Preparation for competition

Tomorrow is the big day... and what do athletes do before a big competition?? They train, practice, and prepare. So tonight I spent cleaning my sewing studio and preparing to start the competition. Watch out Jen and Jill... I'm ready and waiting to kick some booty! Tonight I prepared my mini ironing board by recovering both sides of it.


I think this will be good motivation for sewing the pants off both of you and with all my supporters behind me... I'm going to give it all I've got.

Roy & Shirley Quilted Wedding Wall Hanging

Ever since I can remember going to The Sewing Center for sewing club, I can remembery Roy and Shirley, so I would say I've known them for 10 years pluss. Sewing club, now called Sew & Sews club meets every other month and mom started coming to Rapid for it sometime when I was in high school. I went when I could make it, mostly during holidays when I was in college. When I moved to BH, I became a regular. Shirley is the sweetest lady and her husband Roy is awesome. He brings her the hour from WY over to Rapid City to go to club and other things going on at TSC. She has the 6500 and a serger, so she also goes to serger club which I try to make it to. We've developed a friendship over the years and they were planning to come to the wedding, but her bad back forced them to stay home. I received this beautiful quilted wall hanging from them with a huge bowl. I will always treasure this amazing gift as it's the only quilted gift we received.

I'm an Aunt!

This week I became an aunt for the first time! Molly Virginia was born June 25, 2008. She was 8 lbs. 13 oz. and cute as a button. I spent some time at the hospital on Wed. and Fri. so I could see her. She's so adorable!
Thursday night I went to QCII and we had a lesson on making a bag to hold quilts. I got pretty far, but am not quite finished with it. I figured I could finish it tomorrow and get some hours in on the sewing challege that Jen and Jill and I are having! I have big plans of knocking the socks off both of them!
Friday my husband became the very best hubby in the world!!! He ordered the quilt frame I wanted! I'd been wanting a quilt frame for several years and he knew that before we got married. When we were on the honeymoon we went to several shops looking for the right frame. We don't have room for a huge longarm and I'm not sure that's even in my future, but I wanted a frame that I could put my Janome 6600 on. We found the perfect one, but they didn't have it and we didn't have room. So we decided to wait until we got back and got settled into life as newlyweds and then we would get it. He ordered it on Friday and I should get it on July 11th!!! I'm so excited! I keep telling everyone I have the most amazing hubby in the world!!!
Saturday I slept in for the first time in a couple months!! It felt so good... until my dad and then my brother called. So much for sleeping in! So I got up and we went and did some errands. It was a beautiful day, minus the haze of smoke from the Canada fires. We ended up taking a couple gifts back and then later went out and bought the printer to go with our laptop and several things off our gift registry. It was a long day!
Sunday we went to church early and then took a nap during the race. I cleaned and rearranged and got stuff back in order at the house. Paul did a bunch of yard work while I stayed inside out of the heat. I got the printer set up and Paul got it installed. We were both exhausted last night.
Tonight calls for a cleaning of the sewing room! I have to get it back in tip top shape, so I can start sewing and quilting. i'm bound and determined that I will beat Jen and Jill!!!

Back to my regularly scheduled life!

All I can say is I'm Back! I finally feel like things are starting to settle down. After the wedding and honeymoon, I just feel like June has flown by! We spent the week after the honeymoon getting things back in order and every day at lunch I have had to go somewhere to change my name. It's to the point of being annoying. Friday we took off early and went to Philip (where I bank) and added Paul and then to the insurance office. That evening we went to the Match Bronc Ride... An event that has a lot of the top Saddlebronc riders in SD all riding together for a huge prize. A lot of the boys (okay men) are local guys so it was really fun to watch. We got home around midnight.
Saturday we took his grandparents out to breakfast, did some errands, and then packed to go to my parents. We ended up taking the 4-wheeler and going fishing at my uncles dam with my parents, brother & his wife. We didn't catch much and the bugs were bad, so we headed back to my parents. Sunday we went to church and then put stuff away, sorted stuff, and got our presents packed to bring home. We still have a lot of wedding stuff at my parents, but at least they can see the living room floor!! We spent all of Sunday night putting the gifts away. We still have things we don't know where to put, but we made a good dent.
I did get to sew for an hour and a half on Monday night and 2 1/2 hours on Tues. night, making 4 hour TOTAL for sewing in June!!! There was a party for one of the VP's at work on Wed, so I made him a picture wall hanging. I am so ready for the July challenge... I can't wait to kick some booty!
This week has been more name change stuff! The bank here is erking me to no end! The drivers license place was great, so that made my day today after a bad day yesterday.
I was late getting out the door, had to buy gas, charge limit of $75 and it didn't fill the tank, still early to work though. I was just not having a good day. Bank up here won't change my name on the account without new picture id, yet debit card for other bank has old name on it and new one's not here yet. They told me Monday I just needed marriage license, but oh no they need id too. I forgot to eat lunch because I was running errands and was irate when I left the bank. I was irritated with the bank, had a bad experience at another quilt shop in town, and then got back to work and had to give a gift that I had made. I was so not in the mood for a party! Then Paul had an accident after work. His foot slipped off the break and he bumped another vehicle at a light, but still it's stressful. Luckily no one was hurt!
Got one good piece of news last night from my mom, so she made me smile and the evening turned out to be better than expected. By the time I got home I was too stressed and tired to pack for tonight. I got up early this morning and packed my sewing stuff for Round up tonight. It's my evening out to sew with the girls and I'm so looking forward to it!

