Quilt Show Weekend

Shane worked on the boathouse again the weekend.  He's been working on it every weekend we don't have the girls trying to get it done before he leaves for Vietnam - which is this Wednesday night. Friday I didn't spend solo because Debbie and Don took me to dinner at Rancho Bonita.  Then Saturday morning, I asked Debbie to go to the quilt show with me.

It was so much fun!  We saw tons of cute fabrics and amazing quilts!  Now that I know a little more about how they make more of the blocks, I was inspired to do more difficult quilts than I have previously tried.  Mostly though I was in awe at the amount of work some people put into their quilts.

Here were a couple cool ones I liked:

This quilt was made by a guild of quilters and each person made their own birdhouse block.  As a lover of birds and birdhouses - this one captured my heart!

This one gave Debbie and I goosebumps.  A military mom had given all of her son's uniforms to a local quilt store for them to design a quilt and her only request was "that they leave as many pockets on the quilt as possible for me to tuck memories of my son in for his son."

Here's a closeup of some of the pockets.

A little blurry yes - but I thought this one was cool anyway.

This was a fun one!

And this one I had to take to tell Shane it was going to be our new bedspread.  I couldn't keep a straightface long enough for him to believe me!

This one reminded me of Mom.  I'm sorry it's so blurry - I must've had my camera on a bad setting (so unlike me!).  But it's a Dick and Jane quilt which is right up Mom's lane.

Here's a closeup of some of the pieces of that quilt.

After the quilt show, Debbie and I checked a TJ Maxx like store of home decor items.  It was a cute store - some of the prices were good and some were no cheaper than you find at a regular department store.  We ate lunch at a hole-in-the-wall diner that had yummy asparagus soup.  It was apparently award winning - and a fun find to just happen across.  

As far as the quilting class goes, we learned the friendship star and flying geese pattern this week. I had to finish those blocks this weekend. Here they are:

And we had to sew our quilt tops together for class on Tuesday.  I am not still really not fond of the brown - I wish I would've known how the quilt was going to lay out a little better.  But I guess that was another thing the class was good for - learning the blocks and what kind of contrasts work the best in the different types of blocks.  Good thing it's just a small lap quilt.  But here it is:

This week we are going to learn to square the quilt, do the borders, binding and machine-quilt the backing together.  I'm excited to start on a new project.  I think it's going to be placemats with Kennedy.  I picked up a couple yards of cute spring fabric for us to have something to do on a rainy day.

Love Potion 31

After one incredibly long February afternoon scanning carotids back to back to back to back to back...I had to stop at Baskin Robbins for a pick-me-up (which just happens to be directly and conveniently across the street).  I found their February Flavor-of-the-Month:  Love Potion 31

Cupid’s White Chocolate and Raspberry ice creams swirled with a raspberry ribbon and loaded with raspberry-filled chocolate hearts and chocolate chips.

I stopped in again this Thursday after another afternoon of thick-necks and arm strain and was DISAPPOINTED to find that Love Potion is gone 'till next year.  They did have one quart left in the freezer section calling my name.  It is mmmmmmmmMarvelous!

All I can say is that I'm glad I discovered Flavor of the Month at the end of February or I would be 20 pounds heavier right now.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

We took a road trip to the farm this weekend to surprise Dad for his birthday party on Saturday.

All the ladies were excited to go to Farmington for the weekend!

Dad and Kennedy hauled in wood and then prepped the firepit for hot dogs and smores.

Isabella had fun coloring with Gramma:

She also chased Elvis all over the place.  He was a good sport and pretended to enjoy the choking snuggling from her. 

Shane, Isabella, and I braved the wind for two rides on the 4-wheeler with Kennedy at the wheel.  She has a little trouble shifting still but I think with some tougher shoes she will be able to do it.  Uggs just don't provide that much support for shifting a 4-wheeler!  The fields were way too muddy still so we had to stick to the roads.  We didn't see any deer but did get stuck behind some pretty slow traffic:

We had yummy Dolores cake and ice cream:

While everyone settled in for the night, Kennedy hosted a mani-pedi/facial session in the bathroom. 

Nicole got double-duty treatment.

The good news is my sensitive skin didn't burn off or break out after the Mint Julep mask.

Kennedy gave herself a goatee

And true to every road trip we take, it doesn't matter how long the trip seems to be - 10 minutes from home Isabella will finally conk out.

It's always so refreshing to me to be home and in the fresh air again.  It was so great to see everyone and the girls had a great time.  Thanks to Mom for organizing a great birthday surprise and Happy Birthday to Dad!  See you in a few weeks!  Love you!

Fast Math and Miss TriCities

Kennedy was the first in her school to complete the FastMath program so she got a gift certificate to Tony Roma's.  We decided to celebrate on Friday night with our friends, Mike and Katie, who met us for dinner.

The gift certificate is for a free kid's meal which we ended up using for Isabella who ordered Mac -n - Cheese (shocker!). We did this because Kennedy wanted prime rib steak with all the fixins'.  She ate every bite!  And had a piece of red velvet cake for dessert! Wow!  Shane joked that we will have to find a cheaper reward for doing good at school - prime rib is prim-o!

