Longaberger Day!

Today was the day! Longaberger at Dresden, Ohio. I made sure we were there by the time they opened, and we did good. We got there 1/2 hour before opening. There was a basket shop across the way that was open early, so we went in there and looked around waiting for the opening bell at 10 am.

Mom, Cheryl & I made baskets. Mom had a lady help her, Cheryl and I had Wilbur as our basket maker teacher. He was crazy funny. He was a talker.

Here I am making my basket:


Here is Cheryl, Wilbur & me with our finished baskets:



After shopping the outlet store, it was nearly the end of the day. Everyone was asking me what we would be doing next, so I made an executive decision & said we would go to the old downtown Dresden and eat at Popeye's. Everyone seemed to be happy with that decision. This is what I had:


Buffalo Chicken Quesadilla
A sun-dried tomato tortilla grilled to a golden brown stuffed
with chicken, cheddar and Monterey jack cheese and hot
sauce. Served with lettuce, tomato, sour cream and salsa

It was yummy. Cheryl got a side of sweet potato fries and shared them with me.


Oh - Heidi drove over from Columbus and hung out with us today too. That was fun to see her & her two cute little kids.




Here's my last picture of the day - the big basket in the old downtown shopping center of Dresden:

A Day With the 'Yoder's'

If you have ever visited the Amish people, you will know that about 1/2 of them have the sir name of 'Yoder'. Today we rubbed shoulders with the "Yoder's' all day long.

Started out our day by visiting the Ohio State Agricultural school in Wooster. It was raining hard, Kim drove onto their campus and wanted to go look in their greenhouses. So we all went and wandered thru them. Sorta interesting, had some fun plants to look at. We also went into this old, old arboretum & looked around. I finished looking sooner than the others, so I went back to the entrance and took some 'ar-tee-stic' pictures. This is one of them: (how wonderful you are thinking)



We drove the back roads all day long, and saw more Amish people than I have ever seen before. They were everywhere - walking up & down the streets, riding in their horse-drawn carriages, riding bikes - they were even thick in the Walmart we shopped at this morning. (That was before we started driving thru Amish towns, less you think that there is a Walmart in some place like Charm, Ohio.

The Amish cook wonderful meals. We went to an Amish restaurant for lunch - most of us had the lunch buffet. Gosh, the food tasted so good. My favorite was this broccoli, cabbage, bacon, cheese salad stuff, mixed up in this tasty dressing. After eating there, I looked thru all the Amish cookbooks I saw and usually found a recipe for it. So I took a picture of each recipe with my camera. I know you will want to make some, so here is how you can make it at your house:


We stopped at several quilt/fabric stores. This one cracked me up - The selection of fabric left a lot to be desired - unless you are Amish:


We lost Kim & Linda this afternoon. We pulled out onto the road from a store, went up & around the corner & down a hill. I couldn't see him, so I pulled over & we waited about 15 minutes. Still no show. Went back to the store & waited in the parking lot for another 45 minutes. We had no cell phone service (I guess the Amish don't have cell phones :-)
Finally drove into one of the next big towns & stopped at a motel & used their phone to call Kim & leave messages to call Blair. Cheryl also called Blair & gave him instructions on how Kim could find us. We did hook up again at a motel tonite in Coshocton, Ohio. So all is well.

Where's Bonnie?

It's kinda like "Where's Waldo", but for the next 2 weeks, it will be "Where's Bonnie?" You will just never know where I will show up next. My last post was kinda wierd, Ryan was trying to teach me how to do something while talking to him on ichat. I don't think I did it quite right. Anyway, I will go back to the old way of posting things for now.

So we are on our big vacation - started in St Louis, and have now headed east to Ohio. We have had some good times already - see if you recognize this place:

We took a what was supposed to be a short detour to go visit Clifty church on Sunday afternoon. There was a bridge out - so we had to back track & find another way to get there.

Monday we arrived in Kirtland - this is another one of my favorite places to visit, especially historic Kirtland!