The Honeymoon & Quilt Shop Hop

Paul and I both took the week after the wedding off, so we could enjoy a honeymoon. We left at 3PM on Sunday and travelled to Sioux Falls, SD. We got up Monday morning and went to Mills End Textiles, Fonder Sewing, and Heirloom Creations, all quilt/sewing shops in the area to look at quilt frames. At Heirloom we got so much help and I was so inspired. I didn't want to leave. Even Paul thought it was a great quilt shop. He convinced me to get the new Travelers Companion book that had just come out for 2008-2010. Off we set on our way to MO, driving through IA, we planned to stop at a shop in Sergeant Bluff, but we were past it before we realized it. So I looked in the book and found one at Council Bluffs, IA. It was called Kanesville Quilting Gingham Goose. We made a quick stop there and were back on the road. We stopped in St. Joseph, MO for supper at Diamond Dave's. We did a little shopping at Best Buy for a video camera and were back on the road. We wanted to make it through Kansas City at night. There was road construction, so I took us on a detour that went into Kansas, but we didn't get lost and we made it to Nevada and found a place to stay.

Tues. we headed to Carthage MO... home of Precious Moments chapel. We took the tour and explored the grounds before heading over to the quilt shop I've been waiting three years to see... Block By Block > All the signs say "Scream Until Your Husband Stops the Car!" It was one of the only quilt shops I had plans of visiting on our honeymoon. Amy, the owner, was awesome. She was super helpful and had tons of new gadgets we hadn't seen before. We also came away with a couple of panels from the Dirt Movers fabric line. We got the construction blocks and the panel and steel diamond plate to accent, thinking we would find more as we went on. We also got a really cute farm yard panel and the coordinates. It could be a baby blanket for a boy or girl, since we don't know what my brother and sister in law are having. We headed to Springfield and found a place to stay and went to Bass Pro Shops. That was Paul place of choice to go. We did some shopping and found the quilt shops I wanted to go to. Then we headed off to Sew Simple Quilt Shoppe in Ozark, MO. The lady was so helpful and it was a small, but unique shop. They were really into the One Block Wonder Patterns. She gave us the list of Southern MO quilt shops from their shop hop to check out as well. It was right next to Lampert's Cafe - Home of the Throwed Rolls where we planned to have supper. It's all you can eat and they give you fried okra as you wait and throw hot fresh rolls at you so you can catch them. It was awesome and we were both stuffed!

Wed. morning we were up early and went to Bass Pro Shops for several hours. Paul really enjoyed going there. Then we went to the quilt shops we found in Springfield. We stopped at Merrily We Quilt Along and Quilt Sampler. Merrily had tons of Gammel machines while Quilt Sampler had a lot of machines and a couple frames we looked at. We ate lunch at Chipolte Mexican Grill, keeping to our plan of not eating at any places we have at home. We spent the afternoon shopping at the malls as most of the stores we don't have at home. For supper we went to a Texas Roadhouse which was awesome and both Paul and I really enjoyed it.

Thurs. morning we found Springfield Sewing Center, so made a quick stop there before heading for Branson MO. We took a scenic tour around Branson, then picked up tickets for a showboat cruise, drove the strip and found a hotel, and then checked out the outlet malls (another thing we don't have). Found a quilt store... handmade, handquilted originals only $68 for a King size! Paul has a name for these kind of quilt stores, but it's not nice! We found three of these stores in Branson and ran fast after we walked in the door. We ate at an A&W and then went to the Titanic Museum. It is a half size replica of the Titanic and really cool! We learned a lot and I highly recommend going there. We went to the quilt shop Quilts & Quilts in Branson. This was another one we missed the last time we had been there. It was a huge building completely full of quilts and other items to bring home. We found a cool thread stand Paul thought he could build for me. It's the only quilt shop I've ever been that had electronic security devices on their display quilts. Then it was on to the Showboat Branson Belle for our dinner cruise. Dinner was awesome, then we had time to go on all three decks while it floated out in the middle of the lake, and then we had a show to cap off the night. It was awesome! I absolutely love showboats.

