Love Tree

The tree has changed again and is showing a lot of LOVE! I'm enjoying it and so far I'm glad it is still a light in my life. Picked up some gold hearts, but may have to change their color to white or pink, or some of each! (I don't know why my picture is sideways, can't get it to change. Sorry!)

My sweetie brought me some lovely roses. This picture doesn't do them justice. They sure smell wonderful. We avoided the crowds on Friday and went out for dinner on Saturday afternoon. Acapulco served up some mean burritos for us. 

My first Valentine from John was a heart shaped box of chocolates that he mailed to me from Ricks College. I knew then he was a keeper! Sure do love that man!!

My Changing Tree

I love my Christmas tree. Many people comment on how lovely it is, even though it is artificial. Keeping my tree up through the end of January brings light and happiness to an otherwise dark and dreary Minnesota January.

It's a lot of work to assemble this tree one branch at a time, and to string the lights so they are scattered throughout the tree and not just on the outer rim of the branches. Putting up this tree is probably the worst part of Christmas (next to shopping)! Soooooo...... I've decided to keep my tree up year round. I know some people think I'm cray cray, but that's okay. At my age you can be forgiven for a lot of things!

With the frigid temperatures outside yesterday, I stayed inside with my wool socks and hot chocolate and decorated the house with snowmen. My tree became a nesting place for several snowmen I already had.

I think this tree can use a few more decorations, so it will be fun to look for anything related to snow.... snowmen, snowballs, snowshoes, snowhats, snowmittens.... you get the idea.

Of course I will also be looking for hearts (Valentines), bunnies and eggs (Easter), red white & blue (summer), pumpkins & scarecrows & pilgrims (Fall). It should be a fun year to see my tree change for the holidays!!!

Empty Box & Dreaming of Spring

I'm happy to say I now have an empty box. This probably isn't very exciting news to most people, but I'm elated!! I have had a box with fabric sitting under my sewing table for a year or so. Today I finished the third quilt made from what I am now calling the purple fabric.

 

Yes, this looks just like my first finished quilt in 2014 except I didn't put borders around the outside edge. I just made the quilt bigger.

I'm happy to have this box empty because the more I sewed, the more purple the colors became! Guess I'm ready to work on some different colored fabrics for a while. No problem, I have many to choose from.

PLUS, the next few days will be perfect weather for staying inside. The winds are blowing and the snow is piling up. Minus 25 tomorrow morning. We actually have waves or white caps on the fields and yard around our house. See the blowing snow in this picture? We have a sidewalk and driveway somewhere under all this snow.

 

Even our picnic table has a wave of snow covering it completely. The poor birds are having a hard time perching at the birdfeeders because of the wind. They make me laugh when their little butts get tipped up into the wind and they lose their balance!! I'm sure they are thinking the same as me... "spring can't come soon enough."

Another Finish

I'm so happy to be sewing up some of this fabric that has been laying around here in boxes. My second quilt finish for 2014 is shown below...

If this fabric looks familiar, it's because my first quilt finished in 2014 used the same fabrics. I simply tried a different pattern to get a totally different look. I have enough fabric to make one more quilt.  I've decided to return to the first pattern and make another quilt just like that one. Then all three of these quilts will be donated to a needy cause.

This is so much fun. My therapy continues to work well!

Happy New Year!

I'm thinking 2014 is going to be a pretty sweet year. I'm starting off in recuperation mode, so it is all up from here! My doctor put me on Prednisone, so that eliminates my need for sleep. Not a problem.. I've cleaned my house (which really needed it after the holidays), and I've had lots of time for quilting.

Here is my first finish of the year:

It has all the colors of Spring - yellow, white, purples, blue, with butterflies and Easter eggs in the prints - which is really funny because the weather outside is the worst cold spell in 15 years. Don't mind working on a project like this and staying inside where it is toasty warm. Yep, 2014 is going to be sweet!

June Berries

Our June bearers almost had to be renamed July bearers! But just in time for June, John picked our first crop of strawberries last night... June 24th! Can you believe it? Usually they are all done producing by now. The wait was well worth it. Nothing beats a fresh sun-ripened strawberry. YUM, YUM!!

Galena Retreat

Last Monday I was able to spend a day & a night with 3 wonderful ladies... Barb, Sharon & Lynn. So what do we have in common, you may ask? QUILTING and a love of laughter! Barb planned and saw to every detail - even gave our little trip a title "Barb's Bodacious Shop-Hop". Monday, June 17th we left our homes at 6am. With two cars, we drove through Wisconsin and stopped at 7 different quilt shops. This is what you call a Shop-Hop. It was so much fun to see all the quilt shops with their lovely displays and variety of fabric choices.

A highlight was lunch!

 

Bodacious Barb surprised us all with a homemade picnic lunch. Finding a park shelter, we stopped for a bite to eat. Little did we know what Barb had in store for us. As you can see from the picture, she put each serving in canning jars -- a quart of salad, a pint of grapes, a half-pint of dessert, crackers and drinks aplenty (even my favorite Dr. Pepper). But that was just the food... the table setting was no shabby picnic! After the table was spread with a lovely table cloth, she produced china plates, silver chargers (pizza pans) to match, wrapped silverware in dishtowels (our napkins), and a lovely gift of a seam ripper (that matched the tablecloth too)! We were stunned and knew Barb had earned the title of Bodacious hands down!!
What a treat to enjoy this lunch in a beautiful setting of outdoor greenery, with birds singing, and a cool summer breeze to keep us cool.

 

Our destination was Galena, IL where Barb had secured a cabin to our liking. The setting was an old farmhouse with cabins built mid 1850's. The farmhouse was the office and there were 3 or 4 buildings that had been converted to cabins. Our cabin, the Chetlain, was two stories. The pictures show how rustic and interesting the farm was.

 

 

Side view of Chetlain

Front walk to Chetlain



TV included!
 

Fireplace wall
 

Ironing board sidetable
 



 

Front porch and blooming poppy
 

Lower level bed
 

Relaxing after a long day



Upper level beds and jacuzzi

 

Sink in dresser & stairs to upper level



















We ate dinner in downtown Galena at the Old Log Cabin. Such delicious food... I had prime rib Greek style. It had a taste of garlic and Greek spices. Wonderful meal in a very popular place. Sorry I didn't get any pictures of that, but it was rustic looking too.

After a very restful night, I got up to take a shower. Bodacious Barb had struck again! Inside my suitcase were gifts labeled Day 2 & Day 3. So added to Day 1 seamripper, was a bottle of Best Press and a Charmpack of Moda fabrics. Barb is truely a priceless gem and thinks of everything!

After taking my shower, much to my surprise I couldn't turn the water off. Each of us tried to turn it off, but with no success. Maybe it's still running... I don't know because this was the end of my wonderful fun with the ladies. After a breakfast of nut breads & juice, I had to make a long drive to Maple Grove, MN for an MREA Board meeting. With a sad heart I left at 6:45am and started my long trek. Bodacious Barb, Lynn, and Sharon remained in Galena another day & night before they started their trip back on Wednesday. How I missed them on the drive back. With no one to chat with or laugh with, the trip back was much longer than the trip there. I did see some windmills in Charles City, so that was a highlight.

 

I'm looking forward to another trip with this fabulous group in the near future! Next time I will not cut my trip short for ANY reason!!