Grandma and Grandpa brought Cooper a really special surprise from Estelle.  I should begin by saying that Coop is a big John Deere guy: he has John Deere clothes, John Deere books, John Deere movies, John Deere toy trucks and tractors, and a John Deere wagon.  Upon returning from their most recent car tour of the eastern half of the U.S., Grandma and Grandpa gave Coop a piece of precious cargo from Estelle: a very cool metal tractor.  A replica 1934 John Deere model A to be exact.  Needless to say he was exstatic!  See the accompanying pictures for proof of the old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words.  He has played with it every day since.  He has even slept with it.  A perfect gift, thank you Estelle.

From cooptractor

From cooptractor

I won the Amy Butler Contest!

I get more fabric, Chris couldn't be happier!

In all honesty I am pretty excited about this. I was one of 10 winners, I am not sure how many entries there were but you can see them all over here.

YAY ME!

I have been busy lately, I have been working on a quilt for a contest entry. Back in May I read about the Amy Butler Midwest Modern Contest. I decided to make a quilt. So when we were in Grand Island in May I went to my favorite quilt shop, Material Girl (they have all the best fabric) and spent about an hour looking at the Amy Butler display. I settled on 3 fabrics here, here, and here.

I stared at my fabric for 2 months. I knew I wanted a new quilt for our bed, I love my Jinny Beyer quilt but I wanted something to brighten up our room.  I also wanted something that was less traditional. After coming up with a few ideas and running them past Chris (yes, I drug Chris in to this, I made him come up with designs and help me figure out what to do, 10 years of marriage = quilt assistance) we decided that whatever I did needed to showcase the fabric. The final design was fairly simple. Angling the fabric from top to bottom and alternating the three fabrics. 

From amybutler quilt

Once the quilt was finished I appliqued the flowers on the top giving the illusion that the flowers were coming out of their intended fabric.

From amybutler quilt

With some of the leftover fabric I made a couple of throw pillows.

From amybutler quilt

I love the finished piece and am ready for it to get cooler out at night so I can throw it on our bed.

If you want to see the other contest entries go here. The only rules were to use Amy Butler Midwest Modern fabric. Wish me luck. If I win I get a variety of things. Most importantly more fabric, Chris is starting to get concerned that I will run out soon. 

10 Years!

Can you all believe it?!? It seems like just yesterday that Chris and I were walking down the aisle. Sweat dripping because it was hot, but I am pretty sure we were nervous too. 

10 years, 2 states, 2 dogs (one now gone), 1 kid, 1 AWFUL apartment, and 2 houses. Whew. It doesn't seem like it has been ten years until we stop and look at all we have done.  I am sure the next 10 will be just as eventful. 

As for our "big day", well, we have one sick kid and one lame dog. So we are sitting at home waiting for some takeout to arrive. Coop's got a nasty cold and Ally is limping all over the house (mind you she refuses to use the steps outside and continues to jump off the back porch into the yard, this, even after Chris helped her down the steps, she walked back up them and jumped into the yard. DOGS!)

I would recap our years together (here) and love for one another (here) but I figured last years posts covered that so I leave you with these (sorry they are photos of photos).

From wedding

From wedding