She's Off To See The Wizard...

We made it home on Tuesday night from North Carolina.  It was a whirlwind trip.We had a family reunion to go to on Saturday so I was running around making food, and trying to pack and clean and go to the bank and pick up dog meds at the vets.  Finally got to the reunion.  Had a GREAT time.  I think there were about 120 people there in total with some folks absent.  Left there around 7:30pm heading for Raleigh NC.  We drove almost straight through the night.  We had our DD2's little Saturn and it was packed full!  We stopped a couple of times to take a 45 minute nap then continued on our way.

We did stop for a wonderful dinner at Wendy's on our way.  What a way to spend your 28th wedding anniversary.  Almost like when we were first married and took road trips!  Life has been quite an adventure with this man of mine!

We finally arrived at DD's door around 9:30 am on Sunday morning.  We hit the ground running and did not stop until we got to our hotel around 10:30pm!  It was a LONG day.  I don't even remember falling asleep!!  We got her a new mattress and did a lot of running around.  Got her desk put together and got the bed set up.  Her is her new place:

Living room and kitchen

Hallway and bedroom

DH DD and DD's BF are all working. She has a bathroom off her bedroom. She has a cat, Mitch, and he HATES us. He was in here:

Safely out of the chaos!

We took her bike in the van with us to the hotel and then in the morning her BF drove her over to our hotel and they had breakfast with us. I managed to get some pictures of her on her "first day of school". Seems like it was not that long ago I had these from her first day of kindergarden! *sniff* *sniff*

She is very excited and a little nervous.  This helped...

I managed to get one of us with her too

After she and BF said their goodbyes we drove her to campus. She showed us the building she is going to work in. We drove around a little bit but she was anxious to get to her orientation so we took out her bike and gave her a hug and a kiss, waved and out little birdie rode off on her bike, quick look back with a wave and a smile. Bittersweet! Spread your wings and fly my little birdie. The world is not going to know what hit them!! XOXO Baby girl!!

PS: I have LOADS more to share from the trip home. Lots of beautiful scenery and some quilt shops and treasures too. So stay tuned! ~XOP~

While I Was Home

I took yesterday off of work.  I was/am exhausted.  Both physically and emotionally.  I was so emotional on Wed night.  With everything going on with the dog and with my DD2 leaving to go to NC, so far away!  It's about a 12 hour drive from our house, or so DH tells me.  I guess I will have first hand knowledge on Saturday night as we will be making the drive.  First, thanks to everyone that took the time to comment and encourage me about Laxy, our dog.  I don't know if she will pull through this but I am doing everything I can to help her make it over the hump.  I've given her subcutaneous fluids twice and she is a trooper about sitting still while I stick her and put the fluids in.  I have to give her Malox 3x a day to help bind up the excess Phosphorus and she is tolerating my shoving that berry tasting liquid into her mouth.  I found the antibiotic pills are *much* easier to swallow wrapped in a piece of turkey too.  She seemed perkier this morning.  Still not herself but more herself.  Time will tell and now it is in God's hands.  Thanks for the prayers!  We all appreciate them.

I had 2 friends tell me about doggie disasters recently.  One of them, her son's dog was bitten twice by a rattlesnake.  Once on top of the head and once in the eye!  The dog will lose sight in that eye and I am waiting to find out if it will be ok.  The other one, her dog had an ear infection that turned the ear canals to stone!  They did a surgery to remove the ear canal (who even knew you could do that?) and sewed the ears shut.  She is now deaf, but still alive.  Please keep these good people and their pooches in your prayers too.  I'm glad the cats are stable, one issue at a time, although we still have Blu, our peacock living in the house.  He had surgery on his ankle joint to remove a foreign object.  I have to give him his pill and liquid medicine tonight and tomorrow am, wish me luck with that!  I'm kind of nervous to do that.

So on to some other news.  Everytime I walk out my front door this is what I see, so I thought I would share it with you too.

I am in love with all the cone flowers that have sprung up! I am thinking about taking the bushes out and just letting them spread! Just look at those moon flowers too. Each morning when I step out they are open (they open at night). We are getting so many butterflies with all the cone flowers too.

Lest you think I have not been doing anything quilty I did make a trip to JAF yesterday looking for the new DS Quilts fabric due out in August. No luck, but I did happen on this DS Quilts fabric that I had not seen before.

I didn't buy any but had put my camera in my purse in case I found the new fabric. Came in handy to take these pictures. Anyone else seen Lisette fabric? Is this a new line by her?

