Finding Spring one way or another

Springtime has seemed to elude the great state of Idaho. Not knowing if or when the weather will clear, I decided that I needed a colorful pick me up. I went to the local quilt shop and there it was: the new line of Amy Butler fabrics. Now you should all know that Amy has always been a little wild for me due to the baby poop green colors that she uses. But happily, no baby poop green in this line. I quickly picked up some fat quarters and went home to work. I made up a pattern of a bag that I had been thinking about for awhile and presto, my springtime pick me up. Although it still may be snowing outside, the colors have brought me joy.

New Carry-On Bag

I just had to show off my new carry-on bag that I made for our recent trip to Disneyland. I drafted my own pattern so that I could accomodate the things that I needed in a bag. It has a large pocket on the outside that I used for easy access to plane tickets and itineraries. The inside has a zippered pocket on one side and the

other side has a large pocket that is sectioned into three sections. Cell phones and iPods fit nicely into these. I made the straps longer so that I can place the bag over my head and shoulder for security. The bag is lined with a thick canvas for support. It worked smashingly! I would really encourage anyone to try and start drafting their own patterns. Start simple. After a few tries, your experience will give you the confidence to get fancy. If you need to chat about how to start, let's talk. I would love to talk to you.

A GREAT day quilting beats any other day!

I just spent a most wonderful day quilting with some of my good friends. We had a potluck lunch and alot of talking about everything and nothing. It totally revives my soul to go and laugh and quilt. Is there anything better? I think not. Now you might think that I am being aweful and don't like being with my family. This is absolutely wrong. However, they do not appreciate the exhilerating act of 'petting' material and the thrill of seeing different combinations of color's put together. They like it when I go and get my quilting fix and come home rejuvinated. I guess a happy mom makes for a happy home. I am going to go now and make flower barettes with mt daughter. The boys are all at work and we are going to have some girl time.

Back to the Real World!

Yesterday started my very busy two week stint of extra hours of work, multiple church events and dance competitions for Madison. I hope that I am ready. Two weeks ago, we took the whole family to Disneyland, Sea World and Knoxberry Farm. We had an absolutely wonderful time! But, because I took 9 days off from work, guess who gets scheduled extra hours at work. ME. It is spring break time from school and the Easter holiday. Many of the girls from work have asked for time off to be with their kids for spring break and I just took my vacation, so I get extra hours. Madison has three dance competitions for three weekends in a row, and we have our yearly stake Primary Easter program next Sunday. This includes a practice the Sunday before and making thank-you gifts for the ~150 children that are participating. It has been a wonderful experience every year for the children. We also have stake conferences all day Sunday for the next two Sunday's. Whew!!!

My husband Mark is trying to get things prepared for the upcoming farming season. We still have about 10 cows that have not calved out yet, but hopefully that will happen this week. The weather has been so cold this week that he is having a really hard time getting augers thawed out so that he can start trucking grain again. He usually starts farming in the fields about the 15th of March, but with the wonderful wet winter that we have had this year, he still cannot even get up to the farm without snowmachines or four-wheelers. He is really getting antsy to get going. I think he is getting tired of doing housework instead of farmwork. Now don't we all feel sorry for him? Ha Ha.

I have a couple of good friends who have found a wonderful website for crafters, quilters or just people who appreciate handcrafted items for purchase. The website is www.etsy.com. There are so many different pattens and handcrafted items that one can purchase for a minimal fee. I found a crocheted bath puff pattern from there. I ended up making about 20 of them for Christmas. One of my new favorite sellers is a lady called Taffy Jane. Check her out. Great patterns!

Today I am machine quilting a table runner and two matching candle mats. As soon as they are completed, I will post pictures of these simple, yet colorful items. Granted, not some of my best work, but they match in my newly decorated living room. Any other suggestions for decorating ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Hopefully I can post a few things in the next few weeks, but with my schedule, they will be short and sweet. Thanks for reading.

A new beginning

Welcome to my new blog. Having never had a blog before, this was a slightly scary endeavor. I decided to create this blog mainly to keep all of my family informed of what our family is doing. I also wanted to hopefully inspire anyone who needs a lift in their day by seeing that no one is perfect and life, with all of it's ups and downs, can be lived with humor and a little bit of sanity. In otherwords, if I can try and make it, then anyone can. I would also love to talk to quilter's and quilter's who are nurses. Interesting combination hey? Quilting is my obsession and my passion. I have a limited amount of time for this craft due to my home and work schedule, but I try to treat myself at least once a week to some 'quilting personal time'.

I am a mother of 7 children. 6 boys and 1 girl. My husband is a farmer and cattleman. All of my boys love the farm and want to be involved for the rest of their lives with that. My daughter loves riding four wheelers and spending a few hours with the horses but is a typical girl and doesn't want to work there because she can't stand being DIRTY. She loves to stay home and sew with mom. Yeh!

I also work full-time as a registered nurse in the Labor and Delivery department. What a wonderful experience! I am very blessed to be able to work where I do. Although we do have our tragic times, for the most part it is a happy place to work. We have some extremely wonderful nurses working in our department. I am taught every day by these ladies.

In the next few days, I will be adding photos of my family and friends. I would invite anyone who would have quilting tips or tools that they would like to share with me to comment any time. Other comments about working and having a family, or nursing tips would greatly be appreciated. Let's Share!