Welcome Spring...under the snow

Daughter V-2 more months of Senior Year!

I looked out this morning and thought "What a beautiful sunrise!" I stepped out into 26 degrees of bone chilling cold! We have a couple inches of snow on the ground, covering all my pretty Spring bulbs as they bloom their little hearts out. Oh well, there's always next years blooms.

My machine class ended up being cancelled, so I stayed home and cleaned my sewing room. What a scary mess! I really can't believe I do all that damage....I'll blame it on the dogs! I never did sew all weekend, which is wierd for me.

We had a wonderful day at the Temple Saturday. I wish I could go there everyday. I leave with such a peaceful feeling that everything is going to be okay and that I can accomplish anything.

We had Ward (Church) conference on Sunday. I sang with the choir again. For the longest time our choir was made up mainly of men with a few strong sopranos thrown in. Now we altos dominate the group...yeah, altos! In fact, we went to sing and realized we had no tenors. One man ran up at the last minute and sang his tenor notes as loud as he could. I got a little teary eyed when we sang the song "Families can be together Forever", especially since Tayge was just added to our family. Here's the words:

I have a family here on Earth.
They are so good to me.
I want to share my life with them through all eternity.

Families can be together forever.
Through Heavenly Father's plan.
I always want to be with my own family.
And the Lord has shown me how I can.
The Lord has shown me how I can.

Words by Ruth M Gardner 1980
Music by Vanja Y Watkins 1980

Today has been the usual Monday errands. I am making dinner for the new mommy and her husbands family (since they live with them). When I had E my mom came for a week and cooked and cleaned and took care of me and E and began to teach me all the tips new mommies need to survive. I don't get to do that with E, which makes me a little sad, so I thought I should at least do one dinner to give them all a break. And while they are eating, I'll steal baby Tayge and nibble on his toes!

Babies, quilting and more

Tayge at one day old...cute, huh! I promise, I won't be posting a new baby photo everyday. I just couldn't resist....he's so beautiful! I actually heard him cry yesterday. The little family of three are settling down at home.

I have done other things beside gaze at the most handsome baby boy. I worked on a art quilt...I used the background that was going towards the scripture quilt. It now has black circles and half circles added to it.

I also went to lunch yesterday with two of my brothers and Dad. We went out for a fish lunch, then went and decorated my Mom's grave for her (what would have been) 85th birthday. My brother R bought beautiful pink roses. We also put tulips on our Grandparent H graves-right next to Mom and some of the roses on Great Aunt G's grave. The cemetery has taken down a building and some plantings, so it took us a while to find the graves.

Today, I am back to house cleaning, a sewing machine class this afternoon and getting ready to go to the Temple tomorrow morning. I have been working on my bio families genealogy for about 12 years now. There is about 4000 plus people in my bio-father's file. Lots of Temple work to do yet!

He has arrived!

Tayge Michael

born today

March 26, 2008

(his Dad's birthday too!)

at

6:28am

7lb 4oz

21 inches

He's beautiful and quiet and keeps trying to open his eyes against the bright light (looks like dark brown eyes to me). He's a gorgeous combination of both his parents!

Tayge's mommy is exhausted-8 hours of labor over night-no sleep! We left the new family of three with Tayge in the Nursery, Daddy sitting with a proud grin on his face & Mommy going to take a shower, followed by a much needed nap. She better sleep while she can!!!!!

I am a grandma to three of the most outstanding granchildren!

Baby on the way!

E went to the Doctor yesterday afternoon, and he says baby is on the way! Yeah! She'll go up to the Hospital at 6pm (after Office hours) to get things medically moving. Double Yeah! V has an orthodontist appt this afternoon...we'll wait for a call after that to see if E wants us to come up to the Hospital. I really want to be there just so I know, as her Mom, she is okay, but she doesn't really want anyone there at all, except B. I completely understand not wanting to be mobbed by well meaning family/friends, but then the Mom part of me wants to take care of her and watch over her! My baby is having a baby!!!!!

Also, I way over did it yesterday! I always get pumped up on starting to lose weight and do too much and get discouraged. I'm not discouraged, but sore all through my legs. I needed a good night sleep, but Hubby was snoring like crazy last night!

