the end of a year....

We had a great great Christmas this year that was filled with love and joy! We spent much needed time with both our families and probably ate too many goodies. We celebrated Christmas together on friday night complete with a chinese dinner and a drive around town to check out all the festive homes. We then settled in for the night on the love seat watching a movie. What a wonderful 1st Christmas we shared together! I got Travis all the trapping stuff he had wished for and he fullfilled my wish list of a new camera!! How lucky am I?

Here are some pictures from the past week...


This is a picture of our tree as seen from the table. I received the beatuiful candles from our gift exchange on the Baker side.



This is the ice leftover on the branches and trees back in Fairfax. I was hoping for the sun to shine Christmas Eve day, but we didn't get lucky.



I have this obsession with buttons..new and old. I received these from my mom for Christmas. I already have some ideas stirring in my head!!


My mom got her Christmas gift a few weeks early from my dad. This is her Pfaff Grand Quilter (which I got to use first :) ) I had to get a shot of my first quilt on the frame.



This is the snow we received this morning. We are planning to head to Sioux Falls for New Years, so I'm hoping this doesn't damper our plans. It was supposed to rain and then turn to snow, but it ended up doing the total opposite. Now here we are getting freezing rain on top of the snow. My wonderful husband went coyote hunting this morning with my dad, so I trudged outside to brush off the 3 vehicles so it would be a little easier to defrost later on.

Wish you all the best for a Happy New Year!

BB

what's in the frame....

After 3 months of marriage Travis and I received some of our wedding pictures. I was so excited to check them all out and play with a few on photoshop. It's amazing what things you can do with pictures these days. I spent some of last weekend going through frames and choosing with photos to fill the empty spaces. Our photographer was great. We got to buy all the rights to our photos which meant loads of savings on reprints and we could do any photo retouchings that we wanted. I've come to love a lot of the pictures I didn't think I would and in turn, I won't mind hanging some of them on the wall. Have been busy with the quilting of my table runners, so not much else to share other than some pictures.

sew much to do....

Well, I bit the bullet and worked on posie pins for my coworkers. I finshed the 13 that I needed to make and finished up my Christmas shopping. It was nice to just relax on the couch with some needled work. That's true relaxation for me. I still have Christmas goodies to make and a few gifts to finish some quilting on, then I'm home free! It will be nice to finally partake in some festive parties this weekend!

things to pass the time...

The other night I was just trying to pass some time while I waited for supper to finish up. I came across this cute little site where you can actually chat with Santa ;). So if there are any children out there that have been doubting his existance, they should be directed here.
Tonight I plan to kick back with a pile of fabric and make some cute Posie Pins, thanks to Juju! I decided to make these for my coworkers in festive green and red colors. My friend Brenda may come over too and we thought about watching a movie while Christmas Crafting.

I'm also excited because one of my favorite movies, Lucky 7 is on it's way to me.

If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it!! If you like Kimberly Williams-Paisley, McDreamy himself: Patrick Dempsey, and tear jerkers, then this is a movie for you. I saw this a couple years ago and still love it til this day! (Here's a little plot summary just so you can get a taste of it's goodness)
Before Amy Myer's mother died when Amy was 7, she planned out the little girl's life on a timeline, including the fact that Amy would marry her 7th boyfriend. When Amy falls in love with #6, she's thrown into a tailspin, because all of her mother's advice had worked perfectly. Now she must decide whether to follow her mother's advice and wait for #7, or follow her own heart.

focused dreams....

My husband and I have been married for 3 wonderful short months, and with each passing day our dreams are coming into focus more and more.

When I was a little girl my mother always amazed me. How could someone so close to me be filled with so much artistic creativity and knowlege? I still ask myself that question to this day! To my friends I was always the creative one..the one that saw something and instead of buying it always said, "I can make that!" And I always tried. Not saying it was better than the product on the shelf, but at least I was always proud of my creations. Not much has changed since then. I carried on my traditions of "I can make thats..." in college and was labeled the "creative" one there too. It's funny that I never did take design or an art related major in college. I chased the dream of being an engineer, and now I'm left with wondering...could I have gotten somewhere if I did take the plunge and chase after a different dream? I guess life is always filled with what ifs!

Since our marriage, Travis and I have continued to learn new things about eachother each day. Travis, my talented electrician is also an outdoors man. He finds happiness and relaxation in trapping and hunting. Living in town means he can't escape to the place of true release. After a stressful day at work he seems to be screened in by the boundaries or our home lot. Surrounded by neighbors only feet away. This is hard for a man that grew up on a dairy with vast countryside!

We have decided that we both want to move to the country, to a town of a somewhat small population. There we can live the lives we both long for. For me this is great. I've always dreamed of having my own studio. A place where quilters of all ages can gather to work on their projects. A place where I can design purses, handbags, quilts, pillows, so on and so forth. Where I can have workshops and lessons. To me, this would be heaven. In my head, I've sketch out what this studio would look like. It would be an oldsy looking rustic barn. with an open floor plan with plenty of tables and areas for fellow quilters to stretch out in. It would also come complete with a lounge area to kick back in when a much needed retreat is requested. This is my vision.

