Farewell 2007.... Hello 2008

Christmas came and went in a flash. I never really got any decorations up, nor did I do any shopping. I was in great denial this year. The day of my last post I came down with a nasty cold. I tried to keep it together, but I missed some work and basically missed Christmas. I did manage to get the crayon bags done and made 3 little girls very happy. I don't know of a better feeling than to watch a little one open your gift and see them get so engrossed that they forget there are other gifts to open!

I needed wrapping for the crayon bags so I stopped by K-Mart on Christmas Eve.I think that is where my Christmas Spirit was hiding! All it took was for me to see some adorable Martha ornaments on 50% off and it was a light bulb moment! I'm so excited about next year! Sure hope by the time it rolls around I will remember I have these little goodies. Maybe I haven't decorated because I didn't have a fake tree and going out and getting a real tree was too much trouble and $$ just for me? All of my ornaments are for a big real tree. Well... now I'm looking for a 3 foot fake tree. That is all I need, I found one, got it home and it's not green... it's COPPER! ugh! looks like a dead tree. The search continues. Nothing can move me like the word "Clearance" ! My sweet son thought that I had been very good this year. He surprised me with a gift that left me speechless. His gift from me left him speechless as well. Can you guess which is which? Here's a clue... His comment was "hey it's PG 13!" (I told you I was in denial mode, I hang my head in shame)...Thank you Andrew, now I'm no longer in the dark ages of television!

Tick ... Tick ... Tick.......

No it's not a bomb, unless you call Christmas a bomb, I think the phrase "It's the Bomb" went out of style a while ago. As I type I can hear the clock ticking down the days, hours. minutes and seconds that are left to get my projects done. I thought I would put up this post and not revisit until Sunday Stash Report. I spend entirely too much time on the computer and time is getting short. By Sunday evening I will need to complete 3 crayon bags, a table topper and a pillow case. Hmm, we'll see what I can do. Yikes, I have a dentist appointment in between now and then too! The placemats were a success, all of the recipients seemed pleased as were the tablerunner recipients. I made a huge pot of vegetable beef soup, ceasar salad, french bread, cranberry oat bars and pumpkin pie cake. Let me tell you there wasn't much of anything left over!! Oh except salad, I bought too much, so somebody brought chicken in the next day and we had chicken ceasar salad and french bread for lunch! Not much to write about tonite. This may be strange, but in the category of "Things that make you go HMMMM?"........ The little tin in the picture came from Joann's filled with cookies. I think I bought it last year on clearance, it could have even been the year before. Check out this year's "Christmas Past" line, it's a perfect match!! Kinda like what came first, the chicken or the egg? Ok, now this one isn't as close, but it is ribbon that again I got on clearance at Joanns last year, and it sure reminds me of the Holly Jolly line. Ok, now that I've given you something to think about, I'm going to get bizzzzy, where's my Starbucks, I'm going to need gallons!!

Holiday Progress

Things are moving along. I put a wreath on the door, I have scented candles burning, I'm drinking my Starbucks Christmas Blend with Peppermint Mocha creamer. I've been watching the holiday movies (happy to catch "It's A Wonderful Life") and I bought a christmas cd to listen to. Oh and got some peppermint ice cream too!

This morning I finished the 4 table runners that

I started about a month ago. They've been waiting for applique. I'm very happy those are done! Now I can move on. I'm taking my staff of twenty lunch on Tuesday so those preparations will keep me out of trouble. That's when I will be giving them the placemats. I'm going to make more of those pretzels too. I made some last week and they are yummy!!

Now for the stash busters, please note that the table runners are completely from stash!! But I will confess to pushing some buttons on Friday. I ordered this "Heels On Wheels" fabric to make a pillow case as joke gift for my now single son. And my next projects are crayon bags for my two little nieces. I have a lot of fat quarters that would be appropriate, but no yardage. Darn, I think I need to shop! Fa La La La LA... Tis the season!

Oh and head on over to Strawberry House Quilts and leave her a message, she's having a giveaway!!

EDITORS NOTE: hmmm about that pretzel link, I don't think crazy Sharon realized that she put her pretzel tutorial in the same post as her husband's polyps.. oh my!! just scroll down and you'll find it.

