5 weeks in Michigan

Josh has been traveling a lot, and has more trips coming up, so o decided to head home.

I came home to enough packages I thought it might be Christmas!!!!

One of those packages was this beautiful fabric, designed by Minick and Simpson who Lives in Michigan!!! And this fabric line is based on Michigan.

I babysat my sisters kids and we went out to pizza and it was amazing... and we had a great time, see the shirt the older one is wearing, I handed that down to her, and my uncle handed it down to me... 

I got to see one of my best friends announce her second pregnancy!

I got to meet one of the members of the online quilt group I'm in :)

My parents took me out to an early birthday dinner since we won't be together for my real birthday and they gave me this book I have been wanting :)

And I got these two books, my first books of grad school.

I was able to see the beach and have a great day with my sister and 6 of my nieces.

I may have also gotten a slight sun burn because I missed a spot with the sunscreen... oops.

I ran a 10 mile race while I was home, I was so happy to run it, I have heard about it most of my life. It was a tough race,  but good. It was fun to run past places I knew. And the medal HUGE

And later that day my cousin got married and it rained the whole afternoon and it was cold.

Saw some good friends

And my parents went on vacation and left me in charge of the house.

And being a good daughter I mowed the lawn and picked the berries...

I also dyed my hair for the first time ever!!!

And I spent a lot of time working on my fresh quilt, but I didn't finish it sadly, mostly quilted though... I tried to get it done so I could give it to my parents for their anniversary... maybe next year.

I met a friend and we picked apples and ate donuts!!! I love cider donuts!! 

And tried to catch this snake for my parents to no avail, I think it's hibernating in the garage for the winter!!! Eek!!! I even set rat traps! They said they didn't catch anything when they got home :(

Which was a learning experience, I had never set a mouse or a rat trap before, so thankfully my brother had been over earlier and set up one of the rat traps, so I could use it as an example.

Met up with more friends and hung out

And finally, 

Headed home

Day 498

I free motion quilted again! It's so easy! And I tried out a new method so I didn't have to do binding.

And I need to get these quilts by tomorrow, because my friend is coming over! But the power went out!

So I got a chance to read.

And the power came back on! 

And I finished the doll quilts! My machine was having a bit of trouble with tension in the end, but they turned out ok!

Day 460

Our power was out most of the day because they were wiring in a new neighborhood. So I finished a book.

These books are fun and quick to read

Day 426

I have a lot of catching up to do on laundry and what not, but I really don't feel motivated, I need a vacation 😜

I did finish this book.

I have had it on my book shelf for a couple years, it was different than I expected, and did you know Curtis is a girl? Interesting.

Days 373 and 374

I spent most of the day reading, Josh spent a lot of time reading and doing homework.

I finished this book.

The 4th in the series. I think the first three were better, but there is one more left and I'm not one to stop in the middle of a series.

And I finally sewed some on the client quilt.

I sewed on the first border.

Days 347- 349

We hung out around the house mostly, I think Mr was the most comfortable of all of us.

I did read my new cookbook

Days 244 and 245

I cut myself washing dishes, so I couldn't finish them :( 

And I finished a book woohoo, the second one I two weeks, which is good, since it took me almost 4 months to finish one. 

Thursday I still didn't want to,wash dishes, so I worked on my ancestry, and then I read another book, I'm reading The island by Elin Hildebran it's pretty good.

And I spent a couple of hours outside with Mr meow.

He was really enjoying being outside.

Day 237

I was too excited at how close I was to finishing my quilt, so I did my morning chores really quick, and before I ironed I sewed the front of the binding on, I used the same scallop type pattern I quilted with.

And I tossed it in the wash before I did the ironing, 

I was so excited when it came out.

This is my second quilt finish is year, and it's only July

No sooner had I posted this on Facebook, like I said I was pretty excited, did I get a message someone wanted me to make them a quilt, a king sized quilt! I've never made a quilt and been paid for it before, I'm nervous and excited...

Mr has been finding some interesting places to sleep.

He slept under the guest bathroom sink today...

And I started a new book, I'm already 8 chapters in, it's a much lighter read than my last.

Day 196

I got back to reading today :) I was happy to have that time and to be able to browse the new books my library has put in their system since I last read :)

We also saw a jack rabbit 

He was in the construction site next door.

Day 117

Today was a lady in my group's birthday, so we got together for brunch. I gave her the sharpie mug I had made. She seems to like it.

Then after I came home from brunch I lazed around a bit, then did some dishes, and watched Mansfield park, it was interesting, and I also did some ironing, we cancelled spanish class because Josh went to the funeral home for someone he works with's mom.

I also started reading this easy teen lit book.

I'm hoping it will be a quick easy read, lighter than the last book I read.

Day 63 &64

Wednesday is reading day, so after I finished my chores again, it's time to read!

I started this book.

It's about polygamy in the 1800s and now, and it's fiction, but it's written like its a biography. So it is a little confusing... But so far it's pretty good.

Also I tried out a new Pinterest recipe, 

Honey sesame chicken

Josh cleaned the chicken the night before, then I popped it in the crockpot in the morning with a sauce I made. Cook for 3-4 hours,

Then I had to take the chicken out and shred it.

A and add cornstarch and water to the sauce to thicken it up, but after the 10 minutes in the crock pot to thicken, it didn't.

So I called my mom and asked what to do, and she came through, like she always does, and I had to put it in a pot on the stove, and bring to a boil, add a little more corn starch and it thickened right up.

Served over rice with green onions and sesame seeds on top, it was delicious. This for sure made it on the make again list!

Thursday is ancestry day,

I worked on my ancestry.com tree, I added about 100 people, which is great, I'm fleshing out some of the people, so it's been fun, there are over 1000 people in my family tree now. :)

Distracted

So yesterday at lunch I bought the new Sweet Valley confidential book and read the whole thing.
it was good... back to quilting tonight...