Friendship Blocks

My Friendship Swap blocks have been coming in like hot cakes! I've so enjoyed seeing what everyone uses for the different purple batiks, since I know there are lots to choose from!
Jenn Boerger made this one for me.

Linda Stitchnoch made this one for me.

Cindy Gardiner made this one for me. I just LOVE the daisy fabric. It's one of my favorites.

Sara Fridley made this one for me. She's not in the swap, but a blogging buddy who offered to make one for me. Thanks so much Sara! It was so great to meet you at Quilts and Vines.

Regina Smith and Patti July made these next two for me. I'm not sure who made which one, but love them both.



In the package from Regina was this spool of Grape thread. I just love the vibrant purple color. Can't wait to use it! Thanks Girls for the blocks and thread!!

I still have two blocks to get, then I'll figure out what I'm going to do with them. If anyone would like to make a block, just leave me a comment and I'll give you the specifics. Thanks!

September Sewing

I haven't done much quilting during the month of September, but I did make this Diaper Clutch for my cousin Molly and her husband Tyler who we stayed with in MN a couple weekends ago. I just love the owl fabric and thought it would work well since they had a boy.

I also made this sample of the Quilt as you go quilt from Gudrun Erla's new line Super. It's really bright and cheerful. I wasn't so sure about the prairie points, but they turned out well.

I also made this Simple Pillowcase. It's also a sample. I thought it was for GG's this month, but it's for next month, so I'm ahead of the game!

I did some fun quilting in the middle of the big flowers.

It's super simple and would be a great way to practice FMQ.

I also made this rick rack pillow. It turned out really neat and I think the colors are great.

This is the back. It's a simple to make pillow with a binding.

This month's GG is Friday and I'm so looking forward to spending time with my friends and having a girls night out. I made this name badge holder that turned out so cute with my leftover selvages. Where the binding is, there is a clear vinyl place for the name tag.

It has two zippered pockets and two regular pockets.


I think I'd like to use the pattern and some different fabrics to make this up for my work badge, but without the selvage edges.
I've also done some sewing on the Blush 60* quilt. I'm hoping to get lots of sewing done tomorrow night and maybe some quilting this weekend.

Mikaela's New Crib

This weekend we picked up Mikaela's new crib. Daddy was off on Monday, so he put it together for her. It's a lot bigger than her pack and play, but oh so much fun. It has slots so she can pull herself up! She definitely likes to pull herself up and bounce.

She's all full of smiles.



Her mobile from Trish looks awesome on the side and she loves to listen to it at night.

Her 2 front teeth are so cute!

She loves the crib and is sleeping a wee bit better, still not through the night, but it will come.

MN State Fair

Over Labor Day weekend Paul, Mikaela and I headed to MN to visit my mom's cousin Sue and family. We're really close to them and they had come out to see us in June, so it was fun to get together again. Her daughter Molly had just had a little boy Cash, 3 weeks before our visit, so we got to meet him too. We left Fri. at noon and spent the night with my college roommate Nichole, her hubby Jon, and son Mason. We had such a great visit and caught up again. It was so good to see them. Sat. morning we traveled to MN and spent the day with the family. I got to go to the quilt shop in Rosemount as it is right next door to Molly's Salon. We had a big family meal and spent time trying to get Mikaela to crawl.
Sunday morning we headed out early to the MN State Fair. It was our first time and we had a blast!
I just loved the Coliseum, so much to look at!

I definitely had to pick up some Sweet Martha's cookies.

I had to eat the bucket down too, with a little help!

Paul had some Walleye on a stick.

It seemed there were a lot of things on a stick, including lottery tickets. I bought $15 worth and won $122 dollars! It was definitely my lucky day.
It was a bit chilly when we left, but we bundled up good and had some warm food like cheese curds, pickle dogs, roasted corn, and punto dogs to fill us up!

Mikaela was having fun and everyone loved her hat!

We had to go to the Dairy building to see the butter heads. They were pretty cool, pun intended.



We had an awesome time visiting our family, attending the fair, going to the Twins game, and shopping at IKEA and Fleet Farm, stores we don't have out here. We spent more money at Fleet Farm than the entire trip it seemed. Boy it's a good thing we don't have one of those stores!

2011 Relay for Life

This year the Relay for Life was held in Midland. My dad's team from Milesville participated, so Mikaela and I joined him. The opening ceremonies were awesome. It was a beautiful day with 92 degree heat, but it cooled in the evening.


The Milesville Mardi Gras team was selling pies and ice cream, and lap beads.

I made these Luminaries for my mom.

I covered them in lots of pictures.

Others made them for her too.



I made this one for my grandpa Jim.



Mikaela was a trooper. We went to church and she flirted with the little 3 year old in front of us. She walked 4 miles with me after church and finally conked out for the ride home at 11:30!

They had this big lit sign which was neat.

We lit these big paper lanterns and let them go into the night sky.


Mikaela and I walked 4 miles and had a great evening with my dad remembering and celebrating mom's life. Our team raised over $3,000 and all the teams raised over $26,000, which for a small rural area is amazing!

Mikaela is 33 Weeks Old!

Mikaela turned 33 weeks old on  September 7th. We spent the weekend at Deerfield Lake fishing. Mikaela and I played and took pictures while Daddy fished.








I love this pictures even with the sun spot. It just captures her whole persona.

She's not so sure about the glasses, but doesn't pretty good leaving her hat on.

She loves to stand up, by pulling herself up. She'll use anything to get herself up.

She loved riding horsey on daddy's neck. She did so good at staying straight up.

She even spent some time with Grandma Leslie checking out the different weeds. She's a little nature girl and loves to be outside.