GOOD TIDINGS!

  I hope all of you, my wonderful blog readers, have a most wonderful holiday season. I have many readers from all over the globe and there are too many celebrations to be named here! So, whichever holiday you are celebrating- or even if you are not celebrating anything- have a great rest of this year and I hope all your dreams come true next year!

  Please keep on coming back to see what I am up to. I have a few things planned for next year.  And I have many more STORIES!

 

   Hugs to you all, my friends!

                                 Finishing Up and Starting  More-

      This last weekend was a great weekend for getting a few little projects done. Saturday was spent with my good friend Lexie. We visited one of my favorite shops, then headed south to see our friends’ new home.  While at the quilt shop I was asked to teach a bag class, and even got put on the class schedule for February. It was so wonderful- made me smile even more that day! While visiting our friend, Eileen, even though we finished off a pitcher of margaritas for lunch we were able to visit another quilt shop. They had moved the shop  recently, and were having a customer appreciation event at their new location. I picked up this pattern-

 

And I even ended up making one of these on Sunday. Super fast, super easy.

 

 

  I also found some great pig fabric for a pillow case for someone for Christmas-is this not adorable fabric? If there was a baby somewhere in my future I would have bought the whole line- very cute faces on these critters-

 

   Sunday while I was waiting for Amber to come over to help me bake, I finished up a few of these cute bags-

   Now, when I started these little bags I had no idea they were made using templates. While not a total hater of templates, I would prefer not to work with them for the most part. After spending a damn hour and half screwing around with these f---ing raindrops I finally decided I could not figure out how to make them without the templates, so I traced the silly things off onto template plastic and proceeded to make these damn bags. They were fun to do- even with all the bitching and moaning coming out of my woman cave (see there is a reason I have a door on my room) and her directions, as always, were great.

 

I also made Dale a new collar- now she is styling-

 

I am looking forward to another sewing weekend!

Sew on my friends, sew on!

                                                LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW

 

  We have not had much snow here in Colorado- at least in the Denver area- this year yet.  Although I am not a big fan of driving in it, I sure love looking at it. I love the way the snow makes the trees sparkle and makes everything look so clean.

  My hometown got a pounding of snow this week which took me back to when I was a kid and still living there. Oh how I loved those snow storms!  My friends and I would get all bundled up, and, looking just like the kid in A Christmas Story, head out for some fun. Then, when we got wet all the way through our 400 layers, we would head indoors for hot chocolate and popcorn while our clothes dried on the heat vent. Once that happened, we could go back out again and play some more!

 

  We had a big hill behind my house-it was called Bloody Lane. The older kids could start up high on the hill, and when you got close to the bottom there was a cluster of trees you had to swerve to miss before you went down the last leg of the hill. Some did not have the skills to miss those trees, hence the name Bloody Lane. Then, if you got to the bottom and could not stop you were screwed, as there was a shit crick- yes crick, not creek- at the bottom and it was NOT fun to go into that!  I am really not sure why it was called a shit crick- I cannot ever remember seeing anything bad in it but I was always told don’t play in it, so who knows. It was probably full of radiation from 3 Mile Island or something. Shit is easier to explain to a kid than radiation.

  I remember one time I got to go sledding with my brother. I could not believe he was taking me- and his friends were going to be there! We get to the hill, and what do they have? A hood of a car, upside down, ready for us all to get in and come down the hill. Too flipping cool! Now, I really cannot remember what happened, but I do remember leaving there crying. Such a nerd.  I will have to ask my brother if he remembers what happened. Someone probably made fun of me, or maybe I chickened out at the last minute. I will go with possibility #2.

 

  My friend Pen and her sisters had these giant silver, round saucers that had handles on them. Boy, were those things awesome to use! I just had an old crappy sled- pretty shot from usage by my siblings but by golly it still flew!  I loved that feeling of flying coupled with the terrifying feeling of holy crap- what if I couldn’t stop? The one thing I hated is that I had glasses- try keeping those bastards on and clear when sledding or doing anything else in the snow! It was a pain in the ass- but I was totally blind without them so I had to suck it up and wear them. Oh well- as you see I survived. I am such a whiner!

