Summer Vacation

Destination: Prior Lake, MN out of the Twin Cities
Reason: To visit Andy's older brother Kris & his family.


Day One:
Rest...Rest...and oh yeah more Rest. After resting though we did go to one of Kamille's (my oldest niece) softball games. She is on a special team, like as All Star Team or something similar, and they kept winning so they kept having games.

Day Two:
The kids went swimming in the back yard and had a blast. Alex did not know how to use the Slip-N-Slide, so I picked him up and held him stomach side down and kind of tossed him down. At first he did not know what to make of it, but once he got up a realized what had happened, he came running back, "Mommy, mommy, do it again!" The next thing I know Little Jon is wanting to join the fun. They had a BLAST, which required a massive nap after wards.




Day Three:
Minnesota Children's Museum that took us about an hour just to find the parking lot. On the website it tells you that you can park for three hours for $3.00 at the World Trade Center ramp. What they didn't tell you is that the parking garage is catty-corner across the street from the museum....sooooo aggravating! But at least when we did find it, they have a sky-walk so you don't have to try and cross the street with the crazt traffic. Again the kids had a blast!

Day Four:
Mall of America and Ikea (which I LOVE!). The mall was ok....it's sooo BIG I didn't even know where to start, but it didn't matter because I really didn't have money to spend there. But we went ahead and ate dinner at one of the many restraunts...Kokomo's Island Cafe. Then we off to Legoland, where the kids had fun playing for awhile. The best part....there was a bench on the outside of the glass wall to Legoland and I had Little Jon standing with me so I could put something away before we go play...well he got so excited that he run right into the glass wall (which made this really nice thud sound) and bounced off it. I laughed so hard at him, it was hilarlious, but don't worry, it didn't even phase him, he just turned and run around it.

After the kids had their fun, we went across the street to Ikea....my new favorite store. I've seen it featured in the Amazing Race (the contestants had to count items in a bin before moving on) and ever since I've always wanted to go to an Ikea store. They have cute kids dishes for dirt cheap, so I picked so up, and also a set of really cute drinking glass.







Day Five:
Albertville Premium Outlets where I found a lot of a great finds for really cheap prices (well compared to retail value). I bought myself a new Fossil watch for half the cost, and so cute jewelry. I also stockpiled on outfits from the Children's Place....I couldn't resist 40% off the already marked down price. I probably could of found more great deals, if we hadn't gotten tried of walking. There were way too many stores to even go into, and some you have to be careful, but they were just the regular store with no special sale items. (Oh yeah, the guys didn't go with us, they took the older two boys fishing, and they let Alex drive the boat.)

Day Six:
Minnesota Zoo and Ciao Bella. The kids even got to feed the giraffes, though Little Jon got mad, because he thought the cracker was for him, and when I hold out his hand, he gave the giraffe a dirty look and then looked at me, like he was trying to tell me that the giraffe stole his cracker. It was so cute and funny, but if you ask Jon he might tell you otherwise. We also just made it in time for the Butterfly Exhibit.


For dinner we went to Ciao Bella, which in my opinion is way too fancy to be taking kids to, especially when the cheapest meal is $14. (The kids meal are $6, but that's not the point.) It was an OK experience, might have been better without the kids, since we didn't get there until about 7:30 pm and didn't get seated for another hour (and, YES, we made a reservation!). Alex & Jon were really starting to get crappy, but I can't blame them, because it was really a hour later for them, since of the time difference. Alex got so made he didn't even eat his meal and starting crying that he wanted to go to bed....I felt for him, because even I wanted to do that.

Day Seven:
Have everything packed and ready to go by 11:00 am, which is when Andy's dad wanted to leave so he could beat the rush hour traffic in Chicago. Not such a fun trip home, and we still ended sitting in Chicago for about an hour and half. (If you want to know the details you have to call me and e-mail me.)

Start of a New Quilt

So the other day I wondering what I can sew next, which i should be working on Niece #2's. All I have left to do is finish quilting the quilt and binding, but for some reason I keep putting it off. If I don't stop soon, my may not get it done for Christmas and then I'll have to kick myself in the butt for being a procrastinator.

