I'm Back

We've been up in the Northwest visiting family and friends. We spent a couple days at the beach which means a visit to the Latimer Quilt and textile center. Here are a few of the lovely quilts that were on display. DD took pictures for me. It was a way to keep her entertained while I looked longer than she wanted. I think she did a wonderful job.

The spinners were meeting on the day we visited. They were creating some lovely things. This amazing lady took time to show DD how she made yarn and told us a little of her travels. She has been all over the world on a sailboat. She takes this portable spinning wheel with her on her travels. We really enjoyed her stories.
The boys went out crabbing. For some strange reason Latimer's is not their favorite place to spend time. They caught a few crabs. The tides were not the best for crabbing but they had a great time. Here are the fishermen.
And here they are cleaning their catch. How this can be funner than Latimer's I'll never know.

Happy Birthday Family

In my family there are 12 birthdays in May and June. Since my parents live five hours away rather than come up 12 separate times they come up for one big celebration. We just had a big birthday bash. Happy Birthday Grandma, Alex, Ethan, Abby, Pat, Anna, Lori, Josh,

Jenni, Tyler, Amy, and me.

Look at this beautiful chest my dad made me for my birthday. Isn't he amazing. Now I need to get busy and fill it. Sorry for the grainy pictures. It is early and overcast. Not a lot of light happening here.

On Pins and Needles

I have been felting and playing with felted wool for a little while now and was asked to teach a class for the ladies in my neighborhood. I had made a tote. You may remember it here. But I felt (no pun intended) that a little more variety would be nice so I made a few pin cushions. Here is a little teacup and saucer. It was very fun to make. I also made this simple one. I like simple.

I am enjoying making pin cushions. I need to finish up one for my swap partner and get it in the mail by the end of the week. Better get off this computer and start stitching. Have a great day!

Em

This Is The Place

I was feeling bad that I used to take the boys when they were little on field trips once a week in the summer and I have not done this for my DD. The boys are older and are not interested on going on field trips with mom. I have a large gap in the ages of my boys and my DD. So while she is still quite young they are teenagers and too cool for such things. So I told DD that we would go on field trips this summer. Yesterday was our first. We visited This is the Place Heritage Park, and had a wonderful time. We arrived early and rode the train to the village. Our first stop was the school house. Here is a reader that was on the desk. We listened to the teacher tell us about what school would have been like back then.

Next we went on pony rides and visited the petting zoo. Look at this sweet lamb.

I enjoyed seeing the old quilts in the houses and cabins.

I really like the design in this one.

We also visited the grist mill, the black smith, the drug store, a tee pee and a hogan, a wood working shop, and the newspaper office. It was a delightful day. I'm looking forward to a fun summer of field trips with my DD. Should make for some wonderful memories.

The Eagle Has Landed

After a whirl wind week of field trips, sales calls, graduation ceremonies, and decorating for the all night senior party. (Can I just say I thought my fingers would never be the same after tying 200 balloons.) We are settling into our summer routine and I finally found a few moments yesterday to sew.

I finished the needle punch eagle. Made the checker board border. And sewed it all together with the log cabin blocks I made earlier. Josh is pleased the with progress so far.

Now a few more checker boards, a couple rows for awards and Josh's eagle quilt will be well under way.

It's Official

It's official Alex is 18. An adult. At least in societies eyes. I am not ready to admit that I have a child that is an adult. Where did the years go? Tomorrow he graduates. Two big days so close together. WOW! How fitting of Alex. We were up late last night finishing an engineering project. Once again I was getting after him for procrastinating. At least this time he didn't give me his favorite line. "If you wait to the last minute it only takes a minute." Not exactly the words of wisdom I want him to live by. Now a big thank you to Melanie from Jellybeanangel She sent me this lovely package. Such a delight. A darling chicken pin cushion. Fun tea towel. Yummy treats. I don't know how she knew but hot cocoa is my all time favorite. When I let the kids pick a cookie to put in their lunch. Alex wanted to make sure I let Melanie know how cool he thought she was. So I'm letting you know, Melanie, you are soo cool. It's official. Alex said so.

DD Sets up Shop

Today is buy and sell day at my DD's school. For the last month the children have been earning school money to spend. They are also to make something at home that they can sell.We have spent the weekend getting ready. I helped her make some bookmarks. We have fun frilly ones for the girls and BYU and UofU ones for the boys. These are the local college rivals, for anyone not familiar with this great Utah rivalry.

DD has also decided to take some petrified wood that we found while down visiting Grandma and Grandpa.

It should be a fun day. I hope she has tons of success. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.