 

  I also remember building big igloo looking forts on the corners where the snow plow would pile all of the snow. We had some kick ass ones!

 

  As I got older, I used to love to walk in the snow at night. It was so quiet and peaceful. My footprints would be the first ones in the newly fallen snow. I could walk and walk and no one would be around. Everyone was inside- no traffic at all. I wish I could experience that again. Maybe someday I will be able to that again. Out here I am afraid I will get mugged or hit by a car. Not exactly a relaxing experience.

 

  I think I will go now and wish for snow- rumor has it we may see a little here this weekend- whoo hoo! Added bonus- I won’t have to drive to work in it!

Keep warm, my friends!

CARTOONS WILL NEVER BE THE SAME

Everyone with kids knows the joys of long trips with kids in a car. To a kid, anything over 10 blocks is a long trip. Out of town car rides are long dark adventures. The constant cries of Are we there yet, I gotta pee, or Sean is touching me, make traveling such a delight.

 

                                                     

When our kids were infants, we could double wrap them in diapers, strap them into car seats, give them a sippy cup and we were off. Once they outgrew the car seats, pet taxis worked well but then they outgrew those crates as well. Of course we did get some stares when we would stop at rest areas and took the kids out of their crates for walks on their leashes.  But hey, other parents did it too!! 

 

                                                  

Now we have tried to make traveling as entertaining as possible for our kids. We would play educational games such as the alphabet game, license plates and state capitals, road kill bingo and so on. My husband would regale the kids with stories about the historical significance of areas or about local  crimes and monsters or some other such trivia.

 

On this particular trip, we were traveling along Interstate 70 through the mountains of Colorado. I was driving and hubby was taking in the scenery.  Mountain driving in Colorado is always tricky, what with other careless drivers, critters such as elk, long horn sheep, deer and bears, plus the numerous falling rocks and landslides and the occasional avalanche in the winter.

Amber was sleeping soundly in the back seat, the drugs having finally kicked in. Sean was stirring restlessly, so I suggested we play a version of the alphabet game, using the name of a cartoon character for each letter of the alphabet. A- Adam Ant, B- Bugs Bunny, C-Casper the Ghost, etc. etc. etc.

Things were going fine. We were winging through the alphabet and the miles were whizzing by. Cartoon characters were reviving childhood memories of hours in front of the television. Then it was Sean’s turn. His letter was Y.

 The letter is Y. I got one yelled Sean. “YOSODOMY SAM!”

 

 

Like I said, driving through the mountains is hard enough. Now I am laughing so hard I am crying. Tears are streaming down my face as I hurtled down the interstate at 70, okay 85 miles an hours. I can’t even see the road. My husband has his head sticking out the window and he is gasping for breath. His ears are flopping in the breeze.

Sean is sitting innocently in the back seat asking “What? What? What is so funny?”

I finally regain control of myself. A quick glance in the rearview mirror showed that I only ran a few cars off the road. Hubby pulls his head back in the car and regains his breath. He looks over at me and congratulates me on not wrecking the car.

I am thinking I will never be able to watch a Bugs Bunny cartoon again, especially one with poor old Sam in it.

Then hubby says he would really, really like to see that cartoon. And the laughter started all over again.

                                                A Thanksgiving Day Blog

  I hope all of my US friends are having a good Turkey day filled with food and fun. And to those of you that don’t celebrate it, I hope you are having a most wonderful day as well.

  Thanksgiving at my home in Pennsylvania was a big deal. There was the yearly argument between my mother and my grandmother about the turkey. We always got our turkey from a Turkey Farm. And yes, I even had a t shirt with their logo on it. My grandmother ( we called her Mamam) would get a turkey from the restaurant where she worked. My mother refused to make Mamam’s turkey. She may have been stubborn as I think that trait runs in my family- hahahahaha. One year, she told Mamam she made her turkey- and Mamam went on and on about how much moister the turkey was, etc. Guess what? My mother cooked the same old damn bird she bought every year- Mamam’s turkey was still in the freezer. 