Our friends, Mike and Katie, knew the people in the next booth over from us - and one of those people happened to be the one and only Miss Tri-Cities, Adrienne Bousquet.  Her platform was "Girls On the Run" and she had just gotten back from a run so looked like a normal everyday girl at Tony Romas.  We had no idea we were sitting next to royalty!  Katie introduced Kennedy to her and the JaNae-cam paparazzi snapped the picture.

Kennedy had a great night and we were very proud of her.  Here are also some of the latest art projects she's brought home from art class.

Lizard on Linoleum

Mosaic coaster

Nine Patch Variation and Log Cabin

Here are the patches I made this week in quilting class.  Not really loving the brown colors - the ladies in the quilt store helped me pick the browns cuz after last week I was told by Debbie (the instructor) I didn't have enough dark neutrals.  I wish I wouldn't have gone so dark brown but oh well.  It's a lap quilt and hopefully Kennedy will like it anyway.

This upcoming week Debbie informed us it's a "doozy" with lots of homework. She also informed us she quilts about 10 hours a day and can make a lap quilt in about 1.5 hours - a king size quilt in about 3 hours.  Holy moley!

Doggie Update

Dogs walked me on Sunday afternoon

Wanted to give everyone a doggie update since I've kinda told people in bits and pieces their troubles (for this month).

Dan: doing better.  All the scratches have healed and his allergic spots are clearing up. He is on Prednisone and antibiotics for about two more weeks.  The topical Muricin they gave me is really helping with the hot spots. He goes back in April for his vaccinations/rabies and they will consider permanent Prednisone if he is still has bad allergic reactions - which I'm not in favor of because it causes weight gain and excess thirst.  He needs to watch his figure because his mom hasn't been walking him very much this winter.


Lady: Liver function is better (from 1125 to 975) - still W-A-Y too high (elevated is considered above 300).  She has to stay on Adenosyl for the time being.  She is on Deramaxx only as needed now for her hips but they don't think that is what caused the liver elevation.  They say old age - I say boo hoo - that is not what I want to hear.  But we switched foods and she is finally eating again.  We switched to Taste of the Wild - "for pets that crave a taste of the wild."

The label makes it sound so good - I almost could eat it myself:

"A fish protein, grain-free formula for all life stages with sweet potatoes provides highly digestible energy for your sensitive dog. Made with real smoked salmon, this formula offers a taste sensation like no other. Supplemented with fruits and vegetables, this fish and potato formula delivers natural antioxidants to protect your friend's body from the damage of everyday living, supporting a healthy immune system and overall good health."

Doesn't that sound appetizing?  I'm hoping since it's 100% grain-free Dan will also respond well since he has a few grain allergies already.

Keep your fingers crossed for them! And for their mommy who can't stand seeing them not feel good!

Alligator Steaks and Rail Fences

Remember rubber potatoes?  Somehow Kelsey and I forgot to include those in the Wagner Family Cookbook!  At cooking class this week, I learned to make gluten steaks - made just like rubber potatoes - but sliced thin and soaked in broth.  They are called Alligator Steaks - and of course are NOT really made of alligator.  The lady was a funny instructor - very energetic and had a cute apron with grapes.  I am on the lookout for a cute apron too - it completes the outfit!

I got to talk to her before class and she told me that she is an artist - no really - she is.  And "just like I paint with colors, I love painting with flavors." It's hard to beat that.  Being inspired, I made alligator steak on Saturday; they have to sit overnight, and I'll serve them to Shane tonight for dinner.  We'll see if he likes 'em!  He is such a good sport and has been humoring all my new recipes lately - what a great guy!

I had my first quilting class on Tuesday night.  The teacher, Debbie, is really nice, and very encouraging.  I learned so much just about cutting and ironing - I have so many bad habits!  It was worth the night just for those helpful tips.  We made 3 blocks in class - the rail fence, 9 square and the square dance.   She sent us home with homework to finish before our next class.  I got most of mine done on Sunday afternoon while there was a marathon run of Real Housewives of Orange County - boo yah!

Quilting homework was finishing 10 squares for class on Tuesday.

Here are the flowers Shane and Kennedy picked out last week.  The purple ones have wilted away so I took 'em out and was left with just a white bouquet which was so pretty.  Just the simple white flowers look so cheery on the table.

Shane worked all weekend with Ryan.  They have a new project at the yacht club finishing the inside of a boathouse.  They are putting up wallboard - not sheetrock - it's a honeycombed, really light type of sheetrock that doesn't weigh very much in the boathouse.  They are also putting in a spiral staircase.

This is the upstairs. It will have a fireplace right below their lofted bedroom.

This is part of the kitchen.

This is the view from the upstairs boathouse balcony.  Oh la la! 

Isabella has been striking alot of poses lately.  All her poses have one hand above her head...she cracks us up!

We are very proud of Kennedy.  Here is her certificate for finishing Fast Math.  It's a before-school program that kids can do to help them work on their math skills.  She was the first one in her school this year to finish the program! Yay, Kennedy!

Hope ya'll had a great weekend and I'll keep ya posted on the alligator steak outcome!