Ho Ho Hummm

This is my Sunday Stash Report, yeah I know it's Tuesday, what can I say? I have not bought any fabric. Of course I didn't use a lot either. I did one block on my secret gift Q project, but I've abandoned that project. There is just not enough time. Now I hope to get it done for next year. Hmm what do I feel like working on now? I guess I will do some machine applique to finish the 4 table runners that I started a while back, that would at least be 4 more gifts. Maybe work on a redwork project.

I don't know what it is, I can't get in the holiday mood. I did manage to put a wreath on the door and I have my scented candles burning. I've been looking at all of the blogland homes decorated and cheerful, but it's just not working for me. I do have this wallhanging in my office that I finished last year. It's called Winter Greetings by Elizabeth of Late Bloomer Quilts. This was before my machine applique class so it is needle turned. I love this because I can leave it all winter!!

Did that and Done!

The placemats are done and in their baskets, I'm going to bring lunch for my staff on the 11th and hand them out then. These were fun to make and I don't know where my brain was, but I almost didn't quilt them. It finally dawned on me that they were supposed to be "quilted placemats". Sometimes I can be so slow, but eventually I catch up. Like next time I make these I won't use all of my prints and maybe space them out with some tot's or solids. Duh, then I may have had enough of the prints. I think they have a saying for this, something about hindsight. It also finally dawned on me that this was another "P" project!! What's up with that? First it was pincushions, then pumpkins and then back to the pincushions cause I didn't get them done and now placemats! I'm done with the "P's" and I'm movin on to the "Qs" but I can't say what. What I'm working on now is a gift for someone who may check my blog. So... I'm busy and staying out of trouble. The 20 placemats managed to use up about 5 yards of my stash and odd bits and leftovers of batting, so this is gonna be linked to the stashbusting!!

Oh and how cute are those napkins that I found at the dollar store... 2 for a buck?

I'm a Winner

Gosh I'm just grinnin from ear to ear! I've been patiently posting at all of these fantastic blog give aways with the hopes of winning something. Wondering if I would ever get lucky and BAM!!! Three in a row, I 'm so flippin excited. First I woke up yesterday and read Darlene's Blog to find that she picked me as a winner, altho she wasn't exactly doing a drawing, it was a thrill all the same and a great way to start my day. Then last nite before I went to bed I thought I would check in over at Calico Horse Blog and OMG! I won a Strawberry Lemonade Jelly Roll !!! Sweet dreams for me!! So surely not expecting anything else like this to happen, I was going thru my blog roll and OMG again! Sandy over at Vintage Collage and Quilts drew my name for her adorable Cup Cake Quilt pattern. Those a just the cutest little cuppy cakes, I'm just can't wipe this smile off my face. I don't care what anyone says, it's FUN to win!!! And now the anticipation of delivery.... the fun continues! (Stop the presses, I just realized that this winning streak started over the weekend, when my name was drawn in another quilting group's weekly drawing, that makes 4!!! Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket? go to the horse races? Reno? Vegas?) **** Added note: Camille is having a Pattern Giveaway, be sure to visit and let her know what your favorite patterns are, you might get lucky! ****

First of December - Time Flies

I haven't decorated the condo, but I did do a little here. I've been spending way too much time looking at everyone's holiday decorations. What beauty to behold. It just doesn't end! Actually, I think this is just a form of procrastination. Good grief, I'm even thinking of baking! I managed to get 7 placemats done and now I'm bored. I would really rather do something else. Anyhoooooooo... Here's a little link that you can play with. Make-a-Flake - A snowflake maker by Lookandfeel new media I'm actually thinking of Sharon, cause she has that sign that says that all of her best friends are flakes. Now with this link Sharon can make all the friends she wants!! LOL OK, I'm gonna go work on placemats.... Hope you enjoy your Saturday!

