One last thing to catch people up on the big things going on here. We have a new addition to the family. His name is Mickie. He is Rich's new pleasure. He works daily with him to try and tame him. Once he is tame if he will tame then we will get him a girlfriend. He is really a very pretty bird and loves to sing. He loves his mirrored perch and swings on it most of the day. Mia ignores him for the most part, but has decided that h is part of the family and worthy f her protection when she feels it is needed.

Ok this is another table tpper made with fabric I got using my gift card so thaks again ladies. I just couldn't pass up the adorable snowmen. I am really excited to be back with snow, just keeping y fingers crossed for no ice.

The football quilt is all done, but the tying. I decided since we were back in Minnesota it would be nice to back it with something snuggly, so it has polar fleece on the back, and I though that some purple and yellow yarn ties would add a nice demention to it. Rich suggested that I do at least one of the ties in pink since I finished in October when the NFL is sporting all the pink in support of breast cancer.

The Vikings still rock, even though they blew a huge lead and almost lost. They still managed to win and be 6 & 0 thanks to some really good luck for them and bad luck for the Ravens. Now on to the good stuff. I really have been sewing some just haven't really had time to blog. Here are some of the things I've done in the last couple of months at various stages. These are a set of coasters I made using the Micheal Miller Julie sent for Christmas in July. They were so simple but what a cute little gift they would be. Just 5 inch squares (so charm pack friendly) then I just quilted in a circle starting in the middle, the snowflakes are some felt ones that I had and I just tacked them in place and the quilting is what holds them down. There is a layer of cotton batting in them and for the backing I used a vinyl tablecloth with a flannel back. Humidity is a big problem in Minnesota in the summer so wanted something to protect my table a little better.

This is a table topper I am working on actually there are 2 of them and a runner for the winter season. Rich went with me to the quilt store to spend my gift card from my Oregon friends thank you all again. He found this bird fabric and asked me if I could do something with it so of course I bought some and these are the results. The pattern is one from fig tree for the toppers and then I just expanded it to make the table runner.

I just have to say it again. The Vikings rock. I was up way to late last night watching them beat the Packers. Now I'm watching the Twins play the tie breaking game with Detroit. What a fall we are having. I have been so busy with canning and work not to much sewing going on, but so far I have a free day on Sunday. No where to go and nothing that has to be done, so I hope it stays that way and I can get going on some of the projects taht are piling up beside my sewing machine. Really it's my mom's machine mine decided to die right in the middle of a project last month and so I'm using her's for the time being until I can get mine fixed or replaced.

The vikings rock!!!!!!!!

So just a quick note to let my friends in Oregon know that we all survived last night's tornado. We were in Todd Park watching our nephew play baseball when they called his game due to the lightening, so we drove to the other side of the park to watch Serena's boyfriend Phil play his softball game. Rich's whole side of the family was there including his ex and her new husband. Well the weather really started to turn so we left along with all the kids. Jassmine went with Serena to her grandma's house, and Rich and I took Alli and started for home. It was less then 5 minutes from the time we left the ball park when the tornado was on the ground in the park they estimate that there were 150 mature trees uprooted. So Rich and I and Alli are about 5 minutes ahead of the storm, but luckily it was only moving at about 35 mph, so by the time we got home we were about 20 minutes ahead of it. Then while driving the guy on the radio said there was another storm heading toward Le Roy form the Iowa side which is only 7 miles from our house, so I was really starting to freak. Driving away from one storm straight toward another. Luckily the Iowa storm stayed just to the south of us, and even though there was damage that had the road into town closed there was no real damage here in town. My garden has some hail damage to it, and a few of my tomatoes are really sagging right now, but I won't prop them up until after tonight because they say that tonight we will get hit again and it could be even worse. For about 2 hours last night I was really wondering what I was thinking when I asked to transfer back here, but all is well and everyone is safe.

This is the dress that Alli picked out for RJ's wedding. I think she will be adorable. It's big girl enough for her, and little girl enough for her dad and I. lol. We spent 8 hours on Sunday dress shopping and it turns out that Jassmine will wear a dress she already owns, and I am not crazy about the one that I picked out so I just may wear one that is in my closet instead. Being the step mom of the groom makes dress shopping really stink. You have to make the bride happy and worry about not over shadowing the mother of the bride or the mother of the groom. I am so tired of this whole thing. We (Rich, his ex, her husband & I) put our foot down and said enough is enough, and the groom's supper is not going to be at the country club because we can't afford to do it. Now the bride's family is saying that isn't good enough, oh well. If we are paying the bill we get to decide where it is. I have been doing alot of sewing but no time to post. I will get pictures of projects uploaded this week, I promise.

I've always wanted one of the dark purple lilacs, and guess what we have blooming in the new yard. I wonderful deep purple lilac and next to it is a beautiful white one. I love to go out by them and just relax and take in their beauty and the lovely smell. I can meditate on life and remember those we have loved and lost in a peaceful setting.

On Saturday my sister brought my neice Morgan over and I helped her make her first quilt. She did a great job. I think she had a good time and may be a future quilter. She was really interested in all the fabric all around the room and kept checking out what was going on at my machine while working on her project. I started a quilt using the Swanky line from Moda. I really am liking these fabrics, so very well swanky.