Friday morning we went to Branson Landing a really neat little area of town where you could walk up and down the cobblestone street and enjoy the vendors and stores. We went to the Bass Pro Shop there and several other stores before it started pouring. We got back to the car and decided to head for Joplin. We saw at least 6 major accidents and it poured rain the entire way to Joplin. Luckily the accidents were on the other lane and we didn't get slowed down. We went to a quilt shop near Joplin and for the life of me can't remember the name. It was a real pretty drive out there and we got so see some beautful country. We found the coolest log cabin cross kit and I snatched it up. Then the owner gave us directions to the other quilt shop in town so we could easily find it. Sew Neat was on one of the main drags through town and we were easily able to find it. There was another shop on the shop hop list, so we went there as well since it was an easy off easy on to get back on the highway we needed to be on. Can't remember the name of it either. We hadn't found anymore of the dirt mover fabric, so Paul agreed we should stop back by the Block By Block shop in Carthage to pick some up. We got the Construction Cones on Royal and visited a bit more with Amy and were on our way. We both just loved that shop! We planned to get through Kansas City after rush hour which we did. We went through about 6:30 or 7 and had not a single problem getting to St. Joseph. We found a motel and ate at a Whiskey Creek Steakhouse. It was by far the worst place we ate the entire trip. We did a little shopping/looking at Best Buy as well. Sat. morning we were up early and had breakfast at a Bob Evans then headed out to the Country Expressions Quilt Shoppe in Stewartville, MO which was 16 miles out of the way. It was listed as one of Quilt Sampler Magazines top 10 quilt shops for 2008, so Paul thought it would be a good one and worth the drive. The shop had a very country flair and lots of gifts to buy in it. Our next stop was Sergeant Bluff, IA. I was bound and determined not to miss it this time! Since we weren't going to make it back to Heirloom Creations in Sioux Falls before they closed, I suggested we stop at Bass Pro Shops in Council Bluffs. Again Paul really enjoyed that! Then we went to My Quilt Shop is Your Quilt Shop and it was definately worth the stop!! They had the entire line of the Dirt Mover fabric, so we got the dirt movers on both blue and yellow as well as the strip to go with. I'm going to have lots of fun making baby quilts for the boys in our family! They also had some other fun fabrics and lots of bright cheerful rooms full of fabric. We really enjoyed the shop there and could have probably spent hours there had we not wanted to get on the road. This was another must stop shop according to Paul's list. We made it back to Sioux Falls an hour after Heirloom closed, but I know I'll get back there again. We found a room and went to Falls Park. It was absolutely beautiful and so fun to just walk around and go up on the observation deck. Then we had supper at a Timberlodge steakhouse and did a little walking around the mall.

Sunday morning we headed for Mitchell and stopped at Cabela's. We spent an hour or so there and then headed for home. We made a couple stops to switch drivers, but otherwise drove straight through and made it to the Black Hills Quilters Guild Quilt Show. We found a dealer who had Masterpiece thread and I got the ones I wanted. The ONLY shop we stopped at that had any was Heirloom! Then we stopped at the final quilt shop of our journey... The Quilt Corral Too and saw my mom. She was working because of the quilt show. We got home and spent the rest of the afternoon/ evening unpacking! It was a long trip, but a wonderful trip. Both Paul and I really enjoyed the time away by ourselves.

The Wedding!

Our wedding day was absolutely perfect! We had a cool morning, warm afternoon, a few sprinkles, and a cool evening. I slept in, okay not really I was too excited! I took my time getting ready, finished up a few things at my parents and went to the hall. The bridesmaids, mothers, grandma, and flowergirl were all getting their hair done. We finished the hall decorations and went to the church for rehearsal. It was at 11, but one of the ushers was late, so we held off... He got a speeding ticket trying to be on time. We had a quick rehearsal and went to eat and not all the food was there. I kind of forgot to think about finishing the planning and the food was not where it was supposed to be. We ate lunch, handed out our gifts, and got ready. My aunt did my hair, Angie did my makeup, and I got dressed.

The guys took pictures, I was late for mine, so ended up not getting as many as expected.
Here's a picture of Paul's family.

Here's a picture of my family.

Here's one of my aunt Jane who did my hair, me, and my mom.

These are my parents, us, and his mom

Here's our wedding party, bridesmaids, groomsmen, flowergirl, and ring bearer.

