Bad news that turned out to be good news!

For the past 6 weeks I have been in summer school. It is intense to say the least! Chemistry in 6 weeks is insane! I was finding myself having very little time to do anything but study, which meant that my quilting had to be put on the shelf :(..  Yesterday I saw the preliminary scores on the teachers web page and I thought that I would end up with a B!! All this effort for a B I thought.. I was bummed to say the least! But as we sat down for dinner I realized that if the worst day of 2013 was me getting a B in Chemistry then I was having a pretty good year.

Well today I checked my grade again ( yes I am obsessive with such things lol) and to my surprise, there was an A!! The preliminary scores had not shown the lowest test score being dropped! I was so excited and am now back to being a 4.0 student.

I am surely enjoying having some time off and today I even made 2 crumble pies! one strawberry rhubarb and one apple! yummy if I may say so myself.. I also went to Walmart and picked up Downstown Abbey! And I have had some time to sew and relax, we also went to a county fair but it had no animals! oh well.. things are looking good.
Eli decided to take a nap on the way to the fair

 rag quilt that I made for Eli

 Swoon block, I don't think that this one will make the cut though because it is hard to see the pink..

Finally some quilting!

This week has been all about chemistry. The summer semester is always intense, especially when a lab is required. But hey, I am 1/6th done!
Well yesterday I got some much needed relax time! My friend and fellow quilter Sandy recently purchased a longarm quilting machine, and she graciously invited the whole quilt group to her home so that we could try it out!
I was very pleased with the results, and it was fun too! We also had a potluck lunch on her deck and it was delicous.
Some other great news are: I am getting my own sewing space in the house! ( well in the guestroom behind the garage, but that doesnt matter a bit to me) The whole thing came about after I bought a roll of 25yds of batting ( the stuff that goes in between quilt layers) After playing around with it my husband asked me where we would put it. Now, there just isn't any space left, at all! Sooo my husband suggested that we do some quick fixes to the guest room and put a table and draw an extension cord out there!! yay! My very own sewing space. I can barely wait to make it my own happy pink sewing space!!

Lindsay working on her basket table topper! Those blocks are 4" yikes!

My Christmas wreath!

Sandy and JoAnn trying to decide on the best pattern for JoAnn's shamrocks, below is the finished quilting on my wreath! Holly berries!

 

Lindsay's baskets getting quilted! :)

on a good note!

We got our dog back.. The catch?  Well he got out of our backyard and got put in the pound.
Yepp our dog now has a mug shot!

This is the picture that was posted on their website, and apparently he now also has a new alias. Eddie! lol.
We went and got him today and it cost us a whooping 170$ , good thing he is so cute. He was pretty excited when he saw us after a night or two in the pound.
Others than our dog mishap I have been enjoying summer break! Quilting along on a Halloween quilt ( got the fabric on sale after the holidays) and catching up with friends.

Summer!

We spent about a week in Colorado after school got out. ( got an A in math by the way :) It was nice and relaxing, and the view can't be beat. I just love those Rocky mountains!
We got to shoot the pistol that I gave my husband for his birthday, and it is not as hard as one can imagine after some practice. The uphill climb up there was quite the feat though!
At that altitude even running after the kids is a workout, but I suppose it is a good one for me ;).
I also got to see my nephew for the first time. He is a very calm and cute baby.
As far as quilting goes, well I did some handstitching but I forgot my applique glue soo I had to tear it out and re-do it when I got home. I did however get to go to a quilt shop! I just love quilt shops they are so cute and quaint and people that work in them are always nice ( who wouldn't be, seeing as they are surrounded by fabric every day!)

The cousins playing on the porch!

A little slice of paradise, Estes Park CO.

My ongoing quilt project! trying to use up some scraps and some fabrics that didn't quite make it into a quilt!

It is the little things...

It is the little things in life, that makes it so wonderful!
My husband has been on post deployment leave for about a week now, and we have been busy doing fun family stuff!
Today we packed the truck up and drove out to palomar mountain. It is a nice hideaway about an hour away from where we live. The air is clean and the trees are tall.. and it is quiet!
A place where you can take a deep breath and enjoy life.

Spending some time with the little man!

I am spending some time with Eli tonight, the reason being big boy and daddy are at a truck race. Eli is still too little to go. He still tried to put his shoes on to go with them, but after waving goodbye he was quite alright with getting all the attention. And needless to say he is enjoying playing with whatever toys he wants. We made a pillowcase for big brother ( yes he helped! putting it on his head and being silly counts ;) then we danced, played cars and firetrucks and cleaned.

 Eli playing by the pillowcase we made! James was a good boy at the fabric store so he got to pick a fabric for it :)

There was a fabric sale today! :)I got the 4 fabrics on top.. I wanted to make a quilt out of the light pink and grey but I don't think they have enough contrast.. so I was inspired to buy the darker pink from my friend Lindsay who has been working with this color in class, and her project is looking so gorgeous!

He is home!

(This post is actually from mid april just forgot to post) My husband that is! The re-adjustment has gone well, which is a big relief. It is a lot harder than people imagine to re-adjust after 6 months with a combat deployment. But I think that after having done this so many times we have developed more patience and a bigger understanding for eachother.
Eli and James are overjoyed and it has helped Eli's speach a lot. He follows his daddy around everywhere and want to do everything just like him. :)
I have been able to squeeze in some sewing as well. Tried my hand at some 4" baskets.. well... I need to re-do 2 of them. But I will learn from my mistakes and re-do them...
I am also working on a baby quilt! It has been so much fun that I am thinking about making another one.