Left Over Blocks

What does one do with leftover blocks that were made when you made that quilt way back when and now you have leftovers from many other quilts?

My grandmother saved lots of left over squares all from different quilts she has made over the years. Yes, they all have their own stories about what type of quilt it was, where it was made, who she gave it to. But all these blocks sat in a plastic bin at the bottom of the sewing room closet. As we cleaned out over Christmas break I decided I was going to take on a challenge.

I was going to take these left over blocks of hers and I was going to try to find something to do with them.

Well, here they sit. On top of a dresser in a pile that hasn't even been looked at. Maybe I will get to it some day but basketball has kept me extremly busy lately. I can't ask for a better thing to keep me busy.

She has many different blocks.....

Leaves

and...... more leaves

flying geese

yellow brick road blocks

and more.

and others that I didn't feel like undertaking the challenge for.  So those ones I didn't feel like taking the challenge for I left in the closet at my grandmothers.  For now she doesn't have any interest in doing anything with them but maybe some day there will be a perfect situation for them.  

So for now.....they are still sitting on the dresser.  Sometime in the future I might find something for them, and some way to put them together.  I can't seem to get myself to pick them up and try to do something with them just yet but right now I have many other projects that I need to get working on!

Winter Ride

This winter has been filled with different fun times.  This fun time is from January 22nd.  Ryan and I met at my mom and dad's house first thing in the morning then was joined also by Ryan's parents.  

So the 6 of us geared up and packed the snowmobiles with a few snacks, drinks and other supplies that we might need.

 

We stopped along the trail for a short break and some time to chat.  We rode 37 miles and had lunch.  Then we went the round about way to get home.  We  might have had a couple times where we might have possibly been lost but we weren't about to think we were lost we just investigated to find a trail.  

By the time we had gotten home "mother in-law" had enough and parked her snowmobile right in the snow bank.  We had gone for a ride totaling 90 miles.  It was so much fun.  It was great to be able to spend the entire day snowmobiling with my parents and also with Ryan's parents.  

Sunday both dad's and Ryan and I also took another 50 mile ride.  I am so glad we had gotten the nice weather to be able to go for a ride.  It was a bit chilly but we bundled up nicely and enjoyed the great times.  

Hopefully we will be able to enjoy another ride sometime in the near future.  I love the winter and enjoy being outside as much as I can!

Weekend Winter Fun

The weekend of my mother's birthday we had a winter fun weekend. Matthew and Stacie came and spent the weekend with my grandparents and many other people also came down to the house to enjoy the day.
Matthew liked the fact that he was able to be outside. Little did he know "Dwayne" would let him drive the snowmobile.

Stacie and I rode around in lots of circles that day!

For someone who didn't want to get all bundled up to go outside she sure didn't mind me taking pictures of her!

He was full of smiles all day!

Mom and the "mother in-law" also got out on the pond and enjoyed the weather.

And mom was excited about her new boots!

"Dwayne" took Stacie and Matthew for a ride in the sled behind the snowmobile.

Grampa enjoyed riding around with the kids all day!

And Matthew and Stacie also pulled each other around!

We did also catch some fish!

Gram even got out on the pond for the first time in 3 years!

More sled rides.

And a birthday to celebrate!

Snowy Afternoon

So the Office Bathroom was driving me nuts. Mom and I had discussed painting it and she had previously gone and gotten paint. So I decided what better to do on a snowy afternoon with nothing else to do.

This is what the bathroom looked like before I started tearing it apart.
That little swatch of paint is the color it is going to be.

And this is the finished product at the end of the night. I know the curtain needs to be put up and things need to be organized a pit more.

I definitly think I like this color rather than the dark bright blue we had before.

I had told my mom that I wanted to get this done and with the closing on my house coming right around the corner I knew there was no better time to work on it than now. I needed to get it done and I needed to get it done pronto before we needed to start construction on our own home!

A Special Birthday!

Today is a special Birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

Snow Day

So, I wake up this morning to a phone call saying that work was cancelled. As I go down stairs for the morning routine with the dog as Ryan gets ready for work I peak outside. It is NOT snowing! Why the heck do we call a snow day if it's not snowing! So Ryan gets ready and goes off to work and Sophie and I enjoy snuggle time on the couch watching tv. We enjoy mornings like this although it confuses Sophie.

So by 7:30 it did start snowing! And when it started it started coming down hard.

So today I think I will pay a visit to my grandparents.

Spend some time with my sewing machine.

And most important! Some time with Sophie!

By 1 this afternoon we were approaching a foot. After all the weather said we were only going to get 4-8". I will take all we can get.

I WANT my own!!!

I made 2 of these and gave them away for Christmas.  I was so bummed when I had to give them both up. I told Ryan and didn't want to get rid of them and he told me I must, but that I could go buy material to buy stuff to make my own!!!!

They are so versatile with being completely laminated and water proof.  They are fun to assemble and fun to use because you get many comments on them!  

They fit nicely in my car with the rest of the reusable bags and they are great to use to carry my belongings back and forth to camp.  

So as soon as basketball season settles down a little.......I will get to start on my new bag!

Quilt Room Cleaning

Over vacation it was decided that my grandmother wanted her sewing room cleaned. So my cousin and I got together to clean her sewing room. I knew it was going to be a slight task although my mother and I went through all of her fabric this summer and organized it into bins by size and color. So we didn't need to go through the bins and clean them up at all because they were still neat and tidy!

Gram's sewing table was quite a disaster. I was worried that we wouldn't get this table cleaned up and organized but I think my grandmother proved me wrong.

The closet was disorganized and there was some extra fabric that hadn't put it away and it just needed to be put away in the correct bin where it belonged.

We cleaned the dresser drawers. A lot of this was none quilting related. Bella had fun going through everything. I was excited to get one entire bag of trash out of four dresser drawers.

Bella was excited to go shopping at Gram's fabric store. She went home with lots of goodies to work on sewing projects of her own on her sewing machine.

By the end of the day Bella had quite the collection including a tv!


The closet looks mighty organized and everything is put in it's place.  This past summer my mother and I help arrange fabric and if you look on the bins that wonderful label maker was used to label the bins so we could easily find what we were loking for.  This has been awfully handy when I need a little fabric for something and I know the color I can just find the bin with that color!

The sewing table picked up very nicely.  We took the afternoon to clear off theh table them put back only the neccesities.  It looks so wonderful I just hope it stays this way for a little bit!

New Year

Every year the group of us go to a friends house and ring in the new year together.  This year we all enjoyed each others company although Ryan and I went home early.  We had some late nights and early mornings and I knew that I would rather be home comfy on my couch or in my bed to ring in the new year!

Grampa decided after looking at the treadmill that he wanted to walk for a bit.  He was funny to watch but he sure enjoyed it.  And I know he wishes he had one of these at his house so he could do this on a regular basis!

We made it till about 10:30 and that was long enoug  for me but while we were there we enjoyed the company of great friends and family.