I finished up the gift for my friend. I still can't post the pic of the top since her birthday is not for a little while yet. I had laid it out on the couch behind my sewing machine. I open up the afghan and use it as my design wall. Aiden happened to be napping on the couch, of course. She just let me unfold it right over her and kept sleeping. I put the quilt top out and laid the borders around it to make sure I had them in the right order. She was just so cute I had to snap a few pictures. (Plus you get a little peek at the top )

She was so adorable!

I guess that catches you up. I am hoping to make the back for that top tonight. I will also make the binding, if I can figure out which fabric I want to use for that. I think I want a deep navy, but may end up having to buy some since I used up the darkest one for the inner border, we will see. Family reunion tomorrow, then leaving for NC to bring DD2's car to her. She is taking our van and we are driving the little Saturn (hey how did that work??) We will be back on Tuesday night. You may not hear from me until we get home. So enjoy your weekend and we will talk soon.

Happy Birthday and Some Not So Great News

So yesterday was a day of very mixed emotions.  My middle daughter was born 23 years ago yesterday.  She is a shining star and I love her so much!  She makes me proud to be her mama every single day.  How did 23 years go by so quickly?  It seems like just yesterday she was a baby.  She was in a hurry to get into this world, there was no stopping her and she is still like that.
Happy Birthday baby girl, I love you!

She came over to the house last night and we baked her a birthday cake, Funfetti.  Then we went out for dinner.  DH is out of town so it was me, her and my son, then one of her friends joined us.  She loves her some BBQ so we ate at Famous Daves.  Fun dinner.  Came home too stuffed to eat cake so she is returning tonight for some cake.

So you are wondering what the not so great new is aren't you?  Blood tests were back from the vet.  It looks like our dog has an infectious disease, Leptospirosis.  Now they are not 100% certain this is the case and without running the test they can't say for sure and if I start her on the antibiotics they can't do the test, but if I have the test done it is done in 2 stages over a 2 week period.  The test is expensive and the antibiotics are not.  I went and picked up the drugs last night.  She is in renal failure and has some liver damage.  Apparently according to the vet, if the phosphorus level is less than 12 they can usually save them, Laxy's is 18  = (  They wanted to hospitalize her and give IV fluids over a 48 hour period, but I can do subcutaneous fluids at home which will accomplish the same thing and cost a LOT less.  We are going to try to do what we can and hope it is enough.  I think she will do better being at home than she would being away from the people she loves.

So, please pray for our dog.  My son is beside himself, it's his dog.  I'll keep you posted.  ~XOP

ETSY Anyone?

Do you shop on ETSY?  Do you even know what ETSY is?  I happen to have an ETSY shop and I have a few things listed there.  It is kind of like a "buy it now" type deal on eBay, but way cooler.  All the things listed there are handmade, vintage or supplies.  I have just listed some vintage items but also have some supplies and some quilts.  If you get a minute you should stop over to ETSY and have a look around.  There is some amazing stuff there!

I came home yesterday and found Autumn laying on the deck railing.  I wanted to take her picture and of course she moved!  I did manage to snap a few cute ones though.

She fell when I opened the door, I think I scared her. She managed to "hang in there baby" though.

Does anyone else remember those posters with the cat hanging on to the tree branch?

I had to take the dog to see the vet last night. She has not been feeling well lately and we found out she has lost 13 pounds in the last year. They took some blood, and urine and a stool sample. We are waiting to get the results from the blood work back before we will know what we need to do. Keep your fingers crossed that it is a simple fix.

My friend, Hiro from Japan is back visiting in the lab for the week. He and his wife,my dear friend, Yuki, brought me the most amazing little gift. Hiro told me that the company that makes these also makes the fabric for them. I am especially fond of the "angry" looking red bunny.

Just look at the detail on that little flower attached to the zipper pull. I miss Yuki so much! I hope she will be able to come back for a visit in the near future!

Lastly, I am sad to see a follower leave today. Let me ask you this, what makes you stay as a follower on someone's blog? I know the things I like but I would like to know what you guys like. What kinds of things keep you coming back. Just curious!

