New Colts & The River & Mom's Quilt Racks

On Mother's Day, after lunch and a nap, we went by my cousin Tommy & Alice's place and saw Alice's new colts. She has about a half dozen so far. They are so pretty to look at, but they were hungry and mostly hid from me. They are in the pen between two barns and the windbreak protects them.


Then we headed down to the Cheyenne River. We went to a bit different spot because it had rained and we couldn't get to our normal spot because it is all curvy dirt roads. This was a great spot and easy to get to, but the river had come out of the banks about a month ago, so we had to be careful of the cut banks. The first two are pictures as we were coming down the hill to the river. The Cheyenne River is a major river in SD and eventually flows in to the Missouri river north of Pierre, which then flows in to the Mississippi.

On the left side of the picture you can see the cut banks. The river was completely over the sand bars on the right side of the picture from all runoff of all the snow/rain/blizzards we had this winter.

The river was clear back in those trees for quite a ways too. We were fishing by the trees. It's about 6 foot down to the river, so it was definately really high and fast moving when it came out over the banks. It was really peaceful down there, but since it was mid day we didn't catch much. Catfish like the early morning or late night. We'll probably end up going back later this year.

After fishing we went back to mom and dad's for supper. Paul had hung mom's quilt rack he had made for her for Mother's Day on the wall. This is the prototype, but he's planning to make more, just has to work on the design a bit.

We centered it under the heater, but the china cabinet has to move. We hung it there until we have a bit more time to move it. This quilt is a friendship quilt from the Wall Quilt Guild. It has a pocket in each heart for a little special gift from each member, so it needed to hang upright.

This is the standing quilt rack he made her for Christmas. It's a heart shape and the quilt hangs through it. This one is a friendship quilt from the Black Hills Quilters Guild.

Mothers Day Weekend

This weekend I took off from work early on Sat. and we went to my parents for the weekend. On our drive Sat. afternoon it rained off an on, but at one point we saw this beautiful rainbow spanning the horizon. The best part was you could see all the colors, both ends, and the top, which I rarely see. Since we were driving I couldn't quite get a picture of both ends. When we got home, Paul installed the quilt rack he made for my mom for Mother's Day. It's awesome! I have pictures, but they haven't uploaded yet.

We planned to go home this weekend because my little bro also had the weekend off and wanted to have a family shooting event. He had bought 3 boxes of clay pigeons and we were shooting them. Paul was using his new shotgun and the shell release stuck, so he'll have to get it fixed. He used my dad's double barrel and got quite a few pigeon's. Clay pigeons are round disks the size of a small planter bottom and they are painted neon orange, so you can see to shoot them.

He shot quite a few of them, as did both my bros. I shot Ed's new 12 gauge and I hit more than I missed, which was pretty good considering how many my bros missed. I have a very sore shoulder today though, since it has no butt pad, and has a kick to it. We had a lot of fun and I got a nice sunburn on my head. We spent the afternoon at the river fishing and I took quite a few pictures of the full river, but they haven't uploaded yet.

We had lunch at my bro & SIL's house so I took a picture of the pillows I had made them for Christmas. It's the first time I remembered to get a picture for my journal.

April Quilting Accomplishments!

I feel like I didn't finish anything in April, but in actuality I just didn't complete things, but I got a lot of sewing done.

Clownin' Around Triple Treat Petite - Top Done
Professional Tote - Done!
Leslie's Purse - Done
Quilt UFO & Bind - Jen's Friendship Quilt - Done
Pay it Forward Gifts - 2 Done and given, 1 more to go
Thangles BOM - HST made
Ingrid Barlow Boxed Blessings - 3/4 Done
Sassy Bag - 2 Done
Storm at Sea
Courier Bag - Cut Out

I also had a great time at the retreat and met some of the most amazing and talented quilters. I can see that May will have me accomplishing more finishes, but I love how much I got done in my 125 hours in April.

May Goals
Finish borders on Clownin' Around, Quilt & Bind
Finish borders, quilt, and bind Leslie's Quilt
Finish Boxed Blessings, quilt and bind
Make Signature quilt, quilt and bind
Work on Thangles BOM
Make Courier Bag

Clownin Around Baby Quilt

My first finish since the retreat, was actually a top I finished at retreat. I completed the blocks and put them all together for the Clownin' Around Baby Quilt. I used the Triple Treat Petite pattern from the Happy Hour book. Friday night I put the borders on.