I think ever since seeing the episode on HGTV's Design Inc I've been in love with the thought of a barn transformation! I could definately see this becoming something along the line of this
I think the look is just simply gorgeous and can't wait to tackle something like that! I do have specifics as to what the interior would include and a name, but I will have to get to that at a later time. I feel I've over done my blogging for the day! Til next time, enjoy the nice December weather!

kitty cakes...

Since I didn't upload any of my pictures last night I thought I would throw this one in. My sister really really likes Hello Kitty as you can remember from this. Since she turned the big 21 on December 4th, Mom and I decided to make her some special Hello Kitty cupcakes. They were a major pain to do, but it was all worth it for her! We frosted the cupcakes white. Cut ears out of marshmellows, used black Jelly Belly Beans cut in half for the eyes, yellow Jelly Belly's for the nose, cut black licorice into strips for the whiskers, made bows out of Fruit by the Foot. VOILA...instant Hello Kitty. They also tasted great after most of the icky facial features were removed :). Anyhow, here is a picture of our masterpieces!

WIP...

I knew I would probably be asking too much of myself when I set out to make 4 table runners this weekend. I really could have done it, but I figured since I was visiting family I should get some conversation time in with the adults and play time in with my nieces and nephew..and of course go out with Travis so he could check his trap lines. I finished piecing all four of the runners, finished the quilting on one, and got the binding sewn on one (just need to hand stitch it to the back). Overall I'm happy with the progress I made on the runners and now all I have to do is reserve four nights to finish quilting and binding them all. Go me!! Anyways, here are some pictures of what I accomplished.





And of course the one I had completed before:

I have a productive one ahead of me...

So since there is only 16 days left until Christmas, I have a heavy loaded weekend ahead of me. I making table runners as gifts for some people (can't name any names). I have only finished one of them which means I have four more to complete. I don't know what I was thinking waiting so long to get them done, but at least I have a good atmosphere to work in this weekend. We are going back to Fairfax, SD to spend the weekend with Travis's parents. I think it was more because Travis wanted to get some trapping in, but what the hey, I'm all for a good time. I still need to load my sewing machine up and all my little supplies, but then it's smooth sailing for the rest of that!
I just had to snap a picture of my fabrics for the table runners and my cute little pattern!


Here is a picture of one of the table runners I have completed..I hope to post more pictures on sunday of my accomplishments!



And before I forget again I had left out one very special piece in my last blog. This is a cute little sushi platter I had purchased after the wedding. Since I live in the midwest and can't get my hands on any real good sushi, I bought the platter to display some cutsy stuff. Here I just threw a few glittered ornaments on and a little floral accent and called it good. One of my favorite colors is green, so I couldn't have found better ornaments for this platter!!

That concludes my blog for today, I hope your weekend is blissful!

merry christmastime!

So I decided to take some shots around the house of some Christmas time things.

I took the liberty of adding all the christmas lights outdoors myself. We still need to add some lights to the top peak, but that's what husbands and ladders are for!! Now get busy Travis!!

This is our beautiful nativity set that Travis got as a gift from his mother a couple years ago..I just love it! I need to find the perfect stable for it yet!


Here are some of my favorite ornaments!

I got this ornament from Carissa for Christmas one year, it is so cute! Who doesn't like candy?

This is a cute little primative snowman gord thingy my mom made...I just love it!!

Here is our first christmas together ornament I received as a wedding gift from a quilt guild friend. It's always nice to have an ornament with a date on it!

My baby sister being the "hello kitty freak" that she is made me this ornament this year. She has a white christmas tree that is decked out with these..how darling is that for her!!

One year when I was quite young my cousins and I made these pom pom reindeer. I love mine and every year I perch him somewhere on a cozy branch. This year he hasn't lost his charm, but it's his name that I can't think of (and no it isn't rudolph).

This year I just couldn't leave Socky out of Christmas..he had his own special place on my tree too, along with his little friend!
Well, I hope you enjoyed the little sneak peak into my home. Merry Christmastime everybody!!

things that rock...

So today starts a new day of posting...and a new day to figure out what it is to blog about. Nothing too exciting has been going on in my life, just determination to finish up the thank yous from the wedding. At least now I got Travis to help me out..I told him no trapping this weekend if we didn't get every last one completed!! So there were sat for a couple hours last night until our hands were all cramped.

I thought I would add some things that I think rock:


I love these toile nesting boxes....on second thought, I love anything toile!


This feather tree rocks it big time!!


This one could get quite long, but Free Spirit definately rocks! I love quilt fabric, but lately I've loved all of Free Spirits new collection. Let's start with Heather Bailey.

I love Heather's use of color, pattern, and texture when it comes to this fabric. It has enough essence of vintage yet funky for a younger gal like me, yet it holds the charm of some florals that might spark the attention of a more mature quilter. Freshcut is awesome however you may look at it. While you are drooling over her awesome fabric swatches, you might even want to check out her blog (which I truly love!!). She always has some real cool things made up with her fabric and that's enough to keep anyone visiting each day!!