Home Again

I've been busy pet sitting in Benicia, keeping Grizzy (above) and Ferris company while their owners were up in the mountains. I love Benicia, it's a beautiful little city right across the delta from where I live. I took my camera with me, prepared to show you the sights that I enjoy so much. Unfortunately not all goes as planned. My camera wasn't cooperating. Here are a few pictures that I took when I stayed in June or was it July? I love old houses, the house I stay in was built in the 1800's an old victorian with lots of little rooms and high ceilings and room for REAL furniture! These are pictures from the neighborhood when walking Grizzy (none are the house where I stay) So this all means that I don't get much sewing done, I do a lot traveling to and from their house, to my house, to work, yada yada. Usually by the time I land I'm too tired to accomplish much. I took a block from Happy Hauntings with me and did a little applique and when I was home I did get a couple of the placemats finished. I realized that I need to go purchase some more of the stripe fabric. Using the salt and pepper shaker print and the stripe was enough without adding a 3rd fabric. So I'll be doing just a little shopping on Friday. I guess I fail at stash busting. But I really really need it! LOL and I'm not keeping it, it will not rest in my stash... there, is that better? Have I justified this purchase yet?

Use it for the Holidays

So did everyone have a good Thanksgiving? My granddaughter and I spent a few hours traveling to and from Pine Grove, a little town above Jackson Ca. It was sooo worth the trip. It was wonderful to spend the afternoon with my brother and his wife visiting from Arizona, my stepbrother and family from the bay area and of course my Dad and stepmom. Great meal, great company. And great news too! My stepbrother and his wife are expecting. It was surprize for all of us! And of course the dinner was awesome.

Today I've been pretty wiped out. Did you go shopping today? I went to the grocery store and the dollar store, no crowds there! I seem to remember when we thought that 7am was awfully early to go shopping the day after Thanksgiving. The sales were so great, I mapped out where I would go and stood in lines. Not anymore, any sane person is in bed at 4am and I really feel for those who work retail now.

4 am ??? NUTZ !!!

Thank you for all of your ideas and links to crafty gifts. As soon as I posted the question, my friend Deb sent me a link for roll-up placemats. They're cute and have a pocket for utensils. I went digging in my stash and found a few yards of Barb's Kitchen line, you might remember, it has all of the little salt & pepper shakers. Very cute! So had exactly enough of that to make twenty tops and found some vegie fabric for the backs and some stripes for the untensil pockets. I even found some cute fabric napkins at the dollar store. I was looking for utensils, but they weren't very nice. I think I will look at the thrift stores, Ross and stores like that,they really don't need to match. I'll post picture when I'm done, I've got them all cut out and the tops pieced so far. And thanks to all of you I have great ideas for next year.

I received the most wonderful gift in the mail today, from one of the sweetest bloggers we know. How Darlene finds time to shower us with such sweet little gifts, I will never know. I just know that I feel so blessed and special to recieve this little piece of her. I was going to hang it in my sewing room. But now I think I will put it in my office so that I can spend more time with it! Isn't it CUTE???

Thank you Darlene, I love it!!! Just looking at it puts a smile on my face and a song in my heart.

And speaking of special blog buddies, I think Vicky may be feeling a little better cause she is talking up her stash! She sure gave us a scare. Keep up the good thoughts for her. Since I'm using what I have for my gifts this year, I'll be linking up to Judy's Stash Busters. Wish me luck, the new lines are so tempting!

Well, I need to go prep a block to take with me to pet sitting tonite. I just know that all of you are already busy with holiday preparations. I'm not even going to mention how many days we have. :-)

I am thankful for all of you who visit me and so much more. Hope you all have a wonderful day with your families. xoxomar

Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered

Oh what to do, I'm spinning my wheels trying to figure out what to make for my staff of twenty for Christmas. I had big plans of making them all table runners, but just realized after working on them for the last 3 days I could never get them all done in time. I only got 5 put together and they still need a little machine applique. I guess they will be gifts for others. Have any good ideas for me? Last year I made pot holders and gift jars of soup mix. I do have one idea, but need to work up a pattern. Thinking along the lines of a personalized pocket placemat for their lunches at work. Maybe I could find some inexpensive place settings to include? Seems that I have a thing about food. hmmmm.... Wish I would have thought about this sooner. LOL, I could have been done!!! Oh and I'm all about "Homemade for Christmas", I've seen that logo on other blogs but haven't looked into what it is all about. Also I'm REALLY all about "Use What You Have". I've seen that logo on other blogs also, but I'm just doing my own thing.

Speaking of food, I participated in the chocolate swap over at Red Geranium Cottage. Sharon paired me up with Subee. What fun! you can check out what I sent Subee HERE!

