A Sewing Weekend

 Recently, our friend Kailie came up to Michigan from Ohio to visit us. 

 We met her at the campground in NC last year.

  She is a respiratory therapist and travels the country with her dog in her class A motorhome. 

 She is currently in Ohio so not too far of a drive. 

 We went there this summer to visit her and will be going back to see her in a few weeks. 

 She is staying in our favorite campground in Berlin, Ohio. 

 It is a very Amish area with LOTS of quilt shops, LOL. 

 We will get to meet her folks during this trip too.

Anyway, she brought her machine and we set up a sewing area for us to sew all weekend. 

 She brought her dog, Ebby with her and that was fun for the cats! 

 We put a leaf in our table and then she and I set up on opposite ends of the table.  

I had my cutting table set up on my living room and the ironing board was in my family room.  

You can see our set up here.

Finny was fascinated with Kailie's sewing projects.

He would lay on whatever she was working on.  

He was especially in love with her Sew Together bag.

Cole, on the other hand was loving leaving his black fur all over my project. 

 He was sitting on the cutting table.

I pulled out a Christmas table runner kit that I had sitting in my sewing room for forever!  

It felt really good to get that sewn together!

I really wanted to make a Bendy Bag as a compliment for a gift I want to give.

  Kailie was a good sport and made one with me.  

She knows I need some hand holding when it comes to making 3D things.

 My bag components are the ones with the vehicles.

I am happy to say we finished our bags!  

This pattern was actually quite easy too. 

 I could see making another one or two of these in the future!

We had such a great time visiting with Kailie! (and Ebby)

Can't wait to see her again and sew some more soon!

~XOP~

New Family Member

 Our son lost his dog recently.

  Abbey came to our home when she was about a year old. 

 She was a Golden Retreiver.  

As it turns out she was actually born on the same day as our son!

 For those 2 it was love at first sight.  

That dog thought the sun rose and set with Thadd.  

When Thadd bought his house he took her with him.  

Later he added a cat, Craig.  

Craig and Abbey (now named Sargent Pepper) became best friends too. 

 Fast forward to about 2 weeks ago. 

 Thadd came home from work, like he often did to check on the pets at lunchtime

 then went back to work.  

When he came home he found that she had passed away.  

To say he was devistated would be an understatement.  

I received a phone call and all I heard was sobbing.  

That sent this mama into a complete panic.

  *Finally* he managed to choke out "she's gone". 

 I knew immediately that he meant the dog.  

It's funny, I have 2 girls and one boy and my boy has always been the most sensitive one.

  You would NEVER know it to look at him but he was always the one to cry at sad movies with me, that got his feelings hurt but covered it up with male bravado and would corner me at my sewing table and talk my ears OFF! 

 You can't take away the hurt of losing a pet.  

Honestly, it's the worst part. 

 He was especially upset thinking that she died alone. 

 I reminded him that Craig was there and he was likely right by her when she passed.

So within a week he was looking for a new dog. 

 He wanted a rescue.  

He wanted a dog over a year old. 

 He sent me dog after dog.  

I found one but the lady was dragging her feet and he was in a rush.  

There was a HUGE hole to fill you know.  

The last 4 dogs he sent me had one that I thought might be "the one".  

She was a black lab mix, 1 year old female named Pepper. 

 Now if that is not fate talking to you I don't know what is!

  So he went to meet her and she really was the one.  

Pepper joined the family.  

Craig is still trying to get used to her. 

 We forgot what having a "puppy" was like so when we had to watch her 

we had to puppy proof EVERYTHING!  

It was CRAZY.  

So I would like to introduce you to Miss Pepper.

Oh Pepper, you have some mighty big shoes to fill.  
He loved Sargent Pepper fiercely!  

Welcome to the family!

~XOP~

Avery Meets His Lincoln Family

 Our daughter, SIL and grandson were here over the weekend!  
They rented an Airbnb for the weekend before they headed to a friend's cabin up north for the week.  We threw a big outdoor bash for Chris's family to come and meet Avery. 

 Since he lives in NC none of our family (except my kids) had been able to meet him. 

 We have a local park within our subdivision so I reserved it for the day. 

 There were things for the kids to play on and a pavilion to set out food.

  We brought tables, chairs and another few tents. 

 I went with just buying most of the food (Lee's Chicken and Pot Belly subs) for most of the food.  

It made things MUCH easier. 

 Two of my friends came and helped set up as did my oldest daughter. 

 We had so much fun introducing the baby to his family!  

So happy this was able to happen and we had a beautiful day.

Cousins

Avery with his Aunt Shelby

Big boy pulling himself up!

Uncle Eric

Uncle Thadd and my friend Ellen

My best friend, Holly came to meet Avery too!

