Today...

I made a quilt top. It is for the wormen's shelter. I think that I have enough fabric to make one more. We will be quilting again on Wednesday and then Saturday in a week is our Stake's "Day to Shine" where we will take them to have them delivered.

Then later this afternoon we had the missionaries over for dinner and I went out with them to visit people. Since Michael has been on his mission I have made it a practice to call the missionary's mom to tell them how their son or daughter is doing and how much we enjoyed having them in our home. This time I also took a photo of Sister Johnston and Sister Sermon. 

Our visits were very interesting. Every house we went to had no one home...probably because it was Saturday evening. Then they had a referral. They had the name, address, age, and all the information about this referral. When we got to his house he denied ever meeting the missionaries and giving them that information...very strange. But he did accept a pass along card. The last house we stopped at was very cool. It was a man that the sisters had met before. He is having a hard time (but then again...aren't we all to some degree???). He is not a member but was very receptive to their message about faith. It was a very spiritual experience and I understand now how the spirit guides us with what to say in certain situations. That visit made the entire night worthwhile and now I realize how those encounters make a missionary's mission worthwhile. These two sisters are INCREDIBLE!!

Nursing Covers and Matching Burp Cloths

Need a great gift for a new mother? Is the new mom breast feeding? If so I have the perfect gift...our home made nursing covers!! They come in a variety of fabrics or we can make to order. Our original covers were 2-layer but recently we have begun making 1-layer at a reduced price. Here is some of our work:

 

they also make a great car seat cover: 

There is a snazzy pocket on the back (or front...they are reversible) with a lovely heart:

They also have matching burp cloths:

We love our nursing covers and know that you will too. Please contact me for more information.

Grandpa is 103!!

Last month while we were in Wichita we all go together and had a picture taken of my grandpa with my dad and I, Diane and Julie, and all 6 grandkids. 

Here is the picture: 

In case you were wondering those pictured are Diane holding Aaron then my dad holding Callie; Elisabeth kneeling on the floor in front; Ashley on the left (looking at it) arm of the chair; GRANDPA holding Jennica on the other side of Ashley; me; and Julie holding Caleb.

This was taken in my parents front room. My grandpa is now in assisted living. He has his own tiny apartment. The good thing is that he gets 3 meals a day that he doesn't have to cook. My dad says that he is doing very well there and is happy. He quite often gets to escape when my dad picks him up for family occasions. FUN!! I am really happy being in the middle generation.

Purses

Here are some of the purses we make: 

This first photo are some that I made for the business. They are called "diamond". The one on the left has what is called a frame and the one on the right has what is called ribbon around the pictures. They are both the same pattern...just made a little different.

This is another one that I made for the business. It is also a "diamond" which is a little smaller than an amethyst (pictured later) but the same style. I chose to put this one on because it has fringe around the top which is actually quite popular.

I made this purse for my daughter Diane. It has her 3 daughters on it and I took the photo. It is a "sapphire" which is actually a diaper bag because it has an extra pocket across the back and 3 extra pockets inside (although hers only has 3 instead of 6 as you can tell from the photo of the inside of it). Sorry it doesn't show the whole thing but the others weren't as good of photos as this one. Aren't the girls cuties???

This purse was made for Mindy. She has "Ovation Photography" up in Iowa and is also  my niece. It has a picture of my neice Aimee and her daughter Mikaela on it. It is called an "amethyst" and is one of the largest purses we make. It has a frame around the picture. 

This is another of the purses I made for Mindy's sample pack. It is a "small topaz". The finished size is 7x9x4 with 17" narrow straps. It is the smallest purse we make.

This is my purse. It is a "small topaz" but with extra outside pockets and a thin long strap. The size is 8x10x4 finished (I cut it out a little different than most small topaz's...which I can do since I do the sewing). It should actually be a "small ruby" because it has outside pockets but we don't make them so it would be considered a topaz with extra pockets. It has a digital picture of our dog "Buzz" on it. This was taken when it was new. I have now used it daily for over a year and it still looks exactly the same.

 

This next picture is the inside of my purse. It has pockets only along the rear edge but also has a key holder. 