Just a quick post to wish all my friends a Happy Mother's Day. Mine was very busy. I had to take Rich to his brothers Saturday morning at 6:15 so the guys could drive 6 hours, to see their mom for mother's day, then they had to turn around sunday morning and drive another 6 hours to be home with Mary and I. When I got home a friend of ours and I went to Rochester and bought the things we need so Rich can start a new hobby. He's going to try his hand at making wine. His first batch will be a Pomegrante zinfadahl. It's really ummy over ice. Since dad was gone the girls and I decided to go to a movie, Hannah Montana, it was actually not that bad. I enjoyed it more then I thought I would. Jassmine even said she would be ok with a move to Tennessee if she found herself a cowboy that looked like the one in the movie. lol Then we went and spent the afternoon with my mom and sister. When I got home Serena came over and Payton who is all of 3 months old now spent the night so mommy could work the night shift. Daddy is still very nervous about the night feedings, which is very understandable, after what happened 2 years ago. Saturday was also the anniversary of Olivia's death. She is such a good baby and didn't give me any trouble. Then Phil dropped off Lillie at about 5:30 this morning, and they stayed until about noon. Then the girls and I were off to pick up Rich at his brothers where we got to spend time with them and our son and his bride to be stopped. I got 2 new angels to join the colection and the soundtrack to Hannah Montana for mother's day. I will be back to post on the wine making progress. I can't post on the progress of my current quilt project until the end of the month after I see Shawn wouldn't want her to see her gift until I give it to her.

One of these mini-honeybuns will soon be turned into my friend Shawn's birthday present. The pattern looks simple enough and I'm very excited to try it.

Josh's birthday quilt. I hope he loves it as much as I do. It's even cuter then I had imagined.

These are some pictures of the quilt top and the components that went into it, I'm making for my nephew Josh. It's on my machine right now and about 2/3rds of the way quilted. I really need to practice my stippling. I get going good for a while then seem to loose my groove. I guess practice practice practice is what I need.

So how do you know that the rainy season has started in Minnesota? When you get up at 5 am and go to the basement to get the clothes out of the dryer and what do you find at the bottom of the stairs, but this:

Of course when I found it there wre many plastic totes sitting right in the middle of the puddle, and there are a few more smaller areas around the basement. rich spent his day carrying the totes up to the attic, so that the dehumidifiers could do their thing. This is actually quite good compared to what I found, and luckily there was nothing damaged by the mini flood.

It's Alli's birthday today. I can't believe she's a teenager now. All my babies are offically not babies anymore!!! Wasn't she cute 7 years ago when she was holding her new newphew Isaac, and she was only 6 then. Now look at her she'sgrown and a big old nut. There's a story behind the spongebob earmuffs, but lets just say she wanted them because Colton loved Sponge Bob. Rich and I are pretty lucky we've ended up with some pretty amazing daughters. Now lets just hope that we can survive the teen years of these last two. lol The top picture is of Alli and Kassidy. She was Alli" best friend when we lived in Oregon they still talk alot and Kass might get to come out for a visit this summer that would be great

It was cold and rainy today so I thought it was a good day for some homemade soup and bread. Then I got it reay and it looked so good I just had to get a picture of it. I made a loaf of cheesy onion bread and a batch of wild rice soup to go with it. The rice is Minnesota grown. It's probaly my favorite soup, but I don't make it very often, that way it's a real treat when I do. Rich is laughing at me for taking pictures of my food, he just doesn'tunderstand i guess after that much work when it looks so good you just want to take a picture.

The crocuses are blooming!!! It's spring in Minnesota. We had a gorgeous week and weekend here. Jassi took these pictures for me on Saturday moning while I was getting the food ready for the birthday/Easter BBQ. She did a great job maybe she should consider photography for a career. I'm glad she did it for me because 4 hours later I looked out the kitchen window and Lillie had picked about half of them and was floating them in my fountain. :) There's a new batch getting ready to open and some mystery plants pushing their way up. It's kind of fun watching to see what will spring up next.

Just found another give away that I wanted to share with you all. http://katicupcakequiltingco.blogspot.com She is going to be giving away some fabric when she gets back from market, so it should be brand new fabric that no one has seen yet. How exciting you should really go check out her blog.

So these are the pictures from a few days ago when Rich was babysitting for Payton for the day. If you look close Mia is also sitting on his lap. He said that Mia was never far from Payton, and if she did leave for a minute she would run right back and check to make sure that Payton was still there and ok. It was really quite cute.

I'm very excited about the new challenge that our quilt group is doing. I'm so glad that I can still be a part of it even though I live 1900 miles away from the rest of the group. We each get 2 fat eighths of fairy frost to start with and then we need to come up with a couple of projects using them that only take 1 or 2 hours that will make quick fun Christmas presents. Then we will share them amoung the group. Our goal is to have this done by Jul so hat anyone who wants to will have time to make them before Christmas.

