It's time to play Catch Up ! or is it Ketchup ?

ok... I've been awol long enough, and probably like you, can't believe how fast this summer has been flying by. I've been busy with the usual.... family ( a new grandson was added ! ☺ ) and the old one ( 6 ! ) was here for over a month ...having fun with Grandma and Grandpa...taking swimming lessons, sailing with Grandpa..... quilting..... the band..... So now, I intend to get back to blogging, and will share some pics about our adventures.

You may have heard in the news... we have still been having flooding in North Dakota... seems every year now there is a problem, and not only has it been affecting Fargo, ( not so much Grand Forks anymore, because after the 1997 flood, they fixed that ! ) but now Minot and Bismarck, Valley City, not to mention many smaller towns, and Devils Lake, which just keeps rising and when it gets much higher, will find it's own outlet and be disasterous for much of the state. Anyway... this leads into a little event that we put on, our Not so annual USFEST. We have had a couple in the past, up at our other Money Pit ( at my old hometown) where we are fixing up an old 1917 home ( more blogging material......) . Well, in June, we have our annual Missoui River Bluegrass Festival on, where else..... Cross Ranch State Park on the Missouri River. You know, the one Lewis and Clark and .......was it Sea Bisquit ? the dog..... anyway, we are a big Lewis and Clark state... I digress. Well, the Missouri River, being one of the new areas of the state to flood now, was just reaching it's crest when the fesitval was to take place, so therefore, the festival had to be canceled. Well... what to do ? So many of us had taken time off of work to attend, so we still wanted to get together, and started looking around for a centrally located campsite that had openings and would let us jam all nite long. Well, there wasn't too many campgrounds around that weren't flooded, and of course all of them have a noise curfew, so I offered up our little place to have it. We just happen to have put up some full service campsites up there a couple years ago to accommodate all the wind generator workers ( we are now in the middle of a wind farm..... more blogging material for later....) so we had the perfect set up. About the noise ordinance ? Well there isn't one. There are only about 24 people in town and 26 when I and the DH are up there, well, that is an estimate... but we did double the population and made some pretty darn good music ! It was a great time and I hope we can do it again sometime ! !

This is Mel from Canada. He plays some awesome mando, guitar and banjo ! And he has the nicest wife Sheila.

Here are some of my friends from around town. I think we made Bluegrass lovers out of them ! They're asking when the next USFEST will be......One of our small town sunsets...

kind of a dark picture, but here we are jammin' all night long ( gotta love a small town). We put up a canopy to keep the sprinkles out, and of course have to put up the icicle lights for ambiance !

John and Joe.... father and son banjo pickers ! Gotta have a bass player ! we were lucky and had 4 in attendance !

Here we are in the middle of a bluegrass song. I'm the one on the far left - kinda in the backround....to my left are Linda and Terry, members of our band, Spiritwood Creek. You can see the back of another member, Carrie, she's the blonde with the teal dress on... check out the next picture....

Carrie modeling an old dress we found in the house ( it was my parent's home ).. I think it may be my Grandma Johnson's... and is probably from the '40's or 50's. Let me tell you, it is in awesome condition and the style is really cute.. it could be worn to any formal function today and still look in style. I only wish it fit me ! Picture taken inside the house. I am not too attached to the paint color, so it won't be there much longer. The stairway will, however !

ok... that is enough for now... if you have time, do an internet search on the Minot flood, it is just devastating. Minot hometown boy Josh Duhamel ( Vegas, the Transformer movies ) is hosting a benefit there in Sept. It is a Black-eyed Peas concert- he is married to Fergie . Hope it raises LOTS of money for the flood victims !

well... I am off to a Bluegrass festival in Minnesota ( more blogging material ) this weekend.... don't you think that this is all I did this summer.... I had already quilted more quilts by May of this year than I did all of last year ...... and of course, that is more blogging material, yet to come !

have a great weekend everyone !

AMY BARICKMAN GIVEAWAY !

Check out this great giveaway from Amy Barickman..... Don't you just love redwork? Check out her post here. LOVE LOVE LOVE these colors !

Rustic Log Quilt Ladder

Fresh from the Mystical forests of Lake Country, Minnesota.........
Don't you just love my new quilt ladder ? My brother custom made it for me from wood on his own property. He has been busy building custom chairs, benches, swings, tables, kitchen island/buffet for people, and they are just beautiful !

As you can see, mine can hold alot of quilts/runners and has 4 rungs. He will build them to suit whatever size you need. so, in case anyone is interested.... contact me for more information !

Don't you just love brothers ! Soon I will post some special pictures of my other brother's creations !

The last day of 2010 !

I can hardly believe it.... where did this year go? Busy year! What will next year bring? I guess we will see shortly !

Thought I'd post one last time this year, since I can now reach my keyboard with my mending shoulder! I think I will be starting PT next week, but am still wearing my little "strightjacket" !

In the meantime, I'll post a couple of pictures for the season.....

Above is a little table runner I made using the Easy Striped Table Runner pattern and a 60 degree ruler. I love this pattern and the first thing I usually look for when entering a quilt shop are and striped fabrics !

Here is the back, with the snowflakes I quilted on it. It's nice to have the table topper be reversible... I should work on something for Valentines day.......If you know of any cute Valentines stripe that I can use, send me the name of the fabrc, will you? Then I can start the hunt to see if I can find it. Sometimes the funnest part is the 'hunt' !

Next I want to show you a customer quilt that I just love..... I really like evergreen trees, and have a couple patterns that I want to make into quilts. I don't know the name of this quilt pattern, but if you do, please let me know !

Here's a little close up of the pinecone stitching........

Another pattern I found on my travels this weekend ( I'm in Minnesota for the New Years weekend....) is the Thimbleberries Trees by Starlight. It is the first pattern of their 2010 BOM. I had actually seen the block before, but hadn't seen it made into the quilt. I saw the quilt this weekend made up in Brainerd, Mn. and now want to do the full quilt sometime. Another wish for my wish list.

2011 should be a stash manicure year for me.... not sure if I am ready to commit yet.... I do, however need to get the stash organized. That is probably where I should start.

Well... I had best go now... we are heading out to a fun New Years weekend at the farm near the lake.... expecting another snowstorm...and a nice big bonfire tonite if the weather lets us.

Here's wishing you a safe and wonderful New Years !

Beth

It's gonna be a plain, simple Christmas this year....

They say that if you want to exercise your brain, use your non-dominate hand more often. well, I will be exercising my brain alot . Family & friends, hope didn't have your hearts set on something quilty for Christmas. I did have some grand plans, but the only plan now is PLAN B.

I had been having some shoulder problems in my right shoulder, and after exams & xrays, it was determined that I could come in and have some minor surgery done, removing some irritating bone spurs. That was to be a 45 min. surgery. 2 hours later, they were done fixing my torn rotator cuff (which had been damaged for years, they noted), and I get to NOT USE my right arm for awhile! Not what I had been planning on, didn't have much ready for Christmas, no baking either.... but I did get the tree up before the surgery, so we will just scale back on the plans. I am in a couple Christmas Swaps, so hopefully they won't mind if they are a little late!

Other than that, I think I will take it easy on this arm and not worry what didn't get decorated, didn't get baked or didn't get made! I hope the rest of all you busy people out there don't overdo it, and enjoy your own little Christmas in your own way!