 

    We also always had Mamams’ sister over for the day. She lived in a cool apartment above a hotel in the neighboring town. She was a school teacher back in the day. Now, this woman could not have been sweeter to me. I loved her-but according to some of my friends she was NOT the nicest teacher. And that is the nicest way I can say that.  Funny how that all works- but who knows what my little friends acted like in school- but I am sure they were all angels like me. (You can laugh now- that was supposed to be funny as I lived in the corner in kindergarten).

  It also meant that mom would get creative with the food. One year my dad gave her a ton of grief when he caught her putting an ice cream pie in the oven. “What the hell, Arlene- too many bloody marys?” Anyway, she had the last laugh as her Baked  Alaska turned out beautifully- and there was not a bite left. If I tried to bake one there would be a huge mess in the bottom of the oven. I suck at cooking- just ask my poor kids.

  Sometimes one of my siblings would be able to come- which was a giant treat for me. All of my siblings are quite a bit older than I and most of the time lived far away. It was like Elvis was arriving.

 

  My favorite part of dinner was my mom’s filling- yes, in my neck of the woods in PA it is called filling, not stuffing as most normal people call it. The base is bread and potatoes and it was seasoned with poultry seasoning, a ton of sage, and one other spice I cannot think of at the moment.  I have found out not everyone likes this wonderful concoction! As my family is not a fan, I do not make it. For years I tried to shove it down their throats but it just got sad. (They like good ole Stove Top- for crying out loud it kills me to make that crap) Plus, I cannot figure out how to make this filling in a small batch. My mother’s recipe starts with 10 pounds of potatoes and goes from there.  (well,  prob not 10 pounds but her worst fear was to not have enough food for everyone- and believe me that NEVER happened).

  Anyhoo, I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday- or not!

Chip and Dale Designs!

                                                        Fun Weekend

 This past Saturday, B Right On, a quilt shop in Brighton, Colorado had a make and take event. We had 5 stations set up, and customers could sit down and make any or all of the 5 items offered, for only $5 each! They also had the option of purchasing additional kits to take home. We were so pleased with the turnout- our weather had been very cold and it started to snow late that morning. But you know quilters- that doesn’t stop them!

   Here is Elaine with sweet Harriet getting her ready to sew!

 

  First up was a Ten Minute Table Runner- taught by Dawn, an awesome teacher of our quilting 101, 102 and many other classes!  The runner the customers were making was smaller than the one in the top picture, but one of our savvy customers (Jan) pointed out that the smaller one fits perfectly on top of a toilet tank! What a quick way to spruce up the bathroom! She is pictured below with her little ten minute runner and her mug mat.

 

Next up was a sewing machine applique mug mat, taught by Kathy. She is our Accu Quilt goddess, and was using the Accu Cut to cut all of the little sewing machines out of fabric. Such a great project!

  The next project was a wonderful little magnetic pin ring, and for some awful reason I did not get any pics of these. Our wonderful Jazz Cat instructor Irene had kits ready to go- no machines were needed for this project. Everyone seemed to enjoy these! She had plenty of kits ready to go!

  Next on the to do list was Elaine’s pin cushion chickens. She had many many kits ready to go to make these little cuties. Judy had a great idea and turned hers into turkey! Elaine is the most patient teacher, and everyone enjoyed her directions while making their new little friends. Elaine is going to make some even smaller- she is amazing! (or insane- we aren't sure which)

 

Susan, a wonderful teacher and talented long-armer. For those of you that are not quilt savvy, this does not mean she has long arms. She has a machine that is called a long arm and quilts for people:).  Susan was demonstrating how to use the Bloc Loc rulers while welcoming everyone into the event. You can find her here if you need your quilt quilted-

http://modernprairiequilting.com/index.html

 If you are not familiar with these rulers, get familiar with them now! In my opinion, it is the only way to trim up half square triangles! Bloc Loc also makes flying geese rulers and now have drunkards’ path rulers as well! Go here for more info-fast!

http://blocloc.com/

Below is a pic of our youngest make and taker, Zoey, and our instructor, Susan.  Zoey had a great time, and really knew how to run the sewing machine. I am sure her sweet grandma Judy has been an inspiration to her!