When you visit the Community of Christ & the Kirtland Temple, they tell you that you are not allowed to take pictures inside the visitor's center or the Temple. Well if you know me, when I hear something like that it means - "if you are sneaky, you can do WHATEVER you want!" This next picture is taken from inside the temple, looking out the beautiful oblong window at the top of the temple:

I took other pictures too, but that will suffice for now.

Today we went to a place I have wanted to go back to since last year, when I tried to go there and it was closed because of remodeling. The Smuckers store! (Orrville, Ohio) A fun place to visit and now I can say I have been there, done that!

Having too much fun!

St Louis Here We Come!

St Louis Here We Come!,
originally uploaded by bonniehut.

St Louis Here We Come!

St Louis Here We Come!,
originally uploaded by bonniehut.

St Louis Here We Come!

St Louis Here We Come!,
originally uploaded by bonniehut.

Is That Lavender I Smell?

Ah! the sweet smell of lavender. Is there a better smell in the entire world? My sisters and I discovered the Lavender Festival in Mona, Utah, three years ago. The festival is hosted by Young Living Farms, and Mona is the site of one of their Lavender farms. They also have farms in Idaho, France, and Equador.

The festival is usually held the first week-end in July, but this year, it was held last weekend (we assumed it was because this weekend is the 4th of July holiday). The festival runs Friday and Saturday, but we just go on Saturday. The day starts early, as we sign up for the 5k run. Did I say run? For us, it is a walk.

Last year I hung with Cheryl for the 5k, we mostly walked, but did do a little running. My finishing time last year was 47:19.8. This year, none of that running stuff. We just walked. Still had a pretty good time of 53:27.7. Or, 317th place overall. Hmmmm, that doesn't sound near as good. How about 14th, in Women 50-54? Anyway, those were my results this year.

My favorite part of the walk? Winding your way up, around and through the lavender fields. The smell is heavenly! This year it was a little disappointing though. The plants were just barely starting to bloom, so it wasn't a very spectacular sight. In other years, it has been both wonderful to the eyes and nose.

Here is a picture I took this year while walking along:


and to compare, here is a picture from two years ago:


After the race, they had a drawing. My number was called! I won a $20 gift certificate to Runners Corner here in Orem, and a cute Old Navy shirt that had been monogrammed with the Young Living logo on the collar. (I gave both of them to Gary, figured he would appreciate the gift certificate more than I ever would, and I thought one of his girls would look cuter in the shirt that I would).

The rest of the morning we spent wandering thru the vendor booths. We had some lavender ice cream (made by our friends at the Red Barn in Santaquin). It was to die for! The classes we went to were just kinda ho-hum this year. Probably because it was hot & I was tired.

How about a recipe to close? Saw this in a recipe book that I looked thru. I thought it looked good, maybe because it was hot and I was thirsty. If you don't know what agave is, look it up. I'm sure you can find it at any health food store.

FLOOD DISASTER ZONE!!!

Ok, it's a calmer day for me, there are only 7 kids here, the majority are older than 2 & they are entertaining themselves which has given me time to catch up on a few things this morning.

I have been pulled to the news the past couple of weeks, watching the flooding back in the midwest. I was looking at a web site the other day, it was a slide show of pictures from the flooded area of Keokuk & Fort Madison, Iowa. There were several pictures that I knew the exact location of the picture - from being back there last summer. It has been kinda surreal for me, knowing I will be back in that area again in a few weeks.

Which brings me back to our own Flood Disaster of a couple weeks ago. Kimball went downstairs first thing in the morning and came back & had us go down - the ceiling above the toilet in the bathroom (yes, the wonderful Sponge Bob bathroom), had a huge bubble in the ceiling.

Terrell went down with a bucket, put a hole in the bubble and drained about a gallon or so of water out of the ceiling. For the rest of that day and the next, the bucket just sat on top of the toilet lid, catching a steady drip, drip, drip.