I've got a to-do-list a mile long today....I'll check in later!

Baby Tayge Birthday...March ? 2008!

Good start for the week

I've had a great day, especially for a Monday!

I got an extra cover sewn for the boppy that E got as a gift. I used the cover the boppy came with as a pattern. It doesn't look fastastic, but it will work when the other one is dirty. I was going to work on my challenge project for the Syracuse Quilters, but the boppy was more pressing...eventually that baby boy has to be born!

I also jumped back on the excerise/eating right plan. I either eat really healthy and don't excerise, or excerise like crazy and pig out. I've loss/gain the same 5-6 pounds multiple times over the last 18 months. I went back to sparkpeople.com. It is a free site that has an excerise and nutriction calendar you can use to keep track of your progress. There is also articles and videos to help you. I joined back with the LDS Women's team on the message board. I'm going to do two of the excerise challenges:(1) Pioneer trek=for every 15 minutes you excerise you earn 1 mile on the walking trail from Nauvoo, Illinois to Salt Lake City, Utah. Along the way, at various stops, you can read actual pioneer stories. (2) Temple Tour=for every 30 minutes of excerise you get to a LDS Temple somewhere in the World. The Temples are listed in order of their dedication, beginning with St. George, Utah. With my 30 minute walk this morning and 30 minute walk this evening I went four pioneer miles and visited the St George and Logan Utah Temples.

I also reorganized my planner so I can get more quilting and family history and other important things done!

I changed my mind

I posted a while back about my scripture quilt with the four seasons background represented by strips of solid fabric. I got the background all done and put it away for a couple days, so I could think about my next move. Well, I've thought about it, and the bakground is ALL wrong...too colorful and distracting!

New plan-an all white on white background of strips of various width quilted with the colors of the seasons. I think this will work so much better with the women appliqued in colorful clothing of their time. It will still show the seasons of a womens life without distracting from the women of my family.

I guess the background that is already made is going towards another art quilt I had been thinking about doing....it might just work. I'll let you know with some photos later.

I visited mommy-to-be today with her Easter basket and Grandma Sugar cookies. She has a doctor appt. tomorrow. I'm keeping my fingers (toes, legs, eyes) crossed he sends her right over to the hospital to get this baby boy into the World.

I got to sing in my Ward (Church) choir today. I love singing! For the past couple of years I haven't been able to: (1)always got sick around performance or (2)It was my Sunday to take care of Dad. My brother R switched Sunday's with me (thank you!) a few months ago, so now I can occassionally sing. I switched to alto after my Mom's death 7 years ago, and it has been interesting re-learning songs I have sung all my life. We are singing again next week.

I had a wonderful Easter surprise today. Son M, DIL C and granddaughters K & H showed up unexpectantly. I love my grandbabies! They don't usually just show up, since it is a 5 hour roundtrip drive from their house to ours. I sure miss my kids that live so far away. I hope I got enough hugs and kisses to last me a few weeks. What am I saying....I can never get enough loves from my girls!

Baby Names

Before you get too excited, my grandson has not made his debut....little stinker! The Doctor was so sure he'd be here 2 weeks ago, but it looks like E will go all the way to her due date (26th)...maybe beyond! Mommy-to-be does not look happy!

She and B have decided baby boy is to be named Tayge Michael. Tayge (Sage or Gage with a "T") is a name they like. I thought maybe it was something they had made up, but when I mention it to friends, they always know another Tayge/Tage. Michael is after B's brother and E's twin....B's family has the tradtion that the boys get their middle name from their uncles (parents brothers).

I got thinking about baby names. I volunteer as a indexer for my Church. I log onto a online site and download historical records. I then type out what I think the records show and send the batch back to the indexing project. Currently, I've been doing the 1905 U.S. Census records for Wisconsin. Two of us indexers each send our version of the same batch, then a third person compares ours to the original record and the final info is put out for genealogist to research online.

Okay, after that long rambling story...baby names. It's interesting to me how today you can yell "Jessica" or "Brittney" or "Tyler" and a bunch of kids will answer you. In the 1905 Census, there is not a Jess, Brit or Ty to be found. The big names at the time for boys were John, Charles, Henry and Fred. For girls, there was Mary, Margaret, Bertha and Adaline. It's interesting to see how popular names come and go. With my name Suzanne, I know numerous Suzanne's and we are all in our 40s-50's, but I haven't meet another Suzanne out of that age group.