I realize this post is kind of jumpy but there is a lot of stuff happening lately. Have a wonderful day. ~XOP~

Finally Some Forward Progress

First some non quilty info.  I did go to see the lawyer with my dad about updating his trust etc.  Some laws have changed here in Mi and his old trust is not what we need to keep his assets protected, so after he pays his ginormous hospital bill he is going to take care of this.  It is NOT cheap.  The visit with him was a little crazy but we got a lot done.  Two hour drive there, get him and sister into the car, go to the bank, go out for lunch, take sister back home, drive to lawyer, business for the next hour, drive home, pick up stuff and head to the grocery store, shop for 2 hours, drive home, put all the groceries away, take a deep breath and drive 2 hours to get home.  So now you know what I did on Friday!

The rest of the weekend was more of a typical weekend.  I did manage to finish my Christmas Tree quilt top this weekend.  I changed the borders from the pattern and I love how it turned out.  Wanna see?

 

It still needs a back but forward progress is being made!

Yesterday I finally got a chance to spend some quality time in the sewing room. I got in there around 2pm and made myself stop around 9pm when True Blood came on = ) Man I love me some Eric Northman!! I digress.

I had to decide what to work on so I worked on a project that is an older one. I also had to decide what to do for a friend's upcoming birthday. Two, two, two birds with one stone! (Do you remember the old Doublemint commercials?) So I can't show it to you as she reads this. She's most likely smart enough to put two and two together and figure it out, but at least I'm not gonna make it easy for her! I got that top mostly finished. I need to do the inner and outer border and the back too. Hopefully I can get that done this week.

You know you've been in the sewing room too long when you see this

I walked out to get a drink and when I came back Jack was all curled up under my sewing table. I just left him there and moved the pedal. Then he put his little head on my foot as I was sewing. I had the hum of both the sewing machine and the purring machine as I worked!

I feel like I got a fair amount done this weekend. There is always more to do but as someone recently pointed out I need to be thankful for the blessings I have and getting to spend some time sewing is a blessing! I hope you all had a good weekend too. ~XOP~

Some More Destashing

Just popping in for a minute to share some fabric I have available for purchase.  $6.00 per yard.
The first line is Andromeda by Paint Brush Studios.  Would make a great Stack and Whack or a One block wonder quilt.



The other one I have available is called Feathery Floral and is by Henry Glass

Ok, so if you are interested please email me and we will get you some off in the mail right away! I have yardage on the bolt, from my pet friendly home. Please email me if you are interested at: mamaspark@gmail.com

Thank You Note From Heather Ross

I have just a few minutes before I run off to the gym but thought I would share the amazing thank you card I received from Heather Ross.  Most of you know that Heather is an amazing artist and fabric designer.  If you are unfamiliar with her work, I'm happy to introduce you!  I have written about Heather before when I got the chance to meet her in person in NCY last year.  I think most of you know about the amazing improv style quilt a group of Flickr friends put together for Heather's first baby, who is now born!!  Here is a pic of the quilt for those of you that didn't see it.

Everyone involved did an amazing job with this quilt. So I heard via Flickr that everyone was receiving a beautiful, hand made card from Heather where she drew and colored a version of the quilt! Each card was signed and numbered. Just amazing!!
Here is mine and the note she wrote me also.

EEP!! I hope we can cross paths soon too. It looks like DH will be heading off to NYC sometime in October so maybe we will be able to meet up again and maybe I will get to meet the new wee one too. How cool would that be? I will let you know as things unfold, so keep your fingers crossed.

Heather is such a sweet person and I am so thrilled that I got to be a part of that amazing quilt! ~XOP~

Getting Ready to Go Back to Dad's

OMgoodness!  This week has been a blur.  Work has been very busy and home has been busy too.  DD2 leaves for NC a week from Saturday.  This Friday I have to take off work and drive the 2 hours to see my dad.  We are going to go to the lawyer together.  Doesn't that sound like a lot of fun??  LOL  apparently the trust laws in Michigan have changed and now we need a lawyer to look over his trust and probably update it too.  I feel like I am on the never ending dad-go-round!!  HAHA.

I did go to quilting last night and I did get my tree top mostly done.  I just need to put the final border on it, which I am hoping I can get to tonight.  DH and I are meeting DD2 for happy hour with her work to celebrate her going off to grad school in a week.  It should be fun.  We have not met her work friends or her boss.

I feel like I am struggling to get things done. So sometimes when people ask me why I didn't get  "X" done I get a little testy.  Why?  I think sometimes people forget that I work at a job, away from my home 5 days a week.  I get up at 5am, leave the house at 6 am work from 6:30-3pm.  Get home, between 3:30 and 4 depending on traffic and potential stops for errands.  Two days a week, at least I am at the gym, 1 hour on Monday and 2 on Tuesday and then 2 on Saturday, sometimes more days if I feel like I need to.  Then there is that pesky cooking, cleaning, laundry, kids, pets, family, friends and husband that all need my attention before I even get a chance to *think* about sewing.  Now that it's nice weather, there is additional cleaning, outside yard work, blah, blah, blah.

