A Month Has Come And Gone

And it's been a busy month.  We remodeled the motor home a bit.  No big surprise right?  The motor home came with two sofas, one longer than the other and not as comfortable as the other. 

This is the longer, uncomfortable one that we were fortunate to sell

 

 Once it was removed David set to yanking out the carpet.  Neither of us are fans of carpet so this was a double win for us.

 The carpet removed and new sub floor put down

  After adding an extension to the sub floor the chair was set to be sure that it would fit.  Peeko checks it out giving it a paws up.

David installed a wood floor in place of the carpet.  This section is raised because of the slide out.  The chairs are from Ikea and we like the look and the comfort.  Another successful remodel.

 

 Lots of time was spent with our MN grands.  We had a sleepover or two and whenever the girls come their first want is to 'walk the boys'

Julia is becoming more confident in her ability to hang onto the leash as the boys 'walk her'.

 

 The TV outside was a huge hit.

  Before we hit the hay Julia and Grandpa worked together bolting the sleeper sofa back to the floor.

 The boys tend to sleep with Julia all night long.  But when Shelby wakes up she wants in on the action. 

 

Mary and I went to The Great Minnesota Get Together again this year.  We were the smart ones going on opening day.  It was the nicest day they had weather wise.

Much to our delight there was a Husky show being held. 

 One of Mary's favorite breeds may very well be the Husky since she has one herself.  Yoni is her girl and we get the pleasure of having her for daycare when Mary needs it.  Her she is on her first motor home ride; our Yoni.

 
 Back to the State Fair-One of the highlights for us this year was the Luminary Building.  A great place to go at the end of the day and relax.  It was a 'building' kept up by air and made of...well I don't know whatever those bouncy houses are made of.  Anyway walking in it felt great on the feet as it was cushy and comfortable.  There were various 'rooms' to walk through all with luminary lighting

 That made for interesting pictures

 Mary and I followed the lead of others and took a relaxing rest (them's our feet) before we had to leave.  You get only 15 relaxing minutes in the building so as to make room for the many others waiting.

 We actually saw the parade this year.  I had heard that the StPeter band was going to be in it but we missed them.

We did spy this pink flamingo

As well as many other talented marching bands

 And ran into President Obama in the DFL building.  Yep, had to have out pictures taken....BTW remember to vote no.

 And pork chops on a stick, makes me hungry thinking about them.

 And people, lots and lots of people.

 The seed art is always interesting and pretty darned amazing-

A wedding cake made from seeds

 And some interesting clothing

 And, oh yes, Vote No seemed to be the big them even with the seed art.  This was one of my favorites.

  August brings the Nicollet County Fair and this year was especially fun because we took the girls.

Julia loved the rides-ya think?

 Shelby not so much but I love her facial expressions

 They both went fishing

And won a prize.  Shelby picked the safe Dora ball.  Julia picked the ever annoying horn that she blew all the way through the fair grounds.

 Until next year's County Fair

And then Sibley Park.  I love Sibley and it was fun to share it with the girls.

Again that face:)  She makes me smile.

 We petted the animals

 

And the girls climbed

 And slid

 With big smiles

  And grandpa pushed them on the swings

 Get a load of the hair

 

 Even Shelby's flew in the breeze

We had another Monaco Motor home parked beside us for a few days.  Our friends Tudd and Diane stopped by on their way back from Montana.  No pictures but a lot of laughs, some raunchy jokes and talks of meeting up this winter.

  It was a fun filled month for sure.  

Aw Man It Was Hot

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.

Birthday And Potty Parties

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.

 It was a gorgeous day 

 With just the right amount of wind

 To fly a kite. 

 I love watching Lenny play with his girls.

 And oh yes

 Julia was able

 To fly the kite

 All on her own

 While grandpa played with Shelby who soon lost interest in kite flying

 Yep, it was a wonderful day