This is the fabulous box I received. Su was a little more timely than I was and now my chocolate is all gone. Boo Hoo, it was delish Su and the box was adorable.

THANK YOU!!!

Guess I'd better get back to work! xoxomar

Alone Again ! Where do I begin?

How do I tell you what an awesome time I've had without boring you to tears? Maybe just the highlights....

Saturday 11/3 - Pincushions are done, condo is clean, I'm ready!!!

Sunday 11/4 Pick up Cheryl at the Oakland airport, out to dinner with son and Daja. Yum, ClaimJumpers!

Monday 11/5 Carol and Syl arrive in afternoon. Carol is here from SC and seeing her grandson for the first time in 3D. Syl is staying with Cheryl and I. Carol is off with her son and family to get some grandma time in. She will meet us at the retreat.

Tuesday 11/6 Visiting, laughing, crying, yak yak yak!!! (and Dancing with the Stars!)

Wednesday 11/7 Haircuts, carwashing, last minute shopping. Deb is coming! off to Thimblecreek, home for dinner, baking,packing watching Miss Potter.

Thursday 11/8 Packing, loading the car, off to retreat! shopping at Inbetween Stitches, hugging on Vicky and Jane, seeing old friends, meeting new ones!! Dinner, Alex speaking, gifts & prizes, laughing, crying, sewing, sharing.

Friday 11/9 COFFEE... Alex demo applique prep, brunch, group picture, Shopping caravan to Quilter's Inn in Danville, Thimble Creek in Concord, (where I ran into my stitch & bitch friend, Wilma who made this quilt!), stopped at my condo to tend the "girls", Main Street Quilts in Martinez and InBetween Stitches in Livermore. Out to dinner at MIMI's in Pleasanton. Back for sewing, laughing, sharing and sewing!

Saturday 11/10 COFFEE!!!... Paula demos machine applique, brunch, show and tell, sewing, seeing Pam, sharing, laughing... Dinner, gifts, drawings, sewing, margaritas, sewing, laughing, unsewing, sharing, FUN!!!

Sunday 11/11- Packing, saying goodbyes, promises to keep in touch. Home.

Monday 11/12 - Visited the second session retreat, shop with friends, finally stop at the Polka Dot Attic in Danville. Home to Rest and Relax!!!Tuesday 11/13 - Off to shop at Queen B's in Antioch, on a mission to spend the gift certificate my staff gave me on Boss's day! Bought Roman Holiday fabrics for All Things Christmas. To the PO to mail my chocolate!(more on the chocolate swap later)

Today Wednesday 11/14 - Cheryl left for Mass. at 4 am this morning. Alone again. Good thing I've got the girls to keep me company. I won't even mention the work crew making all kinds of racket working outside on the condos!!!

I'm sorry the pictures I took didn't turn out, I was either too far away or they blurred.

Yippee Skippee it's my Friday again. But this time I'm grinning from ear to ear. I don't have to face that office again until November 19th!! Yep it's time to have some fun! Time to get some quilting done and visit with my very best of friends. I'm so excited to see everyone, it's been a long year!

I know Halloween is over, but I forgot to share this with you. This was from a kit purchased from Keepsake Quilting, on clearance! I probably bought in Feb. to get it on clearance, but I have a friend who loves fall and all that goes with it. This gal hangs in her office all through the year :-)

The chili and pumpkin cake were both a success! Here is the cake recipe, Rebecca gave me permission to share it with you. It's so simple you won't believe it! It's almost the consistency of a bread pudding, very moist.

Pumpkin Angel Food Cake

1 box one-step angel food cake mix

16 oz. can pumpkin

1-2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice*

Mix together; pour into 9" x 13" pan.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

*1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. ginger, 1/4 tsp. nutmeg or allspice, 1/8 tsp. cloves

I've also made this with a can of crushed pineapple and hear that it it fabulous made with a can of lemon pie filling or a can of cranberry sauce.

This is the wall hanging in my office.

Good Jack-Bad Jack, kinda like my personality ;-)

Thought I would post before I head to bed. We've had a pretty good earth shake in the area tonite, hope all is well with my blogger buddy Theresa, she lives very near.