So the next time someone wonders why I didn't get (fill in the blank here) done, please think before you ask me that question.  I'm working as hard and as much as I can.  I don't sleep more than 5 or 6 hours as it is!  Maybe this will get better when I finally get to retire.  I sure hope so.  I have so much creativity in my head.  For now it will just have to be patient and bide it's time.  It's NOT a competition to see who gets the most done for yourself or someone else.  I sew for FUN and because I need to get the stuff out of my head, (but mostly for fun).

As I was sitting down the other night my cat, Mosen, decided he needed a little kitty lovin' and jumped onto my lap.  I gave him a good pettin' and in return he purred his heart out.  Cats are so relaxing!  He also gave me a liberal sprinkling of his black and white fur all over my clothes, sigh.  Thanks, Mosen!  I grabbed my phone and, looking down at my lap, snapped this photo of him.

He's my cat that says "mama" to get my attention!  In case you missed it you can watch and listen to it here:

On another note, our peacock, Blu, had his surgery on his ankle joint yesterday. He is home, eating and drinking. They removed a hard mass, which they thought came from an infection he had in the joint. There was some major tendon damage so the vet is not sure he will use his leg when he gets better, but really,only time will tell. They are culturing the fluid from the joint and will see what they find!

OK, off to the eye doctor, then happy hour (no alcohol for me so I can finish the quilt tonight!!) then home. I will let you know if I learn something about the MI laws when it comes to trusts.

More Swapping and Shopping

I told you that I did another swap recently didn't I?  Well I did.  I am becoming totally addicted to swapping.  What a great way to change up your stash, right?  Well, that being said, this is the little bundle I swapped for. Just the cutest little Neptune bundle ever! All tied up with a Denyse Schmidt selvage!

I have a layer cake of this line and a square signed by none other than Tula Pink herself (from spring market). I will have to hoard save this amazing fabric until the right quilt comes along to use it in. Have any of you made Neptune quilts? Maybe you can point me in the direction of pictures of them so I can get some ideas.

I went to the Sally Ann last weekend (I really need to stay OUT of that shop) and found some more vintage sheet goodness. Who could resist, really when everything that was white tagged was 50% off?? Not me that's who! Here's the score.

I think the one in the lower right corner is sooooo much like a cross between these 2 fabrics in the Dream On line by Moda.

Funny how old is new again isn't it? So let me know if you have any Neptune quilts and also if you have done any neat Vintage Sheet quilts. I'm always looking for inspiration. I love the Vintage Sheets blog, but maybe you guys have some additional quilts for me to view!!  ~XOP~

Some Goodies For Sale

I don't know about you but in the past I had lots of crafty hobbies until I settled into quilting.  One of them was counted cross stitch.  I can't even begin to tell you how many patterns I have and many that I have never made.  I came across some recently and thought maybe someone else might enjoy them so I am putting a few up for sale here.  If you are interested please email me and we can work out the details.  Remember that they are used so they are not in "mint " condition.  OK here goes:

First up, Liberty Sampler $2.50

For the Love of Crossstitch Magazine. It includes this Noah's ark towel pattern and the towel with all the Noah's arks on it and a place to stitch the pattern. $5.00

Two Fanci That patterns full of adorable necklaces to cross stitch $5 for both

 

Cinnamon Stick Christmas $2.50 SOLD

Primitive Bird with fabric $2.00

As I was trying to do some work on the computer last night Jack came up and layed down right next to me. How do cats do that? They can sleep anywhere can't they? He looked so cute I just had to share with you.

I wish I could fall asleep so quickly! He is the sweetest cat ever!

I have another swap to share with you but will wait until tomorrow. I bought some more vintage sheets and pillowcases and need to show you those too but I didn't take any photos of them yet. I will try to do that when I get home so I can share that haul with you as well.

I made an appointment to go and see a lawyer with my dad (again) on Friday. We had to postpone the other one due to his surgery. I sent him a list of all the paperwork he will need to bring to make a new trust, will etc so hopefully we will be on the way to getting that done soon!!

Have a great day and we will talk again tomorrow. Love to hear how your weekend went and what you worked on too. Also if you have done a trust how you found getting that done. ~XOP~