Courageous in 2014

Happy New Year!   This year has started off with some unseasonally warm weather.  I have enjoyed the opportunity by visiting my mother in the valley with clear driving conditions.   My mother stayed home this winter from her usual trip to Arizona.  It has been so nice to spend time with her over the holidays and in January.

We went to a favorite quilt shop "Something To Crow About", in Springfield.  They are a small shop but full of my favorite things, and they had some finished quilts that are on my "list".     

This first quilt is from Primitive Gatherings,  I have this kit, but it is the first version which was a smaller scale.  

This next quilt is a summer freebie from Primitive Gatherings,  so cute!

Live Simply from Buttermilk Basin,  I can say I did not buy this pattern set but Love it!!

Primitive Gathering Block of the week for 2013!   I love this one, also on my "List".    I love the theme of this Quilt, and will not start it until many other  quilts get finished....

But this block:  "Courage" I may do because this is my word for 2014!     My oldest grandson, Tylor, enlisted in the Marine Corp and graduated from Boot Camp in December.  We were honored to attend the graduation and share  in his success and hard work.  I am so proud of Tylor,  he is a wonderful person and the most kind-hearted young man.  He was absolutely committed to achieving the highest position possible in his unit.  He was successful and received a meritorious promotion, and was chosen to carry the Marine Corp flag during the ceremony.     I am so very proud of him!  These times are very scary for me and I have been very worried about his decision.   Listening to all the Drill Sargents and Officers at graduation ceremonies I heard them sa, "Courage does not mean you are fearless!  It is what you do in spite of  fear etc."  So I embrace Tylor's life choice and will be on my own path to "Courage"  this year!

Oh how we enjoyed the 70 degree weather,  it was below zero when we left Oregon for San Diego!

  

Watching your grandchildren grow up is a wonderful experience and I am so glad I had so much time to spend with Tylor in his  youth.   I miss him everyday but my heart is full!  I am looking forward to growing in Courage in 2014!

Baskets of Courage!

Carrie

Memoirs of Omaha

We had a wonderful time!!!!! Such happy little boys, even with their colds they shared with me!

We really had the best of luck weather-wise, the temperature was in the mid 70’s until our last day. Wow, we don’t have the high humidity that is in the Midwest so we were very pleased.

I will start off this sharing time with the invitation and a bouquet of flowers from a friend. Grown in their garden and so nicely arranged!! The birthday theme is E~I~E~I~O with some fun fun here and some fun fun there!! LOL……

Birthday Banner too!

We started off the party with FOOD, gee what else!! Krista made delicious pulled pork, she had a recipe for a colorful salad I made, Joe bought some fresh corn from a local farm, potato salad. It was so delicious! And colorful….

Jaxon with Grammy Teresa!!

Jaxon not to happy with everyone in his space………it is so fun to learn about the boys personality. Jaxon has a definite personal bubble!!!

Krista kept a monthly calendar on the boys, posting all the details of their development and experiences. This last week she was going to transfer all the info into their baby books. Amazing gal……we were all impressed and really enjoyed reading the calendars.

The birthday cakes were made by a neighbor friend, they were just the cutest.

No shortage of help from aunties, grampa’s, mommies when it came time to eat the cake. It was pretty sweet and they haven’t had cake before!! Very interesting.

We had so much fun with the boys, feeding time was so fun. They all eat at once and love it. Our grandson Tylor came with us and had fun taking pictures of the boys. He could make them all belly laugh, he had the best time too.

Joe loved getting to know the boys. They all had a little issue with his moustache, a new experience for them. It was so funny to see them get brave enough to touch it and them wrinkle up their noses. Let alone those kisses!!

We made a trip to a park, it was a bit warm our last day, we are all aglow! They love the swings, went down the slides rode the bouncing frog. Got some group pictures, I just love the picture with all four of our grandsons. We were in heaven.

The guys pushed the strollers home, what memories, we will treasure them in our hearts…….till we meet again!!