This picture is a bit fuzzy, but you can see the perfect mitered lines I matched up. It was super simple as I used a glue stick to baste it and they didn't move a bit.

Sat. night and Sun. morning I quilted it with a red/green/blue/ yellow King Tut thread. When I got off work Sun. night I put the red stripy binding on it. It turned out really huge because of the borders, but I love how super cute it is. I have several friends having babies this year, so it will probably go to one of them. I'm also teaching this class in June at the shop, so for now it will be a sample.

Peeps Retreat Day 6 - Monday

The final day of my wonderful vacation had to come, but it was a sad day. I had to say goodbye to my awesome and amazing friends. Jen, Jill, and I went out to breakfast at Bob Evans before they took me back to the airport. We went through 3 states just to get to the airport! After I got checked in, we went to one of the gift shops so I could pick up a shot class and Jill was telling us about the flying pigs in Cincinatti. We said our goodbyes and then they waited for me as I went through security and I found my way to my gate. As I was waiting I had a couple chair massages which were awesome. Jen and Jill made their way to the quilt shop in Kentucky on their way home. I get a text that Jill had found the cowboys fabric I had been wanting all weekend. So a few texts later she told me she had gotten it for me! I was so super excited. What an awesome friend!

My flights were fast back to SD and I arrived just before 3PM. I stopped at the shop and visited with mom and the ladies, before heading home for a nap. I was exhausted!!
My trip to OH was jammed pack with lots of fun and friendship and I couldn't have asked to meet a better group of women. I have over 400 pictures in my webshots album of all the great projects and fun we had. I received my boxes that Jill shipped to me on Thursday, so I didn't have to wait long to show my family what amazing gifts I received from my peeps and what fun things I bought along the way.

Our Wedding Quilt

Several years ago... well probably around the end of September 2007 after Paul and I had gotten engaged, Jen contacted my mom through The Sewing Center where she worked and wanted to make a bridal quilt for me. Jen & Mom had friends, family, and co-workers make 6 1/2" blocks from the Sylvia's Bridal Sampler blocks and sent them to Jen. Then Jen made signature blocks and sent them for people to sign at my bridal shower and our wedding shower.
When I decided to go to the Peeps Retreat, Jen got busy and finished the quilt. It's super awesome and so incredibly special. Paul made a special quilt rack to hang on the wall in our bedroom, to display it.
We brought it to retreat and my peeps signed the signature blocks too. After the quilt was done, Jen found 9 blocks that Jill had made, so she whipped up this wall hanging to go with it.


Moneik, Jen, & Jill with the wall hanging.

Thanks to all my friends, family, online friends, and co-workers who made blocks, signed blocks, and participated in this amazing gift. Thanks to Jen for all the work she did to organize and make this very special and treasured wedding present for us.

Peeps Retreat Day 5 - Sunday

Sunday morning I awoke just in time for breakfast. It was another wonderful, filling meal. Then I was ready to tackle my Pop Parade- Boxed Blessings blocks. I spent all day working on them and only got about 3/4 done before it was time to quit and pack up our stuff. We took lots of pictures of the peeps too!

Jen, Jill, & Moneik

Regina D/S, Jen, Moneik, Regina A, Jill

I rode back to Jill's with Jen and Sherry which was a lot of fun. Angry White Woman sure has some great stories to tell! Some how we missed the turn and went the wrong way, but with the GPS we found our way back to Best Friends, the shop Jill works at. I saw so many cute fabrics, but had to refrain as I knew I had way too much stuff. I did pick up a pattern for a purse I'm really looking forward to trying.
We had supper at Panera Breads which was a treat for me and then headed back to Jill's. I packed up my stuff and got ready to send some home. It was 1:30AM before we headed to bed, but we were having so much fun talking & laughing. Jen and Jill couldn't understand why we watch the local news, so I said "because it's stuff that really happens"... they thought this was hysterical!

