I've been gone for so long!

{Warning: this is photo intense!}

Life is finally calming down for me again.  It was a super busy, crazy, stressful time and I am happy that it has finally come to a close for me {or at least the end is in sight}.  The last few weeks I have been organizing and attending memorial/funeral services for my Grandma and helping my family go through her belongings and sell them.  There was a memorial where she was living and then the following week we had the funeral in Lansing with her family and where she requested to be buried.  We made food for a luncheon afterwards and when I went to use the ladies room, this was in the first stall:

No joke ya'll

It was very interesting and humorous in light of the situation.  I went to the next stall and it was a normal toilet. Thank goodness. 

Afterwards we began the long process of sorting and cleaning and sorting and moving and sorting and selling.  There was a LOT of sorting.  We found quite a few neat things and I never knew that she liked to sew so much.  This is the first thing I found and fell head over heels in love with:

My precious.

I couldn't even get over this darling sugar and creamer set.  I still want to squeeze it because it is so cute.  Ugh, it is just a cuteness overload.  Next we sorted through a box of my Grandma's crystal.  This decanter was in it and surprisingly I got it.  I think it's because our house still has relatively nothing in it since we have moved in so there is lots of room for it.

There was very little furniture but this came along with us.  It was apparently her WIP chest.  I found a few embroidery blocks that I am going to turn into baby quilts for my sister and I when the time comes.  My favorite it the hippo :)  First I need to finish a couple of the blocks, so I will need to learn how to do it better.



 I picked up last night where my Grandma left off on the clown patterns and I found that it was strangely relaxing.  I have been really enjoying it though I am awful at it.

Richard also had his exam last month so I finally have a husband again.  It has been marvelous this past weekend {this is the first weekend that I have been home since my Grandma was in the hospital}. The garden bed in our front yard had paver bricks lining it which was super annoying.  Any time you got remotely close to the stack, the bricks would fall over into the grass because they knew it would make me angry.  I conned DH into buying 2/3 of a pallet of landscaping bricks and we did this yesterday morning!

Finished front yard

WIP back garden bed

 Replacing the bricks in the front took about 3 hours with both of us working on it.  We stopped at noon because it was getting really hot outside.  This morning I started working on the garden bed in the back yard.  No joke, this took me an hour.  I had to pull out one of those black edging things, cut away grass, and then refill and level each hole.  I only got 6 done until I retreated inside.  Later on we are going to go out on Lake St Clair and ride the jet skiis.  Richard has been waiting for it for a while now :)

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend.  Stay cool!

Sturgeon!!

This also has nothing to do with quilting, or fabric, or sewing, but it is the highlight of my week!

SO I'm working on this huge project that is super important for helping sturgeon rebound in the area between Lake Huron and Lake Erie in the Great Lakes.  {Here is some information about it, and a pretty AWESOME video of sturgeon on the reef still in progress!}.  We were out yesterday and today doing the St Clair River Egg mat survey (where we go look for spawning activity) and found these little beauties on the reef that is being built!

Sturgeon eggs!

Difficult to see, but a sturgeon is hatching!!

So fantastic that I just had to share.  It totally makes me feel like I am making a difference in my job by improving one of our most important resources!

One more sad post and then I'm done. Probably.

My grandma passed away early Saturday morning.  I got the phone call at 2am and we weren't really expecting it so fast.  We are in the process of setting arrangements and collecting her things which has been horrible.  She has a boyfriend she was living with and paying $600 a month to him for rent and now he is stealing her jewelry and any valuables she had.  Yesterday his daughter in law had enough in her to stand right in front of me wearing my grandma's necklace that she wore everyday of my life.  I am just so upset about it.  The happier side is that I was able to go through my parents pictures and found some really neat ones.


