Randomness

This cat is so starved for attention. If you're not moving he's trying to get on top of you. Even if it means his head is squished under the edge of the table.

My birthday meant a trip to the DMV. The whole experience was pretty quick and painless (once I got a replacement social security card to prove I'm a legal American) but the new picture is AWFUL! It's super close-up. I think I look very heavy because you can't see my neck, it's just all face. Really scary. 

Uncle Ben in the Texas Roadhouse saddle for his 40th birthday.

In January I bought myself some spring. $10 very well spent.

In January we also got Emma registered for EFY. So exciting!!!

There's a new place in town and it serves Mexican! Emma and I went one night on a mommy daughter date. We got fancy drinks and after dinner we got cupcakes next door. I like that our little town is getting more businesses.

A close-up of the peace offering rose Andrew picked out for Emma.

This is the makings of a quilt like I made my mom but in fresh spring colors. I haven't made a lot of progress, just one block that I used as practice for my mom's quilt. I need to get going on it.

This is what it looks like when Emma and I both get crafty at the same time. It's not pretty.

My mom got me these two scrumptious make-up palates as a treat since things were so rough at the beginning of the year. For the record, things are still really rough.

 I toyed with the idea of going blonde this summer. The idea only lasted a minute. I put my face in a picture of Jennifer Aniston and that was enough of that idea. I'm not meant to be blonde!

Andrew did a country report this year. He chose Mongolia since that is where grandma and grandpa are living right now. They sent us some cool stuff that really helped him with his poster and oral presentation. We left the writing of the report up to him. He did a great job. It was hilariously written. This wasn't ten pages of stats. It was all Andrew telling a story. You'd have to read it to really understand I guess. We were glad his teacher appreciated his approach to such a serious report.

This was suppose to be a postage stamp quilt. It wasn't until I got 60% of the way through that I realized the two jelly rolls weren't actually the same width even though they said they were. Now I have to pick ever seam, trip all the white pieces and sew from there. It will take forever. I'm not sure what I'm going to do at this point. I want to write the manufacturer and complain since it's a design flaw but doubt I will. Still it's very frustrating. 

I was able to get this quilted with my birthday gift card. I LOVE IT!

My cat has a thing for quilt fabric. He likes to deposit as much hair as possible on it.

Emma and I have recently fallen in love with taffy. Coconut is our favorite.

My columbines started blooming in May. I adore these quirky flowers.

We found a quail nest. Unfortunately it was abandoned and a predator ate the eggs a while later. We never got to see the babies.

Hello!

I am so over having a pet but Andrew loves him.

Jenna's big sister Tori got her mission call and Emma and I were lucky to be there when she opened it. I got to teach Tori in activity days when she was ten or eleven. I am so proud of her and so grateful that we got to share this moment with her and her family. I just love them all. She's going to be serving in El Salvador! This is such an exciting time. I'm grateful for her example.

This could be one of the predators that ate the quail eggs...

We've had a lot of snakes this year.

Paul and I got crafty. We built an earring holder for all of my earrings. It turned out well. I like collaborating on projects with my hubby.

Free tickets to Sound of Music thanks to our Pass of All Passes. Maggie and I need to go soon!

Emma and her friends at the Provo temple for a service project.

That's all for now...

What I did During Spring Break

I made my mom this!

I shopped online and found all the fabric I needed. I love it when the seller takes time to make it cute!

I planned color combos, I cut everything, I sewed like a mad woman and I ironed and ironed. 

 Then I cut some more. And sewed more. And ironed more.

At this point I was really getting excited because the hard part was done and my vision had come to life!

Marius watched the entire time and even contributed some hair to the project. Gross!

The top was done. Now I just needed my backing fabric to come from Alaska. It was taking forever! I wasn't sure I was going to get everything finished in time. I was tracking the package daily and it just wasn't moving. Finally it got to Anchorage then things started to happen, but they weren't all good. It said the package had been delivered to me but I didn't have it. I panicked. I cried. It prayed. Apparently it was delivered to the wrong house. This kind stranger came and put the package in our mailbox on Sunday. But they didn't tell us, they just dropped it off. My cute, faithful, son felt like he should look in the box even though we all know mail doesn't come on Sunday.  There it was. I was humbled. 

Off to the quilter it goes. This is how it returns. So beautiful!!!