I wonder what it is going to be like in another 20 or 50 years when folks look back at our records and say, "What did they name that baby?"

E's baby shower photos...finally!

Cloth diaper cake-prettier than the photo

E at 8.5 months pregnant

Sisters V & E at E's baby shower (given by V)

Hubby & mommy-to-be E

E with Aunt S

It was a great baby shower!

Lots of gifts...

Lots of gabbing...

Lots of great food....

Lots of love!

I gotta go...the Girl Scout Cookies just arrived!!!!

Quiltathon Day

I am going to join in the Quiltathon day scheduled for today thru Judy at Patchwork Times. I plan to work on my MIL birthday quilt that is very overdue. It is a signature/quote quilt from all her children and grandchildren. It took me longer than expected to get all the quotes and well-wishes from everyone. I need to put the borders on and quilt it.

We are all going crazy with Spring fever here. Even the cats! Big kitty was in the window gazing over her kingdom....little kitty decided to see if she could pull Big Kitty by the tail. It took 3 attempts, and they both came tumbling down. Lots of hissing and spitting, then a fight up on my bed, then nuetral corners of the bed for the rest of the day. Big Kitty's name is actually Minou, who this blog is named after. I tried to use my real name, Suzanne, but it was taken, so I used Minou instead!

I took care of Dad on Sunday. Each of us kid take a Sunday each month to go to Church and have lunch with him. I got thinking this weekend and realized that my Mom has been gone for 7 years this month. I can't believe the time has gone so quickly! I have had 2 children married and have become a granma myself in those 7 years.

Update:I got the 2nd of three borders cut and pieced. I had originally planned just two borders, but then realized it wasn't going to work. I wish I could have had more time on it....oh well, there's always tomorrow!

Happy National Quilting Day!

National Quilting Day...the day where all quilters can sew and iron and pin and applique and quilt to their hearts desire and if anyone says "Are you quilting again?", they can happily reply "Yes, because it is National Quilting Day!".

I worked this whole morning on the scripture quilt. The background is all machine appliqued. I used solid colored fabrics starting with Spring pastels all the way thru Winter greys to represent the four seasons. I think it looks pretty good. I kept catching myself thinking I was making a mistake, then realized it is a quilt of my own design-who will know if I made a mistake or not!

I am going to brave the wind and snow (about 2 inches on the ground) and go to the fabric store for some muslin to finish my MIL 's birthday quilt and some solid black for borders for the scripture quilt.

Happy Quilting Day!

Suzanne

Goals and learning new things

Devils Gate, Wyoming

Completed Sept 2007

I decided to try and get my quilting projects/goals done off of my "to-do" list right from the start, instead of always letting them drop to bottom and not getting done. I received the vintage row quilt #2 directions of Tuesday and got it done of Wednesday. I think it looks pretty good. I've never done pinwheels before. The photo with this post is a 8" X 11" wallhanging I did in a night class last September at the Utah Annual Quilt Fest. I made the goal to have it done immediately, and I did...hand appliqued and machine quilted in 2 days. I loved the class!

No baby yet...poor mommy-to-be, but it's better he stays in there for the fullest time instead of coming out too early!

I played on the computer this week and went to quilting.about.com to their art quilt forum. I found out what "discharging" is....basically, removing the color from the fabric. I also watched a TV show yesterday (unusally for me) called "Quilting Arts" with pokey somebody (didn't catch her last name) and saw the technique of adding fibers and adding colored foil to your work. I had seen both at the art quilt T and I went to last week, but didn't know how to do it. Of course, now I am ready to jump in and try all these fun procedures. One poster of quilting.about.com said she was going to make a list of all the new techniques she wanted to try and then pick one each week to experiment with...I may just try that too!

T and I were suppose to go somewhere today and do something quilt related to celebrate National Quilting Day (one day early) but she got too busy-she's a VERY busy woman! I may spend this evening or part of tomorrow doing something quilt related. I have kept up on my "10 minutes a day of quilting" goal from Quilting Diva.