Krista and I made it to a wonderful quilt shop, Country Sampler. I got some goodies to make up for Christmas, I will share them in my next post.

I haven’t shared my BOM for some time so my next post should be about that for sure. Yes I actually do some quilty things. I have a new wool BOM that I sewed on the plane trip. I love it!!

Hugs,

Carrie

Visit to Sahalie Falls, Some new Wool Just In Time!

Tylor was here to visit for a week, we enjoy our grandson so much! He is such a fun loving guy and so much at home when he is with us.
He worked in the yard and garden with me a couple of days and we got so much done. Team work really makes yard work so much easier and more fun. He loaded the wheelbarrow with bark and dumped weeds in the field for me. Besides the sunburn and sore muscles it was a very fun time!!
Tuesday we met my DD up on the pass at Sahalie Falls. It is such a beautiful area, I love going there all throughout the year. It is almost half way to Eugene and a place we meet often to spend time together. Actually there are two falls there with a trail along side the river. When the temperatures are 90 degrees and hotter it is a cool refreshment too.

This month Joe and I will celebrate our 27th anniversary. I think I am getting taller than he is, lol.... he had knee surgery on Wednesday maybe he will be able to stand back up after it heals. He really was in pain, the meniscus tear is pretty painful, and it was hard keeping up with all the wirehairs during hunting season. We are looking forward to some trail hikes this summer now that he is all fixed up.
Joe is much to comfortable out on these rocks, it above the falls and it made me nervous just taking the pictures. My looking at this picture really shows how grown up Tylor is. I was blessed with getting to care for Tylor while his mother worked until he started kindergarten. One reason our home is like a second home to him, he spent most of his early years with us.
We moved to Bend when he was 5, it was so hard to do. I think I have said that before but 120 miles away was to far for this gramma. Looking forward to Ty coming back later this week.

I have been sewing on my table runner from a class with Maggie Bonanomi. Maggie is my favorite prim wool teacher. Her classes are more than a lesson in technique, she shares her love of prim and primitive fabrics. In every class I have taken with her she always shares some of her antique fabrics in the kits. They are one of a kind for sure. Maggie is easy going and charming and I love being in her class making one of her projects.

When we went to Seattle in June we stopped by Carriage Country Quilts for me to shop for wool.
I picked up a few pieces for the Bunnyhill BOM. The July block was posted today and it is so thoughtfully designed. Each month I say this is my favorite, I'm sure next month I will feel the same way.

I wanted some reds and greens too so I went online to the Buggy Barn and ordered some bundles. They are just wide enough to use for a basket. A lqs had a good selection so I purchased some plaids from there too. Our local shops are getting ready for the upcoming Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show, I found some nice yardage at BJ's.
Tuesday my girlfriends, The Twisted Sisters, are coming and staying at a home in Bend. I am looking forward to some fun girl time and sewing together. I am pretty lucky to live in a quilt rich area, especially this week.
I am picking my reds for my Bunnyhill BOM so I think some of my new wools will get used pretty quickly.
The little Schnibbles pattern was so cute I thought it would be perfect for a charm pack.
OK back to sewing, I have some items that need finishing up so I can share them with the girls next week. Show n Tell with quilt friends really is the best.

Liberty Blessings,

Carrie

Catching bugs and catching up!

Oh, I am a very bad blogger.....I can not get words together. After a long fortnight of a very nasty bug. Sore throat, cough, more sore throat I am feeling so human, sounding human too. But thats no excuse, my mind will not stay focused enough to get anything done. I am behind so I am going in circles.

Last weekend my daughter and oldest grandson came to visit for my birthday. It was so nice to have them. Tylor is a bundle of energy and just the nicest young man. He entertained me with antics in the yard. Oh to be 14 again, or just energetic...
This one better... and one arm.....I would break my neck I think.

Ty and Casey playing some frisbee....

