Happy Birthday #2 Bode!

Our little Bode turns 2 years old today. I can't believe it!  What a darling little boy you are, and as you can see he's so cute!  We are glad to have you in our lives Bode. Nothing better than having him talk to me on the phone, or come running when he sees you!  Such a loving little guy!  He talks up a storm and has some very interesting things to say!  I can't wait for your party this weekend Bode!  Gogo loves this little guy!

You've been Bagged class

This is our next You've been Bagged class sample.   It's coming up in August at ETC. look I love how cute it came out, it's huge, perfect for an overnight getaway!  It's got cute pockets inside with binding of the outside fabric. Big pockets on the front and back with a clasp inside for your keys.  I love my new bag!  I think you'll love yours too!, 

Beyond Basics watermelon picnic

I have to show you all these great quilts that left my class last week.  This was the second go around on this quilt, several made it last month and I had 11 more this month during either the morning or evening class.  I was so proud of them all, This group really persevered and got them done!  We had several watermelon themed ones like mine...

 Here is Betsy with hers.. Everyone had tops done and were working on cutting out ants and baskets and such...

 Shari with hers...

 Betsy used her leftovers and made a cut runner, basket and ants and all!

 Kathy worked on light and dark purple log cabins...

 Tammy's were perfect!

 Look at all those appliqued seeds, what a great job!

 Loved your colors Lindsey! Missed the photo of Aprils but it was so pretty in soft colors.  It was a really fun group to teach, morning and night!  11 more quilts out there being finished up !  Mine is home, gotta sew a sleeve on it and hang it up to enjoy too!

ROAR!!!

My next Beyond Basics class at ETC. sample is hanging finally.  I've taken it in each class to show everyone but it still had about 2 foot of binding not stitched down so it came home with me for the weekend and got finished and then washed so the lions mane would fluff up a bit!  So here is ROAR!  We are going to be featuring flying geese in class, how to make them easy so they come out right!  Alot of people's complaint on making flying geese.

 The original quilt....gosh look what I did to it.  You can make yours any way you like it, it's so pretty with the colors all blending, you certainly don't need to make one that says ROAR!

 So this little lion and I hope you'll come and enjoy a 3 week group of classes with me!

Fathers Day Weekend

We had a fun time celebrating Fathers day with everyone.  We saw Ken's Dad on Saturday night, ended up going out for burgers and then Ice cream!

On Sunday the guys played golf together and had a blast.  Then Amy and Chris hosted us late morning at their house for lunch, I tell them to get together for a photo and this is what I get....

But they all turned around grinning so I still got their faces! Yes this is what I have to put up with!

 Amy and Chris had their blow up pool/splash toy up for the kids so they all had fun getting wet after we had our BBQ lunch....

 Bode just has no fear.....watch out in a few years!

 Before heading home we had a silly string war out in the yard, didn't last long but sure was fun!

By late afternoon we headed to have mexican food with my folks and Marcy and Vince,  Yummy with a margarita and then dessert at my parents house.  Was a fun fill weekend with lots of special people!

Rapunzel...let down your hair!

What a fun saturday morning spent with Amy's family.  They gave us tickets to see Rapunzel with them at the Hale Theater in Gilbert for Easter.  We met for breakfast before at Liberty Market.  One of our families favorite places to go.  Garrett had this cinnamon roll, it was as big as he was!  What a treat to get to go out to eat with them all!

 We had a bit of time so we headed to the farmers market before the show started....I love seeing behind shots of cute little boys holding their daddy's hand! It was fun to go to the farmers market, I'd like to go down again, lots of neat vendors and produce and local wares. A great revitalization in Downtown Gilbert, lots of people around, restaurants are busy, nice to see!

 Amy's family before we went into show...

What fun to get to go to the theater with the boys. They'd seen a short show on one of their trips so it was fun to see them attentive to this special theater production for children.  Very entertaining for adults too, they do a great job at the Hale Theater!

Busy weekend

We had a busy weekend, fun, full of great times so I'll start with Friday.... our kids here all came over for lasagna dinner.  We hadn't celebrated Chris's ( Amy's husband) birthday, it was a month late so I said come on we gotta celebrate even if it's late!  So  we had a fun not planned to far ahead dinner for Chris!  We had cotton candy...of course...his favorite.  Aiden got the adult job of putting into the bowl on the table!

 My folks came by to see everyone and enjoyed watching the chaos in the pool before dinner!

 Here's the birthday boy.... glad we got to celebrate while everyone was in town, to bad it was a month late! But better late than never! Besides it was a great time to try out the new lasagna recipe!

 Bode's favorite spot on his Daddy's shoulders!  I'll post the next day's fun next!

An Old Fashioned Box lunch

Our Thursday Club got together on Monday ( always a confusion to Ken how a Thursday club could meet on a different day!) I was in charge of planning our summer time dinner so here are photo's of our fun Box Dinner.  I took no photo's of people which now I regret but I did capture everyone's idea.   Everyone sat the dinner they brought onto a number on my island, then we picked numbers out of a bowl and that was the dinner you got. I thought it might take several times to have everyone get one they hadn't brought but it worked the first time!  Here is mine, a lunch bag with matching napkin, inside was their dinner...the menu hangs from the bag.  Kathy got mine.... 

Kathy had a great summertime colander filled with fun patriotic summer things from flip flops to sparklers! Even a fun flag swag to decorate with. Mindy got hers!

 Cindy brought this fun Hawaii themed sand bucket. I won this one....more photo's of this spread to come!  My food was a delicious salad from Rhumbi island grill!  Following her Hawaii theme of course!