Peeps Retreat Day 4- Saturday

After a two hour nap, I was awaken and ready to start sewing again. I worked on a cutting all my Thangles HST's apart. Then I worked on the pie pin cushion Jen had brought for us. I got mine done and then I moved on to a couple runaround bags for Jill and Cindy.

I also showed Jennifer N. how easy runaround bags are to make.
I started on my Boxed Blessings quilt and got the squares all done on Sat. It was a late night, about 2 AM before we called it a night, but we were all having so much fun.

I also won one of the Fabric Calculators, so I was super excited. I already had one, but I wanted a new one. I gave my old one to a friend, and I hope she'll get a lot of use out of it as well as she is new to quilting.

Peeps Retreat Day 3 - 4 - Friday Night/ Saturday Morning

Friday night we got the snack table set up and we had plenty of Peeps to keep us on a sugar high!

As I worked on my signature blocks, many of the peeps went to bed. Around 3AM I started working on Thangles HST's and that kept me busy the rest of the night/morning. Jen B, Cindy, and Regina D/S all stayed up and we kept each other company. Regina and Cindy took all night to make Pie Pin cushions, but the crusts landed various places. Regina One I with her new patch by Jen. She looked like the Scarecrow from Wizard of Oz.

Jen worked on her pink rosie the quilter signature blocks. (We were the only one's up so we also took a tour of the room to see what everyone else was working on.)

Cindy looking like the lion from Wizard of Oz.

Regina D/S playing with her pie crust.

Lots of fun and sharing happened Fri night and Cindy said we had to stay up until breakfast, so we did. But then we crashed for a couple hours. All night Regina was asking how many limbs she had to cut off to "get a quilt out of you people".

Peeps Retreat Day 3 - Friday Afternoon/ Evening

We arrived at the retreat center, set up, and organized everything and finally by 4PM I was ready to sew. This was my sewing station, complete with borrowed sewing machine from Jennifer; mat, rulers, and rotary cutter, from Jen B; sewing notion bags from Jen B & Jill; Heat bag by Jill, Sewing apron by Jen B, and my purple box from JoAnn's which was one of my favorite purchases of the weekend. I have been eyeing the boxes online, but because we don't have a Joann's, I was never able to purchase one in person to see if it was what I wanted. It was and it works great as my new thread holder. I love it and I can fit a ton of King Tut thread in there! I started working on my Triple Treat Petite quilt, made with Clownin' Around fat quarters.

When Linda arrived, we gave her the friendship quilt Jill had started for her. We had worked at it while we were at Jill's and it was done by the time we arrived at retreat.

Later in the evening Jill and I surprised Jen B with a friendship quilt the Prolific Online Quilters had made blocks for. Jen was very surprised! It's all made with dog blocks and one even has Holly's picture on it. Jill pieced it and I quilted and bound it. Regina S. made a bag for it to go it too.

Considering Regina S "I can't make bags" made it, I think it turned out awesome.

My Friday evening consisted of making all the blocks for this Triple Treat Petite quilt (from the Happy Hour book), and finishing the top as well as a little changing mat. This one is now complete thanks to a weekend of quilting. Just have to finish the binding. I'll have to take some pictures as the border, quilting, and binding really add to it.

I also worked on signature blocks which I got the red/white/blue done and everyone signed, but I have to finish the star parts of them.

Peeps Retreat Day 3 - Friday Day

Friday morning we slept in and when we finally got moving I put the binding on Linda's quilt while everyone was showering. By 11 we were all packed and ready to go. Jennifer's van was packed:

More of Jennifer's Van:

Regina's car was packed:

Jen's Pickup was packed to the top of the box:

And in the backseat too! Jill's car was also packed to the hilt.

I rode with Jennifer and we followed Jill and Cindy, and Regina A and Sherry were behind us. Jen B. somehow got lost and found her own way to the retreat. The rest of us had breakfast at a Bob Evans.
On our way north to the retreat we saw this along the side of the road:

It's Jesus coming out of the water and it's bigger than the buildings surrounding it. You can't see the water, but there is a big pond and the cross is at the bottom of the picture, just before the concrete wall. I called it Touch Down Jesus because that's what it reminds me of.