I've made a pot of chili for the office tomorrow and also tried a new recipe for a pumpkin cake. All of the little guinea pigs at work can test it. All it takes is an angel food cake mix and a can of pumpkin with some pie spices. Hope it's good. It drives me nuts not knowing if it's good or not.

Hope you have a fun day tomorrow!

I sure hate see this holiday come and go so quickly. Would you believe I saw the beginnings of a Christmas tree lot tonite. They have campers and stakes and a porta potty already!! Nuthin like rushing things!

Another Good Weekend

This is the extent of my Halloween decorating, pretty pathetic eh? I was able to get all but five of the pincushions done, yipeee!!! I have to pick up another package of piping to finish them up. All is good! I managed to also get about 40 of the little tissue holders done for retreat gifts and a good start on my packaging for Sharon's Chocolate Swap. Four more days of work and then I will have two weeks to play! My friend, Cheryl from Mass. will arrive next Sunday and Carol and Syl will be here on Monday. Syl will stay with Cheryl and I until RETREAT! starting Thursday. Then I will finally get to see Vicky and Jane and so many other great quilting friends. For some of us this will be our 7th year together! Ok off to work. Have a good week.

This Little Pincushion Went to Market

Last year, I was way ahead of the game with my pincushions. My pal Deb says I was done by August. I did all the stitching by hand and was so happy doing it. I was using Alex's new Alexandra line that wasn't out yet and feeling kinda smug ;-) you know, smiling alot! Then she emailed me asking if P&B could use my design for a handout at Market. My design? the little basket is Alex's and I just came up with the idea, but... SURE! I was honored! I had to make an extra for the sample, but that was fine by me! I think they gave them out at the Schoolhouse, but don't really know for sure. Alex made sure that one kit was saved for me. I thought they kitted them up real cute..... So this little pincushion went to market and all of the other little pincushions went wee, wee, wee all the way to retreat!

Double Tagged!!

Ok, don't wanna be a party pooper so I'll play along. Giz tagged me for the 10-20-30 years ago. After you've been tagged, and answer/post, you need to go over to RelevantBlog and leave a comment and link. As boring as my life is, here goes....

• 10 years ago - Was working as a clerk for the Department of Human services, going to a lot of Jr. College football games raising my then 18 year old son.
• 20 years ago - Was working for the Dept. of Human Services, I had already been working for them for 6 years. Raising my then 8 year old son.
• 30 years ago - I just got hired at the library, but I must have had too much fun cause by the end of 77 I was pregnant with my son. If you are still awake, I'm gonna tag Vicky, West and Laurie - Good Luck Ladies Then my sweet friend Vicky tagged me for 4 MeMe (notice her name is first up there?)
• 4 Jobs: Worked in a Florist; Fry cook; Clerk; Clerical Supervisor
• 4 Films I could watch over and over: Pride and Predjudice (any version); Dr. Zhivalgo; It's a Wonderful Life; Elf
• 4 TV shows I watch: Desparate Housewives; Brothers & Sisters; Masterpiece Theater; City Confidential
• 4 Places I've Lived: Martinez California, Houma LA, Katy TX, Concord California
• 4 Favorite Foods: Any homemade soup, grilled cheese, broccoli, any kind of pie :-)
• 4 Favorite Colors: RED, Blue, Green, and all of the others
• 4 Places I would like to be right now: Quilt market, mountains, quilt retreat, with friends
• 4 Names I love but could not use on my children: Chloe, Amanda, Mathilda, Benjamin
• 4 People I'd love to tag: Gloria, Giz, Erin and Gail

Now why was this such a chore? See ya later!

