A Wedding Gift

Forgive me for tooting my own horn here for a bit please.  But I made something.  And I'm really, kinda proud of it, and so I want to share it with you, k?

You see, I have this friend named Mindy, who is one of the smartest, sweetest, kindest people I know.  Mindy is the person at my office who we all call when there is something goofy going on with our computers.  She knows right away how to fix it up perfectly.  Mindy has been dating Jon for like a million years.  One day, not too long ago, like maybe only a thousand years ago, Jon finally decided to ask Mindy to be his wife.  Yay!  Mindy came into work the next day with a rock on her hand and a smile on her face that hasn't quit.

I knew right away that I wanted to make something for Mindy that would be very special.  The wheels in my brain started spinning immediately.  But the wedding wasn't going to be for over a year, so I had PLENTY of time to whip something together.

When word came out at work that there was a shower in the works for her and I hadn't started anything yet, I got a little worried.  I'd still be ok though, because the shower was over a month away. 

I decided on a quilt, so I started scouring the internet for something fun to do.  I picked a pattern and Morgan and I headed to the fabric store to pick out some material.  Alright!  The project has officially started!  Then it sat in the bag for about a week.  Plenty of time, right?

So when I finally decided it was time to get serious, I cut strips and strips of fabric,

And started sewing them together.  Then I ran out of the white fabric with the red flowers, and the red fabric.  So I went back to the store and counted my blessings that I could find the same patterns and buy more.  For the record, that NEVER happens.

Strips were sewn together, and Morgan helped me huge here with cutting them apart as they were attached to the growing squares.  And then I ran out of yellow fabric and brown fabric.  SONOFA!  (I was going to link to the site where I found the pattern for this, but clearly the measurements for how much fabric you will need are not quite accurate.  Google log cabin quilt if you are interested in finding a pattern similar to this!!)What were the chances I'd be able to go back to the store and find more of the same again?  Twice in one project?  I had my doubts.  The higher ups must have known how important this project was though, and how devistated I'd be if I wasn't able to finish it according to plan, because luck was certainly on my side.  I found both patterns again, and was able to get more.

More strips of fabric were sewn together to make squares.

Squares were sewn together to make rows.

Rows were sewn together to make a quilt.

The top was finished and all I could think of was how happy I was with how this was turning out and how I hoped Mindy and Jon would be happy with it as well.

All sewn together and ready to be quilted and bound.

Which was finished approximately 1.5 hours before the shower began.  No sweat.  Plenty of time.

Now for the fun part.  Giving the gift to the bride-to-be!  (Isn't she cute?)

This look.  This one.  THIS makes every single stitch worth it.  Every second of my time that went into this quilt had served it's purpose.  

Yes, I'm sorry Mindy that I didn't have time to clip all the strings and wash your quilt before giving it to you.  I, um, ran a little short on time and really needed to shower before your shower.  hehe.  (and why yes, that IS a birthday gift bag thankyouverymuch.  It served the purpose just fine, I think!)

I didn't think you'd mind too much.

Mindy, I really am honored to know you, and call you my friend.  Like I said in the card I attached to the gift, I hope you and Jon will snuggle under this blanket together for many, many years to come.  I'm so sorry we aren't able to make the journey out to Michigan to watch you and Jon become husband and wife, but know that I'll be thinking of you all day long on that special day.

Love you honey!!

XOXOX

NH

Somber

My mood is somber today.

The intent of this post is not to bring you down to this somber level with me, but to remind you of something very important.

I will be attending a funeral this afternoon for a friend who lost his mom to cancer this past weekend.  She was too young, and left a slew of family that will never get to hug her again.

I don't often talk about my religion, because honestly, I think I fall somewhere in the middle of all of them.  But I will say that it is comforting to me to believe in afterlife.  I believe that she is no longer fighting with those bad cells that chose her body to invade and take over.  She doesn't hurt anymore.  She will still get to watch her grandchildren graduate from high school, college, and walk down the aisle some day.  But on the other hand, it makes me sad to know that she won't be there physically to hug them.

It seems that whenever I lose someone close to me, the thing I think about the most is how I will miss their physical presence.  I lost my cousin Mark when I was 21.  He had very broad shoulders and huge strong arms and gave the best hugs in the world.  I remember thinking that there wasn't anything I could do to get just one more hug from him.  I couldn't pay anyone.  I couldn't get in my car and drive to see him.  I couldn't just wait until the next time we went to visit.  Because he wouldn't be there.  And I wouldn't get my hug.

I know it sounds cliche, but enjoy every minute of time that you spend with your friends and family.  Because you never know when it may be your last moment with them.  Lean heavily on those that you care about, and you know care about you.  Let yourself get close.  It will hurt like heck when they are gone, but then you will have those memories forever, and it will be worth it.

Go see your mom.  Go hug everyone you want a hug from.

Mark, I miss you.  I sure wish I could have one more hug.

XOXOX

NH

Peter Cottontail?

No, we didn't get to see him.  He must have hopped away too fast.  Darnit.  We did have a fun Easter weekend though.  Wanna see what we did?

