A Month (or two) of Sundays . . . .

Have gone by since my last post.  How have you all been?
Our kitchen remodel project finally got off the ground two weeks ago.  All I can say is, what a mess!  I have never seen so much dust . . . And I live in the desert!  Ha!
Before they came to demolition my kitchen, I spent a lovely couple of days feverishly putting together a couple of quilt tops to send to my sister for quilting.
Alas, they still are sitting in my sewing room, waiting to be put in the mail!  I keep thinking I will finish this next one and add it to the box.
Speaking of the next one. . . .  Grand baby #14 was born yesterday morning!  She is absolutely beautiful!  Addison Rae Rayes joined us just before 10am yesterday morning weighing in just shy of 8# and measuring 19.5 inches long.    The quilt unfinished is for her!

A sneak peak at starting Addison's quilt:

Of course every good quilter needs sustenance to get her through the project!  :)

Here is Ethan's top.  I call it "Thinking outside the Square"

Not a great photo but I embroidered all the cars and moving vehicles, then appliqued them onto the fabric.  I just had to add the crayon borders!

And here is the quilt I put together in a day!

It is a jelly roll quilt made from Riley Blake's Beaujolais line.  This photo does not do it justice! The fabrics are absolutely gorgeous!


Well, I am off to work in Idaho tomorrow.  No quilting for a while.  Hopefully when I come home Friday evening, my new kitchen counters will be in!
Til next time!

Hello Again!

Wow! I cannot believe it has been a whole year since I wrote.  An awful lot has happened in the last year.

• Megan and Calvin were married in June. (Daughter, child #4)
• Twin granddaughters - Abby and Bethy were born August 23rd in Denver. (Nick and Kathryn's children - this makes 6 for them).
• Nathan and Casie were married in September. (Son, child #6)
• I changed positions with my company in September.
• My father in law passed away at the age of 93 on November 9th.
• Most of my children came home for the funeral of their Grandfather on November 20th. 
• We celebrated the birth of grandson Hudson on November 28th. (Grandchild #12)
• Then Hudson passed away and went to be with our Lord on November 28th  (he was with us for 8 1/2 hours). (Hannah and Luke's son).
• Funeral for Hudson on Saturday, December 5th. (Columbus, Ohio)
• Burial of my Father in law on December 12th (Globe, Arizona)
• The Holidays descended upon us but we didn't feel much like celebrating.  THEN, on Christmas night, Nathan and Casie came to our house and told us they were expecting in July!
• Grandson Ethan Rayes was born on January 27th in Phoenix.  All I can say is I have the most AMAZING daughter in law as she understood the uncontrollable tears I shed as I held Ethan and rejoiced in his perfectness while grieving the loss of Hudson at the same time!  Victoria, you are truly a gem and a blessing not only to me, but to my son and my grandchildren!
• Hannah came out for a brief visit in February and looked absolutely amazing!
• Hannah and Luke informed us in March they are expecting a baby girl in November!
• My wonderful friend, Kim, and her husband made their way to Arizona in March and we were able to spend two afternoons together  What an absolute blessing!!

Those are the highlights!  That has a lot to do with why I have not written.  It isn't due to not thinking about it, there were many times I wanted to write but chose not to because I was emotionally or physically drained.

On the work front, I left the Compliance team for the company I work for (The Ensign Group), and accepted a position as the Director of Clinical Services for the Assisted Living part of our Company (Bridgestone Living).  Basically, I lived in Wisconsin for 6 months!  (many, many flights back and forth with a couple of random others to Nevada, Idaho, and Kansas).  We had rented out the same hotel suite for 6 solid months!  It was home away from home for three of us!  We would leave our heavy winter clothing there on the weekends, sometimes not even bothering to bring a suitcase home!  Then there were many weekends we spent in Wisconsin as there was much work to do and the trip back home would take too long  :(!
We gave up room 219 at the Comfort Inn and Suites in Milwaukee on February 19th!  And then my team celebrated with a short cruise to Ensenada, Mexico!

Ahhh, but on the sewing front . . .
Through all of the joy and sorrows, I was able to continue to work on quilts.  I made one for Hudson, I made one for a co-worker who became a grandmother for the first time, and I have almost completed the top of a quilt for my grandson Ethan!

My sister Diane and I met up in Salt Lake City just two weeks ago for the Spring Quilt Market and purchased some yummy fabrics for CaDi Corners!  I am back to planning projects that will most likely not get done   :)  but this is my therapy and I absolutely love it!

I had a particularly grueling week up in Idaho for work a week ago and while I was gone, my daughters and daughter in law moved ALL of my sewing "stuff" into a spare bedroom.  What a ton of work that was!  You see, we are getting ready to have our kitchen remodeled and the started out cleaning out my cabinets - then moved on to the sewing area.

I have been so excited to have my "Mom Cave" that I actually whipped up a small project Monday.  I have been meaning to do this for a couple of years.  Very simple really!   A clothespin bag!
Yup!  You can't live in Arizona and NOT hang out laundry.  Good grief, things dry in just a couple of minutes!

Here is a photo:

I will attempt to write more frequently.  No promises - but I would like to make this a regular habit for Sunday afternoons!

See you later. . .