FEELIN GROOVY

Thank you for all of the get well wishes, I don't know what it was but I think it's gone now, I've gone to work for two days now and I'm feeling preeeeety good! Since you asked, here are pumpkin pictures, inside and out! one is needle turned (I got 11 of those done) and the 31 others are machine appliqued using my new skills. Notice anything wrong? oops, I guess I didn't listen to the teacher. I forgot to reverse my pattern when I did the steam a seam technique. I don't think it will matter too much, I hope not. It's been fun seeing all of the pumpkins out in blogland. You can check out Erin's or Yvonne's, and Teresa's. I think there are 42 of us and if you've posted pictures on your blogs that I have missed, please let me know. It's going to be one adorable pumpkin quilt. I did get a chance to "chat" with another pumpkin swapper Gloria. What an interesting new friend. Anne Sutton designed the Strawberry Hill pattern for her and mentioned her on the back of it. (oh and Fatquartershop has this pattern on sale! and they also have some NEW Bunny Hill Designs!) I hope you will visit Gloria and ask her to show us her pumpkins too! Some of you were asking about the pincushions. I can't share them until after the retreat, but have an idea. Alex Anderson posted a blog about Duck Butts, it was funny. I told her I was gonna blog about pincushion butts. We thought that was funny too. But then I thought about it some more and thought it was dumb. But oh well here goes....what's wrong with dumb? TADA!!! PINCUSHION BUTTS in all their glory, this basket shows half of them done. At the moment I have got a total of 60 done and 20 to go. I think I'll make it! OK, are you still with me... all together now.... Slow down, you move too fast. You got to make the morning last. Just kicking down the cobble stones. Looking for fun and feelin' groovy. Ba da, Ba da, Ba da, Ba da...Feelin' Groovy. Hello lamp-post,What cha knowin'? I've come to watch your flowers growin'. Ain't cha got no rhymes for me? Doot-in' doo-doo, Feelin' groovy. I've got no deeds to do, No promises to keep. I'm dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep. Let the morning time drop all its petals on me. Life, I love you, All is groovy... xoxomar

Whelp, the weekend is over

I'm still up, It's midnight and I should be in bed. Morning will come too soon. This happens every weekend. Seems I never want to go to bed and once I get there I don't want to get up. I get my hours messed up so quickly, I think my internal alarm clock needs repair.

It's been a productive weekend inspite of not feeling well. I even passed on going to a local guild show, just didn't feel up to it. But... I managed to finish all of my pumpkins, even trimmed them all, now they just need to be taken to the Post office. I also managed to get 10 pincushions piped and stuffed I got all but two of them stitched closed while watching Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters. I will be working on these every nite when I get home. Hmmm tomorrow nite will be Dancing with the Stars. I will have to discipline myself to keep focused on these. 30 more to do and they will be done. Vicky mentioned that there is only 20 days till retreat. OMY! My friend Cheryl from Mass. will be coming in on the 4th so I need to get the condo in order also. No time to waste, must get rest. Sweet Dreams.

MY FRIDAY !

OH Lucky me, I work a 9/80 shift and have every other Friday off. I pay for it by working an extra hour every day but my alternating Friday. That other Friday is an 8 hour day and my cherished short day. Tomorrow is my Friday off. So today is my "Friday". LOL, have I totally confused you? I didn't get much done this week. It's been stressful and busy at work and have come home too tired to get much done. I did go to my Wed. nite group last nite,but ended up taking out what stitches I put into my haunted house. I just visited and came home a little early. This morning and most of the day, I've been feeling kinda yucky. Hope a good nites rest will cure it!

So what does this leave me with?

A Boring Blog, that's what it leaves me with!!

Leaves..... This is a little wallhanging that I did when I met with my old Wed. nite "stitch and bitch" group. A few quilter friends lived on a court and we would sew in their garages and watch the kids play out in the court. During the summer it was fun, we moved inside when it turned colder. We'd go on field trips to Thimble Creek and out to dinner and exchange gifts at holidays. We don't meet any longer, but I do have this little quilt to remember the fun we had. I hang it my office every year around this time.

This weekend is designated as the BIG P WEEKEND, I have to get down to business with those pumpkins and pincushions! I have 3 wonderful days to get something accomplished. Wish me luck!

I'm going to leave you with some before and after pictures of Precious. When she moved in with me it was summer and I made my son get her a shave, LOL, she got clipped pretty good. Her new "do" is growing back, it looks better on her but doesn't look so good on my dark clothing!! Hope you all have a productive, if not, a FUN weekend, doing what you love most.

Maybe You Could Join Us

Vicky and I will be at Alex Anderson's Quilt Retreat next month. I can't wait!!! It's so much fun. My "famous" friend Deb just posted this news on another site. I thought I would let all of you in on the contest too! APQS and Alex are having a contest. What fun if you won! Why I'd even make you a pin cushion ;-o Alex Anderson Quilt Retreat contest link http://www.apqs.com/quiltingcontest.htm Check it out and if you enter ... Good Luck!