My grandma and my {real/biological} grandpa {passed away before I was born} on their wedding day

Grandma and Grandpa

 

Grandma and her son (my dad) before I was born/when I was very young

My mom back in the day at the Natural Resource Conservation Service as a waterways engineer {This is my absolute favorite photo of her and I'm planning on stealing it shortly to hang in my house}

My dad in his tackle shop he used to have

My mom feeding their racing pigeons way back when


I never got to meet my dad's dad and was pretty excited to see those photos.  It brought back some good memories for my dad that he talked about with me and I was happy that it brought a little light to the situation.  I attempted to bring out my sewing yesterday morning (since it lives with me in my car right now) but I was foiled in my attempts by ever present tasks to do!  I get to go home tonight to my DH and can hardly wait!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

28 Hours

You know how people claim they get "second winds" after being awake for a long time?  Well I've been up for 28 hours now and it took 4 cups of coffee to get one!  Plus the whole sun rising thing kind of helped out too.  I worked a night shift last night looking for larval {baby} sturgeon and am headed back up to Grand Rapids.  We are not expecting my Grandma to make it too much longer and I just wanted to say thank you for all of your kind words, I appreciate them even if I have not had a chance to respond.  Yesterday when I was packing I would head to a room, forget what I was doing, and then go look for something else.  I'm sure none of my clothes match and I'm probably missing something important like underpants.  But those are overrated anyways.  Just kidding...  Hopefully there will be something fascinating soon! 

{PS, Sara at Sew Sweetness made this fantastic bag out of her NY Beauty blocks.  What a fantastic idea!!}

The universe knows.

Get a load of this:

I think that the universe knows Sliced Apples begins this week.  What it should say is "A good time to start something new and fall terribly behind on it."  Perhaps it has bigger expectations of my free time than laundry and cleaning!

I traveled across the state again this weekend to visit my grandma (where I got the above fortune at dinner).  She is still in ICU and had to abruptly undergo a third surgery last night to attempt to clean out an abscess in her throat.  She went in at 10pm and came out at 11:15pm but we didn't have an opportunity to see her wake up since we were all dragging and still had to drive back to Lansing.  We are hoping this is the last time she will have to have this kind of surgery but you never know.  The infectious disease team said that the blood infection is under control but that there are still effects in her organs.  The newest deveopments are an infection in her heart valve and the chance that she may have had a stroke.  It's really hard to see my dad (her son) in this.  He is stubborn and tough so it kills my sister and I to see him go through this- it's like watching a rock crack.  I can only hope it gets better quickly!

Saturday was also my birthday!  I headed east to home Sauurday afternoon and made plans for myself to stop at Creative Quilt Kits in Brighton!  I've wanted to go for a while but every time I pass through ends up being after (or before) hours.  I even managed to sneak my stash in without DH seeing :)

He also got the hint and got me the ice cream cake I've been asking for.  I forgot to take one before I began to devour it, but you get the picture!

It's so good I nearly cried

I hope you all had a lovely weekend!

Life just won't stop!

I can never seem to find enough time to sew these days!  This weekend I had big plans to visit my family back in Lansing {and visit a few quilt shops} on Saturday but just as we got there we got a call that my grandma was in the ER at a hospital in Reed City and was going to be transferred to Grand Rapids.  We took off Saturday from Lansing and found our way to GR to visit.  She was unresponsive but we stayed late and eventually ventured off to find a hotel.  We called 6 hotels and managed to find the ONLY room left in 20 miles!  I was so thankful when we checked in at 11 that I was beside myself.  Richard had said why we were in town and in the morning we found a card with free breakfast for us slid under the door with our bill.  I was just so astonished and thankful to those ladies at the front desk.  When we left they weren't there but I fully plan on writing them a thank you.

Sunday we went back to the hospital to get the update on her condition.  We were there for a couple of hours before I ever found out that she had woken up a few times and was responding!  She was shortly taken in for surgery to clear an abyss on her throat and to relieve pressure on her spinal column both due to infection that has spread to her blood.  The surgeons said that she made it through wonderfully so we are crossing our fingers for recovery and we are all expecting the best.  I will more than likely be back in Grand Rapids this weekend so there may not be any progress on my projects.  Hopefully sliced apples doesn't start this week- I would hate to be behind in the first week!

Sliced Apples Fabric!!!

I went to my quilting group last night and brought home my Little Apples fabric {the charm packs at least} for the Sliced Apples QAL!  I'm already excited to start a new project, and of course my wonderful friend Pam is putting it on with her friend Cori, so what more incentive do I need?  I'm so happy that I could be one of the first into join in and support them!

