In an Instagram...

Here's a look back at the most recent everyday adventures. These little pics are all from our whirlwind trip through Iowa visiting old and new friends and new family and taking part in old traditions and reliving wonderful memories. You can also be a part of the Instagram fun over at Life Rearranged where lots of other wonderful people are sharing their phone photos.

We were able to spend lots of quality time with my friend Sara and her wonderful family (including her daughter Abby). My hubby was able to visit a couple of his oldest friends and spend more quality time with his newly found sister and I was able to finally meet a blogging friend in person and spend quality time at a quilt shop! We both felt so blessed to get to spend precious time with all of these people in our lives - they are all phenomenal people and feel so lucky to call them friends and family and to feel so loved and completely accepted by them.

Row 1: Bob & Abby | Bob & his sister Cindy having their pics taken for their big newspaper story | Bob & his friend Scott
Row 2: Abby & me | Bob & his friend Jason | My blogging friend Linda & I

Taking in old and new sights was also part of our Iowa adventures. We were able to take a tour of a beautiful new hotel on my hubby's old campus and were introduced to a beautiful organic farm where we picked up our friend's weekly produce share. We visited one of my old campuses and stood on the spot where Bob proposed to me a few years back. I got to see the Weinermobile for my second time in Iowa and we took in a new tradition of watching the Jr. BIX the night before participating in the BIX 7 with our new family.

Row 1: Hotel Kirkwood lobby | Abbe Hills Farm | the bridge at Central College where Bob proposed
Row 2: Home of the best Dutch Letters | My old hall | the phone booth at Central College
Row 3: Smokey Row where I got my daily doses of caffeine in Pella | the Weinermobile in Davenport | Jr. BIX runners

Spoonflower Sharing

I was so excited to get back home from our visit back to North Dakota to find that my recent order from Spoonflower had arrived! A bunch of proofs of my latest designs which feature family. The designs include vintage photos of my ancestors in four colorways; I've always loved looking at these pics over the years and now I can't wait to use these designs in my sewing, quilting and art quilting projects. The first project I'll be using them in are some coasters for a swap at The Creative Connection Event in a few short weeks!

It was also very exciting to check out the Spoonflower blog today and find that they are doing a giveaway again in a few short days and hours. I was lucky enough to discover Spoonflower a year ago when they were doing a swatch giveaway so I got my first couple of designs together and shortly after, my very own fabric designs arrived at my doorstep. I was completely hooked!!!

Spoonflower is doing another swatch giveaway to celebrate the move to their new facilities. You can give a small donation in lieu of the cost of a swatch or just get your free swatch. You'll need to set up a Spoonflower account if you want a swatch of your own design or you can get a free swatch of an existing Spoonflower designer (like me!). I've now got over 100 designs - hard to believe that in the space of a year!!!! I get no money for swatch orders, just so you know. The giveaway is for 24 hours only, between noon Eastern time on Thursday, August 26 until noon the following day.

Hostess Gift

I am visiting one of my very best friends over this Memorial Day weekend. We've been friends since grad school days and though we don't get to see each other as much as we'd like, I'm so happy when we do! A couple years ago, she came to stay with us for a week and now we're seeing her - on the other side of the great lake that we have in common! It's fun to have another perspective of Lake Superior that we look out on every day! We're going to spend time exploring Sault Ste. Marie as well as taking drives (and ferries) down to Mackinac Island, quilt shops (as her partner and I have that in common) and just general relaxing!

I wanted to share one of the little hostess gifts that I brought along for our wonderful hostesses. I baked some slightly healthier shortbread cookies and wanted to package them in an attractive way in some container that I wouldn't need back. My mom sells Tastefully Simple products, so I find that I always have lots of jars and containers from them that I like to find other uses for. I found that one of the drink mix containers is the perfect size to hold a couple dozen of the petite treats. Then I scoured my recycled papers boxes and covered the container, added a little label from JSIM, and it was ready to go!