Class at PIQF

Whoa, what a busy weekend!! I think I need a week to rest from my weekend! Thursday was spent at PIQF, Friday was chore day, you know the days where the laundry, car, bills and all of that boring stuff needs to be taken care of. It rained HARD all day too! I've also been pet sitting in Benicia, it's not hard work, but it's not the norm, so it takes a little more effort. Saturday morning I was signed up for a class at PIQF. I've never taken at class at a show before! I've said that if I went back to Asilomar I would take a class by Sue Nickels and Pat Holly to learn how to machine applique. Well Sue was teaching a raw edge applique class and I couldn't resist. Chances of me going back to Asilomar are slim, so I thought I'd better take advantage of it.

Sue is a great teacher, she covers everything and has so much patience, yet allows everyone to move at their own pace. She uses a camera to teach so that everyone can watch her work on the screen as she doing it. It's an awesome tool. It was wonderful to see her quilts. Such beautiful machine work. She works very closely with her sister and most quilts are done in tandem. I was going to show you a couple of pictures, but blogger is being difficult, quit after the first picture!

The 75th Anniversary Bernina's were furnished for the class. If you are a Bernina lover, I'm sorry, but I wasn't a happy camper. I wasn't familiar with using the knee lift. The last time I used my knee for sewing it was when I learned how to sew on my Mother's old Singer in the cabinet. Talk about flash backs! I was also having trouble with it skipping stitches, and that darn needle up/down feature on the foot pedal was too sensitive and messed me up constantly. Even with all of the problems and unsewing, I managed to get one little bird block done. I can't wait to sit down at my Pfaff and give it a go. Now that I see how it is done, I will be machine appliquing my pumpkins.

During lunch break my friend Debbie and I met up with Deb and Holly and I was able to lure them to the Bonnie Blue Booth. I got some major notches in my meg belt. We had to hurry back to class but there was plenty of time to shop after. I got some supplies that I found useful in the class, easy thread needles & tweezers. I found a couple more patterns and that was it. Today I was off to a baby shower and back home to clean up the messes I left while passing through all weekend. Back to work tomorrow, but I do have another 3 day weekend this coming week, just 4 more days!!

Where to Begin?

What a day! It started by taking a bus ride with the Wednesday nite ladies to the Pacific International Quilt Show in Santa Clara Convention Center. This is a huge show, I think the largest that I've been to. I love taking the bus, everyone is always in such a good mood and you don't have to fight traffic coming or going. The show was awesome as always, but I have to say that I really just go to see the vendors, LOL! I think I have already seen most all of the quilts online at one site or another. There weren't many surprises. The biggest surprise to me, was to see so many quilts with very very heavy quilting. I guess that is the trend now that there are so many talented long arm artists. The quilting is beautiful, but sometimes I think it's a little too much, but that is just my personal opinion. I tend to like the more traditional.

My first mad dash at the show was for the Fig Tree booth, Joanna has limited kits made up and they go quick. I just love her stuff, she had her patterns there and I managed to put a sizable ding in my checking account. From there you could follow my trail of drool from vendor to vendor, I think I left a big pool of drool and the Bonnie Blue Quilts booth. Be still my heart, those civil war fabrics tug at me. I wasn't too bad, but according to Vicky's three touch rule, I should have brought it all home with me, I must of picked everything up at least 6 times and put it back. I found out that they are from Katy Tx. , I used to live in Katy Tx.!!

So this was my haul, a little of this, a little of that. I was happy to find the book for my class on Sat. (yes, I have to go back on Sat., oh darn!)I was able to take a nice nap on the bus home. When I got in my car there was a light on the dash board that I didn't recognize! OH NO, I knew I have a small oil leak, but this devastated me. I thought I was being punished for my carefree purchases. I came in and looked in the book... LOL, oops! I forgot I turned the defroster on this morning, whew, saved again! Then I went out and got my mail, what an awesome surprise was waiting for me!