I was really going back and fourth over what to do with the fabric choice because I really hate the green color.  Don't get me wrong- it has some GREAT prints in it, but the color of the green itself irks me.  I love me some nice rich green, not silly olive!  Anyways!  I thought about just buying yardage of the prints I really love in the line (like the little turtles I simply adore), but in the end I went with the original design.  I saw the quilt top in person and it really looks fantastic the way it is, with olive and all!

Don't you just love them?

I may just buy myself some of these little guys to have all to myself :)

 I have no real need for this quilt since I have a couple others in progress and have no little ones in the family yet to give it to so I think I may donate it if nothing else comes up {ie no one I know gets pregnant!}.  I'm going to have to do some research into it but I think there are some hospitals that will accept quilts and distribute them...?  If you have a charity you like, let me know!  I don't mind shipping.

I took today off to spend some time with the hubby since Monday was our 1st anniversary and I haven't had much of a chance to see him this week.  We went out to dinner after work and he brought me these lovelies :)

Unfortunately he got a big project at work and then spent Tuesday and Wednesday living there.  Literally.  He didn't come home until 1AM last night and he left for work at 6AM that morning.  So now that I am enjoying his presence today I decided that we needed to make progress on the yard!  I went out to measure our garden beds for new landscaping bricks and just about melted into a puddle.  I've retreated and am rethinking loading those 160 landscaping bricks into our truck at Lowe's and hauling them back.  Definitely an another day kind of project so instead I think I may sew some more MSU quilt for a little while!

I hope you all are having a lovely week!

The "S" is done!

Well, I had a couple of goals this weekend and one of them was to complete the "S" on the MSU quilt!  And I did it!  I'm SO happy that I actually spent time on it! 

I did a huge stack all at once so it went pretty quickly {kind of} rather than doing it in 10's like I had been and this is what I got to at the end of the weekend :)

I also puttered around the yard a bit and decided to start my rain barrel.  I got a big barrel from work and have been waiting for a Lowe's coupon to get all of the attachments.  I painted it this weekend and hopefully I can construct it next weekend and start getting some water!

Before

After

I wish I would have gotten to it sooner sine the weather this week here is going to be pretty dreary.  It's storming right now as a matter of fact!

I hope you all had a lovely weekend!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

I've made two more NY Beauty blocks and I may have finally decided on 4 to put together to give to my sister for Christmas as a wall hanging.  Hopefully I will get them sewed together this weekend but have actually picked up my MSU quilt this weekend and am chugging away on that instead!

Another block 8

Block 7

I like the all white but...

I just can't decide if I like this combo better!

Last weekend my mom came down and helped me prime my upstairs bathroom.  It's a room that I had previously ripped off the wallpaper and left for dead but with the nice weather I thought I should revive it.  Plus, Sherwin Williams had a fantastic sale this weekend with 40% off!  Incentive enough!  It doesn't look like much yet but you better believe that when I have time to actually paint, it will be stunning!

No more sea creatures!

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend!

I'm a Liebster!

MB from MB in MI nominated me for a Liebster Blog Award!  Thank you bunches for having me as a favorite :)

I have five "little" blogs that I follow and that I think deserve a Liebster {I know MB nominated me but she is my top "small blog" stalking spot so I just had to put her on my list :) }

MB at MB in MI
Terri at UFOs & UBIs- my crafty blog
Tami at Tami's Tiki Hut
Leah at Quilted Delights
Jenna at Sew Happy Geek

{two of them I have saved in my favorites tab so you may have never seen them on my activity and I'm not sure if Jenna has more than 200 followers since I have no idea how her blog works, but she is great anyways!}

Here's some more info about the Liebster;
The Liebster Award (Liebster means favorite in German) is for bloggers with 200 followers or less. As a recipient of the award, you have the chance to thank and link back to the blogger who gave it to you as well as pass it along to five other deserving blogs.

The Liebster Conventions say:
1. Thank your award presenter on your blog and link back to him/her
2. Copy and paste the award to your blog
3. Present the Liebster Award to 5 blogs that you think deserve to be recognized
4. Let them know by leaving a comment on their blog
5. Have faith that your follower will spread the love too !

Thank you again for reading my blog!

Sliced Apples QAL!

