Black Sunday

The letter I was hoping would never come was waiting for me when I got home from work this afternoon. It was sitting there, on the very top of the pile, just staring at me when I opened the mailbox. It was from the University of Wisconsin...letting me know that I have to hand over my only daughter to them on Sunday, September 6 between 8AM and 10AM. Seriously...how in the world did 18 years pass so quickly? I think back to her first day of kindergarten and can picture her in my mind (literally) like it was yesterday and I wonder if I felt then the same way I do now? I know that I need to let her go so she can learn to make her own choices, learn from her mistakes and just prepare for life in general but {damn!} someone should have told me how hard it would actually be to let her go...

My First Quilt

Well, we finally found a cabin that looked good (on paper anyway) so we went and looked it yesterday and wow, what a dump. It hadn't been used for 2 years and, boy oh boy, we could tell. The only thing you could possible do to make it look good is demolish it and start fresh. The "beach" was even disgusting. Makes me wonder if this isn't a "sign" that maybe we just don't have the time to maintain two homesteads??? We have two more that we like so we'll look at both this weekend and if neither of those work out we'll just throw in the towel.
In the meantime, I've still got "decorating the cabin" on my mind...we've got the cutest antique/quilt shop not too far from us and I absolutely love going in there. The owner, Edi, has a bazillion of her handmade quilts on display but, sadly, she never sells her work. So, I decided I'd make my own (with fabric from her shop) and the most adorable pattern I found that uses fat quarters...all the while thinking how good it'll look on one of the beds at the cabin {SIGH}. I've got the top finished but can't decide if I'll quilt it myself or cheat and send it to the lady that Edi uses...

And speaking of warm, cozy quilts, we have very, very LONG and COLD winters here in Minnesota but the summers are absulutley wonderful, there's nothing like a Minnesota summer. But as much as I don't want summer to end I find myself thinking alot about Fall and Halloween...so much so that I made this journal...
I found the vintage photo in an antique shop in Anoka, Minnesota...the Halloween Capitol of the World (or so they claim)

I'm also cleaning out my craft room, weeding out the supplies I never use and trying to decide if I should just donate them or sell them? I guess I'll make up my mind when I see how much stuff I want to part with.

Home Sweet Home

Since Tom and Sebastian were gone all week I had plenty of time to clean my craft room. I'm always more inspired when I can actually see my supplies, most of the time they're buried under piles of paper and ribbon. I knew that both "boys" would be happy to finally be home so I thought I would make a little felt house...Some of my inspiration came from a blog I visited a while back...not sure if it was Pam Garrison's or Charlotte Lyon's. I had so much fun making the house that I made a few felt acorns...

Then I made a mushroom...
Then I made a heart...
Then I hung them all together from a wooden hoop tied with colorful fabric...

Then I hung it in my kitchen...

Then the "boys" finally came home...
Ahhh...home sweet home!