Fr. Ron kept us on time and we were able to start the ceremony at 3:45PM like we had planned. We had a quick ceremony/mass and were out of the church rather quickly. We went for a hayride and ended up blowing a tire on the hay rack! It was funny at the time. After we got back we took one outside the church:

We got back to the reception and had a nice meal and cut the cake and did our toasts. Our host and hostess did an awesome job of getting everything together because the punch didn't turn out like it should, but they got it all worked out. The wedding party stole the bride and groom to the only bar in the area and we had a few good laughs. We had a live band that play for a dance. We had a great time and really enjoyed dancing the night away. The place we were to stay was surrounded by flood water, so when we called the day before we had to make a mad dash to find a place to stay. Luckily we were able to get a room at the motel and we received a gift certificate at the bed and breakfast, so can plan to spend the weekend there some other time.
The next morning we met up with the bridesmaids and they were ready to head home, so we visited a bit and then went back out to Milesville for the gift opening. We had family and friends out for breakfast and gift opening and then we cleaned the hall and hauled stuff to my parents. We left about 3:30 for our honeymoon! We were both tired, but chatted the entire way to Sioux Falls.

The Honeymoon is Over!

Well, literally we're back from the honeymoon, so I guess it's over, but we're still happily married! I'll post several posts about the wedding when I get all the digital photos gone through. We have over 600 and I had to open a new online account to store them all in, but it's taking forever to download them. I have about 150 done so far. Plus we have a new laptop and we're trying to make sure all the pictures are on it before we give the other one away.
I kind of fell off the face of the earth in blog land about Wednesday June 4th. I spent the entire week before the wedding at my parents house making the final preparations. On Wed. we went to the local town (25 miles) to get a few things and run some errands and drop off welcome bags for our guests. We spent the afternoon doing decorating at the church and getting things ready at the house. On Thurs. we left at 6:30AM - way too early for me! We went to Spearfish (190 miles) which is over 2 hours away so my mom could get her hair done. We had gotten 2 in. of rain on Monday and it rained again all day on Thurs. Spearfish was flooding and it was around the house of the lady we needed to get to, so her hubby came and picked us up in a 4 wheel drive pickup and took us to their house and mom got her hair done. Originally we didn't think she would get it done and that was the first time I kind of started to freak.
We went on to Rapid City and got our nails done, picked out makeup, and met up with Paul and his mom to get groceries for the reception. Needless to say by the time we got home we were both tired and it was still raining. Over 5 inches on Thursday alone. Paul arrived at my parents later in the evening.
Friday we were up early and Paul and I went to the hall and cleaned the floor and started the decorating of the bulletin boards. My bridesmaids were without electricity and bailing water from the sump pump, so they didn't get left as early as they had intended. My friends Amy and Erin came to help. Our moms arrived and we started decorating. A couple other friends arrived to help and we got the tables set up, decorating mostly done and it was 2 pm. We went over to the house and had lunch. My dad was supposed to help, but with all the rain, they had major flood damage on many of the county roads and he had to work all day Fri.
Paul and I love to go catfishing on the Cheyenne River, so we planned a catfishing party on the river for the night before the wedding so our friends from out of town could go with us. With all the rain there was no way we were going to get to the river, so we moved it to my parents. My parents road ended up having quite a few muddy spots, but it dried enough on Fri. that we could have the BBQ at my parents.
Friday night we had friends and family over for a BBQ, get to know you party. It was a lot of fun and they had just started grilling burgers when it started hailing. Holy Cow! We were all out on the deck, so we scrambled inside and had the party inside. I was trying to get some more pictures printed for the bulletin boards and it was going really slowly! 4 computers, 2 printers, 2 scanners and nothing wanted to agree! By midnight I was in bed and hoping for no rain the next day!

I'm a Married Woman!!

Dad's Birthday Party

Well the weekend is over and it went by very quickly. Mom and I surprised my dad Friday night for his birthday. Sat. we spent preparing for the birthday party we were having for him that night. We had about 20 people and my brother fried catfish, fries, and home made onion rings in the turkey frier. We had an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen which is a real treat for us, because the closest DQ is over an hour away.
Sunday Paul stained my parents deck and my family went to church. We helped with the church clean up. In the afternoon Paul, his mom, my parents, and I cleaned the hall where the reception will be held. I figured if we did it the weekend before, we wouldn't have to do all the work the day before the wedding. So I was really exhausted, but better this weekend than next. Today I slept in (8AM) and now mom and I are going to decorate at the hall and church today. We'll have more to do on Friday after we get things set up, but we're going to do it in stages so we're not so exhausted on Friday.
I'll post pictures after the ceremony, hopefully we'll have lots to share.