This is Wilodene's purse. It has her 3 daughters on it and was made from a snapshot that Kathleen scanned and then printed out. The style is "Medium Ruby". I cut it out to 12X10X5 so it makes a 11X9X4 purse. I cut out 28" handles so they are 27" when finished. I think just perfect for going over the shoulder. It has 6 pockets on the inside and a pocket across the back as well as the ones on each end.

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We have two more purses that I don't have pictures of (I'll have to take one next time I make them). One is called a "large topaz" and is the same style as the small and medium. The size of it is 9x14x4 finished. It also has the wider 28" straps. We also make a "large ruby" which is the same size and style as the topaz...it just has extra outside and inside pockets and is considered a diaper bag. For more info look at my side bar and it is the Hannah E Designs website link.

My new eyes

Megan asked how my new eyes were doing after my surgery. In a word they are great. I can see SOOO much better and I don't know what I was ever afraid of. I had Michael take a couple pictures tonight. He has real shaky hands so most were blurry or I looked really bad in them but this was one that was "OK". 

Anyway...I go back to the ophthalmologist on Wednesday for another re-check. I am still on 2 eye medications; I ran out of one. I figure on Wednesday that they will check my vision, pressure, etc. tell me to taper off the prednisone drops, give me a script so I can go get new progressives if I want to, and tell me to come back in a couple months. The surgery has improved my near vision too. I won't need nearly as strong of glasses that I used to have. I could always see far away so my new eyes aren't that much different than my after 40 eyes but it is nice to have NO CATARACTS.

SOOO...

My parents are celebrating their fiftieth wedding anniversary this August. They love to dance and were married in the 50's so my sisters and I are throwing them a 50's Party. We are hoping that it is complete with a jukebox, poodle skirts, leather jackets, rock n roll music, and a lot of sock hop dancing. We also want to not forget that it is their FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY though so are going to try to incorporate at least some GOLD into it and make it nice. I am the oldest so thus am heading it up. I have VERY reliable and talented sisters who are going to help every step of the way BUT I am going to ask for some ideas...mostly things to make sure are done that are easily overlooked. If you have ever had to do something like this, do you have any pointers? Ideas? Suggestions?

Other than that not much is new or different. Michael is enrolled in the local community college. His classes start tomorrow. Daniel is being a bum...I hope that changes soon.

I am busy sewing purses (well kinda busy) and making sure everything runs in my house like it is supposed to. Luckily my husband works hard and brings home the money.

Empty House

The holidays are over and the house is empty of small children. Oh, how I miss them. It is crazy and chaotic with the little ones here but so much fun. They live way too far away and I don't get to see them often enough. It is back to the old grind now.

I got my left eye operated on yesterday. It was quite an experience. The Versed didn't seem to work as well this time as last but I survived. What was the most different was that water or saline was just running down my face and into my ear and hair. By the time it was over my hair was soaked. Also, my eye was very sore this time on the trip home. I took some ibuprofen as soon as I got home and fell asleep for like 3 hours though and felt much better. Then I was up for about an hour and fell asleep for another 2 until Wayne woke me up when he came home from work (yes...he had to work after taking me in for surgery in the morning). Then I was up until bedtime but had diffuculty sleeping last night because of all the sleep I had gotten yesterday. I hope I sleep better tonight. Now it seems to be healing well. It feels much better. Light bothers it but I think that I will get used to that with time. My vision was 20/25 which is about what it was last time and the pressure was fine. I go back again in a week and a half. The opthalmologist said that my lens was very thick and he made it sound like it was hard to get out which I have seen before being involved in the surgery as a PA student. As a side note...my nose is very sore. I think that it might be bruised from the surgery or else I am getting a blemish...it is hard to tell at this point. I am also doing much better at seeing while on the computer without glasses...woo hoo!!

That is about all at this time. 

Busy Busy Busy

We spent a week in Wichita so I have been absent for awhile. Julie and the kids are still here...they fly out Wednesday late afternoon. It was fun in Wichita. We spent some time with Diane, some time with Kelly, and some time with Kerry. We had a great time but I am glad to be home. We stopped on the way home in OKC and attended the temple. That was refreshing. 

I have an appointment with the opthomologist...pre-op...my next surgery is Friday. I am not nearly as nervous this time.

I am having a scensy open house if anyone would like to come over.