Happy 4th!

I love this country of ours! I feel so blessed to be an American.

It's been a great couple of days. Birthday yesterday and it wasn't too bad turning around year older. Some years have been rough. :) There was a missionary sighting of Lil' Man in TN. I love hearing about those! And tomorrow we head to Bear Lake to look at more cabins. I love my life!

Utah's Shop Hop

I hated missing out on the shop hop in Utah this past week so on Friday I made a mad dash over there to hit a few shops. I used the excuse that I had to return some blinds at Target to get me out of state. I was able to hit 5 of the quilt shops and then I found Material Girls that was highlighted in the newest edition of Quilt Sampler. I had a hard time finding their shop since it is in a new shopping area but I called and Nadine, the owner, guided me around the corner and into her shop. I am so glad I made the effort to find it! It was darling with so many samples hanging everywhere in the store! Her quilt that was in the magazine is better looking in person. After seeing it in person I had to buy the kit. I will definitely shop there again.

Maybe it was just me, but I had been so excited thinking that every shop hop participant would get a whole pattern of each quilt from each store. Well. I guess we did but I found most of the quilts to be ones that I would probably never make. The theme was along the lines of Fairy Tales. The quilts were all beautiful but just not ones that I would make for a child or myself to hang on a wall. Quilt Haven did have a traditional quilt and that was the only one that I thought I might want to make. So having said all that, I'm not sure I like the idea of getting a whole pattern at each store instead of a quilt block with ideas on how to set it. Maybe it was because of the theme. Anyway......I still had a great time enjoying each of the shops.

I started out in Ogden and worked my way down to Salt Lake. My favorite shop was Quilt Haven in Bountiful. I don't know why I love that place so much?! I also love Quilt, Etc. in Sandy. The employees at Quilt, Etc. go above and beyond making your visit memorable with them. They had games, food, demonstrations and just a happy feeling there. I spent lots of money in each shop...now to get working on my new treasures!

Here's a couple of pictures of what I bought that day......here are some kits I found irresitable....

Name of my blog quilt

I have been asked what the name of the quilt at the top of my blog is called. It is Storm at Sea by John Flynn. I used a precut kit full of batiks. When I was ready to take a picture of the quilt it was snowing but I decided to go ahead and take the pic anyway. I kind of like how it turned out with the snow falling on it.

And this is?????

Does anyone recognize this pattern? I can't believe that I made this quilt and now can't find the pattern to it. The shop that quilted it for me, copied it and have one now hanging in their shop. They called to ask me the name of it and where they could find the pattern. Ummmmmm. I'll get right back to you on that one......it would be nice to just remember where I found it at. I need to update my quilt book too and I would love to have that info in there too. I'm thinking that it came from Quick Quilts magazine or another "easy to make" quilt magazine. On the otherhand, it could be from a strip quilting book........

Update on Girl's Camp/Missionary

I survived!
What else can I say?! Actually I had a great time! At the last minute we had an extra girl come but it worked out well. The weather was beautiful. With the week before being cool, the week of Girl's camp was so nice. We didn't even have mosquitoes or horseflies! I get bit all the time during the summer from those pesky bugs so it was really a nice blessing to not have those lil' things around all week. The girls were great and got along so well. I couldn't believe it when they would come to me and ASK if they could go to bed! Ummmm...sure you can, even if it's only 10:00 p.m.! (And no. I did NOT drug them!) Who would have thought that a bunch of teenagers would be so tired by the end of the day that they would want to go to sleep?! The only downside happened on the first night. I was hoping that someone would turn the fast running, noisy river down to a more managable sound level. I thought it would be so fun to fall asleep to running water. Instead it kept me awake most of the night because it was raging so loud!

Lil' man made it safe and sound to Tennessee. He is loving it out there though he mentions bugs and humidity. :) He was still in Heaven when we lived in Corpus and Kingsville so he wasn't prepared for what humidity would feel like all day long. He's a trooper though since he says that he is starting to get use to it. I lived in South Texas for several years and I never got use to it. That tells me he is being upbeat and happy. I am so glad.

Who could resist this?

A few weeks ago I was at TJ Maxx in Ogden, Utah and saw the cutest ironing board covers! I finally took a few minutes today to put the one I bought on. Is this not the cutest thing ever?! Who wouldn't want to iron with this on your board? There was another one that had leopard spots on it. I was going to buy it too but then thought, "it really isn't me...". Now I wish I had bought it too. Who cares if it isn't "ME"?! These would make anyone think that ironing is fun! The best part, besides the dots, is that it has velcro straps underneath to attach to the board instead of those silly strings that you have to try to tighten. I love it!

My Missionary

I was going to keep this blog only on my quilting adventures but for the last couple of months I have slowed down....way down on sewing anything besides a button on a shirt! Since I haven't been quilting, I also haven't been keeping up on my blog. Today though I am changing that....my youngest son is in the air right now flying to Nashville to serve a LDS mission for 2 years. I just had to share a picture of him! Girl's Camp is also this week. Starting tomorrow I will plaster a smile on my face and take charge of 8 teenage girls. I am not a camper. No other words to describe it. Yesterday I found out that the tents we were suppose to use are moldy. My assistant is scrambling to get new tents for us today. I have lots of last minute prep work to do but at least I know that by Friday afternoon, camp will be over and I can then concentrate on things I do like to do....like quilt!