Shop Hop- Day 2, Part 1

Our first stop was in North Platte at The Quilt Rack

This is what you see when you first walk in the store. The neat freak in me really likes her store because there is the tease of creativity but all the fabric is neat and tidy on the shelves. So pretty!

I liked this cowboy tablerunner!

Who knew black could be so pretty?

Fun with colors!

I love reproduction fabrics

Isn't this just adorable?

I may be feeling a need to quilt with some black someday.

An inviting workroom. See the train quilt in the background?

BOO!

Our second stop was in Cozad at Prairie Point Junction. Don't let the store front deceive you, this is a fun little shop. The owner designs her own patterns and has a booming internet business as well as her shop. I love to hear how people in small towns are adapting to change. This place is thriving!

I am definitely going to have to try wool applique.

Rustic & Red, this is a new store in Cozad. It's really fun as the decor is straight out of the country and she had some really unique items in her store too. Check out the giant windmill head they used for a light!

Last stop in Cozad was lunch. We ate at the Green Apple Cafe and they had an extensive selection of homemade pies. We each bought a different kind and shared. I have to say that was the best lemon pie I have ever eaten. If you ever happen to be driving through Cozad you should try some pie!

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You Tube Channels I Like

I find myself watching You Tube much more than I watch actual television. Here are some of the channels that I like.

Homeschool channels:

Homeschool on the Hill

Tricia Hodges for art

How to Draw Things

Erica Arndt for homeschool and quilting

Sick Science

In A Nutshell


Workout videos

Blogilates


Fun Stuff

Who Do You Think You Are

The Lost Cinema Channel- I love old movies!

I watch motivational and informational videos for work. I am sure that whatever business you are in you can find something to help motivate you!
We have also learned that if we want to learn to do something we can probably find a tutorial on You Tube. My daughter learned to cut her children's hair by watching tutorials. :)

What channels do you like to watch?

Shop Hop- Day 1

The NIFS (Nebraska Independent Fabric Shops) is doing their annual Shop Hop around Nebraska. This happens to be the sesquicentennial for our state so the shops have graciously changed their usual 10 day shop hop to include the entire month of March. This makes me excited because it actually makes it possible for me to try to hit every store on the list. There are 31 stores all over the state!
Still it's going to take some planning to get to all of them. Here is a map so you can see why it's going to take some planning to get them all in. Fortunately two of my adult children live in the central and east part of the state so I can visit with them and have a place to spend the night!
When you do the shop hop you need to buy the bag. It comes with all the information, a little bit of fabric and the map for all the participating shops. If you take it into the shops on the 5th Saturday of the month you also get 20% off your purchases. It also comes in pretty handy while you're shopping so you have to somewhere to put all your new purchases.  Here is a picture of this years' bag.

My first stop was the store in my hometown of Ogallala. It's called The Silver Thimble and I have been shopping there for the past 20 years. The store changed ownership last year and the new owner has to be feeling overwhelmed at the challenge of keeping the store open for shop hop because it's longer hours and a lot more people but I think she's up for the challenge. Julie, the former owner, is still working a couple days a week so I'm sure these gals are going to give everyone great customer service! I forgot to take a picture while I was there but it was full of bright colorful fabrics and lots of eye candy! I always enjoy looking at the finished projects.

The shop hop always has special fabrics made for a quilt designed just for the shop hoppers. There is a large quilt pattern and each shop designed a small block to fit inside of the quilt. I learned the first year that if you want the fabric you had better get it quickly because it goes fast. So I went down the first day and bought what I wanted. Here are some pictures of the fabrics and the quilt designed for this year.

So this was my first shop hop day. I can't wait to tell you about the second day, but it's late and I need to get some sleep. Good night!

Book Review: Lilac Girls

I like to read the books on the blog Your Homebased Mom, she always does a synopsis of the books she has read and rates them. Lilac Girls was one of the books she recommended and I finally got to read it this week. I have to admit I really have mixed feelings about this book. I didn't really think it was as good as some that I have read about WW2 and the things people went through in concentration camps but having said that there were a couple of things that really gave me something to think about.

First, one of the characters was a German doctor who had truly adopted the attitude that if the people were in the concentration camps then they had done something to deserve it. It was an insight to how some of the German people had really accepted the propaganda hook, line and sinker. It also made me think about how easily people today are just the same. We believe everything the news tells us depending on which news you listen too it skews your way of thinking that direction. The whole idea made me think about the fact that I need to confirm what I hear and not just accept something because others believe it.
The second thing that I had never really thought about was what happened to the survivors of the concentration camps. How do you live through such a hellish ordeal and then just go back to your old life? I mean, yes, they were grateful that they survived but did they also have guilt because they survived and so many didn't? How did they go back to daily life? These are questions I had just never thought of. I always thought about the tragedy of the people who died in the camps but never wondered about the survivors.
So, despite my initial critique, this book made me think about things I'd never really thought about before and for me that means it is a book worth recommending because it wasn't a book that I read, put down and never thought of again. This one keeps coming back to me so I can chew over it again. I would recommend that you read it. The violence and sex were referred to but its wasn't graphic so I would feel comfortable letting an older teen read it also.
Lilac Girls is Martha Hall Kelly's first book. For a first novel I thought it was pretty well done and I could tell that she had done a lot of research. I will look forward to reading her work again.

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Happy 150th Birthday to the Great State of Nebraska!

There is a possibility that I am a bit prejudiced but I honestly believe that Nebraska is probably the best state to live in. Why, you ask? Well, let's make a list...
1. We have all four seasons, sometimes all in the same day!
2. We have great drinking water! (seriously this should not be taken for granted).
3. If you home school this is a pretty good state as far as regulations.
4. We have blue skies almost every day!
5. We don't have as many people as say Colorado. Love to visit Colorado, wouldn't want to live there.
6. We have beautiful state and city parks.
7. If you don't mind driving a few hours we even have some pretty good culture.
8. We have the best zoo in the United States!
9. Nebraska is still primarily an agricultural state, even our industry is based on or about agriculture.
10. The nicest people in the world live here, (this is not a proven fact but I'm pretty sure of it!)