Beatrice

On the fourth of July we invited friends over for a cookout and fireworks. One set of friends, Robin and Ron, brought us an unexpected present....a baby racoon that had fallen out of her nest and was less than a week old. We kept her through the night and the next day took her to Jim's dad. He's raised several racoons, although Beatrice is the youngest by far. I am happy to say that Beatrice is now almost 2 months old and doing fantastic! Here are some pics of the night we got her.

Now here she is a little over a month later! Our big girl is doing great :) Thanks Dad!!!

Mother's Day Quilt

On a roll today, so thought I would get some pics of the small mother's day quilt up that I made. It's just a small wall hanging (24x24). I did the quilting with my embroidery unit. I really liked the effects, but my centering was off. Oh well, it's all learning right? Mom loved it anyway!

Here's a close up of the embroidery/quilting (it's Quilt Feathers by Anita Good-designs).

Update on Life...yet again :)

Ok, I realize I must get better than one post every 5 months, LOL. I've been traveling pretty much non-stop since January. After my trip last week, I believe the majority of my traveling for Lilly is finished, at least for now. I even finished Kiki's quilt last week. Now I just need to post some pics of it. Feels good to have it done. Getting ready to start a new embroidery project and have lots of quilts to work on. Just a matter of finding the time for sewing.

The weather has been cooperating this weekend. Jim and I got the entire front flower bed mulched and a new butterfly bush planted. The garden is mostly finished, although I just got my cucumber and spaghetti squash seeds from Henry Fields so need to get those in the ground this weekend too. Everything went in really really late this year because of the rain, but we'll see how we do. I really enjoy the gardening, very peaceful and relaxing.

So here's a full shot of Kiki's quilt hanging in my room. I sure do miss her, more than I ever thought I could. Funny how the little monsters in our lives that we cuss daily when they're with us end up leaving such a hole when they are gone. Jim teases me and says we have Kiki "reincarnated" in Max (aka Maxine) the little cat living in the barn (one of Julie's rescues). She is very much like Kiki.....who knows? :)

Background fabric picked out!

Had a really nice day today! Putzed around the house this morning (still didn't clean :) and then Jim and I went into town. We buzzed past a few buildings to look at and then he dropped me off at the quilt store and went onto his hobby store. I found what I think will be the perfect backing for Kiki's quilt. Here it is!

Here's a close up :)

Now I need to go get organized for tomorrow.....

Kiki's Remembrance Quilt

As some of you know, we lost our oldest cat Kiki in October to cancer. She was a bitchy girl, but the house sure is quiet without her. I miss her very much, but decided to make a remembrance quilt for her. It's just a wall hanging that I can hang in my room, but the process has been good. Lots of memories :)

Here's a pic of the entire quilt top. It's pieced, but now I need to find the backing and binding fabric and quilt it.

The image above her head here is my attempt at embroidering a pecan pie. One of our most memorable times with her was one Thanksgiving when I made a pecan pie for my mom (who loves them) and Kiki jumped up onto the table and landed right in the middle of mom's pie! Mom, who really doesn't like cats at all, picked her up and tossed her right off the table! And Mom, doesn't really touch cats, LOL.

Just another pose :)

I found these little angel alphabet letters and embroidered them above the first row. Kiki was NOT an angel, but she sure is missed :)

This is my favorite picture ever of Kiki. All of these photos were taken by April Tchiguka of Dreadhead Artist Creations. Check out her website at www.dreadheadartist.com She does beautiful work and captured some of the most amazing pics of all my babies.

Time for an Update

OMG, it's been forever since I've been on here. No use trying to bring everyone up to speed right now, we'll just start fresh :)

It is bitter cold right now in Indiana. It was negative 20 degrees yesterday morning (no, not windchill...really negative 20 on the thermometer)! Poor horses had ice on their eyelashes and whiskers. Ick. Today we broke zero but the wind that is whipping around is just biting!

I am still traveling alot for my job. A little over 8 months until my 2 year non-compete is up :) Yippeeee!

Got my garden catalogs a few days ago. I am definitely planting this year. I really missed it last year and have decided work is not going to keep me from doing it this year.

I've been doing a bunch of quilting/embroidery this winter and absolutely LOVE it! I need to post some pics of what I've done so far. Lots of beginner mistakes, but I'm learning, LOL.

Need more coffee first though!!!!!

More Christmas Pics....

Thought you all might enjoy some more pics from Christmas :)



Is it time for breakfast yet????

Mmmmmm, mmmmmm good!!!!

Simon is such a big help wrapping!



Where's my Apple???





All tuckered out and ready for a Christmas nap!


After playing in the rain, Kasey thinks Bubba Jr. needs a bath.



Bubba likes to help wrap presents.









The girls sharing breakfast (Princess is on the left, Tongo is on the right). The girls have been together all of Tongo's life...I suspect Princess will join our family when we get the barn built too! They are good buddies, always grazing together.




Waiting patiently...NOT!

Bubba Jr. does NOT appreciate the Santa hat.