I've joined a new QAL that Mama Spark and Cori have put up.  It uses the Little Apples line from Moda.  If you don't have this fabric (or any fabric really) and want to play along with the little apples line you can buy the fabric from Cori herself at her wonderful shop!  I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep up since I am behind on all of my other projects, but why not :)



Stop on over to either Mama Spark or Cori's blog for more info and let them know you are playing along!  And don't forget to join the Flickr group {Sliced Apples QAL} and post pictures of your progress.  You might be the one to win the prize!

FNSI -- April 2012

This Friday Night Sew In was dedicated to ConKerr cancer.  I made two pillow cases for it and sent them off to WI to be distributed.  I really wanted to make some for older kids because I feel like many of us get sucked into the "OMG, this fabric is so adorable" vortex-- which is fine, of course, but I really wanted to NOT do that.  I failed.

I made one for a girl and one for a boy {in theory} and I had the hardest time finding something that would fit a teenage boy.  I settled on trains for a younger audience because I just could not sew ugly male-orientated fabrics together.  It probably would have destroyed me.  I did find this fantastic bird print for a female audience that I am happy to say should suit everyone since I wanted to keep the pillow case for myself and I'll be 25 next month!

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend!

I'm Beat!

Last weekend I did NOT got a lot done.  That stack of green squares from before was abandoned and has stayed that way.  I started a stack of white ones and those too are sadly ignored.  I did manage to make another NY Beauty block though {Block 8}.  It's not my favorite but I can always put that one in with my gift version and no one will be the wiser... except you all... so don't tell.

Please excuse the non-pressed nature!

In other news, field season this year is going to put me under- I just know it.  So far it's been four weeks and I'm already dragging!  I think that the weather isn't helping much since I'd so much rather be outside putzing around than inside doing anything :)

 I finally dug up a bush stump in the front of our house and planted some lily of the valley.  I also wanted to plant some hostas there but couldn't find bulbs anywhere!  I checked three stores and no one had them!  Lowes only has annual seeds and a ton of nursery plants, Home Depot has some bulbs but no seeds, and meijer only has seeds!  I know I'm squeaky cheap when I can't bring myself to buy two hostas for $4 each.  I told my mom about it and she said that she has some I can dig up and bring to my house since she doesn't really want them.  Perfect!  DH did let me buy these pretty things though {already had the pots} since I am currently hosta-less.

Porch Planters!

This weekend the only sewing I did was to patch my pair of work jeans, but I did organize my shelves of fabric!

o.m.g.

Behold, the beauty of the mini-bolt!  I got the idea here.  It is fantastic!  I didn't use comic book boards though because I didn't want to spend money on it so I sliced up about 4 cardboard boxes we had around the house of various sizes.  I used 8"x11" for 1+ yds, 6.5-7"x11" for 1/2 yds, and 6"x9" for my 1/4 yds (I did these flipped from the others) and it turned out really well.  I didn't need them to be perfect so this worked just fine for me and I got to use the most out of each box :)

I have no idea how I lived before

When I was going through all of that fantastic fabric, I came across a bunch that Mama Spark gifted me so I can create my own Noah's ark quilt since she made one that I adore so much!  She really is amazing and I'm so lucky to have her as my teacher!!

Thank you again!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

My Beauties!

I am loving this NY Beauty QAL!  I'm behind but I'm getting better at sewing curves and one of the tuts in the series had great advice for making sure the block is square in the end which I am benefiting from.  I made two blocks this weekend, one sister to block 5 that I already had made and then block 1.  I really, really love my sister blocks.  I may make 2 more of the same just because I like them so much!

NY Beauty Block 1

NY Beauty Block 5- Sister

NY Beauties so far :)

I am also trying to make progress on the MSU quilt for my dad.  My stack of completed blocks is pitifully small so I think I'm going to try to make 20 each weekend and see where that takes me.  I made one round of 10 yesterday and am still working on my second round of 10 today.  I will soon be playing out in my yard though, weeding and what-not.  Because our winter was so mild I have some snap dragons that survived as well as some pansies and another random flower I don't really know what it is..  I'm super happy about the pansies though, they are adorable :)

Baby stack

finish, finish, finish!

I hope you all had a lovely weekend!