Next there's Anna Maria Horner's Bohemian

That truly tickles my fancy. How can you but not love this fabric collection? It's fun, it's funky, it goes great together. It takes a spin and plays enough away from the traditional patterns we are used to. Her swanky style makes me want to be a teenager again. If only I had seen this stuff when I was much younger, I would have been quitling for decades! Overall this fabric looks like HAPPY!!


I would be a very bad quilter lady if I left off Denyse Schmidt's Flea Market Fancy

This collection is so awesome! I only wish I could find treasures made with anything like this at a flea market. Old is me, I'm old at heart. I like, love, cherish, want anything old looking or shall I say vintage. The possibilities are endless with this collection, I would make quilts, wall hangings, clothing, ANYTHING with this stuff. Way to go Denyse!


That concludes the stuff that rock today. I'm always on the look out for more stuff, so look forward to stuff that rock part 2!

i'm back to where it started...

After taking some time away to explore the power of other blog host sites, I've returned to the grand daddy. I've been to blogs and paid subscriptions but non of them have excited me as much as this one. I plan to keep this one permenately and continue to jazz things up. Sorry for the shuffling around, but here I am and here I shall stay. Keep it classy bloggers!

Finally picked some music

So I went to Christina's house last night so she could help me with music for the wedding. I was lost when it came to the whole prelude, recessional...yadda yadda yadda. Good thing Mrs. Nath knows her wedding music. It really didn't take long and we spent most of the night catching up. Cella is growing up so fast and boy does it make you long for a baby of your own. I'm just glad that Travis and I agreed that we wouldn't wait to have a baby. I guess I'm not old, but with him turning 30 and me 25 we feel we are at the best stage in our life and relationship. I'm excited. A lot of my friends are having babies and it's just nice to have people around me with advice...well I guess we better get through with this wedding first...right?!


Thought of the day..Have any of you ever thought that the Mona Lisa was kind of funny looking?? Well it's cause she has no eyebrows. I guess It was the fashion in Renaissance Florence to shave them off. Think of the stubble that would grow back...itchy!! Come to think of it, even the Klingons on Star Trek had eyebrows...what a weird universe!!

What a fun weekend!! Travis and I took a trip back to Fairfax to visit his family and also to Dante for my friends wedding. We had a blast! My friend Kara lived across the street from the church, so we visited her and also met up with her at the dance. We went back to Fairfax for a little R&R and Travis's sister and brother in law came down to go back to the dance with us. We didn't cut too many rugs, but it was just a great atmosphere to see people I hadn't in such a long time. We also got to drink which was something I hadn't done in such a long time! My future sister in law is a crazy gal and bought me a whole glass of straight tequila..that's when I saw Travis's protective side kick in. I LOVE TEQUILA!! I drank quite a bit of it and then when I couldn't handle the straight stuff any longer good ole Kara went to fetch me a salt shaker to help...well my tequila then was taken from me...talk about a waste..I was planning on finishing it...that Trav likes to spoil my fun sometimes!! I got over it and found some other new mixes to try. Kara and I had a great time, and it was so fun to meet some of her students as she is a teacher in a town 8 miles away. I love the small town wedding fun, can't wait til Dave and Sarah's wedding next weekend!!!

My thought for the day...did you know they kill 125,000 pigs per year just to produce marshmellow peeps?? They use the tendons, muscle fibers, and ligaments to make the spongy gelatin mixture...I guess that's why the shelf life is like 3 years....That's disfrigginscusting!! I hope you all think about that the next time you bite into one...all the little piggies going wee wee wee wee down your esophogus. As in the words of Garth Algar.."I definately smell a pork product of some kind..." SICK ASS!!

1st tymer!!

So this is my first attempt at a blog, so bear with me...

So besides my own wedding this year I have 2 more (that I know of) in the next two weeks. Why is it that you always need to find something to wear to these events. I guess my closet swallowed everything I thought I had, or maybe all my possibilities were just a little dated for the occasions. Anywho I searched high and low in the town of Mitchell. To my surprise I found nothing. Our Pennys stinks in this town and I'm not quite ready to start wearing some "more mature" attire. Don't get me wrong, my mother would look great in it, but I'm not quite a quarter of century old yet. I watch tv where ladies in there 60s are wearing something more hip than I can find. What's with that?

Travis and I decided to hop in my car and go to Sioux Falls. As we are just exiting Mitchell my belt brakes in my car..low and behold the nice chilly air conditioning slowly started turning warm. My battery light came on, and my temp gauge slowly started rising. So we got off on Riverside road exit and made our way back to MitcHELL.

Well about an hour later we finally made it to SF and the mall, i found something, and yadda yadda yadda..I just wish it wasn't such a hassle to find something to wear, cause I could have done without the drama for the evening!

My thought for the day.....I always wondered why they called them cookies....you don't actually cook them..you bake them, so for now on I am calling them bakies....maybe everyone with slowly catch on!!