So yesterday Rich was very busy. He spent the day with Payton and Mia. It went well and everyone was happy. He did say that for the last hour or so Payton wouldn't let him put her down. It was kind of cute I guess when she ws down in her bouncy seat Mia would run over every couple of minutes and check on her. She also had to "help" when grandpa was giving Payton a bottle. I'm having trouble uploading the pics so Rich is going to fix that for me then I will add them.

Today was Jassmine's 15th birthday. We had Rich's mom and Roger over for dinner then Serena and Phil came it the girls for dairy queen cake. She asked for contacts and a purity ring for her birthday, so I guess we will be shopping for those as soon as I find an eye doctor in this area. she found a ring she likes online, so that will be ordered, too. She wants to have a friend spend the night and go to a movie for her party. I can't believe it but we will be ordering her class ring on Friday. where does the time go? I can't believe that it's been 15 years already it seems like just yesterday she was the same size as Payton. This is picture of her when she lost her firt tooth, and then one of her with her friend Jeremy. Oh how they change.

We have made it to Minnesota and got the car thawed out. It started right up after a night in a heated garage. We have about 80% of our things out of the truck and into the new house. I have met the land lords and they seem very nice. We will finish unloading this morning take the girls on a tour of their new school then begin the adventure of finding homes for all our things. Alot of the boxes are labeled well so it should be sort of easy. Not sure were my quilting table will be just yet, but have a couple of options. I got the fabric I had won in the blog give away. It's very pretty, but then isn't all fabric. I will update more in a couple of days when we have internet again. They are supposed to come out on Tuesday I think.

Ok so just a quick update for those who are checking. We have made it from Dallas oregon to Souix Falls South Dakota. Here's the kicker. The trip has been for the most part uneventful until this morning. After 5 years we forgot our car does not like the cold, so when we got up this morning the stupid thing wouldn't start. We loaded the girls and the dog in the u haul with Rich's brother and they are headed to his house which is only about 2 1/2 hours from here. Rich and I are sitting in the hotel room waiting for the tow company to come and see if they can get it to start or if we need to have it towed. We did discover that we have a tank heater and that it is plugged in now to hopefully warm things up enough that when they get here it will start and we will be on our way. It's that darn Murphy's Law. Though we had left him behind, but I guess he was just napping until now. lol. We are still all safe and that is all that really matters. I will try to post again as soon as I can. We are missing all our friends back in Oregon, but really itching to hold that new grandbaby.

Just found the cutest bag give away you really should check it out. Here is a link to it http://greenfairyquilts.blogspot.com/. Just remember if you check it out to let her know that I sent you.

So I know that I haven't posted in awhile, but been kind of busy packing the house. I will be transfering back to Minnesota with my company in 2 weeks. We all are having lots of mixed emotions. It will be great to be back home with family close, but we have people that are like family out here too. I can't really imagine not seeing Maddie every cople of days. She will be going through so many changes growing up, and we won't be around. That makes me sad, but I will be able to see my grandchildren and the changes that they will be going through. Rich will miss Oregon an awful lot. He hates misquitoes and humidity. lol The girls will love being close to family, but leaving the friends that they made is very hard for them.

Ok so I'm not excited or anything lol, here are a few more pictures of baby Payton. I just love tiny little toes, and fingers, and noses.

She's here! Our 5th grandchild. Payton Lynn arrived early this morning @ 1:15 central time. She was 5lbs 4 oz, 17 inches long. We only have a couple pics so far but hope to have more soon. I really wish I could be there to meet her and hold her. Things were a little scarey at first they had to put her on oxygen for the first hour and a half, but she's fine now and able to stay in the room with mom. :)

I found a BOM from the Plano quilt guild that will beall baskets using only 2 colors in each block. They seem to be pretty easy so far. I did find that there are some typos in the directions, but easy enough to fix. I do think the black really makes these blocks stand out. I can't wait to see them as they go together.

This is a give away I found while out blog hopping it is so cute! You have to go and chek it out. I wish I were better at this so I could get a picture posted.

http://bittybitsandpieces.blogspot.com/2009/01/100th-post-giveaway.html

This a messenger bag that I made for Alli this weekend. She wanted her first grown up bag, so we went with the green with polka dots, but it is for Alli after all so there had to be some frogs somewhere, so we decided that they could live inside the bag where no one would see them unless she wanted them to. Just like everything else I can't just follow the directions and do what I'm told. No I have to make it 'better' don'tcha know. (Had to throw in a little Minnesotan there.) The button on the front pocket is of Colton he was her boyfriend and he was killed in a farming accident this past summer, so the button is never far from her at any given time. She asked me to add a pocket to the front so she could just drop her phone in and go, not having to worry about the zipper pocket that is inside. She is so excited with it. I'm so happy that she likes it.

This is a wall hanging that I made for someone that my husband works with. It's hard to tell but I fussy cut the centers of the stars from the fabric on the borders, so each star has the navy symbols or a ship in the center. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

These are the cutest little purses I made this weekend with matching wallets. The pattern still needs a little twicking to rally make me happy, but for the most part easy. I think it needs at least one pocket inside. I hope the ladies I made them for like them.