I'm here!

I have been busy traveling, taking care of the house in KS that just won't sell, and I managed to do some quilting too!!!

Here my girlfriends and I are on our snorkeling trip!
dinner out
a cold drink after a hot day at the pool!

And here's the tshirt quilt I made for niece's high school graduation! I finished the binding yesterday and hope to deliver it soon!!!

Say a prayer that our house in KS sells quickly! It goes back on the market after spending another $5k on the exterior. People want perfection and it's difficult!! We'll be on the market for one year in about 5 weeks...this is NOT a good time to have to sell a house but it's where we are.

ALOHA!!!

Tomorrow gets nuts around here! My 2 youngest boys and a girlfriend are arriving LATE. We are going to the Twins game Friday night and just hanging out together for the weekend. Also, one of my BFFs from KS arrives with her fam tomorrow (a wedding) and I get to see her...

Then on Saturday my other BFF from KS arrives and Sunday...LOOK OUT OAHU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The island will never be the same after my 2 BFFs and I spend the week there! WOOHOO!!!

SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.........

SHHHHHHHHHHH...it's WORLD CUP 2010!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The games have begun...but prayers for Nelson Mendela and his family as they mourn the death of his 13yo great-granddaughter who was killed by a drunk driver last night. Nelson wasn't able to enjoy the fruits of his labor and be at opening ceremonies and the opening game, South Africa vs. Mexico. Such a sad time for South Africa.

Commissioned T-shirt quilt

I was asked to make a tshirt quilt for a HS graduation gift. I just LOVE making my unique tshirt quilts...much less one from my former HS!!! It was a joy to make and the recipient LOVED it! I'm still waiting for pics of her with the quilt but the email I received said it was amazing!!!

It was fun! One more to go...for my niece's HS graduation!!!

Susan G Komen, Mother's Day, and turning the big 5-0!!!

YEP...all of my blog title happened TODAY!!! I ran my first 5K for the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer run, I talked to all of my 4 amazing kids, AND turned the big 5-0!!! It's been a super fun day even though I'm super duper tired!!! And, I'm super duper happy!!!

Here Steve and I are before the race at the Mall of America! It was almost 12 years of survival for me!

Ya gotta stretch out ya know! Avoid pulled muscles and all!! I DID IT!!!!!! I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!! I DID IT!!!!!!!!!! I ran the WHOLE way without walking!!!
Post race: I ran in celebration of me...Steve in celebration of his wife Laurie!! A victory kiss was in order! Steve was sooooo very proud of me and I was proud of myself as well! Bring on next year!!!
Happy Mother's Day to all of you!

Happy Mother's Day

If PINK roses grow in heaven, Lord please pick a bunch for me. Place them in my Mothers arms and tell her they're from me. Tell her I Love her and when she turns to smile,place a kiss upon her cheek, and hold her for awhile. Remembering her is easy, I do it everyday, but there is an ache within my heart that will never go
away. Happy Mother's day MOM, miss ya a whole lot!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO EVERYONE!!!
(I did not write the above tribute either)

Twins Quilt Top

Our MN Twins opened a new outdoor baseball stadium this year and it's been an exciting time! Steve and I bought a 20 season ticket package and being outside has been great so far...but Thursday night might be a bit chilly. SOOOO...I made a quilt top. I hope to have it quilted/bound by Thursday night!!! I couldn't find Twins fabric so I made a tshirt quilt to keep us warm on a chilly outdoor evening at the park!!!

It's been awhile...

Nothing quilty to report! The baby quilt from January is bound and ready for delivery. Hopefully on Saturday we'll make the delivery and see our new great nephew!

Tomorrow is my son Kevin's 23 bday. He wanted a pouch for his cell phone so I googled "drawstring bags" and made him one! This is the finished product with the drawstrings tightened up.
I lined it with soccer ball fabric...sure hope he likes it!

The outside fabric is black with tone-on-tone black stars.

Also, 2 weeks ago our youngest, Fireman Dan, celebrated his 21st bday! Steve and I went to KS to celebrate with him, his bro and his sister! It was a lot of fun!
This was his first legal beer...12:01 a.m. on March 4th!!! After 2 sips he told the bartender, Jon, this just feels WRONG...give me a mountain dew! LOL...we were at our stomping ground, Old Chicago and of course Jon refused Dan's request! We missed Joe though!!!

Long time...........

It's been awhile since I posted! My youngest, Dan, turned 21 on March 4th. DH and I went to KC and celebrated with him, his bro and sis. We missed Joe, who's in NJ!!! It was a fun time though and I'm glad we made the trek!

I need to finish a baby quilt for my nephew and his wife's new baby that was born on March 8th. And a couple of other quilty things are in the works.

