A Chance To Quilt...

This Labor weekend brings with it some quiet and rest and a chance to quilt, which I have not had a chance to do for quite some time. I have a yummy pile of quilt tops ready to be quilted, but they have sat patiently waiting for a weekend such as this. My husband a girls are actually camping and the boys are home with me;) Love the uniqueness of that!! Cole really just wanted some quiet time to finish some books he has been reading and will not have time to read once we jump into school this week. Noah is still just a bit too young for long hikes which the girls and Matt are looking forward to while camping. So while Noah is intriqued and fascinated with a huge marble tower Cole built for him and Cole is catching up on a preseason football game we recorded, I took advantage of the time to finish this quilt. It was a simple quilt that was pure therapy and relaxation. It was made from vintage bed linens, showcasing the gorgeous, large blooms. I may be wrong, but i believe it is a Vera design. I used a fun yellow butterfly print for the back. Simple free motion quilting and a striped binding. Perfect little baby quilt or wallhanging.

Have a wonderful Labor Day Weekend!!!

A Most precious Gift From Jesus...

Matt and I started our ministry together right after our second anniversary, it was at a little CMA church in Wadena MN. Little did we know then that we would take away from our time there some of our most precious friends, who at the time, were our students! It has been one of the most incredible designs from the Lord that I have seen unfold over the past 12 years. Well, it has been almost eight years since we moved to our current church in IL. But this past month we were incredibly blessed to have two of our "girls" from MN and their soulmates come and stay with us for the weekend. Matt said he saw life come back into me as soon as they stepped in our door, I think he is right. It was a weeknd just filled with laughing, sharing, and new memories. It was so amazing to see who the Lord had picked out for the girls as their soulmates, ones we came to simply adore whole heartedly. It was fun to talk about old memories, fill in the gaps to some of the stories, share the new journeys we have all been on, and tighten that bond of friendship even more. The second day they were here, I think I must have had tears stream down my face with almost every conversation because I was just so filled with gratitude for their friendships. Monika, Nicole and I had some girl time to create down in my studio which was amazing to have such kindred creative spirits to toss around ideas with. These sweeties used to come over to my home when they were teenagers and we would plan out things for me to make them for their next youth trip. It totally warmed my heart to see Monika carry in her pillow with the pillowcase I had made her back when she was in highschool. I still have scraps from things I had made them 10 years ago because they bring back such fun memories of trips to the fabric store with them. And this time we had fun planning out some things for Monikas upcoming wedding, and after.

We took a hike to our Phillips park zoo which was an especially big hit with Jay who was greatly intrigued with the mastodon museum there-very fun!

We had a fun lunch at red Robins and a lively game of Risk later in the evening.
Jay, Nicole, and Bell(who was their hot roller during the game) playing RISK.
Steve and Monika -I don't know Steve, you might be taking this game a little too seriously;)

I told the girls later that I feel like our kiddos got to see some of the best parts of us that weekend. It was so fun to see our children take so fondly to all of them! Nicole had babysat quite often for us in MN, but it was just Cole and Madi back then! Monika came to see us in the hospital when Joslyn was born and I remember so vividly her holding Josie, And Josie was only 6 months when we moved, and she is 8 now- so there was quite a bit of catching up to do with our family, but it felt like no time had passed, and our kids warmed up so quickly as if they had always known them.
Sunday morning the gang made breakfast for us before they headed home, that kitchen was filled with laughter and now seems a bit lonely without them.
And we were all graced with one of Nicole's famous chocolate cakes-IT WAS AMAZING!!! MORE PLEASE;) Nicole is a fabulous baker/chef-but that is of no surprise, she is absolutely amazing at anything she touches!
Monika is an amazing photographer and it was fun to watch her mind work. She can capture beauty at it's best. I could stare at her photos for hours. God has richly blessed her with this gift.

I wish now, looking back, that I had had my camera stuck to my face because it is fun to remember the weekend and to see their blessed faces, but I am glad that those moment s remain in my heart and mind. it was a real gift from the Lord, and our house feels a bit more like home now that they have been here. Only trouble is that my heart aches even more now with missing them. We will be seeing them again at least in May for Monika's wedding!!

Painting and Planting

Awhile back I had shared about the redo of our bedroom. We went from a cave of darkness to the bright lights of summertime. I have gradually been moving out of the dark colors into the lighter sides. I think a lot of that began in my last pregnancy when I was in bed for the first 5 months staring at the same walls day in and day out. As soon as I was on my feet again, the deep reds, golds, and greens began to disappear and be replaced with light yellows, blues, and cottage greens. I think I needed to feel I was outside amongst life. Just a theory, who knows, maybe it was just time for change:)-but our bedroom finally got painted a few months ago and I have been slowly redoing the furniture in it as well. How strange it was to actually wake up to walls of sunlight instead of opening my eyes and not knowing if it was day or night!

So, it is the holiday weekend-yeah!! And after getting through some of the kiddos activities we have some TIME! I have been "patiently" waiting-not really, to plant our gardens. And this is the weekend!! But-I still have to be patient as my husband gets up the new fencing for them. Our first year here I planted the garden with no fence and the next day, my lovely veggies were gone! So, being ever so intelligent, I ran out to the store and bought some more and planted them-yes, you guessed it-they grew into beautiful yummy veggies-NOT! They got eaten again-so I was not the smartest cookie-but I finally learned my lesson. We put of a fence BEFORE planting again. So, while my husband is getting that fence put up, I have another fun project for my room! I know you were wondering how I could go from painting to gardening in the same paragraph, that is how. See, don't they totally go together?! Painting and planting-humh-who would have thought. So , have I confused you yet?

Well, here are some pictures of my painting project this weekend. It is a dresser for my husband. It is about time, considering half of his drawers have no pulls on them, the drawers are falling apart and, let's just be honest here...it is a great way to get him to finally clean out his stuff! The dresser was picked up for 23.00. It has the retro gold thing going, but what I love is the details and curves and the FEET! ahhh, such pretty feet. So after spending the last 4 years cleaning out my garage(haha) I finally have some room to work in the fresh air while the kids play outside and Matt -YES-puts up the gardens fences. I will post updates as long as my plans actually play through!