On To A Happier Post

I want to let you all know how much I appreciated all your kind words about Aiden. 

 She went peacefully and is not on the Rainbow Bridge with her brother, Mosen who left last October.  You all see Autumn, my little calico, in my sewing room. 

 She is the final sibling.  

She is doing well and we are now down from 5 to a 2 cat house. 

 Ironically, both are calico cats.

I have been sewing and managed to get quite far along on the August wedding quilt.

I didn't take a photo of all of the blocks on the design wall but this is part way through. 

 I am doing random HST blocks in gray, green and white.  I have always loved this look and I am pretty happy with how this is turning out. 

 I sewed the HST blocks into 9 patches.  

Then I pinned the 9 patch blocks to the design wall. 

 I have not figured out the final placement yet though.  

All of the 9 patches are sewn and waiting for me to sew the top together.  

I have the label all embroidered and the back is planned out.

  I think I will need to make a few more HST blocks to execute the idea I have for the back, 

but that should be pretty easy to do.

Linking up with Let's Bee Social.

~XOP~

Aiden

I woke up not feeling very well this morning and then I went downstairs to feed the cats. 

 I got out the can of wet food (they get a little each morning) but Aiden was no where to be found.  

I went looking.  

Turns out she was on the couch in my living room.  

When I touched her she growled and her back end was contracting,

 like she had to go to the bathroom.  

I picked her up and she was NOT happy about that. 

 I took her into the family room where she usually liked to lay.  

She threw up.  

I think it's her time. 

 Time to join her brother, Mosen on the Rainbow Bridge. 

 I hate that time. 

 It means one more time I have to be strong.  

One more time I have to lose a dear friend. 

 One more time.  

It's never easy, but it is the one last thing I can do for her.

My silly Fatty McFatty, who loved to drink out of the faucet.

The sweetness that always cuddled up by my left side every time I sat on the couch.

The one I could count on for some kitty lovin every day

Guarder of my precious quilts while I sewed on binding.

The one that loved to sleep,

My sweet, sweet Aiden

I hope you have a safe trip to the Rainbow Bridge today.  

Mosen and Jack will be there waiting for you.

Please let them know how much I miss them both.  

One more time.  

I will give you the last gift I can give as it breaks my heart .  

One more time.

I love you Aiden.

~XO Your Mama~

Turkey Kind Of Weekend

There were several amazing things that happened at my house this weekend.  

The first was that my daughter had to take her turkey's for processing. 

Some of these birds were HUGE. 

My hubby went over to the farm around 6am to help her gather them up and load them in the truck

 to take to the processor.  

Just look at this beast of a turkey!

I was comfy at home and it began to snow.

Which was ok as I was watching the MSU vs OSU football game.  

I looked out again and we had many more inches!  It was the first snow of the year in Michigan.

I think we got over 10 inches!

Abbey loves the snow so she was thrilled!

Fatty McFatty put her ample girth over the heating register and thus made the entire house colder.  Hey, what did she care?  Her belly was toasty warm!

I watched the game and could not be more thrilled with the outcome!  

We beat the number 3 team in the nation!!!

GO STATE!

I decided to work on the label for the next wedding quilt while I was watching the game. 

 I made some good progress! 

 I actually managed to finish the embroidery, I just took this early into the game.

I have more to share but need to run, so more later.

~XOP~

Quick Post Before Leaving For Glamp

This big goofball would NOT leave me alone.  

Notice that possessive paw around my arm, HA!

I did manage to get my bee blocks finished and in the mail before I have to leave.

One more thing to tick off my list!

I hope I have not forgotten to pack anything!  See you on the flip side.  

If you want to follow along with all the Glamp fun find me on Instagram at mamaspark59.

~XOP~

Weekend Update

Sparty lives with me now.  

No...not *THE* Sparty, 

but THIS Sparty. 

I found him on Craig's list and picked him up Friday night.  

Isn't he handsome?

Then on Saturday morning my sweet hubby decided that I needed to try his crepes.  

He made them from scratch and this one was fantastic!

Fatty McFatty, was on my lap for most of the MSU game (except when I was yelling).  

I managed to wash all the bedding so Autumn decided that she just had to re-initiate it.  

Which reminded me of this dishtowel I saw recently

"Cat hair, both a condiment and an accessory"

TRUTH!

 The rest of the weekend saw several walks and these trees that looked like they were on fire!

I did some sorting so have a few things to list for sale.  

If you like Sandy Gervais, you may want to check out my next post!

I hope you all had a great weekend.

~XOP~

The Dress Is Finished

Yes you read that correctly!  I actually got the dress completely, 100% finished this weekend.  

