New babies

 I have new babies at my house! I am bottle feeding two goats and two others live with their mommies. Midnite thinks I'm his and follows me around the whole farm. Frosty (not pictured) likes to stay under the deck, she has a sore leg so she don't get around as well as Midnite. Four times a day I warm up bottles and they spend about 30 seconds to 2 minutes eating, pee and then try to chew on me or climb up my leg. They love to be petted and rubbed, in fact the dogs are jealous and so is my black cat Blackie.

 This little girl lives with her mommie out in the barn, she just came up for a visit.

 Brad and Sara spend a little time with me while I feed and play with the goats.

Well that's what we do around here for fun..........hang out in the front yard with kids of all kinds!

I gave my camera to Kristin when she moved to Seattle last month so my picture taking has slowed down alot. I have hers but no zoom on it. Most of the time that's fine, all I take pic's of is quilts and kids.

Lots of quilts

 This beautiful quilt will go to one of Kristin's friends...........no I don't remember who.......or why, just know it's going in the mail tomorrow. Very simple, squares of McKenna Ryan fabric, I love the watercolor effect.

 This is a throw size quilt made with the leftovers from a quilt I made for my friend Dawn and her husband Rick for a wedding present. Now they have been married for 16 years so my "anniversary present" took awhile to finish. Ok I have to admit Kristin found the box of leftovers and put the quilt top together for me and gave me a reason to finish it. Dawn cried when I gave it to her, she said her quilt is faded and has holes in it from so much use. She said she would not use the new one and I told her "use it, love it, wear it out and I'll make another".

 I made this quilt as a sample for work awhile back, well it's now found a home with Kody and Ashlee. Their wedding was this weekend and their wedding colors were red and black with white. Their bedroom is also these colors so it was meant to be that the quilt was theirs.

 Kristin made this quilt for them also, she was a bridesmaid in the wedding. I love her use of the fabrics in this one, the black print says family and friends all over it.

This quilt has quite a story to it. Back in November I spent a little time with Dawn when her mother died. I grew up with Dawn and spent lots of time with her parents Paul and Ruth and lots of time living at their house. Well I stayed in Dawn's old room in the basement while I was there and was trying to help her sort and pack up the house. In the sorting I found this quilt top, along with a few others and some vintage sheets. I packed them up and had the thought of finishing them for Dawn. Well along comes this wedding (Dawn's daughter Ashlee) so I got busy and started repairing seams and pressing. I spent a whole day on this quilt top, and even missed a few seams I found when I quilted it. Oh and an hour to find the perfect binding fabric..........I put a light blue vintage sheet on the back and my Mom finished the binding. Now I don't know where Ruth got the top, it could be a family heirloom or garage sale find but now it's a treasure for a very loved granddaughter.

Ashlee's apron

Kristin is modeling the apron I made for Ashlee's bridal shower. Kristin was in charge of games so she pinned kitchen utensils and such to the apron, had the bride model it briefly then the guests had to recall the items on the apron. The bride liked her apron and it's now hanging in her kitchen.
 

Graduation

I am so proud of my son Brad, he made it to 2013 graduation! I'm sure his brother and sisters were proud too, look at those smiles. 

gifts round 2

 This purple throw sized quilt is for Courtney, a friend of Kristin's from college. Kristin put this together out of a set of strips and the borders are from Grandma Flicsha's stash.

 This is for Erica, she graduated and is getting married June 1st. Kristin will be on her way to Seattle at that time so we got her quilt done early.

 The pink and brown is for Megan, she is a music major/ballet dancer and loves pink. The fabric has music stuff and dance stuff on it. She will be going to Seattle with Kristin later this month.

Kristin's soon to be other roommate Shelby gets the green quilt. Kristin used the same pattern but different fabrics in these quilts, I love how she used the green and brown in both but they look so different.
  I have one more quilt to bind so she can mail it off but I ran out of steam and I'm sure the binding fairy did too.
 We are in the middle of graduations and parties................ughhhh!

Bowl Coozies

 Yes we have been busy......there are 55 done so far.......omg!

My Mom made a set for a wedding shower gift, they were a HUGE hit and Kristin took orders to make some. I am planning a few more sets before we go to the wedding on the 26th, not sure if Mom or Kristin want to make anymore though....the first few are fun......the last few are boring............

gifts round 1

 The towels are for Sara's friends for graduation gifts. I used 3 different sizes of type to decide what size I like best. The medium is my favorite, Maria.

 We don't believe in wrapping paper around here, ribbons work great and guests at the party can see what the recipient is getting without being there for the gift opening.

 I embroidered this fleece blanket for Kaylee, as I was trimming the tags I snipped the yarn edging, sooooooo I went out to my shop and dug out some satin blanket binding. (thanks Mrs. Potter) It's cream colored with tan thread. First time I've ever applied blanket binding and I learned not to try to do it in a hurry, and to stitch closer to the edge too.

 Kristin was on a vintage sheet kick for graduation presents, this is for Keely.

 Abby gets the blue quilt.

Hannah gets the yellow quilt.

Kristin has more quilts to gift but they are at the binding faeries at the moment.

Dos Gato

Can anyone speak cat? I would love to know if Dos sounds like Antonio Bandaras.(or how ever his name is spelled)

kids jackets

 Found a good sale at the Dollar Store. Just couldn't leave well enough alone and I had to embroidery on them for my niece and nephew.

 Rylee is 6 and pretty girly so something sweet is what she needed on her jacket to make it special.

Andrew just turned 9 so kids stuff he's kind of getting out of. Nothing to kiddish for him.
  The jackets had black numbers on the arms so I went with black lettering. Great for the cool evenings spent on the farm exploring.