More cousins

My daughter with her cousin, Ashley and her kids.  

Cousins meeting cousins!  

We got to spend some time with the baby before the party too. 

 I have a few pics of Avery with his papa and Gigi.

They will be back here on Friday and fly home on Saturday.

In the mean time we are dog sitting our new grand dog, Pepper.

She is a year old lab and quite the handful!

So that's what I have been up to lately!

I finished the Prissy Pumpkins top and took a break.

Next up is a pattern test for Meags and Me.

I got it all cut out.

Hope to do some sewing later today.

~XOP~

Quilt Retreat Weekend!!

 On Thursday, I picked up my friend, Traci, from the airport and we headed north to a quilt retreat.  
Our friend, Cori met us at my house and we followed her to Chesaning and had dinner together.  

Then we headed to the retreat house and my SIL, Mary met us there.  

The four of us had not been together for 2 years! 

 It was so great to hang out. 

 We ate, laughed, sewed, watched movies, shopped and had some adult beverages. 

 We stayed up WAY too late! 

 It was so much fun!!  

I saw some amazing double coneflowers. 

 I wish I could have collected up some seeds.  

These were beautiful!

I spent most of the weekend working on my Prissy Pumpkins quilt. 

 I can't show the top just yet but it is adorable and you are SO  need the pattern. 

 It took me Thursday, Friday and Saturday to get it finished. 

 The quilt top is 80" square so it is a big quilt!  

On Sunday I decided that I wanted to try to put my Dorothy's Journey quilt top together. 

 I used the Nightingale pattern and the fabric is called Dorothy's Journey. 

 It is by Jill Howarth for Riley Blake. 
The background color us an Andover fabric. 

 I just managed to get it done before it was time to pack up to head home. 

 I had all the blocks made I just needed to assemble it. 

 I'm really happy that I have these 2 tops finished. 

This one is for a yet to be born baby.

I have a plan to use the panel for the back, so will have to piece it.

I had one left over block so will make a pillow with the leftover block.

 One more pattern test to go but I need a break from sewing right now.

Of course I brought Jack along.  He was exhausted and ready to head home too!

We are heading out to camp for a few days.

I am leaving my machine home and bringing some hand work and some books!

I did get my stitches out today and the scars look pretty good!

~XOP~

Lincoln's Baptism

 Our great niece, Lincoln, was baptised (before my birthday).  

He parents asked us to be Lincoln's Godparents and of course we were so honored. 

 I have a few pics of after the baptism that I thought I would share. 

I love this photo of her looking so intently at Chris.

I guess I was in shadow here.

This is my niece and her lovely family.

Four girls!

It's funny but I took a few pics before the ceremony.  

This was in the car. 

 I cleaned up pretty well!

I used a crazy snap chat filter to do the one with the glasses and flames!

Haha, those filters can be fun to play with!!

It was a wonderful occasion and we were so happy that they chose us for Lincoln's Godparents!

~XOP~

Prissy Pumpkins Pattern Testing

 I am testing another pattern for My Sew Quilty Life. 
 The pattern is called Prissy Pumpkins and it is SO cute! 

 I have chosen to use (mostly) the All Hallows Eve fabrics by Fig Tree. 

 I have added in some of their new Pumpkins and Blossoms as well as a few cute cat fabrics

 (of course!).  

You can see some of the fabrics here.  It is always a mess when you do the fabric pull isn't it?

There are 4 different pumpkins in the quilt.  

I made the first 4 and thought I would share them here.

Check out the cat faces in these next 2 pumpkins.

So cute!!

I had the best helper while I was making these too.

I have 12 more pumpkins to make.

I am leaving for a quilt retreat with a few friends today.

I hope to get this entire quilt put together so stay tuned for more progress photos.

~XOP~

My Birthday

 I had another birthday on Sunday.
  I really don't like my birthday very much. 

 It's often disappointing for me. 

 I don't know why I struggle so much with this one day, but it never goes how I would like it to. 

 This year was no exception. 

 I got up around 5:30 and fell getting out of bed. 

 I think I may have blacked out for a brief second. 

 I hit my face on the edge of the bed frame. 

 I gashed my shin and near my eye. 

 I decided that I should go to the Urgent Care to see if I needed stitches.  

Of course I needed stitches! 

 I got 6 in my chin and 8 near my eye. 

 I am so thankful it was not worse. 

 I went to the doctor for a check up today. 

 My BP has been extremely low and I was worried that might have been what happened.

  Getting up too quickly.  

Stay tuned.

The inside of my lip was really bruised and swollen. 

That was the worst part!

Chris said it was my "Anti-birthday" and that we would celebrate later.

We shall see...

~XOP~