 

Last , but hopefully not least,  I was manning  (notice the Broncos reference-haha) the tissue holder station. There are several versions out there. I enjoy  making this version- it has a little bit of accent showing on each side- theses make great stocking stuffers and really go together quickly!

 

  I also got a little bit of my own sewing done this weekend.  I had been stitching on these little pin cushions at night while curled up with the dogs.  I can get 2 of these little embroideries done in one evening. Remember, Sunday is marathon tv night. Of course I don’t get much done during The Walking Dead- I have to watch to keep track of Darryl-ooh la la. They better get Beth out of that looney bin of a hospital- the season is almost over- yikes! And holy cow Homeland!  Get Saul the hell out of there! And the chick on The Affair is a drug dealer??? I did not see that coming. But I digress. Oh look, a squirrel-

 

   I love Gail Pan designs, and her Christmas book is on my wish list. The pattern for these little beauties is out of her book Patchwork Loves Embroidery. You can ask for it at your local quilt shop.  Check out her other patterns and her blog-

http://gailpandesigns.typepad.com/

 

 

  I put a layer of walnut shells in the pin cushions before I started to stuff it. I noticed the date on the walnut shell package- 07.  And they came from a quilt shop that has been closed for years. Once again it pays to be a hoarder!  I even knew where the shells were when I was ready for them. That was an early Christmas miracle!

 I hope this blog finds you all well, my friends.

Court

                                                                         Busy  Busy

   Hi All! Well, like usual I did get time in my woman cave this weekend!  I did have my cousins down for lunch on Saturday- it is always so great to visit with them!  Bob made us a wonderful lunch, and a cake for dessert with berry medley stuff on the bottom. Do not call it raspberry- just ask him, ha ha. Last week I worked on a quilt for my daughter’s friend. Her nursery colors are pink and cheetah!  I did not want to share pictures of the quilt until the recipient got the quilt, and of course I did not get a picture of it quilted- dork. But here is the top-

 

   It was made almost totally from my stash. The only thing I had to purchase was the cheetah print for the letters. While pulling fabric for this quilt I did discover while I do not have an aversion to pink, I really did not have any in my stash. Luckily the 2 pink fabrics I had yardage of worked together! Guess I need to shop- J

  My friend Terry got me hooked on this pattern from Crabapple Hill- it is one of the new ones. Her quilt top was wonderful- she used a pale variegated thread and turned hers into a wall hanging-

 

   I had a great spider web fabric in my stash from years ago- and I also had some great variegated floss on hand. Sometimes it pays to be a hoarder!  I decided to make mine bigger, but stole her border idea- thanks Terry! And I had an 18” pillow form on hand- hoarding once again pays off- so I turned mine into a pillow. I think it is going to my daughter- she was almost drooling on it this weekend.

  Sunday I was torn- I have a quilt that needed to be quilted for a friend, but really wasn’t in the mood to quilt. So, I pulled out my Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler crap and pieced a few blocks. This quilt has been an ongoing project for at least 5 years. I did get  7 or 8 more blocks done. I am now at 32- a little more than 25% done. I am unsure about the lime green one in the 4th row. I will wait until I have them all done to decide if I need to re-make it.Good God why did I come up with the insane idea to make this? Dumbass-

 

  A helpful hint - if you are doing a big project from a book with a lot of different patterns, I have found it helpful to put the patterns into a 3 ring binder, or in this case, have the book spiral bound. It sure makes it easier to handle and prevents losing a pattern here and there. You can either do this yourself if you have one of those little bindy machines or have it done at any Fed EX/Kinkos, Staples, Office Depot or Binders R Us.