Kristin's dress

 I am always amazed that Kristin can sew, 4 years of Drama/Costume Shop really helped her out. I'm not a great seamstress and definitely not able to teach that kind of stuff. So when she wants to make something I give her ideas and she flys with them.

The denim shirt was waiting for embroidery......well it was gonna wait a long time for me so she grabbed it and along with some yellow poly from Mrs. Potter's totes she assembled this fun summer maxi dress. After this pic she is going to shorted it about an inch, it was perfect with heels but looked lots better with flats. Kristin has always loved dresses, now instead of Grandma making them like she did in Kindergarten, Kristin can make her own.

Dorthy

Kristin bought a car.....NEW car! Her name is Dorthy and she's a Mazda 2. Great gas milage and easy to drive. Parking is no problem either. Dorthy's ruby red slippers is when the dash lights come on and glow "ruby red". I was hoping Dorthy could click her tires together and wish her way home but Kristin is hoping Dorthy takes her anywhere but "home".    I know Kristin is looking forward to saying "We're not in Nebraska anymore".

West, Texas Quilts

I stole these pic's off of Linda's blog, if I knew how to link I would send you there..........she got them off of Judy L.
Linda sent them to Judy to take to West Tx after the fertilizer blast that has affected that area. I love string blocks and I love making them but it sure was nice having Linda quilt them and mail them off! Thanks Linda for the quilting and binding, Kristin and Sara for the sewing, and the Orchard Quilters for the sewing and fabric. I am truly grateful for all the supportive quilters in this world who make a difference in the lives of so many by their selfless acts of kindness.http://quiltinlibrarylady.blogspot.com/  oh I think I got the link thing going, check out Linda's blog.

prom cost

 I was reading on the net about how much prom is costing parents. The article says over a $1000 is average......wow! Who has that kind of money to spend on one night a year? So I did a little addition and here's what my kids cost.

Sara's dress was a hand me down from Kristin, when she was asked to prom I told her she could go but I wouldn't buy a dress. She could pick from the 4 or 5 we have in the house. I paid $15.00 for it 5 years ago when Kristin wore it for graduation. Sara and Kristin took it out to my studio and remade it with a little help from Mrs. Potter(dentist wife in O'Neill whose estate sale I bought 5 totes of fabric) Kristin added two skirts, sash and trim. I paid $4 a tote so way less than a dollar for added fabric.

Shoes were $25 on clearance at Shoe Carnival

Vintage clutch came from my stash

Jewelry also came from my stash, the vintage butterfly pin on the back of the dress and matching earrings she wore in her hair might be family heirlooms? Or I might have bought them at a garage sale.....now they are Sara heirlooms. The pearl strand is another stash find. The pearl earring are hers from Grandma Flicsha.

I made 4 garters for less than $3 so Sara's two cost $1.25 each

Flowers were $22.98 for all (kids and dates) because Grandma Flicsha is premo florist!

 

Brad's tux jacket was from the thrift store costing $2

Tie and vest ordered off the net for $24.95 plus shipping

Shirt and pants bought at Dillards outlet each $14.99  minus 70%

Shoes borrowed from cousin

alterations by Kristin

I did have to pay $40 for post prom (they gave $20 to the kid at the end of the night)

Kevin and I took Sara to Norfolk (server dates were not included in bus ride or dinner at prom) and we had a very nice dinner at Village Inn for around $30 for the three of us. So add $20 in gas because we took the pickup. I let Brad drive my car to Clearwater to pick up Chelsea and return her in the morning so maybe $3 in gas.

Oh and I almost forgot the pictures we don't have yet...$45

I do have to thank Anna for coming up to do Sara's hair, it was alot of work to make that mane all curls and for saving Brad's haircut......so don't let me have clippers before important events!

 

So for around a little over $200 I sent two kids to prom.

Prom 2013

 Brad and Chelsea

 Sara and Tyson

 Kaylee and Jordan

 Kaylee showing off her boots and garter.

My kids, Brad and Sara before leaving the house.

 

So I think they all had a good time........at least the girls did.

Flowers by Grandma Flicsha.

Sara's hair by Anna.

Sara's dress by Kristin

Kaylee's hair done by Jill and flowers by Lucy's in Neligh.

Brad's tux altered by Kristin

AND all paid for by Mom.

(and Kaylee's Mom)

 



Shoppe sewing

 Here's a pic of of our free pattern for Shop Hop 2013. The boss asked for a small project, what's smaller than hot pads? They have went over great as a free pattern and I've had people ask if the finished hot pads are for sale too. I love these, even made some with other fabrics, the center is a 5" square so it's easy to fussy cut or put an applique in the center.

 I also made a pattern for Microwave Bowl Coozy's, Love these for hot or cold bowls, great for putting your bowl in when it's full of ice cream and you want to eat it while sitting in your lazy boy.

 Sara is modeling my newest apron pattern, the half apron is reversible with pockets on both sides. It's available at the Shoppe as a pattern or a kit.

The full apron is  made, just no pattern yet. I'm hoping to write it up this week. Shop Hop has been great and the last day is tomorrow.

Quilts

 Since this is supposed to be a quilting blog I guess I will show some quilts. The top blue quilt is Roseanne's, it's a 4 Patch Poesy Quilt pattern. This one is done and delivered.

 This one is the same pattern as the top quilt, also Roseanne's. She said this one looks like an old lady quilt. Hmmmmm I kind of  like it..........does that mean I'm an old lady?

I am presently working on this quilt. Luanne is making graduation quilts. I'm right in the middle of quilting this one and my machine wanted to give me fits so I walked away. Maybe a little time apart will make the heart grow fonder?

Shop Hop is starting this week so we have been BUSY getting the shoppe shaped up for visitors. I'm looking forward to the new samples we are hanging tomorrow and the new line of Christmas fabric is soooooo nice! I sure am getting tired.........but it's good to be busy!