Postcards:I received cards from Paris (France), Bristol (England?), Pennsylvania (USA) and Vancouver B.C.(Canada). I sent a card to the Netherlands to a girl named Suzanne....to Suzanne from Suzanne!

Suzanne

Quilt Meeting for March

Quilted Jacket

UFO project from a VERY long time ago

Finished-don't especially like it!

Won a blue ribbon 2007

We had a nice quilt meeting today. Only about 16 of us there...we usually number in the 20-30 range. We had a trunk show by S who hand quilts a king polyester comforter for each of her children as a wedding present, plus she crochets a blankie for each new grandchild. She admitted she was about 6 grandkids behind!

We got the second row for the vintage row quilt.....3-D Pinwheels. We had a sew-in and did red, white and blue (with stars) flannel quilts for QOV. Living near a military base, everyone knows someone and/or their family that could use a quilt.

I ran all sorts of other errands...too boring and too many to list!

Warm weather and lots got done

I think I do better with Daylight Savings Time. The warmer weather today combined with the time changed seemed to have energized me today. I got alot of things done!

I worked on a new quilt project that I have had in mind for a year now. It's a wallhanging based on the scripture Ecclesiastes 3:1-8..."to every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven". The background will be the solid colors of the seasons, starting with Spring pastels, moving into brighter Summer, then cooler Fall and ending with Winter. I then plan to applique different women from my family to represent the different seasons of the scripture. I did some research, and each woman will be shown in the clothing style when she was about 20 years old. I think I will do plain faces. The women will be connected by a gold ribbon running thru the quilt. Sounds great on paper, huh! It will propablly take me another year to do it. I did get as far as the Spring background being appliqued on today.

No baby, yet! Poor mommy-to-be!

For Family Home Evening, we had our annual Spring poop scoop of the backyard. We have two large dogs and try to keep up on the scooping, but with the snow (especially heavy this year) we are still finding some treasures in melting snow/ice piles. Yucky job, but somebodies gotta do it.

Monthly quilt meeting is tomorrow...yeah! I get the second row of the vintage quilt, plus get to see lots of show n' tell. We are having a sew-in...flannel quilt tops for QOV.

What a wonderful day!

I have had such a great day! This was one for the records!

E made it thru her baby shower. Lots of folks came, lots of great visiting and she got tons of things. I even got the baby boy boat blankie quilted. I'm not completely happy with the quilting, but she loves it, so that's what counts, right! I hope I got a good photo of it. I'll post it soon. She actually got alot of handmade gifts....blankets, burp clothes, and bibs. I usually give a handmade gift at baby showers and people are so surprised. Her husbands family has some very creative women. Her FIL made some great food too. My SIL S took some photos for their family website so the cousins could see everyone (maybe they got a photo of the blankie!). I did take lots of photos of the cloth diaper cake centerpiece. It turned out beautiful....but I never want to do another one again...too much work. I can now take the boat blankie off the UFO list....yeah!

I guess you get what you ask for...I've been talking about getting a digital camera, and Hubby spent his coaching money and bought a camera, along with a printer, today. I feel like a little kid with a new toy!

Yesterday, T and I went to a art quilt show at the Brigham City Museum. It was fantastic! My personal favorite was "Water Flow" (2003) by Anonymous. It was a landscape of water and mountains and sky.....multi fabrics with amazing colored quilting. If I did something so great, I would proudly put my name on it. T like "Scattering Leaves" (2003) by Barbara Frey. She pieced a long wallhanging, then stamped small squares, then appliqued leaves, then beautifully quilted the whole thing. If it had been for sale, T would definitely had bought it. The whole exhibit was great. We did have a funny moment-we were looking at one piece, saying it reminded us of flowers and flowing lines and nature. We then read the artist statement-it was her interpretation of the female body. What we thought were flowers were nipples of the breast! We got kind of giggly...the museum worker gave us funny looks! What amazing work quilters are doing out there. We did see two terms of construction we did not know....Discharge and Procion. Anyone know what procedures these are?

I'm looking forward to a nice quiet evening of a bubble bath and setting the clocks back. Happy Daylights Saving Time!

End of a great day

I know I already posted today, but thought I would quickly update you.