We colored eggs.

I used the McCormick food coloring for the first time instead of the easter egg dye kits.

This is how my Mother in Law has always done it.

The neon colors are so cool! 

I love watching the kids do projects like this.  They always surprise me with their creativity.

MJH!

Food coloring and Sharpies make for some MEAN eggs.

We got to spend some time outside and Grandma and Grandpa's house.

It wouldn't be Easter without a good sibling wrestling match, right?

I think she's gonna take him.  I love watching them play like this.  As long as I'm there, I know it won't turn into something nasty.  They don't give those super funny belly laughs like toddlers do, but I love that they laugh together.

We went for a walk down to the lake.  This picture looks so cute and innocent, but really they are pulling each other's sweatshirts as tight as they can at the neck.  Ahh, good times.

The fishing was fun, but cold.  It was very windy, and we weren't quite prepared.

We were hoping for some crappie, because once they come into the lake early in the spring, they are biting like mosquitoes and are so much fun!

Come on li'l crappies!  Where arrre you?

Oooo!  He's got a big one!

No crappies today.  We caught a few nice bass, but unfortunately it isn't bass season yet, so they had to go back into the water to grow bigger for when we catch them later in the summer.

The loons are back and are probably preparing for their new babies to arrive shortly!

And the kids got to go on an egg hunt with their cutest little cousin, Carson.

He's just growing so fast, I can't believe it.

My kids just eat up his cuteness.  Andy can't get enough of him.

Check out that sweater!

"What does that one say, Andy? Where is the next egg hidden?"

We found them all! YAY!

Gaaah!  Sometimes I can't handle all the cuteness!  I wanted to put him in my pocket and take him home.  He reminds me so much of Andy when he was little.  Right down to the curls in his hair.  He's starting to talk more and more.  I even got a kiss when we were saying goodbye.  Sure wish we lived closer so it wouldn't take a few hours to warm up to us every time we see him.  Soon he'll remember us!  Love ya so much Carson!!

We played a board game, drank wine, and had lots and lots of laughs.  It was very fun to get together with family I don't get to see often enough.

So that was our Easter, in a nutshell.  Or an eggshell.  Ba dum dum.  I kill myself.

I hope yours was full of family and laughs too.  And wine, cause really who doesn't love a good glass of wine??

XOXOX

NH

Instagram dump

The order of these got kinda messed up, but it shouldn't matter too much.  Here are some of the Instagram photo of the day pictures I've taken recently! Enjoy!

A shadow

The inside of my wallet.  Not much to look at there.

Mail.

Colors!  this is what my knitting bag looks like.

Lunch.  This was actually dinner because I forgot to take a picture of my lunch that day.  It's tater tot hotdish (OMG deeelish) and I promise the hamburger was cooked all the way.  The filter I used really made it look like raw beef!

A toy - Andy will play with his Magnetix in front of the TV for hours.  I don't think he'll ever outgrow this "toy".

Feet.  Have you ever seen such pretty feet?

Tiny - a tiny dragonfly earring.  and my humongous thumb.

Someone that makes me happy - yep, he sure does!

Hope you all had a great Easter and were able to spend some time with family.

XOXOX

NH

DANCE!

Finally.  Dance.  Not the H word. 

I mentioned before that Morgan had her first dance performance on Saturday afternoon at UMD.

I also mentioned that the girl I was looking at in full makeup and costume looked 17.  As did Cassie and Abby.  I honestly don't know when this happened to these girls.

I mean, seriously?  What happened to first position and plie?

"MOM!  Don't post that one!  My back foot looks terrible!  I totally wasn't stretched out yet!"

Goodness me.

And here we go!  All the girls did such a great job.  I am certainly a proud mama.

Great performance, great choreography.  Very impressive!  I can't wait to see how they compete this!

GREAT job, girls.  I'm so looking forward to the season!  Love you all!

XOXOX

NH

Sunrise

I'm going to catch up on posts here tonight, since I finally am sitting down, with the camera hooked up to the computer, and the pictures downloaded from the camera to the computer.  Such an amazing thing!  I know!!

So a few weeks ago, our truck got another owie in its engine.  It got a brand new engine a while ago, but apparently it hasn't been taking the anti-rejection meds like it was supposed to (think I've been watching a little too much Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice??) and it decided it didn't want to go anymore.  So while we were deciding what to do about a dead truck, hubs became my chauffeur so he could steal my car during the day.  I really didn't mind because door to door service is pretty awesome.  Plus, one of the mornings he was driving me to work, I actually had my camera with me, I was in the passenger seat, and this is what the sun looked like over the mighty Lake Superior.  Have I mentioned before that I love where I live?

Can you even stand it?  My office is a block away from the lake, and at the bottom of the hill.  It's too bad I had to wake up the kids FIVE times that morning.  If it had only been four, we would have been on time, and down right next to the lake before the sun rose up too high and was hidden behind the low clouds.  It sure was stunning while we got to see it!

I love it when things fall in place and I'm in the right place, with my camera, and at the right time!

XOXOX

NH