My Sewing Adventures

      I just shared with you our winter trip....but one of the most exciting stops on the trip(for me) was this place...

If you haven't heard of this quilt shop, you can visit it HERE. 

I have been watching Jenny Doan's youtube videos for a few years...she teaches you everything you ever wanted to know about quilting...but didn't know where to find it!  Honestly, she's good!  Well, I walked into the store(thank you, hubby, for driving off our intended route to find this place)...

What a wonderful, sunny spot this place was!  I was overwhelmed when I walked in the door, but soon found all the precuts that this place is famous for...they offer a "daily deal" on their website that you just have to have...their internet business probably far outsells their shop...they are located in Hamilton, Missouri, a very small town!  I browsed the shop, trying to take in everything since I knew it might be my only trip here!  I asked one of the girls if the famous "Jenny" was there...AND SHE WAS!  She took me back to the corner of the shop where Jenny sews all day long...when she doesn't stop to chat!

Oh my gosh...I got to meet her and we visited for 45 minutes!  She was so warm and welcoming, just like she is on her youtube videos!  There's a link on their website to search the videos and watch the patterns you want...you just have to look her up!  She is so personable...we chatted about where I was from and how I got to her...and when she found out I had a resort she said, "oh, have me come!"  Well, twist my arm, Jenny, I would love to make this happen!  So, we'll see if I can work on a quilt retreat and have this famous lady come and share with us!  She has a first-ever pattern book just released with several of her patterns from her videos...can't wait to get mine!  My cousin, who is a quilter too, bought it for me!  It's even autographed by Jenny!

         So, that's one exciting part of our drive to Utah and back home!  I took my sewing machine with me, along with some quilt kits I had cut out at home before we left.  I also had the purchases from the quilt shop to keep me busy!  Wanna see what I accomplished?  Okay...first, let me tell ya...I am part of a Baby Quilt Ministry at our church.  We make and give quilts to new babies born in our church family.  It's such a fun project, so I took kits with me to sew some quilt tops for these babies...and here's some of what I got done!



I also worked on some quilts for the grandkids...

 

This little quilt is sewn in 9 patches, but I will cut each set in half horizontally & vertically and then create a quilt with the cut squares!

And I found this little quilt hanging in a quilt shop in Wichita KS and just have to make it for all my little girls!

Isn't it just the cutest little wallhanging?  Should be a fast project x 4 little girls!  Oh dear, perhaps our grandbaby coming in May is a girlie...I might need another one!

Guess I'll have plenty of projects to keep me busy until the guests arrive in May!

So, come ahead big snowstorm on Sunday!  I know what I'll be doing!

Hope you get a chance to sew if that's your passion!

And perhaps we'll get Miss Jenny up here someday to sew with us!!

We Took a Vacation!!

        Yep, the Lodgemaster and the Resortmom left the resort!  We were gone 2 weeks on a road trip!  We had important stops to make along the way....but this beautiful place was our final destination...

 

Coral Springs Resort

         We stayed 5 nights in a condo overlooking the mountains in St. George, Utah...warm weather...but anything sounds warm when we were -40 in Minnesota!!  We didn't miss that weather at all.  We traveled 2200 miles to this place...but made a few stops before we got here...

 

Recognize the bride?  It's Alissa!!  Her family are friends from Wichita KS...Alissa has stayed with us for the month of July for several years...living with us and working.  We don't think she'll make it up to work this year...I tried!  I said Colin would understand that she has this place in Minnesota that needs her!  But no...she will be in Kansas this year, continuing her education to be a large animal vet!  Their love in life was reflected in the wedding...

 

Their cattle brand was printed on the napkins...and

 

the Groom's cake shared their mutual love...their animals!  

You can read more about their adventures here.  We will miss you in the summer, Alissa,

but we know you have better things to do!!

Alissa & Colin's wedding was one of the best times we've ever had at a wedding!  We had a wonderful time visiting with friends & family...and friends who are "like family"!  We can't help but have fun when we're with these kids...

 

My cousin, Jackie, and her fun-loving husband, Dan!  We have been friends since birth!  Our Dad's are twins...I'm the oldest of 8 and Jackie is second oldest of 7...so any time our families got together it was a crowd...and we played our hearts out!  Dan & Jackie came to the resort our first year here...and have been here every July for 2 weeks...for 25 years!  They're family has grown like ours...and all those grand babies are growing up with our little ones...spending 2 weeks together every year.

Yes, we get dressed up once in awhile too!  

         We left the wedding stop and headed southwest....next stop was Las Vegas...and not for the gambling!  I have 2 brothers who live there with their families and we were long overdue for a visit!  Did I mention it was a long drive?  We drove through Kansas to Oklahoma, then Texas, New Mexico, Arizona...and finally arrived in Vegas.  My brother, Ben, had suggested we make a 1/2 hour stop at Hoover Dam since we would drive right by it...so we did!

 

This is a view of the dam...and you can see the white lines on the rocks that show how low Lake Mead is...guess they need moisture like we do here!  We got out and walked the pedestrian bridge over the dam...

 

This was the view...and not Steve's favorite place to be standing...so we only walked halfway and headed back to the car and onto Vegas!

  We bunked with my oldest brother, Ben, and his wife, Beth.  Ben took us on excursions to see the mountains...we stopped at Red Rock and watched this...

 

Look close...there's a guy climbing this giant rock on the side of the mountains...we stood there for awhile waiting to see if he fell...he didn't!

 

Ben and his big sis at Red Rock...such beautiful country!

We had such fun visiting and relaxing and not having to drive for 2 whole days!  We even got to see youngest brother, Doug & Becky's son, Ocean, play basketball!

 

He played a great game and we're so glad we got to be there!

We never get enough of our family there...but we had fun seeing everyone, playing with their grandkids and the dogs too!  

         We left Vegas after 2 days and headed north to our final destination....St. George, Utah!  We had never been there, so we chose our condo online and were very pleasantly surprised when we got there!  It looked even better than the pictures!  It really made me wonder how our guests find us and what their reactions are when they get here...we hope it's a good one!

           We spent 5 days in St. George....the weather was awesome!  We drove to Zion National Park one day and had a great time hiking and seeing all the wildlife.

 

This was our beautiful drive from our condo to the park...a little different landscape from MN!

 

I was excited to find this 8 point mule deer while hiking the trails!  He posed for me!

 

The only snow and ice we saw on our trip was in the mountains!

Steve was able to play golf one day with cliffs as his obstacles!  He had fun...I had my sewing machine along,

so guess what I did?

That's another whole blog post...stay tuned!

We traveled almost 5000 miles round trip and had a wonderful experience...we decided mutually

that it was not going to be a yearly trip...at least not by car!  We'll definitely fly next time!

And we LOVE our home!  Maybe travel does that?  Makes you appreciate the blessings

you have right in front of you!