E went to her Doctor, and he says baby boy could be making an appearance any time now. I know she's ready him to be here! He due date is in 3 weeks, but the Doctor says he doesn't think she'll make more than another week......yeah!

I think I have finally figured out the tension problem on my new machine (Viking Sapphire 830). I adjusted the stitch length the computer suggested, but used a universal need instead of a quilting needle, and the stitches are looking great. I guess I better really hurry and get this baby boy boat blankie done if he may be making an early appearance!

I got my catalog for the Home Machine quilting show in Salt Lake City (May). I was thinking of taking a class, but none of the ones still open that fit my schedule really thrill me. I will be volunteer part of one day for the QOV booth. I've never been to this show before (5th anniversary this year), so I am looking forward to visiting all the booths and seeing the quilt show. Actually, there will be a quilt show plus too smaller exhibit by Utah quilt groups. Maybe I will have enough saved up by then to purchase a digital camera....oh, the photos I could take!

I quilted for 1 hour today, between dentist visits and phone calls to a very preggo daughter.

Good Morning, World!

Quilted 50's mini log cabins 2000

Good Morning all,

I never got back here last night....too tired.

I did get in my 10 minutes of sewing for the challenge. In fact, I got in more like 45 minutes. Worked on baby boy boat blankie......thought I had the tension figured out on the new machine, but I didn't...but it is about 1/3 quilted, so that's a good thing.

Spent the day with the wonderful folks at the DMV. Hubby needed a medical form to renew his license thru the mail, plus Daughter V went and got her license-you've all been warned! Seems a little wierd that she was our last child to do the whole teen driving step of life. No more white knuckle drives in the Church parkinglot! I guess I can't say alot about it, because Hubby taught all our kids to drive.

I picked up the mystery packets of photos yesterday. They turned out to be my grand-daughters birthday party (3 months ago), my dad's Air Force reunion (4 months ago) and the tell end of my trip with T to Sisters, Oregon for the quilt fest last July. Got some pretty good family photos from the reunion and birthday party. I am going to attempt to post some photos later. I say "attempt", because I have not mastered this part of my blog, as you can see.

While at Wally World picking up the photos, I noticed they had their 2008 calendars on clearance for 10 cents....so I picked up 5 calendars. I use calendars, as well as postcards and other photos, to help with my landscape and pictoral quilts. 12 photos for 10 cents is a great bargain! I got calendars of eagles, american symbols, wolves (for hubby), landscapes (beautiful one of slot canyon in Utah, which I am already working on) and black and white landscape photos.

More quilting planning today after the dentist!

Trying something new

I was again greeted this morning by a beautiful sunrise, and it was up to a balmy 34 degrees! At this rate, we'll be in swimsuits by next Christmas!

I signed up to be part of Quilt Studio after I notice the few other quilter blogs I liked to read were part of that webring. I also joined a challenge by one of the QS members to try and sew 10 minutes a day. Doesn't sound like alot, right? Well, I did not make my 10 minutes today....maybe I can do 20 tomorrow?

I also wanted to mention the cute little lambs the local farmer released out into the field today. I love watching the little black lambs with their mommies exploring their new World. They would run around together, kicking up their heels, then stopping when they thought they got too far from Mom. Too cute!

A few more days to the baby shower...still don't have baby boy boat blankie (try saying that 3 times fast!) quilted. I tried with my new machine yesterday, but had troubles with the tension and un-sewed everything I had done. Plan to try again tomorrow.

Suzanne

Better weather=better attitude

Three generation Dresden Plate

Started by Grandma H in the 1950's

Passed to my mom in the 1970's

Finished & quilted by me in the 1980's

The sun was shining in the East as the moon was setting in the West....my brain said "oh, a beautiful sunrise and warmth is coming". Then I stepped out to 21 degrees with a cold wind. Oh well, I control my attitude, sun or rain!

I had a wonderfully busy day running errands. I even enjoyed going to Wal-Mart. Usually I hate Wally World because of the crowded aisles and too much clutter, but today I dropped off 3 disposible cameras (found during some spring clean-it will be a big surprise what photos we get back), grabbed some more cloth diapers for the eco-friendly mommy-to-be, and a new t-shirt for my hubby wrestling coach. I also got to have lunch with my daughter V, which doesn't happen often enough for me.