It took me most of Saturday and Sunday to do it but it is complete.  

It is even in the mail now headed to my daughter in NC. 

 I can't believe I agreed to make another one for her.  What was I thinking???  

Well maybe at least the second one should be easier right?

Would you like to see some shots of this dress?  

OK here goes.  This was me hand sewing the lining down on the inside. 

 Only to realize when I went to press it that on the other side, 

(yes I know, the front of the dress in the center, of course) was a pucker!  

So I had to rip out the stitching I had just finished, rip out the seam, 

resew the seam then re-sew the lining.  

This is a view of the dress all finished.  Or is it?

No, wait, I need to add a couple of embellishments.  I put these cute little white flowers on the sleeve.

Oh, and also some on the back of the neck.  JIC she happens to wear her hair up.

Now it is all finished.  I sure hope she gets some photos of herself wearing this dress for me!

This is the back.  Zipper and all.

I also managed to finish my Tula Pink mini quilt this weekend and 

it is all packaged up and ready to send off to my partner.  

I did get a few other things accomplished too but will share later.  

Next up is to get that wedding quilt top put together!  

I managed to squeeze in some grocery shopping, cooking and laundry this weekend too. 

 Thought Auntie Dianne might enjoy seeing her Aiden getting a drink too.  

Lots of cat time this weekend.

How was your weekend??

~XOP~

Is It Time To Panic Yet?

I believe the answer to that question is YES it most certainly is! 

 I had the pleasure of attending a bridal shower this past weekend for 

a very dear friend of my daughter's.  

Kara is not only a beautiful girl on the outside but she is so much like my daughter,

 I just love her to death.  

She is studying to be a pediatric cardiologist!  I wish her and her hubby to be all the best!

As I was wrapping the gift we bought her it came to my attention that 

the sheet set was for a king sized bed. 

 WHAT??  

My daughter had told me queen sized. 

 That's the size I was planning to make for the wedding gift.  

But...I have all the blocks done.  

They are all laid out carefully into rows.  

GAH, time to make more blocks, sigh.

  Don't you hate when that happens? 

 You had a carefully made plan and it gets shot all to he**?  

So as we were driving home from the shower ( a 2 hour drive and hubby had come with me) 

hubby suggested stopping at a quilt shop in Fenton, the Quilter's Garden.  

Well, who am I to say no to that? 

 I needed more gray if I was going to have more blocks to make. 

 I seem to be using the gray up as fast as I bring more in lately and 

need it for another wedding quilt I have to make for this year too.  

So these were the gray fabrics I bought.

I also need purple for both of the wedding quilts so bought some of these batiks.  

I could not resist as they remind me of one of my all time favorite lines, 

Pearl Bracelets by Lizzy House.  

Although I don't think she would like this as they are so close to her line.

Some in my colors.

I did get another 6 blocks all cut out for the wedding quilt. 

 I was especially happy to find the chemical structure fabric for the aspiring doctor! 

 I am going to add this to WIP Wednesday too over at Freshly Pieced.

So Aiden would also like to say hello to her favoirte Auntie Dianne.  

MEOW!

Have a wonderful day!!

~XOP~

More Trivets

That's right.  I am making even more trivets.  

Although I do see this coming to an end in the near future. 

 I still have 4 more (I think) to make for a few more people.  

Here are the two I worked on yesterday, and they still need binding.

This nativity print was one from a while ago at JAF. 

 Isn't it cute?  

The Holiday Happy by the Happy Zombie seemed a good fit for the triangles around the Nativity. 

 I think if I make this one again I would choose different fabric for the first 2 rounds of triangles,

 but I love the nativity!

 Then Kelsey came home and wanted me to make a trivet for her to 

give to her "NC mom" to thank her for all the nice things she does for her. 

 Kelsey chose the center fabric but I really like how this one came out too.

My scrap bin has been overflowing so

 I decided to work on some scrappy blocks to see what I can use up.  

A long time ago I had seen someone put cut off triangles on the corners of a square

 then sew them together.  

I thought I would give that a try.  

I really love the look, but it doesn't use up those triangles very quickly!  

I have a lot of that cream fabric so thought I would use that for the squares. 

 I will keep you posted on this.

While I was on the computer Fatty McFatty (Aiden) decided to keep me company.  S

he really is a sweet cat.

As I got up to start wrapping presents I looked out on my deck and saw this fat little bugger. 

 Just look at his belly!!! 

 He did not even move when I opened the door.  

He ate every single apple off my apple tree this year.  

I guess he is ready for the winter!  Hey... maybe that's my problem too?!

I hope you are all getting ready for the holidays. 

 We are all set except for cookie making and a few more groceries.

~XOP~