 

 

  I did pull out a snowman quilt to baste, but since I moved the furniture around in the living room I have not one space big enough for the quilt- not even on my flannel wall. Oh well, I will bring to work one day this week and baste it. I keep telling my bosses to quit filling up the damn showroom with doors – it is taking up my basting floor! But do they listen- NOOOO. JK, I Love you guys!

     I did run to one of my favorite shops Sunday to get 2 more blocks for my Bear Paw quilt. I did not get there in October- so I need to get those pieced this week. When I got back I started on another little project that I can’t share until next week.

   Hope you all got to sew this weekend- or do whatever it is that makes you smile!

Court

                                                             My “MAN” Cave

       Well, the proper cutting table was actually delivered, dear hubby built it and it is now in my sewing room! On Saturday he bought shelving for me and up went my toy sewing machines.                                                

     We also found a corner shelving unit (it is supposed to be for closets but oh well) that I can use for my tiny tv so now it lives there instead of on the end of my ironing board. The tiny tv serves its’ purpose, but Magic Mike was sure not as fun on this tv as it was on the big screen!

   I mostly use the tv for background noise, but in this case you need to be watching the screen- haha! Maybe I need to move the binoculars in there for when it comes on again. Of course Silence of the Lambs was on a hundred times this weekend, and I watched it every chance I could. And I wonder why Amber likes creepy movies.  She is her mother's daughter!

     I practically lived in there all weekend! I sewed on some more Sew Together Bags, which you can see on my cutting table in the picture below. I also started a new Boxy Pouch Bag and got a new embroidery project ready to stitch- because I need more hand embroidery projects-NOT! Darn you Terry for that J I also started a quilt top for a friend of my daughters’ baby shower. I made myself use what I had- and I must say I need to add pink to my stash. I did not have much to choose from! We did run a few errands early Saturday, but after that I only came out to eat- bless Bob for cooking for me all weekend. I must say it was difficult to come to work today. I just wanted to keep my pj’s on and stroll into my little piece of heaven and sew some more! Poor Bob- he used to at least see me on the weekends.

    I did find a piece of fabric I had that had already been hemmed- I think I used it for curtains in my old sewing room. I think I am going to shorten them and make a valance for the window. I will have to watch the placement of the rod- I can’t cover up my Tom and Jerry picture!

     So, without further a-do here is the finished room it all of its’ glory. Sorry for some of the pics- I am still trying to learn how to take better pictures!

 

 

 

So, how about sharing pics of your "man" cave? Please post a pic from your sewing room in the comment section below!

                                                     Perfect Fall Weekend

  This past weekend I taught a beginning hand embroidery class at my LQS. It was a great class- I gave sweet Rhonda all sorts of embroidery tips and techniques that I have picked up these last 30 years. We went over stabilizers, different stitches, fabric selection, etc. It was a fun class- she is a Crabapple Hill junkie, too!

  This is my most recent finish-my friend Eileen quilted it for me- didn’t she do a fantastic job?

 

  I also finished quilting another quilt for a friends’ mom-it is kind of a secret so I can only show a snippet of the quilt. I only have one more to do for her and then I can send all 3 off to her.

 

  Friday night we had our upstairs neighbor down for dinner and drinks. Hubby made some awesome mac and cheese, green chile to pour over it, garlic bread and pumpkin lasagna for dessert. It was yummy! We also drank lots of wine- well, Jen and I did- Bob was a good boyJ.  What a lovely night-but it was sure hard to get up early Saturday for my teacher meeting and class! Oh well! We had a great time! Here is a pic of the lasagna-doesn’t look too pretty as it doesn’t set up well, but it was tasty!

 

   Of course the big news here in this state is a certain quarterback breaking the record of my most favorite quarterback ever. I guess since my lover Brett is ok with it I am, too. Peyton is very deserving of this accomplishment, and by all accounts seems like a very good person. Congrats!

   It was sure beautiful here this weekend- I don’t remember seeing this much color last year. Reds and oranges are everywhere! I just want to be outside all the time J

   Happy Fall Everyone!