I'm a Great Auntie!

After my post yesterday I got several messages as to when I became a Great Auntie.  Here's the scoop:

In February my niece Kim gave birth to my first Great-niece.  Harper Lillian.  Such a beautiful name for such a beautiful little lady. Her middle name is Lillian is after her maternal great grandmother. Here are mother and daughter. Both beauties.

One of the special things about Harper is that she made my brother a Grandpa!  Here I think brother Pat is actually sleeping on the job.

Harper wears the latest fashions with ease!  Always a smile on her face too. Do I see a modeling career in her future?

I'm not sure why, but this is one of my favorite photos of little Harper.

Liz and I made Harper a quilt...gray and white in the French Roses pattern.  It has rough and fuzzy edges, quite tactile.  We thought it was fun and yet sophisticated for our special lady.  Here she smiles for the camera while lying on her quilt.

This is the cutest video my brother sent to me of Harper rolling over on her quilt.  Love her squeals of delight.

Now you've met Miss Harper...I love her so.  I guess I am just a sucker for any next generation children in our family.  Can't wait to see you again, honey!

A New Chapter.....

As I started this blogpost I realized it's been exactly 6 months since my last post.  That's a LOOONG time.  You might say nothing has happened so I've been quiet, but you would be so wrong.  So much has happened!  In January Mr. Scottie Dog and I joined Liz, Steve & Sydney and a whole bunch of quilters on a Scottie Dog Quilts Caribbean Quilting Cruise.  It was wonderful to see old friends, meet new ones and enjoy the Caribbean for the first time.  I think St. Thomas Virgin Islands was my favorite place.  I enjoyed the sun, the beautiful water, the flowers, the fun of a cruise and more. The quilters were so friendly and fun! We also got to play at Hollywood, FL's wonderful beach for a couple of days before the cruise.

Bill and I at St. Thomas 

In March and April I spent some time in MN with Beka and her family.  Oh, my! How I love my grandchildren!  I hadn't seen Korban since he was born and what a bundle of bustling joy he was!  Perhaps the highlight of my trip was when Beka, Jason and Korban went out of town to a Homeschooling Conference and it was just me and the 4 remaining grands.  We had a great time.

We just had to go to the new See's Candy store at The Mall of America!

I arrived home just in time for our Scottie Dog Quilts Retreat at a new venue...The Humboldt Aquatics Center.  What a lovely view.....from the awesome Victorian Carson Mansion to Humboldt Bay.  Walls of glass made it hard to concentrate on quilting.

Here's a quilt I finally got bound at the retreat.  Love that view!

A few days after the retreat we made a trip to Eugene, OR to visit with my brothers and their families. My niece had a cutie patootie baby girl, Harper and we had to pay our respects.  Also got a taste of University of Oregon sports, both football and baseball.  GO DUCKS!  And a visit with Eureka friends now living in Eugene, Jim & Joanne and Nick & Bev (celebrating 40 years of marriage). Thank you Denny & Carey and Pat, Deb, Kevin, Kim & Harper!  It was a fabulous weekend.

Here's brother Denny and I posing in front of the new baseball stadium....Notice the sign on the building..."McNally Family Suites."  I tell you, baseball and football are so much fun from  the fancy sky boxes!

 In early May we closed our store for a few days in preparation for a liquidation sale.  It took 6 weeks to sell everything in the store. Redwood Sewing Center, our brick and mortar store in Eureka, CA is now closed.

One day we filled my Tahoe with empty cardboard bolt centers!

At the beginning of the last day! Many of the fixtures are already gone.

These near empty shelves look so forlorn!

But never fear...Liz is keeping Scottie Dog Quilts and her on-line store will re-open with a brand new website on July 24. www.scottiedogquilts.com We will still be holding quilting retreats in Eureka and the Midwest. The Scottie Dog Quilts pattern line will not only continue, but expand. Scottie Dog Quilts Quilting Cruises will also continue.  We are going up the Atlantic Coast from New York City to Canada October 2015.  There are still spots available for this awesome Fall Colors Cruise. After July 24 you can sign up for retreats on line.

I must say, it has been hard at times during our liquidation sale.  Saying goodbye after 14 wonderful years to all the friends we've made is hard.  Saying goodbye to the beautiful Northern California Redwood Forest and the rugged Pacific Coast is hard.  But awaiting for us is family....The entire Scott Clan will be able to live close to one another, hanging out together, picnicking, helping one another.  Think Sunday dinners at Gramy's house, sleep-over's for Sydney at the Cousin's house, hunting for the men, sewing together for the ladies, tea parties and more....my heart is full.  We will miss our CA friends, but we fully expect our guest room to be occupied often.
Liz and Steve and Sydney leave Sunday morning with their cat Rico in their truck and a trailer with all their household goods.  Bill and I will leave the house in good hands (Thanks Larissa!) as we travel to MN to buy another rental to replace the one we just sold here.  We'll all be together for a few weeks and then we'll be back in Eureka to get our house ready to sell.  Then we'll be move too.

Wow!  That is a lot in 6 months! A new chapter in the lives of BrendaLou and Mr. Scottie Dog.