My new bloggy friend Theresa sent me the most beautiful piece of hand dye that I've ever owned, the color is so pure and clean, THANK YOU!! Isn't this gorgeous?To top it off I got news that I finally have enough in my deferred comp account for my employer to kick in a little... nice! Hope your day was good one.... OOOOO I almost forgot, I got chance to see Pam and give her a hug, in fact she probably thought I was stalking her, we were passing each other at every turn! It was great to see her and ... Ok I'm babbling, I can't wait to go back, LOL! I'm gonna go see if I can remember how to put pictures from the show in my flicker album. And also I wanna add that after seeing what Carol bought in just ONE shop, I don't think I bought much at all!! ( a good thing she wasn't with me at Bonnie Blue's)

Finally Finished!

Last year I made that Nancy Halverson panel advent calendar for my son's foster child. They asked me if I could make something like that for her birthday. Daja's birthday is on Halloween. Do they want birthday theme? Halloween theme? They said both! This sent me in a tizzy, I'm not creative, I can follow a pattern, but that is as far as it goes.

Hmmm.... Daja loves PINK! Oh my gosh, this is the little girl who when I visited her took me by the hand and pulled me into her room, jumped up and down over and over yelling PINK PINK PINK! My son had painted her room totally PINK! She was tickled pink! I remembered that Moda line "Wild Things" that was cute and had pink in it, kinda Halloween, so I searched and searched and found some coordinating fabrics.

Now for a pattern. Hmmm, I couldn't wrap my mind around a design. I Spent hours looking online, looking through magazines and books. I found I had one those fabric folding books. AHA, a little bit of an idea. The Christmas book had a pocket type count down hanging. But wait, isn't there a Halloween book too? I Need it! Well I got it and it didn't have anything that really worked. Then I showed Daja the fabric. She didn't like it! Do you see where I'm going with this? $$$ is adding up and I still don't know what I'm doing! Do you do this? Do you start off in one direction and turn completely around? I guess this how I build my stash. Well then, the divorce got started and I put it all aside. I wasn't planning on making this, because of all that has happened, but I kept seeing the fabric sitting there and I had to do it!

TADA, here it is. It's pink and it's original, I borrowed the pattern from the fabric folding book and got some help with lettering from Elizabeth's book and Holly's fabric is so fun to work with. (Thank you for the link info Rabbit Stitchings! ) My lil project is finally done. Just need to sew the button, the label and the sleeve and I can send it off . It's outta here! I sure hope she will enjoy it. I won't get to see her face when she opens it and finds all of the goodies that I'm stashing in those little pockets. The only place I used the original purchased fabric was for the binding, sleeve, backing and pocket liners! The lime has cute purple spiders and I found an awesome lime green button with a spider that is going on the end of the thread running through Halloween under the spider web.

So now I can move on,

I'm off to mind my P's.... pumpkins an pincushions that is!

Happy Birthday to my baby brother and my dear Dad, they both celebrate their birthdays today. You are both always in my heart!

Lazy Blogger

No, Actually I've been a very busy blogger, the day job has been extremely busy & I've been working on a special project that is taking longer than I thought (don't they always?) I'll be back to post and share pics when I get this lil project done. xoxoxomar

I'd Like You to Meet...

The GIRLS!

Biddies and Precious

I used have dogs and cats, but that changed as soon as I had my first child. Too busy for animals. I pet sit often for extra stash cash, so I've had plenty of opportunities to enjoy other peoples pets. In fact I love OTHER people's pets. Well at the beginning of summer I inherited my son's cats. It was only supposed to be until they sold the house (staging, right?) No problemo! come stay at Kitty Hilton, I have a master suite at their disposal. Unfortunately he got kicked out with the kitties! So the story goes, my son got a divorce and I got custody of the girls. I guess now I'm a cat person. He loves his girls dearly and as soon as he gets settled (it's the batchelor life for him), he will take his girls, but now I get to feed and care for them. They are quite endearing. I swore I wouldn't get attached. But how could I resist?

Now don't you think they would look cute in those LHDG Cherry Baby Kitty bibs that they are going to give away here: http://hollyholderman.typepad.com/holly_blog/

I'd like to give a special shout out to my doggie friends Rio, Daisy and Grizzy. Please don't be mad, I still love you too!

To get in the mood for the new season and because this is supposed

to be about quilting, here is a picture of a little wall hanging I made for a dear friend many years ago :-)