Lake Girls

I enjoyed a wonderful weekend in Clear Lake with my oldest, sweetest friend from Des Moines.  She and her hubby have a cottage at the lake that is just adorable and so much fun to visit.  My first stop Friday afternoon was to visit Country Threads Quilt Shop  It is a wonderful quilt shop on a farm just West of Garner, Iowa.  One of the owners lives there.  They turned a chicken coop into a quilt shop and the rest was quilting history.

 This little play house was decorated so cute.  I loved the iron bed with the plants and the inside was just as cute.

 I found some great red, black and tan fabric that I plan to redecorate our master bedroom around. 

 When you walk up to the shop, Mary's dogs great you and the chickens cluck at the doorway.  She has goats, geese and I am not sure what else but it is really fun to go and visit the quilt shop on the farm.

 Friday evening we enjoyed a dinner of appetizers.  The weather was perfect and so was the company.

 After some appetizers we walked over to the Tiki Bar and enjoyed a really good band.  They played everything from John Cougar to Johnny Cash.  We even danced to a few songs.

 The bar and restaurant overlooked the lake.

 We headed back to the cottage around 10pm and enjoyed visiting the rest of the night.

 The next morning we were up early to hit the Art Sail.  We both found some really interesting pieces and I thought the prices were reasonable.  After the Art Sail we hit the shops, had some lunch and topped off the afternoon with visiting the art gallery in town.  We shopped until we dropped!

 Once we got back to the cottage, it was time to put our feet up and relax.  I knitted my Monkey Sock pattern which somehow I totally goofed up and had to tink back to the cuff.

 Saturday evening we relaxed on the dock and then went back to the cabin to watch the Olympics and enjoy some more visiting.  Time flew by and before I knew it, I was headed back to Eastern Iowa.  It was such a fun weekend and really she is such a dear friend we could have met any place and had fun but being at the lake and being a "Lake Girl" for a weekend was a treat!

 Here are some of my finds.  I saw these hearts a couple years ago when I was the sale and I just love them, I moved around a few things and I think this looks cute together.

 Both Des Moines sweetie and I loved this tin sign so we each bought one!  I love the song and remember my mom singing it to me when I was little and I sang it to my kids. 

This pretty old window was painted by a lady from Carlisle.  Dear hubby hung it for me above our Jacuzzi tub in our master bath.  I had a huge grapevine wreath there and am wanting to change things up some.  We have had that wreath for 20 years.  Not a lot of people see our master bath but I love to take a hot tub and I will think of Clear Lake when I relax in the tub and it makes me happy.

Pet update

Chance is growing and super smart.  He weighs as much as Wrigley now and knows how to open the back door to let himself into the house.  Not sure if this is a good thing?

 Wrigley continues to be the World' Cutest Dog.  He enjoys that he can be on the couch and Chance does not get up there.

 Kodi has lost 10 pounds since his last checkup.  He needed to loose weight and looks really good.  Despite two knee surgeries he continues to act like a puppy.

 They love to wrestle and play.  I love all three of them and I am really glad we decided to bite the bullet and take a "chance" on Chance!

Sewing with sweet college girl

Sweet college girl loves Anime.  She attends the Anime Iowa convention each year.  She wears costumes and asked me to help her make a costume like the one here in this sketch.  We took 2 patterns and sort of combined them to make the costume.  It was fun to watch her sew and spend time together.      

It turned out really cute.  The blonde wig just cracks me up.  I wonder what she will come up with next year!?

post-baseball blues

I guess all good things must end.  Why is that?  I would love to watch baseball year round.  Baseball ended for our boys in the 2nd round of substate tournament plays.  The last game at home the boys wore vintage jerseys and pants from years past.  It was funny to see them in the old fashioned uniforms with the tight pants and old school socks.  They won the last home game which sent them to the 2nd substate game.  Dear son hit the snot out of the ball and had a great game.

 We enjoyed a fun potluck outside and Dear Son received his 2nd Varsity letter.  He has a Varsity letter in football and baseball.  We are super proud of him.

The last game of the season was a heart breaker with the team loosing by 2 runs after leading most of the game by 2 runs.  Again, dear son played really well, as did the whole team.  I guess it is time to say "You wanna play some football?".

hot spell

Trying to beat the heat in Eastern Iowa as the heat indexes have been around 105 for the past couple weeks.  Sweet college girl is going to Anime Iowa where the kids wear costumes based on characters in Anime.  She picked out a costume that is going to require some creative combining of 2 patterns plus a little guess work.  We spent a day cutting the fabric and will spend another day sewing the pattern before the end of the month.  Keeping my fingers crossed.

Another activity to keep cool is a puppy and a bucket of water.  Chance enjoys chasing his reflection in his water bowl so what better than a big bucket water to play in on a hot summer day?

Dear son continues to impress at the plate and in the field.  Next week substate starts on Friday, again keeping my fingers crossed.  Baseball is a sport where any team at a certain time can win a game.

 Chance is growing in leaps and bounds and is now as big as Wrigley but not as heavy.

 I am spinning when I can fit it in and the time seems rare.  Even less time to knit.  Early in the baseball season I brought knitting to baseball games but a lap of wool in 100 degree heat is not comfy and I worry about the sweat and ballpark dust getting into the fibers.

 I continue to try to eat as healthy as possible.  Last week we had a delicious piece of salmon with some summer pasta.  Easy recipe, in a couple tablespoons of olive oil saute veggies of choice, I picked zucchini, red peppers, tomatoes and onion.  Then add that to pasta, mix with Parmesan cheese and get your fork ready!

 I was really ambitious last weekend and made home made strawberry jam.  The strawberries are in prime season and I bought them very cheap.  I hoped to have more out of the garden but only picked one dessert worth this year.  We have had very little rain.

Wrigley is keeping cool with a new summer haircut.  He just went to the groomer last night for a very short trim and he looks so much cooler!
That's all for this week's post.  Hopefully I will have more time for knitting, spinning and sewing when baseball is over.  For now, I am sweating in the stands and for the most part would not trade it for anything!