Oh dear Pepper wants to get in the fun and this went on a while. Pepper is an athlete and no one caught her until she was ready.Flowers are starting to bloom and my lilac will be pretty for a short while, it has a blight of some sort that ruins the bloom. Next spring I have to do some spraying for it. But for now it is heavenly in the evening and early morning.

I planted radishes and they are sprouting, the cool mornings haven't damaged them yet.

A pink tulip in the garden, the moles get my tulips in this area so I am glad to see a small clump made it after last summer.

My sister sent me a gift, sisters are the best. And I agree with her on this, she is my best friend.

She is always sending me some wonderful yarn, and a couple years ago she bought me this plate.

I love antique dishes. And some very delicous chocolates, with caramel inside. Yum!!

The yarn is silk and merino, so soft. I believe a scarf with cable would be perfect, but we'll see.

Yellow petunia basket from Matney and Tylor. I just love yellow and these are so pretty.

Tylor took pictures of some other creatures living at our place. Joe and friends made a new flight pen recently for these Chukar. They are in the partridge family. The enjoy there rock pile.

And Pilgrim is our TWH we use for field trialing. He is pretty sweet, but right now he isn't very happy about being taken off the green grass. Darn!! Yucky old hay when the fields are so rich and lush. Mean old people anyway!!

I went to Sisters to a little handmade merchant mall... looking for something good for my porch swap.
I have enough benches around the place but they sure had some fun ones out front.

Cute birdhouses, can't have to many of those....
Crazy yard art too...
Then one afternoon this guy came into my backyard....

This is my DH Joe, bringing me some good soil for this abused flower bed. Between the mole, the dogs digging for the mole and putting in a new irrigation pipe it is ruined. New rich soil to get ready for a new tree and shrubs.

This is our business, delivering topsoil, sand, mulch and rock products for construction, landscapers, homeowners etc. It really is a big guys toy. Joe just loves this business. I mean its just a remote control 70,000 lb toy. And it makes your job easier, he places the material most the time right where you want it, or over the fence anyway. Makes people very happy!!

And he loves meeting people and making them happy.
Now I know most people can't have the darn truck drive through their back yard and it surprised me too... I love living out of town and having space around me.

Next time you see this flower bed it is going to be looking so much better!! Right dogs!!

While Matney and Ty were here we went to the Pole, Peddal, Paddle event. The finish is in the Old Mill District, it was a beautiful day and outdoors so I could go and keep my cough to myself...

The last event is paddleing your canoe, kayak whatever then running to the finish line a short distance away from the river.
Don't you just love this guy paddling this big board...
Both sides of the river were lined with people, restaurants enjoyed business side with many people dining on the patios watching the event.

Our friend came by and shared his strawberry from crashing his bike....ouchee Gary!!

Yes, even the pets came.... this little pot belly pig didn't hold still for a picture....hey if a pig can go I surely can go with my cough..... And sitting back and people watching was very fun, we were not disappointed......... I wish my legs looked like hers....but then I would have to run 40 miles and bike 100 miles a week probably and thats not likely going to happen any time soon.This group was very fun and mixed sexes let me tell you this much....
those arms on the right are not a ladies....trust me....Ty wasn't brave enough to get a face shot...LOL....

Yeah it was so fun getting out and dreaming about next year.....Oh yeah DH we are really gonna do this next year....LOL .....

I have been catching up on my BOM and finishing a couple swaps so next post I will give some pictures of quilty things. I even went shopping and spent my birthday money at The Stitchin Post, who has everything 25% off for their birthday sale. Online to...so if you want to browse them just click on the link.

I have so enjoyed the many blogs sharing about quilt market last weekend. Oh so funny!!!!

And Anne celebrated her birthday and it wasn't!! The ladies really know how to celebrate their short time together. If you haven't read through the saga from market this year do.....I so enjoyed it so much, I even shared it with Joe and the kids while they were here.

Have a safe and wonderful Memorial Day weekend. We are so blessed to be able to live in a country with so much freedom. God Bless!

Carrie