Other than that...not a lot going on...I'm still alive though!

VACATION...

Headed to West Palm Beach, FL tomorrow! Some relaxation in the sun is going to be a welcomed blessing!

Baby Quilt

This quilt top is for my nephew and his wife who are expecting their first child in March. The body pieces of the 'pillar were supposed to be made out of strip sets using different colors but similiar to the face (i did the strip set for that). I didn't want to go to all that hassle so I just used a "stripe" fabric from my stash! I just think this is adorable...OH SHOOT...I just realized I forgot to put the antenna on there! TOMORROW!
It's hard to tell from the pic, but the background of the 9P's is a light minty green. The whiter fabric has primary color dots on it. I just fell in LOVE with this pattern! Now for a backing and get it quilted! It felt good to sew!!!

Haiti Update

James contacted Sarah yesterday. His WHOLE family except for one cousin is SAFE!!!!!!!!!!!! Now, I don't know about injuries or their outlook, but what a miracle that only one cousin perished. That of course is very sad, but it could've been much worse. Thanks for your prayers!

Haiti...

Prayers for the victims of the horrible earthquake in Haiti. My daughter's co-worker's whole family lives in Port-au-Prince and he cannot get ahold of them. Last I heard he was on his way to Miami and hoping to get to Haiti.

Keep everyone in your prayers but if you can say a special prayer for James and his family it would be greatly appreciated.

I think I'll quilt!!!

Christmas

It was a year of new traditions and stuff we didn't even think about. Weather almost prevented Steve, Joe and I from making it to KS but we did. The weather did stop us from making it to Rochester the day after Christmas. It snowed for 3 days solid in KS and that is UNHEARD of. We had a good time...shared laughs (lots of them), serious chats, tears, anger...well you name it and we experienced it. Would I change a thing? NOPE...oh, church services were cancelled for the 24 and 25...it was weird not to go to church for Christmas...but it was what it was!

I was there...the puppy wanted attention!

Joe and Sarah got a kick out of his stocking hat with a poof ball on it!

Dan with his goodyear blimp snow globe! LOL he loved it!

Autumn loved being with gpa...nap time!

the annual pic with the kids and the christmas tree...we were at dans...this was as good as it got!

A visit from Kevin and Kristin

Thursday Kevin and his girlfriend of 2+ months came for a visit! Steve and I had a lot of fun while they were here and it was great to get to know Kristin better. Steve and I had met her in October at a soccer game. She was pretty shy then and Steve and I decided she was very different from any other girl Kev had introduced us to. All the others were pretty outgoing!!!

This trip though...we found out that YEP, she is different...SHE IS AWESOME!!! She has a great sense of humor and loves to give Kevin a little bit of razzing! She and I spent Friday together at the Mall of America! Kristin was soooooooooooooo very excited to go there! Steve and Kev met us out there for dinner at the end of the day.

They left today...drove to Madison, WI to see a good high school friend of Kev's and then on to a suburb of Chicago to spend a few days with Kristin's family.

Here's the cute couple!!!

11 years ago today...

Here is my story of being a breast cancer survivor...today is a day that I choose to celebrate!!!

Breast Cancer

I hope you are inspired...have your mammos and do your monthly exams!

Back from a much needed vacation!

Steve and I went to Phoenix for a week. We enjoyed some wonderfully warm weather except for 2 days that required jeans and a jacket! Best of all, it was a lot of R&R!!!

We took advantage of a couple of wineries...
Spent the day in Sedona...gorgeous! It also included a stop at a quilt store!!!

We also found a few brewpubs and had some new beers! Always fun!!!

We took in Taliesman...Frank Lloyd Wright's home/school and then some. If you are ever in Phoenix I would highly recommend taking in this tour!!!

There were also some very GORGEOUS and STUNNING sunsets!!!

Now...today...it was back to reality! Laundry, groceries, Target, and back to exercising!!! But...life is good!!!

Vacation

Heading home tomorrow from a week long vacation in Phoenix. We had a super quiet, relaxing time here! My own bed will feel good tomorrow!

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

It's breast cancer awareness month. If you don't do monthly self exams...please do. If you have discovered a lump and ignored it...PLEASE DON'T!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you self checks!
Get your annual mammogram!
Don't ignore warning signs!!!

I am almost an 11 year survivor and am thankful for every day I am alive! Take care of yourselves ladies and gentlemen! (yes, men can get BC)

Quilting room pics

Here are pics of my quilting room! This is stuff hanging over my doors. Gotta utilize all the wall space for decor since most of my wall space is taken up with my design wall.
I just got my design wall up and running today!!! FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!

This is my pressing area and my sewing machine!

This is my cutting area under the window. It's great to have something to watch while cutting something out!

It's small, but it'll work!!!