I got thinking about my quilting goals for 2008, which lead me to thinking about my quilting past. I think I basically started out like many other quilters....made simple pieced baby quilts for my own babies...then onto more complicated pieced quilts to challenge me. Next came going to shop or festival classes. Of course, I was going to learn, but also to get away from home and be with other creative women for a few hours (or a few days). I moved into applique, which seemed to be more my creative outlet. I became a partner in a craft/decorating shop for a few years, which steered me more into small wallhangings ( and dolls), which I could produce quickly.

Now, I want to do things I see that will stretch my creative wings. I read about quilting techniques I have never heard of and feel I have become very settled in my craft. I use to be concerned by cutting and possibly ruining fabric, but I am developing a "hey, it's only fabric-I'll replace it if I make a mistake" attitude. It's been really nice to just do a project, not for someone else, but just because I wanted too.

Wow, didn't mean to write a essay of my quilting history! I did read on Field Trips in Fiber blog about keeping track of your incoming and outgoing (finished projects) fabric, so I am going to do that for a while to see what I actually accomplish. I donated calico and muslin today for pioneer clothing for a youth reenactment trek this summer. I am going to consider that part of a finsihed project.

I am ready for some new ideas and new challenges.....if you want to share your quilting thoughts....drop me a line!

Incoming: 1 yard plus FQ (B's b-day quilt)
Outgoing: 5 yards calico
6 yards muslin=11 yards total

Sunny, cold Sunday

My hubby did some outdoors clean up yesterday when it was about 50 degrees...then it snowed a few inches last night. I am very ready for Spring! I want to see bulbs bursting out of the wet ground into beautiful blooms...I want to wear just one long sleeve shirt and not layers....I want to walk the dogs without spending more time dressing to go out compared to being outdoors.

I spent a quiet day indoors today (missed Church) because of a bad cold. I watched a video, worked on this blog layout (still not completely happy with it) and slept a few times.

I realized that I made many "lists" on this blog and got thinking about my life and my lists. I am always making lists. I have lists for the family, grocery shopping, quilt meeting (I'm one of the program planners for 2008), doctor visits, calls to make, birthday cards to send out....lists, lists, lists! Am I accomplishing anything with these to-do papers? Most of the time....yes.

Looking forward to this week, my "list" includes-driving to school, babysitting so a friend can go to the Temple, E's baby shower, sewing/quilting, cleaning, cooking, book club and a dentist visit for me. I am also going to send out postcards for the "wish you were here" exchange, plus one for postcrossing.com.

Have a very productive week, with or without a list!

Suzanne

Saturday is a special day!

I still remember singing the song "Saturday is a special day" when I was a kid. Okay, I sing it as an adult too!

"Saturday is a special day,
It's the day we get ready for Sunday;
We clean the house and we shop at the store,
so we won't have to work until Monday;
We brush our clothes and we shine our shoes,
And we call it our"get-the-work-done" day;
Then we trim our nails and we shampoo our hair,
so we can be ready for Sunday!"

Music by Chester W Hill
Lyrics by Rita S Robinson


Saturday's are always so busy, trying to get ready for the Sabbath and the upcoming week.

Hubby did tons of laundry and some Spring clean up outside (if Spring ever comes). Meanwhile, I ran errands: gave out the rest of the invites for E's baby shower, meet E at BabysRUs for some supplies, filled up the gas tank (pump shock!) and purchased the quilting/stipling foot for my new Viking Sapphrie 830 (sewing machine). We've had a hard time finding cloth diapers (my eco-friendly daughter!) that are good/thick/useful....I may have to make some-yuck!

I also got a new postcard from Australia-Kookaburra Bird card for my bird card exchange on sawp-bots.com. I mailed out 5 pc's for the "people" card exchange-used up my Minerva Teichert painting cards of pioneer women.

I use to blog alot on a weight lose site for about a year.....didn't lose much weight, but figured out alot of things/situations that had been bothering me with some relationships and situations.

Looking forward to a productive week of sewing/quilting and the upcoming baby shower. I can't believe E is going to be a mommy! My baby is having a baby in just a few weeks! She is sticking out pretty good and I think she is ready to have that baby in her arms and out of her body. I remember those feelings, even if it was a billion years ago.......