It SNOWED!!

It's my kind of day. I love the snow. It's so pretty. It does slow business down a bit, but it was a good desk day!
The last time I posted, it was one of my brother's Birthday. I was an only child until he came along, so we have a fair amount of competition between us. Not that the 5 kids that came after him and me made any difference in our family dynamic. He is still to blame for my losing my "only child" standing. He called this week to see if I had any plans for my Birthday. I said "No," thinking I was going to get an invite. He said I better be making plans, because he didn't think I had that many Birthdays left. Nice brother!! It makes no difference who of my siblings or my Mom and Dad introduce me, they all say, "this is Joyce, she's the oldest." A girl could get a complex!!

Barn Block

I LOVE Iowa!! I Love our farm. And though our "Barn" is new, we do store the old gray Ford tractor in there. Half of our Barn is actually our family dinner place!! When we have Thanksgiving (and we have it at least 4 or 5 times a year) it's not unusual for 50 relatives to show up. My Mom and Dad live next to us on our farm. How fortunate we are to have them close.

Our Barn was recently decorated with "the Farmer's Daughter" Barn Block. Mom got her Barn Block for Mother's Day on their garage. So now we each have one. Come on out and look, our's is the farm with the Amoco sign in the yard!!

Stir Crazy Retreat

We had a wild and crazy weekend with about 40 of our closest friends!! We got ALL of our old projects done. Well, we got a good start on that resolution!!! We had sew much fun, that we have decided to do it again next month...February 24, 25, 26. Sign up soon, because we are already OVER half full. I'll stick in some photos, so you can see what you missed OR so you can pick yourself out of the mix.

It must be Next Year!!

Alyssa used to stand in her playpen at the store and say, "Busy, busy, busy!" That was at least 26 years ago. And for me, it seems like only yesterday. So now you know how fast my life is flying by.

Last week, I spoke to the Knoxville Quilt Guild. What fun and what great food. Fred went along, just to collect recipes and hold up quilts. It is always such fun to catch up with my friends there and share some of my projects. Keeps me creating so I have new quilts to show.

Last weekend we went to Wesley Woods for our annual retreat. It was a beautiful weekend and we got so many projects finished and so many more started!! Don't you just love a good retreat. Lots of food, fun, friends and fabric. Doesn't get any better.

Marilyn was good enough to share photos.

What the HECK happened?

Is this part of the aging process? All of a sudden the year is GONE, and you don't remember where it WENT! I loved last winter, but I don't even know what happened to the rest of the year.
I quilted some, I worked a lot, we traveled.
And now I'm back to my beloved winter.
I need to slow down and smell the alfalfa!

I spoke to the Knoxville Quilt Guild last Tuesday evening and they asked when I was going to update the Blog...oh, my gosh...it looks like I fell off the face of the earth!! This has been a really busy year: 2 shop hops, 1 bus trip that included 8 stores, The Iowa Quilt Guild held their annual meeting at our place, Viking Convention and Sewfest, Quilt Market, AQS and we purchased the building next door to the store (the former social security building) to use as our Event Center.
2010 has been a wild ride.

December 2 will begin our Patches & Pieces Quild Guild "Comfort & Joy" Quilt Show, it will continue December 3 and 4th, as well. Creston is a happening place that weekend with the lighted Christmas Parade, the Uptown Block Walk and lots of Holiday Happenings. Great place to kick off the Holidays and stimulate the local economy.

New Year, New Resolutions. NOT!

Same resolutions as every year: sew more, eat less and laugh often. I'm very good at the laughter. With the 4 day work weeks, we've had lately, I'm getting a lot of sewing done!! The snow days, have kept me home more this year than all the other 27 years combined. Fred says, I can't retire, because I'd just eat myself to death. So I'll be at the store for many years to come. Thursday, we got stuck and had to walk home. I'm waaaay too old for that to happen again.

The scooping should be getting easier, since we've had so much practice.

As many of you know, I LOVE the winter!! Honestly! I feel like I get more done in the winter and I love watching it snow. So pretty. Even now, I still love the winter.

With the snow days, I'm getting so many projects done. I've put in a photo of my brother's birthday present: the windmill wallhanging. He better be grateful. He has 5 sisters and it's a real battle to stay in first place!

It's ALMOST winter!

If this isn't winter, I'm not sure I want to be in Iowa next week! Fred has scooped a winter's worth of snow from in front of the store. He just brought in more ice melt and he's looking at me sideways when I say I love the winter!! Winter is a VERY productive time for me and I don't feel the least bit guilty just sitting and sewing. However, it really should have come three weeks ago, so I'd be ready for Christmas. Now I have to cram too much stitching into too few days.