still here

November and December are always busy when you work retail.  I started working full time in January.  This and homeschooling has really made me tired.  Too tired most nights to drag anything out to work on.  I've pulled out some hand items to work on and organized them in a bag next to my chair.  I'm also still working on Courtnee's quilt.  Hand quilting takes a while, especially when you don't work on it for months.  So, my focus is to get this quilted this summer and hopefully start quilting Kailyn's quilt.  Tylar likes the Sunbonnet Sue blocks I've worked on so I need to finish those up to start quilting that for her.  

First things first though, I need to get my house in order.  Time to spring clean and declutter.  Its getting crowded in here with all this stuff.  I hope to clean a lot out this summer to enter the winter months in a much better spot and frame of mind.  The schoolroom will also be transformed this summer into a family room with school items in a corner.  This should make a big difference.  I can't get things done when I am overwhelmed with the house being messy and disorganized.

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Fall is here.....already!

I am so excited.  The kids got me a gift certificate at a quilt shop for my birthday.  I went on a weekend when it was 25% off and got the supplies to make two really cute wallhangings.  I would take pictures of the kits but I am too tired to drag out the camera.

I am working a lot lately.  I am now the shoe lead at the local Kohl's store.  I like it.  It's been pretty busy lately and I like to keep busy.  The department hasn't had a lead in a while so there were some fires to put out and I'm just now (six weeks later) getting things under control.  It will take a little bit more to get everything squared away but that's okay.  Keeps me busy.

With the garden wrapping up and homeschooling starting, I haven't quilted at all lately.  I hope to have Courtnee's quilt quilted by the end of October but we will see how it goes I guess.  

Take care and have a wonderful week!

13 months

It has been 13 months since I last posted.  Probably longer since I've done any quilting.  That saddens me deeply.  Quilting is a great creative outlet for me and an opportunity for me to have some "me" time.  It seems as the kids get older I have less time than when they were little.

I'm still homeschooling and that takes up a good chunk of my days.  I was also attending school online full-time since last summer.  And I started working a part time job in December.  I have many things to do here, around the farm also.  There just never seems to be enough time in the day to get everything done.

The garden is planted but we've had five inches of rain since Monday.  I'm successfully growing a bumper crop of weeds.  The flower beds haven't been touched yet (We had a very late winter here and then 6 inches of rain in May that I'm still trying to play catch up from.) I want to redo the flower beds so it may be August before those are done.

We bought 3 more goats (7 total now) and bought 3 pregnant cows.  One has calved and we bought a bottle feed from a neighbor.  We bought 35 laying hens.  My slackers from the past few years, stopped laying well last year and so we have new fresh hens, although it will be September before we have eggs.  We also bought 110 meat birds.  I found a couple that will butcher them very cheaply so we went with it.  Only 55 of the birds are ours, the rest are for 2 friends and Kevin's cousin.  

I have several projects I want to get done this summer.  Many are quilting projects but I really want to organize my genealogy stuff and enter in all the sources that I have.  I also want to get some scrapbooking done as Hallie graduates this next June and I want to have most of it done and not be scrambling.  

I hope to keep up with my blogging more and of course, my quilting.

Have a wonderful day!

I'm backkkkkkkkk.....

As our school year winds down, I find myself very busy indeed.

• I've been working for about two weeks already, with four more to go, on scoring standardized testing online.  Its a nice way to stock up some money for my trip this summer
• I've also started working at the local greenhouse (and so are the two oldest girls).  I only work two mornings a week for a few hours and only for a few weeks during the busy season.  Its enough money to pay for my veggies and hopefully some flowers too as I need to redo some of the beds.
• I start school again full-time in June.  I'm looking forward to completing my degree in history.
• The girls and I will be traveling to NY to see my family in July.  I'm excited.  I haven't been home in ten years.  When you have a large family and live on opposite coasts or different countries, its hard to afford to travel home.  It was cheaper for us to pay for my mom's ticket to come and see us.
•  I signed up for a quilting club at my local quilt shop!!!  I'm hoping to finish a few, quick projects and meet some new friends.  Here's the book the club will be working from:
  
   

• I'll be getting the garden ready this week for veggie planting.  Let the season of weeding and then freezing and canning begin!!

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Gearing up for Christmas

I need to find my tablet so I can take pictures to upload with all my Christmas projects.  I've been busy making Christmas mug rugs for gifts, table runners for the house, wallhangings for the house, and knitting cowls for gifts.  Its been quite busy but I've been enjoying it alot.  I love doing hand work.

The littles lost my tablet somewhere and my phone is a "dumb" phone with talk and text only.  These are the times when I wish I had a smart phone.

The girls and I also made ugly Christmas sweaters for our American Heritage girls Christmas party tomorrow night.  I have to say, that they are pretty ugly.  We bought supplies from the dollar store and $4 shirts from Walmart. I'll try to post pictures of them too.

Enjoy everyone!

Gearing up for Christmas

I just received a box from Mary Maxim today full of wonderful yarn to make some cowls for Christmas gifts.  I plan on starting them today.

This weekend, I plan on starting a Christmas wallhanging, table runner, and placemats for my home.  I also plan on making a quilt for my hubby and some table runners as gifts.  

I haven't quilted in months and I'm just giddy looking at all of my Christmas fabrics and patterns.  I cannot decide what I want to work on first or with which fabric.

I am so very excited!!

Finally.....the end of a long and very busy road

These last few years have been really hard and really busy.  Trying to homeschool the kids and living virtually on our own for the last almost four years has been difficult.  Kevin retires at the end of this month and will finally be home.  I am so excited to have him home!!

This year has been busy for other reasons.  Our eldest graduated and starts at the community college next month.  And my step-son got married to his beautiful bride last month.  

Between all this and trying to get the garden in, I haven't sat down much this summer.  Once we return from hubby's retirement ceremony, the garden will be coming in strong and canning season will start.  In fact, I've already canned some strawberry jam, strawberry-kiwi jam, and some cherry jam.  I love jam.  So easy and fun to do!

In between all of this, I have to finish up hubby's active duty scrapbook.  Thankfully, its all patriotic so it shouldn't take too long to do.  I'm focusing on it one day this week and hope to get it down.  I also completed this wallhanging to honor his service:

 My dear friend blessed me with the embroidery.  I had asked if she could do his name, rank, and dates of service, and she sent the others to me also.  What a huge blessing!  I'm working on quilting it now.  I had quilt but its not that large and moving along quite nicely.  

I'm excited to have some more time to work on some quilts, wallhangings, and table runners that I've had stocked up to decorate my home with.  I have not had the time to do that and its been disappointing for me.  I'm happen to get some time soon!

Enjoy your fourth!!