I got the binding on in two days.

Wrapped her up and waited and waited until Mother's Day. We invited my parents over Saturday so we could fix the Rumbi bowls for dinner.

I was so excited to give it to my mom that I couldn't even wait until after dinner. She cried. If she hadn't I would have been very disappointed. But she did. I LOVE THIS QUILT! I loved making it knowing it was for my mom. The squares are Granny Squares. It was perfect for her. 

Happy Mother's Day mom, I love you!

Sewing

I've started sewing again. Paul and my mom got me a new machine for Christmas. It has made quilting a lot better. I'm trying to finish up some project that I've had laying around for...well...years. I'm happy with this (mostly) but I really wish that the border fabric had been one of the brighter bolder colors. Once I get the dark pink binding on it will be much better. I think. The back is pieced and will be quite adorable. Emma consulted on this as I went along. I can't wait to get it quilted. 

I have a Christmas quilt that is super easy that I'm hoping to finish this week. I'm also working on a granny square quilt but it's causing me headaches. I'm hoping my friend can help me with that one. Now I just need to find a job so I can get all of these babies quilted. Ha! 

Instagram

The fever that Andrew had right before my birthday lasted for forever! I think he had a fever off and on for over a week. He missed several days of school. We would think he was better but then it just kept coming back. After the fever went away, like really away, he got a hideous cough. He couldn't sleep. I couldn't sleep. It was a rough couple of weeks. Finally I took him to the doctor who told me he had a cold. He wouldn't take any cough medicine because it tasted bad. I wanted to hurt someone. A lot of time was spent in bed and on the couches. He and I did a lot of staring at each other during the early part of May.

Emma and I got cookies and frozen hot chocolate in American Fork while Andrew and Paul watched Avengers. 

Some Instagram pictures of my cheesy Cinco De Mayo decor.

I seriously love these lids!

This is a picture of the super moon. Pathetic! 

Last summer I got several quilts quilted. I finally got around to binding them in May.

The one on the quilt rack in the background is the last one I have to bind. Once this one is done I need to rob a bank so I can get my others quilted. I have at least four that need to go but I am saving all of my money for New York.

I am proud of myself for getting stronger. I mostly use the two pound weights (occasionally the 3's) but when I first started exercising the one pounds were all I could handle. (Barely handle) I've come a long way.

Thank goodness for those weights because I still have a major sweet tooth. For the record this isn't all mine. I need to go back to no sugar again. I am stuck at an 18 pound weight loss. I was hoping to be down 20 pounds by my birthday but that didn't happen. Is it any wonder why? I know what I need to do it's just doing it that's hard.

I wanted to do something with this jelly roll. It is the perfect color scheme for my winter decor. I put it out on the railing and waited for it to speak to me. It didn't say anything so for now it is stacked back up until I get some inspiration. 

I got done with my quilt assignment for my class early and was really wanting to quilt something so I dug out and old project using Bliss. Even the pile of scraps made me happy.

As I was laying it out I realized that I had once again not read the instructions properly so I had too many of one quilt block and I was short one of the other quilt blocks. Luckily I had a lot of Bliss stashed away so I could make an extra block. I'm happy to say this top is finished and just waiting for me to get some cash.

Emma finished her mini quilt for her sewing class at school. She got an A on the assignment. There were a ton of little bitty mini squares in this quilt. The black is not solid, it's all little squares. She did the appliquéing of the E all by herself as well as the quilting. She worked long and hard on this. She is so proud of it. I think I'm going to give her some of my good fabric to use over the summer. 

This picture cracks me up! Paul was getting burnt while cooking bacon. He had to make himself an armprin (name that TV show) so he wouldn't get splattered on. He was not a happy camper.

Some day he will realize it's much cheaper to just say, "You're feeling down? Tell me about it. I want to listen." For now I'm enjoying my I'm sorry I didn't listen bouquet.

Paper piecing! I did it and I didn't mind it. I only have one class left to attend in my hideous saturday sampler class. (I can't tell you how much I have hated being part of this class LOL!) I can't wait for it to be over. I can't wait to work on what I want to work on. I can't wait to see what the quilt is going to actually look like. I can't wait. I can't wait. I am so D.O.N.E. done. I will never do one of these again. Ever! 

They are cute though aren't they?