Anyways, I went to work on coming up with a design for Nephew #3's.

This is what I'm working with, plus another fabric not shown.

The Front Side

The Back Side

I guess it really doesn't matter which side is the front and which is back, because I like them both equally. I guess I'll find out which is which when I give it to my nephew which side he like best.

Yeah and by the way....Andy and Alex are both mad at me for this quilt. Andy thought it was for Alex and Alex thinks it's for him also. I could make another quilt from the red outer space and blue zigzag outer space material, but I'd have buy more of the robots outer space, since I used it all for the backside. (But think where I got the material, it is on clearance right now and last I looked out of stock! I think they'll get over it.)

As with some of the other quilts I've started, I will not be finishing this one until we get back from VACATION.

And when I say "we" I mean Andy, me, and the boys, and Andy's parents. We're loading up in his mom's Envoy at about 8:00 pm (maybe sooner) Friday night. I want to leave at night time: #1 the boys will sleep through most of the 10 hour ride to Prior Lake, MN, #2 we'll miss a lot of the rush traffic in Chicago, IL, and #3 well I haven't thought about it yet, but I'm sure there's another reason, there always is. I hope to have a lot of pictures for you for when i get back.

Out to Sea Quilt is finished

All week I've been slowly working on finishing Andy's quilt. Every night I was quilting the quilt, it took about 4 nights at about 2 per night to finish. But this time I did it a little differently....I did NOT baste the quilt first, which saved me a LOT of time. My batting and material that I bought was about a foot too wide, so I decided that, since I'm just going to do a stitch in the ditch on the rows, that I'll just stitch down the left side edge of the quilt with a 1/4" seam (doesn't matter if I'm going to be covering with binding). When done with that, I took it a bigger area, like the living room, plopped down on the couch and just smoothed it out enough to pin the next row. This is when I decided to stitch in the ditch. Then I just repeated for the rest of the rows, but the further along I got the harder it was to, so after about the 12th row, I turned the quilt around ( this way I did not have a lot of rolled up quilt to fit through the opening of the sewing machine). Now all I need to do was bind the quilt.

Joanns is having another one of their HUGE sales, where a lot of items are 50% off, which is a great time to buy fabric. So, went to go see if I could find something to make the binding. I found several items, but I ended up with a shirting material that is pinstripe white in the Red Tag fabrics, which was 50% off.




The whole to finishing the quilt is so we can take it with us to lay on the ground tonight for when we go see the fireworks!

I've also been busy with the Pop Garden quilt. I've got the back piece finished now.

Front

Back

I couldn't get a good picture of the front, I think you can get a idea of it.

Another Note:
Yesterday, I went to Shipshewana, IN with my mom. It's about an hour away from Fort Wayne, IN, but so worth it. I like the Flea Market, but some of the vendors do get boring at times....I mostly like the produce and antique section. From the Flea Market, we went to the downtown shops, which is where a found a little piece of heaven...Lollys Fabric Store. I could have gone on a fabric shopping spree, if only I have brought more money with me.

But the real reason for the whole trip was to buy myself a drying rack. The flimsy drying rack that I bought at Walmart broke on me....the top rung broke which is the same rung that holds the whole thing up. So, at Yoder's Hardward (across from Town & Country) is where a got this...

This beast comes to my nose (which I'm 5'10") and so worth every dollar that I paid for it ($50.00). I believe it's built by one of the locals, most likely Amish, so this drying rack is going to last a long time.

And oh yeah, I asked the clerk where I bought this if it was one huge store and she told me, "NO! Three stores under one roof." The reason for asking was because the was a HUGE fabric store there too and a little grocery section.

So, the next time I need fabric, I'll being taking the quaint little drive up the Shipshewana.

Pop Garden Quilt

For about the past week and a half I've been working on a new quilt.....Pop Garden Quilt (because it's made with Pop Garden fabric, by Heather Bailey for Free Spirit.