It wasn't until the next nite that Terrell was able to go down and pull down the ceiling to see where the drip was coming from. After a few brain-fart moments, he & I realized it was coming from the toilet upstairs. So he had to pull that toilet off and replace the seal with a double high new seal. Leak fixed. Hole still there. I have been promised that it will be fixed - Brad has volunteered his expertise to come patch the ceiling up again. Then I will have to repaint. I hope I still have enough left over paint to fix it up once again.

Tea anyone?

It was Emilie's birthday a couple of weeks ago. I spent some time trying to think of something fun that I could give to her, and this is what I came up with - A tea party! I called the Protea Cottage at Gardner village and made a reservation to take her to a traditional Afternoon Tea on June 21st. We spent the day together yesterday, visiting a few quilt shops before arriving at Gardner Village around 1:00 or so. I don't think Em had ever remembered visiting Gardner Village (seems we went there once when she was little) so we wandered thru all the shops first, killing time before our 4:00 pm reservation.


When we first arrived, we picked what we wanted to have in our tea pots. We picked a peach-apricot tea for the first tea pot, and pink hot chocolate for the second one. We were then escorted up to the tea room to our table


Then we were served a 3-tiered tray that had all kinds of finger foods. English scones, strawberry jam & clotted cream on the first tier. A variety of finger sandwiches on the middle tier and deserts on the bottom tier. I went to a class at Macey's a couple months ago, and I learned that you enjoy your food, from the top tier down.


This was so much fun. We both decided we DO NOT like tea, it just tastes too much like drinking a cup of hot weeds. Sorry, we did give it the 'ol college try sweetening it up with sugar, & lemon. No go. The pink hot chocolate was wonderful! Next time, our beverage selections will be the pink chocolate again, and lemonaide.

Here is the birthday cake they brought out to Emilie, (I had to pre-order this when I made the reservation). Em got to take the teacup and saucer home. We were so stuffed we couldn't even taste it, but we did once we got home. We actually disected it to see how it was made. (two cupcakes on top of each other, with the frosting piled on top). I thought this was such a cute idea.


We had such a good time, we both want to go back again! Happy Birthday Em!

I Can't Believe I Did That, or "Reasons why you should not dump couscous down the disposal"

I re-discovered "Couscous" a couple weeks ago. Gary introduced me to it many years ago, but I haven't touched the 1/2 gallon bottle of it that he gave me for many, many years.

On our way back to Utah from Idaho two weekends ago, we stopped at Winco in Pocatello. They have this wonderful bulk food section that has practically everything you would ever want to purchase in bulk. They also have recipes that go along with all the bulk stuff that they sell. They had this fun tri-colored couscous -the recipe that went along with it sounded good, so I poured a few scoops into a bag to purchase.

I cooked some of it last week, using the recipe that I also picked up, and it was really good. Yesterday I decided that I should just dump out the old couscous that has been holding up in my pantry for years. Like I said before, this was a full 1/2 gallon bottle. I dumped it down the drain, turned on the disposal, and the only thing that happened was my sink began to fill up with couscous filled water. Oops!! I thought if I left it alone, the water would drain, but it never did. I tried to scoop all the couscous out with my hand - but the water would still not drain. I tried bailing the water out of the sink & then using the disposal, nope.

I resigned my self to waiting until Terrell came home and hoping that he would unclog the drain for me. When something is broken at my house, I feel like my whole house is a disaster zone. Luckily for me, the left sink drained just fine, so I knew the clog was in the little pipe that connected the disposal to the sink drain.

When Emilie came over, we tried to plunge the drain but all it did was flip couscous water up and all over the cabinets. She gave me the confidence I needed to unscrew the pipe and then we tried to unclog the couscous from the pipe. First we used a skewer. Too flimsy. Our next idea was to use a pencil. It broke. But - a little butter knife did do the trick and I scraped & scooped all the soggy couscous out of the pipe until it was clear.

Yep, I learned a lesson. don't put couscous down the drain. You will be sorry.

