up north: August 2012

Too many days that were too humid and way too hot. I had all I could do to go out of the house and walk the boys and hit a few doctor appts.

My appointment with the endocrinologist was interesting This chubby liver is nothing to sneeze at, especially given my family history of diabetes and...well....roundness. It seems I am the best canditdate for diabetes that there is if I don't take care of this chubby liver (notice that I am not admitting that I really need to loose weight...HA) AND if I do not take care of the issue at hand non alcoholic cirrhois is another huge possibility. Blah blah blah-since I liked the doc I guess I will do what he says but it aint gonna be easy I tell ya!

The heat was a great time to work on Christmas gifts-
This is what I am calling an 'Eye Spy Me' quilt. It so fun to do and I have another in the works. The pictures were taken by me, then printed onto fabric paper, sewn onto quilt blocks and then into the quilt design.

The craft of machine quilting scares the poop outta me. Quilting is the process of sewing the sandwich (top batting and backing) together with those wonderful designs that you see. I have tried it and just have not yet gained the knack. So I am now quilting in the hoop. I use my embroidery settings, hoop up a section of the quilt and sew embroidery designs on the quilt to 'quilt' the sandwich together. The larger the quilt the more difficult any quilting is because you have to bunch it all together somehow to get it through your machine. Many, lots, most quilters-unless they have a long arm machine-take their projects to someone who does the quilting professionally. Ahhh it is expensive and making a quilt is expensive enough much less dropping a coupla hundred to have it professionally quilted! So here is how I am quilting the sandwich on my quilts for now.
If you click on the photo you can see the embroidery. This is the back of the quilt-the designs are not as visible on the front because of the fabric.

And then there is the raggedy quilt-these are 'quilted as you go' and the seams are on the exterior of the quilt. As you wash it the seams fray making a nice comfy quilt. You quilt together each square separately. On a regular quilt you first sew the squares together making the top and then you layer that with the batting and backing-pin it all up and secure the sandwich together by 'quilting' it.
With a raggedy quilt you cut the top fabric, batting and backing all in the same size squares. They are layered (top square-batting and backing square) individually and then 'quilt' each individual sandwich together by sewing an x through each sandwich. The next step is to then sew each quilted square together with the seams on the outside, wash it and wallah you have a quilt.

And then there is the 'Quillow'. This is a lap or afghan size quilt that folds up into a pillow. I cannot believe that I didn't get a picture of it in it's pillow form before I gave it to the recipient but I didn't.
Every quilt should have a label. I came up with this poem for all of my quillows and I kind of like it.

the 'quilting' on this was done with some of the words that were on the top fabric

And breast cancer butterflies

This is the back of the quillow. If you look closely you may be able to see the pillow pocket, that the quilt folds into, on the top.

I love these fabrics together.

I have a few more quilts to go and some knitting. Busy busy

Movin on-
The annuals survived the heat thank goodness. This was the perfect spot for the menopausal maiden.

And the stepping stone that Julia and Shelby gave me for Mother's day a few years ago. Getting home-made gifts from the grands is the best. I hope they never stop (hint hint to all of the grands :)

The hosta glade is finished, complete with solar lights, and looks wonderful. Do I dare tell you that the area right behind the glade-at the end of the path-is going to be an extension of the glade! I know I know.....here we go again. BUT the plan is to continue to plant things that Mary gives me...kidding...sort of. The plan is to plant things that take care of themselves hence less work but fun to look at.

We have a great little spot here we do. It may be a little close to the road and when the windows are open the noise of the traffic is loud, other than that the setting could not be better. I cannot even begin to say how nice it has been to spend time with our friends on an almost daily basis and of course there is the fact that I now have HyVee back! We have been able to spend time with Rachel and Dez when they visit MN and it is easier for Ryan and family to spend time with us as well. And the MN girls-babysitting has been great as well as just being able to spend time with them. Yep life is pretty darn good chubby liver and all . And tomorrow we are goin to the State Fair-see you there! Watch out chubby liver it's gonna be a tough day.

Little Miss Shelby Marie turned 2 on July 22nd, the day was celebrated with family, gifts, laughter and a Dora cake.

Ready to blow out the candles.

Some of the group. Great Grandma Loi and Aunt Kelly seem to make it to every celebration which is wonderful. Rachel and Dezbah were in town and came as well.

And there was Grandma Alisa

Not sure who was more excited about this gift (talking Abby from Grandma Bobbi) Shelby or Julia.

I so love those dimples-the princess of the day.

Aunt Kelly's gifts always rock. For someone who has no children she seems to find the most fun things for the kids. The bubbles were the toy of the day. This one was for Julia, the non birthday gal.

I love bubbles and Dezbah must as well

Ohhhhh, she can hardly believe all of those bubbles, and they are so big!

Two weeks later Shelby decides she wants to wear underpants and is now pretty much potty trained. Had to have the celebratory potty party with an ice cream cake...yum.

Shelby, like her Grandma, likes the chocolate in the cake the best. And, again like her grandma, she doesn't leave any on the plate and figured this blue frosting was worth eating as well.

This has always been one of Julia's favorite grandpa things. The pink blanket is the saddle and gramps is the horse. Once they get to the couch the ole horse bucks the girls right off.