after I bind him and sew on his label.  Off to the community pool tomorrow for a relaxing hour or so before I dash off to work!

Up for Air...

     Whew, July is about over, it was a super fun but super busy month! I won't bore you with the details, but I am looking forward to August for sure!  I am hoping there will be cooler wheather in store for sweaty me soon! I was barely able to get any quilting done, but am looking forward to finishing up a couple of projects in the next week or so, I will post the pictures, I promise! I am even beading a mini-quilt.
     I got home last night, after being in meetings all day and after dinner (nope, didn't do the dishes, saving them for today), I decided to head down to the quilt studio to sew a couple of rows together and Mr. Handsome pipes up "Oh, I was trying to sew my pants down there and I kind of messed up, maybe you could help me" Can I just tell you I was not in the mood to mend (I am actually never in the mood to mend, but he just doesn't see it), so I didn't even go downstairs, just reclined on my bed and read and played on my phone until bedtime, so no sewing done yesterday either. I did remind him that the new-ish neighbor does mending, etc. for a business and is a single mom that could use the income, etc., so we'll be heading over there today after work.
     I am toying with updating my blog profile picture, the one that is up there is 9 years old! Do I get a free pass until it is officially 10 years old?  I'll have to mull that over, I haven't seen one of me that I like any better, so it may stay for a bit yet.
     I got a little sunburn last week, I took Babygirl to the pool and I put sunblock on us, but failed to put any on my back, since I usually just lie around, facing upward. BUT, I did not take into account that I would be going down the big twisty slide, and off the diving board, etc., so I got quite a nice burn on the back! Ouch, it's been a few years for that!  We are going again this week, but I bought some of that newfangled spray on sunblock, so I will get my back this time.
     I was going to take Babygirl to see "Brave" this week, but she is going with her other Grandma, so I may have to sneak in and see it all by myself (sigh).
     Hope your summer is going well and I should have more to "show" next time!

July Quilt Fair - Utah County

Just a note - if you live in Utah County or can get there - get to the Springville Art Museum this Wednesday, July 18!  It is the annual Utah Valley Quilt Guild's Quilt Fair! There will be over 20 vendors, a wonderful silent auction, free quilting classes, a garage sale, yummy lunches AND the Quilt Show is going on at the same time, but best of all, the show, classes, etc. are FREE!  Hours: 9:30-3:30.  (Not sure where the Springville Art Museum is? - just google it!)

Summertime...

We currently have our  Babygirl staying here for a month! We are down at the condo, where it is 104 degrees.  We are hiding out inside, about to start a Yahtzee game.  We took Austin to Zion's Park yesterday and did the Narrows.  She loved it, she swam all around in that somewhat muddy river (There had been rain the day before).  She looked like a little otter.  We had a picnic lunch, and just generally enjoyed ourselves.  We have been to the cool "Splash Pad" over here in Hurricane a few times too. We still have plenty of things left to do on our "list" for her visit (See Brave, Hit the Hobby Lobby, make good-smelling soap, etc.)
     I have decided that I am in love with air conditioning!  Between these hot flashes and the heat, it is my bestest friend!  At night, I keep a really wet washcloth in a bowl next to my bed and it is doing wonders for those middle of the night attacks! 
     Life just continues to get busier, so I thought to myself,  I have my laptop down here on vacation, even if the internet (from Mr. Handsome's hot spot) is a little sketchy. So - a post from my vacation - aren't you lucky! 

P.S. I did finish my star quilt AND it hangs straight - a miracle!

Great Idea!

Late last night, when I was awoken (again) with a hot flash, I had the most fantastic idea! I have this small set of projects that I have in my 'to do' pile, they are really cute little wall hangings, one for each season.  I bought them with wild abandon a year ago (okay, maybe 2 years ago), every time a kit came out at my local quilt shop, till I owned all 4 kits with plans on whipping them up and enjoying them.  Well, time has passed and I'm not really much on wall hangings anyway, and I have started to dread them, looking at me accusingly every time I wuffle around in my project pile for something to work on.  So - my fabulous idea is:  Put them in a cute basket and donate them to our July Quilt Fair next month! I am so excited, I just need to get some ribbon and 'fouff' it up a bit and voila! Guilt Free Me!

Now that we are back from our trips, and are staying home for a whole month, I am back to quilting away in my spare time!  I am planning on finishing the top on my star quilt this week!

I just need to make the 4 corner star blocks and sew it all together and done! The checkerboard block is just an 'extra' I made with the leftover checkerboard strips, I have two, not sure what to do with them, but they are cute! I have lots of projects I want to get cracking on, while hanging out in my cool basement!  I started having these hot flash things a couple of weeks ago and while the weather was cool - no problem, but now that it is 90-ish every day - not so fun and they do wake me up multiple times each night - bleck.  Oh well, what are you gonna do? Onward and upward!

Back from Missouri

We got back last night from visiting Brooke and her wonderful family in Missouri.  We had a great visit, with lots of snuggles and trips to the dollar store, among other things.  Babygirl had a big list and I think we got pretty much everything done on it.

Here is our sweet, oldest granddaughter, Austin Nicole, AKA "Babygirl", she made a list of things for us to do as soon as she heard we were coming - watch a movie with popcorn, dance party, new shoes, make something, color, go to the park, etc., she is coming to spend a month with us this summer and we are so excited! I am now making a list of things I want to do with her when she comes next month.

Here is Shaun, also known as "The Boy", he is the most active child around, always busy and jumping and leaping! He ate practically an entire plate of huge chocolate chip pancakes and then ran like a madman around the park for an hour immediately afterwards!

Here is Natalie, "Little Bear", she is a sweetie and just loves everything pink and girly. When we arrived, she was wearing her favorite 'sparkly shoes' - red glitter shoes about 2 sizes too small! She refused to wear anything else! She crammed her sweaty little feet in those shoes no matter what! We got her some sparkly pink shoes, in her size, and her mother was able to 'spirit away' the tiny ones.

 Everyone is coming out for a visit in August, so we were able to tear ourselves away without too much pain, but we miss them already!