I got this picture off the internet. If you've never been to Trader Joe's, that should be a goal for your life. What a fun store. Too bad the closest one is in Las Vegas.

If you are craving couscous after reading this - go find some at your local store and make up this tasty side dish:

Couscous:
Saute some cut-up vegetables of your choice in 2 Tbsp butter until nearly tender. (carrot, bell pepper & onion are good) Add
one & a half cups water or broth (I used chicken broth) and bring to a boil. Add 1 cup couscous, 1/2 tsp salt & stir. reduce heat, cover and cook for 3-5 minutes or until all the water is absorbed. Stir to fluff up and serve. (I also added some chopped up tomato at this point)
Makes five 1/2 cup servings.

Popcorn Popping

I have a popcorn tree in my backyard! Every spring I anticipate it's blooming which is usually sometime in April. This tree has the perfect shape - and when it blooms, Ahhhhh, this wonderful smell permeates the air, and the bees go crazy. We have had some great weather the past 3 days, so I have keeping my eye on the tree - when it blooms it is Wham! This is a picture yesterday afternoon, a beautiful blue sky day:

just barely starting to bloom:


This morning when I went out about 8:00 am, the whole tree was in bloom. Today's weather is a little cooler, with wind, and expected to go downhill as the afternoon progresses. Which is about typical - my tree usually comes out in beautiful bloom, then it freezes, and all the blossoms turn brown.


Hope for a good year, & come back in July - you can have all the apricots you want.....

Spring has sprung!

This was my view last week one morning when I got up and took a peek outside. Actually I don't mind the snow, I grew up with it, and Utah is nothing compared to the fine Idaho winters of my youth. I think my flowers would like to see spring though, so I am rooting for them.


Yesterday I drove to this fine quilt shop in Draper, called Thimbles & Threads. If I were ever to open a quilt shop, it would be exactly like this place. It is in an old building that was once a feed store. It is such a fun place, and like all quilt shops, full of nice friendly people. I took a class from a lady named Cody Mazuran. What an amazing person. She is a master at finishing quilts. I was excited to go learn from her.



I learned so much from her fast paced 3 hour class. She only scratched the surface but her technique is perfection. Now, what is a trip to a quilt shop without coming home with something? The day I went into the shop to sign up for the class, I saw this quilt on display that I have admired from afar for months (There is a picture of this quilt on the Handiquilter ad in magazines). So when I saw it on display, I was so excited... now I could find out where the pattern was found.

I was soooo excited to learn that the pattern is actually in a book that is already in my possession!!! Now that has to be a first. Last January I was able to travel to Ontario, California to the "Road to California" quilt show. They were celebrating Eleanor Burns 20th Anniversary, and had all her quilts on display out in the foyer. Eleanor was also there at her booth, and I was able to meet her. What a fun person she was. Now normally I would be nervous to meet a 'celebrity' type person, but I didn't feel that way meeting her.

So here I am with Eleanor. It was a great day!

Anyway, back to the quilt at the shop. It was another of those quilts that when I saw it, it spoke to my soul! What more can I say? I was excited to see a fat quarter pack of all the fabrics used in the quilt, so I plan to stop there next trip thru and buy the pack for my stash.

I love the soft colors. (Henry Glass & Company - Buggy Barn Sherberts.

a couple more pictures. First is one of my last projects - fun, fun, fun. Made for Nicole's little boy Adam. This is a nice sized quilt, will be big enough for a twin bed. I've promised to get the quilting machine up & running, so Nicole can come quilt it. I promise this will happen!
(Yes Nicole, I will teach you, & we will do this together).

Second, is this cute quilt I made just because I loved the pattern. I made this to take to the Ashcraft Family reunion this summer to sell at the auction. I've got about 20 bucks into it, I hope some cheap Ashcraft will pay more than that for it.

Lastly - A BIG thanks to that one fan of mine, Nicole, for researching things out for her busy aunt and giving her a tutorial on the easy way to do things.