I believe that there are 21 different designs that I'm working with, even though there are more than that in the collection.

Here are a couple samples of the squares blocks that I'm working with.



I do have a pattern that I'm using, but it's one that I just draw up myself, so it's on grid paper in pencil (if I need to change anything I change it as I go along). I'm hoping that when I get done with the front and back I can come with with something a little more presentable to share with you along with photos of the quilt.

On another note: I've been slowing quilting niece #2's quilt one row about every other couple of days. So, I'm working on it is the main thing.

Four Year Anniversary

Today has not been the greatest day....

First of all, it's Father's Day and Andy had to work.
Second of all, it's our Four Year Wedding Anniversary and Andy had to work.
Third of all, I usually go to my Dad's for Father's Day for a big cook out... all of my sisters are there and sometimes our brother....we make a whole day of just hanging out, and dad always barbecued, either chicken or pork chop, with grilled garlic bread, and baked beans, and potatoes. Ooohh, my month is starting water. But as most of you know he pasted away from cancer last year at the end of April. This year things are really starting to sink in...so today was just a really rough day...it didn't want to do anything, but sit around and cry all day.

On the upside, Andy did get off of work at 5 pm, so after he got home and I got myself and the boys around, we went out to eat. (Sorry no pictures, Andy doesn't like having his picture taken.) We went to O'Charlies only because kids eat for free everyday, all day. Jon-Jon was being so naughty though and Alex kept standing up in the booth talking to everyone around us. Jon-Jon got mad, because we poured his chocolate milk into his sippy cup...he wanted to drink it from the kids cup with the bendy straw, but he doesn't know how to quite to do it yet. He can drink from a straw, but he thinks he has to tilt to cup up, which then starts to leak everywhere, so we take it away and he starts to scream. Well, we don't want everyone looking at us, so we give it back and start the process over. He did calm down though once the food started to arrive...he forgot about the cup with the straw and just drank from his sippy cup.

Afterwards, we needed to go to the store to pick and few items, like pull-ups, diapers, milk, and pop (for Andy). I don't know why, but it seems like I can never leave the store without spending at least $100 (it's a good thing Andy works for Walmart, because we get a disount, which is nice when spending that much money)!

Not such an exciting evening, but that is how it was spent. We haven't gotten anything for each other for several years now, mainly because we haven't remembered until it's too late (like a week later). Although, Andy did remember the first year, because he bought me a heart necklace with diamond around it...nothing fancy, but I still wear it to this day, not everyday, but almost.

Mary's Homemade Gift from ME

I've been so excited to post pictures of the cute bag I made for Mary, but









I've been waiting for her to post the picture first so that I don't give it away.

It is an Amy Butler Birdie Sling Bag made with material by Dena Designs for Free Spirit: Monaco.

I'm really proud of how the sides just happen to turn out, which I didn't even plan on happening.


Now, I made this bag first as a trial run, so if I make mistakes it's not going to be on Mary's bag. And wouldn't ya know, I made a BIG mistake, but the bag still looks nice.

The pattern is upside down...MoMo for Moda: Wonderland
The main part of the outside of the bag is Tea Time Tomato Twill and the lining (not pictured) is Mad Hatter Sugar. The band and handle is Mid Century Modern Strip Mustard by Kathy Hall for Andover Fabrics. I must admit that it looked like they might together, but now that I see the finished project, I'm not so happy with it.

Well I think I'm off to a great start for being a Beginner Sewer, but I really have to give the credit to Amy Butler who made the instructions to simple to follow that a beginner, like me, is able to make this great bag. I learned some new sewing terms as well, like, "Gusset", which I'm quite proud of myself for not messing up that part of the bag.

Well now I'm off to start another project or maybe I should finish one of the quilts that I've already started.

Thanks Mary for the inspiration of this great offer, now I can't wait to see what you come up with for me.

Just for you, Mary Dapelo

Ok, Mary, I've completed my end of the DEAL. I'll let you know when you should be receiving it in the mail. I really hope you like it.