Kyle's 10th Birthday!

Kyle hit double digits this year!!!
He wanted to have his bday party at Skateworld!
On his actual birthday day we gave him the gifts from us :)

Then he had LOTS of friends and family at his bday party that Saturday!

Sissy licking the frosting! LOL!!

At the end of the night when everyone was out there in socks, Abuela decided to get her groove on! ;)

LOL! She ROCKS!!!!

Thanksgiving!

What a wonderful Thanksgiving Day! Although I am never one to wait until Thanksgiving to be thankful, I was especially focused on being thankful today!

We were planning on heading to Vero Beach for Thanksgiving, but with Jimmy living here now, we wanted him to be a part of our day. So we stayed home and I cooked! Chris and his children also spent Thanksgiving day with us!

The menu was:
Turkey (of course)
stuffing~which I FORGOT to make!!!!
mashed potatoes with gravy from the turkey drippings
green bean casserole
corn
potato salad
sweet potato casserole
biscuits
pecan pie
pumpkin pie
apple crisp pie
banana pudding

We had a wonderfully relaxed day! I made the potato salad and pies the day before and cooked the turkey, mashed potatoes, corn and casseroles Thanksgiving day. The hilarious thing is that I forgot to bring out the potato salad until dessert time!!! Oh well! We ate lots of food and had a good time.
Afterwards we watched Miami play football.....and lose. lol.
I don't have any pictures! I was so busy enjoying the day that I never got my camera out!!

Halloween!

We had a fun time this year for Halloween! Kyle wanted to be a NINJA...........Stephen decided he would be Kyle's side-kick  And Alyssa was a pirate! It was a lot of fun!
Here are some pictures that I took...but you can see more over at my BFF's blog.

It's been 3 months since I last blogged!

Wow! I have really missed it too.
I am just going to do what I always do when it's been a while since I last blogged. I'm gonna just jump right in at where I am at...

I finished my International Round Robin! It took almost a year for it to makes it's rounds but I am SO pleased with how my top turned out! Not only did the others love the borders I added to theirs but I LOVE LOVE LOVE mine!

Here it is! Isn't it great? It's not actually bubbly, that's just the way we have it laying. Everyone around the world did such a wonderful job!! I am so thrilled with it! It's a queen size, so it will go on my bed. I am thinking of having it professionally quilted.

Here is the quilt that I put the final border on and sent it home to its owner in Australia:

The border that I added to this quilt consisted of the skinny border under the diamonds, the diamond border (which was paper-pieced!) and then the wider, outer border to finish it off!

 

 

 

I have also been working on my postage stamp quilt! I am using a quarter in these two pictures to show you a reference to size. I cut them into 2" squares before sewing them together.

I am just about finished with this quilt top. Once I sew all of the blocks together that I have finished, I will have a nice-sized utility quilt.

 

 

 

Isn't she just darling? (I had to throw a pic of Patches in here) :)

Ronnie finally got my rod hung so that I can hang my quilts in the living room!!!

Here are some paper-pieced hearts I made for a Valentine's Day swap! I made six of them and I will send them in (to a lady in RENO, believe it or not!) and get 6 different blocks back.

For the first time ever, I dropped off a quilt top at a long-arm quilter to have it professionally quilted!! The quilt top that has the INSANELY tiny paper-pieced center that my dear friend Fran gave to me. I am having a medium sized design done on it, edge to edge of woodsy leaves. Here is a pic of the center that I sent off:

And here is the finished top, after several ladies added borders!

It will be about 4 weeks until it's finished at the long-arm quilters. I can't wait to see it!

The Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY: Friday, August 5th 2011.

Outside my window...it's dark but we had LOTS of lightening earlier and a friend of mine told me her kids saw a tornado on Lake Eustis during those storms! whoa!!

I am thinking...that I want to make my Doll Quilt partner a different doll quilt. I'm not pleased with the HST one.

I am thankful...that God really is in control!

From the learning rooms...a few more weeks til school starts. Kyle is already asking for Math and Reading and Science...geesh...we'll start the day after Labor day as normal and of course...the first day of school is always a field trip!


In the kitchen...I made lasagna for dinner but we didn't eat it! About ten mins after I put it in Ronnie said "let's order pizza, I'm starving!" So we did...and we now have a cooked lasagna in the fridge to heat up for lunch tomorrow ;)

I am wearing...pj's! (I never really have to change this one, lol)

I am creating...a new doll quilt bc I don't like the one I made. I want to do a barn bc my partner this month likes farming. If it goes well and isn't too difficult I will throw together 6 more blocks of the barn and add them to the funky farm swap. I am thinking of finishing the quilting on the quilt I made earlier in the year for Grandma Ruth-John's Mom. (It was the pink and green one). I've quilted ALL of the pieced blocks but want to do some fancy stencil quilting in the solid squares.

I am going...nowhere tomorrow! It was supposed to be beach day but bc of the tropical storm, we had to cancel. Ronnie rented a Bobcat and we'll be doing the backyard tomorrow.

I am wondering...If I should sew tonight or just go to bed. I'm actually tired!

I am reading...I am onto story 2 in "The Knitting Diaries"by Debbie Macomber), "A Turn in the Road" also by Debbie Macomber and Lysa Terkeurst's "What Happens When Women Say Yes to God".

I am hoping...that Ronnie can get everything done tomorrow in the limited time he has :/

I am looking forward to...having the empty side of the pond filled in although Kyle and his buddies strongly disagree-that is their play/fort area ;)

I am hearing...Kyle and his friend (who is staying the night) exclaiming about some part of "Pirates of the Caribbean"...cute :)

Around the house...clearing and leveling the back yard and installing a sprinkler system. We also mulched the front beds and plan on trimming hedges this weekend!

I am pondering...whether I should go to bed after I type this...or if I should see if I can get into sewing.


One of my favorite things...My new rose bush. I am not typically a rose-y person I like wild flowers and gardenias and daisies and jasmine...but I LOVE my new rose bush!


A few plans for the rest of the week: Kyle and Ashton want to do laser tag...we'll see. If not then roller skating for them again for sure-they love it! Night 2 of Beach Bash is Wed pm. I have a chiro appt mon, wed and fri ;( and I am sure we'll end up at the movies or something friday night....maybe Fun SPot in Orlando.


Here is picture for thought I am sharing...the barn I am wanting to make.

Sewing Up a Storm!

I have had SEW much sewing time lately!! I am LOVING it!

I finished my funky farm blocks:

I also started ONE pig block to go along with the funky blocks I receive:

I have this to add still:

I also finished adding the border to the Round Robin that I'll be sending off to Australia:

I finished my Doll Quilt for the August swap! I did a traditionally pieced top this time.

I did add an appliqued flower to the backing because it needed a little something.

A couple of CUTIE PATOOTIE pics of Jacob and Jasmine (my BFF's cat that we are cat-sitting)

Jasmine

Jacob

SO CUTE!!