 Judy brought this great tote bag full of fun patriotic things, Cindy got this one to enjoy along with it's Paradise Bakery food! On a side note.... Judy told me how she's had the US flag that I gave her one Christmas that Jeremy flew in the back of his C17 during one of his deployments out for a summer decoration, draping the back of a table along with photo and certificate.  She's enjoyed getting it out for memorial day to the 4th of July, a good reminder for her kids to see and realize what happens in our world, and who fights for our freedom.  I was touched to know she uses it.  She said all her 50 grandchildren( yes that isn't a typo) always want to know who is in the photo and why was he there with that big plane! And why is that flag there, kind of neat to think that flag is still touching alot of hearts as they learn about our country and what the military does around the world!

 Mindy's cute basket was filled with fun patriotic themed things including some red hand soap!

 So back to the Hawaii theme that I enjoyed!   Inside that bucket were so many things, from a fun drink cup to a lei to wear, plates and napkins all with the Hawaii decor, a place mat and fishnet, and shells, and yep those coconuts that I was supposed to wear!  I think I"m going to have to plan another fun summer theme party to use all these fun things.... and the coconuts can adorn the table...not me! Thanks Cindy for the fun dinner and the laughs!

Sew and Go project for June 19th & 26th

Here is your big sneak peek at our Sew and Go Project for today and for next tuesday at ETC.  The next in our travel series is this neat Jewelry roll.  I just love how it came out.  Rolls up nicely so you can take it in your carry on...

And then look at the inside. It has 4 pockets with zippers, 2 of which I decided to divide on mine so they'll be smaller for things you don't want to tangle together.  You can't tell on the photo but one of the pockets is vinyl so you can see thru it! I still want to put a neat embellishment on the front so I"m on the lookout for the perfect thing!

 And here is our companion kit that we can cut for you for your next sew and go.  We really wanted to make these and they got knocked off the list, so thus, they were on the easy side so they became a companion. If you order one you can pick it up at the next sew and go when you make your next great project in our travel series! I now have a matching tissue holder....and 2 luggage tags...again you can't see the vinyl but you can slip your ID in!  So if you miss it today you can sign up for next Tuesday at ETC.

Linda's quilt

I had to show you how pretty Linda's quilt is, she showed me what she did with our original jelly roll race pattern , she used the green as her little spacer squares and then she chopped it into segments after she sewed the strips, she said she made 2 different strip sets, then she sashed it with the same green, didn't it come out pretty!  

A Dip in the pool and pizza!

A fun  impromptu evening  swim after work and pizza at Chris and MB's.  What a great way to unwind after a big class and watch 3 grandsons have a blast in the water.  Ken and I met up with everyone and enjoyed relaxing and hanging out with everyone... Garrett is up on the big rocks...Aiden is off at Boy Scout day camp this week....

 Ethan loves all the fun shallow areas at their pool, ready to have fun! Diving toys, squirt guns...It's so great to see them loving the water...

Bode showing me all the wonderful things he's learning at swimming lessons...He's so ready to just jump in off the sides, it's hilarious, you better be ready!

 Pizza and salad and watermelon, yummy summertime dinner!  Little boys eating together, isn't it cute!

Strawberry Yummy recipe

I made a new dessert this week, one from Bear Cabin that we had last weekend that Carol shared her recipe with us so I tried it. I needed it for 2 classes and my quilt meeting so I doubled it and put it into pie pans to freeze, still have one left! It was a light cool and refreshing summer time treat! 

Strawberry  Yummy

From Bear Cabin

1 cup flour

½ cup butter

¼ cup brown sugar

Mix until crumbly and spread in a 9 x 13 pan, bake at 375 for 10 minutes

1 cup sugar

2 egg whites

2 tsp lemon juice

10 oz frozen strawberries

8 oz cool whip

Beat sugar, egg whites and lemon until well mixed.  Add strawberries and keep beating until very fluffy 9 10-15 minutes).  Fold in cool whip.  Put on top of crumb crust and freeze.  

I think it'd be really pretty with a slice of a fresh strawberry on each piece.

Bode and Go-Go day!

Bode came and had an entire day with me. I took the day off and we sure had fun!  We went to the mall to play on the toys, saw a crane in action on the way so had to pull over and watch it, course once the airconditioning unit was on the roof Bode says more crane.....I couldn't acomadate that so we went on our way.... He had such fun at the play area of the mall, he loved the climbing At first no one was there and then lots of friends showed up...He loved the "electronic" sit in toys too, in and out and back in and out, running around, he was in his element!  Up and down the escalator a few times, up and down the elevator too......so much fun!

 We had ice cream at 10:00AM, Ha, don't you love what grandma's do!

 Then the mall train started up so we had to have a ride on that...he loved it, nothing really seems to be intimidating to him.  He picked the blue car to ride in...Then we left and went and met up with Papa at McDonalds, I asked him if he wanted french fries and he said Yesh in his cute way and then nuggets.  So he had fun there, having a bite and then running around and back for another bite.  I think he was pretty tired when we waved bye to Papa and we came home for a nap.  He picked the toddler bed to sleep in and was out for a good long nap.  We watched sesame street when he was waking up as Mommy arrived to pick him up.  And so did his Aunt Amy and cousins Ethan and Garrett.  Sure was a fun day for you and me Bode!

 So one little boy left and the other 2 went out for a swim!  They are fish these days, gotta love it! Garrett loves the diving board and again has no care in the world for his body this year, flipping off the side and doing a cartwheel in the air as he goes in.....he's crazy!  Where is the dive team for kids that just turned 5?????

 Swimming lessons are wonderful.  Ethan even gets his arms going, not really supposed to yet at 3 but his are!  Strong little dude, no surprise there!  Sure was fun to have a fast swim with you guys, I loved it!  And Papa had someone to play basketball with!