Moonlight madness

So last nite I went to the moonlight madness sale at the Cotton shop. I was feeling pretty good about myself because I wandered around the store and didn't see anything that needed to follow me home. Then wham! There hanging up on the wall was this quilt top. I just stood and stared at it, and was amazed at all the star blocks and how they fit together into a whole. I knew at once this was a pattern that would need to come home with me.


After that I decided as long as I had a purchase to make, I just as well see what else there was. They were selling some self binding receiving blanket kits. You see these everywhere you go anymore, the pattern was introduced at the spring quilt market in Salt Lake 2 years ago. The blanket is usually made from flannel, so I was intrigued with this little blanket that was made from cotton. I really liked the one that was on display with the way it was top-stitched. I went back to take a picture of it, I usually take pictures real sneaky like, but I needed someone to hold the corner of the blanket up. A lady was right there, so I asked if she would hold the corner while I took a picture. She was nice & helped me, but acted like it was really putting her out. The whole time she was holding it up (maybe like 6 seconds, her head was turned the other way looking at the fabric. HAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! It cracked me up.

The other item I purchased was an Easter table topper kit a pattern by "The Cotton Way". This is a lady that lives in Rigby, her patterns are so cute. Well, everything was 25-40% off, that is why I decided to purchase in the first place. I would post a picture of the table topper, but I need to figure out how to put a picture in the middle of my post. Right now, whenever I add a picture it goes to the beginning. Hmmmmm... if you read this & know how to post to the middle, let me know

Wanna go 'Schlepping'???

The past two summers I have gone down to Panguitch to the Quilt walk that is held the 2nd weekend of June. http://quiltwalk.com/ I had big plans to go down again this summer, I had all the classes I wanted to take picked out - then I started adding up what the total cost would be. Ouch! Since I'm also planning a major trip east this summer, I wondered If I really wanted to spend that much money going to Panguitch to make a basket (that is one of the classes I wanted to take) or if I would rather spend money next summer making a basket at Longerberger in Ohio! Donnetta & Cheryl were going to come also & Cheryl, had picked out a class she wanted to take, it was the Schlep bag. Well, one Sunday about a month ago I got to thinking, with a word like 'Schlep' there must be a pattern for it on the internet. So I started my search. I quickly found a pattern - it looked exactly like the one that was being taught in Panguitch.

Last Friday nite I went to Joann's and picked out this cute Debbie Mumm fabric. All coordinating and a great fabric to welcome spring. I woke up Saturday morning about 6:00 am, kinda irratated with myself because I could have slept in. But I just couldn't go back to sleep, I was so excited to start making the bag. Several hours and a couple of brain-fart moments later, the bag was completed. It is so cute!! The perfect size to cram all your stuff inside and 'schlep' around town. I took it to church sunday with all my Primary stuff inside, hoping that someone would notice & I could advertise that I was willing to teach a class for Relief Society. My neighbor who is on the homemaking committee, did comment on it, I told her I wanted to teach a class, maybe I will get to!

Smile!!

So this was my reaction when I found out that my niece Nicole had found my pathetic two entry blog & read it!!!

Nothing, I tell you Nothing, is a secret anymore!

Anyway, brilliant minds think alike. She told me that I should post my quilting adventures on my blog. Well I have been thinking I should do this anyway, if I can re-train myself on how this blog thing works. I have lots of fun things that I could post & impress the ba-zoogles (hopefully) out of people.

Here I go!

I think that blogs are fun to read - thus I have been motivated to create one of my own. We will see how it progresses over the weeks & months. Sometimes I feel like the world revolves around me as I stand still & watch - so hopefully I will be able to share some of the exciting things that I see & do each day.

Wierd tomatoes

The other nite Terrell & Kimball went out to get some tomatoes from the garden to make salsa. They brought in this wierd tomato. Eeek! First look at it you would think that there was some wierd green worm that had made a home inside. But as you can see, we disected it and it was just some wierd abnormal growth - like another tomato growing out of the top. Turns out it was nothing to be freaked out over, but still, no-one wanted to eat this tomato.