Texas Vacation!

Here I am in Texas with my husband, Steve and my two Jack Russell Terriers, Jacquee and Dexter. We have visited Steve's family in Ft. Worth and I managed to visit the Cabbage Rose Quilt Shop, which was very very nice. We also did some antique hunting In Azle, where I found a lovely piece of Roseville pottery. We are on our way south on 45 right now to spend the next few days with his Father and Brothers in Trinity. The temperature today is in the 70's. We were planning for much colder weather.

I made five little people quilts to give to all of my new great nieces and nephews. I just finished the bindings and will add the embroidered labels after I consult with their Grandmother as to who should get which quilt. I will take pictures for posting before they are delivered. I always have fun visiting the family in Trinity.

Another Turkey Day gone bye bye!

I started the day making a pumpkin and a pecan pie. Then I roasted some yams to candy later, then I put together my dressing to stuff the turkey breast. Yes a turkey breast. I stuffed the neck and turned the breast front down and filled the cavity with dressing, covered with foil and put in the oven using the convection setting. After cleaning up the kitchen I proceeded to mix up Parker House dinner rolls from scratch. I've been studying this recipe in my Food magazine the last week or so, and just got the bug to be a baker today. I also put together the traditional green bean casserole and mashed potatoes and gravy. Finally at 5:00pm we sat down to our Tanksgiving Dinner.

There were just the four of us, me, my hubby Steve, my son Rod, and my granddaughter Georgia. Dinner was simply fabulous. Everything I prepared was delicious. And yes, we have plenty of leftovers.

Now Steve and I are watching a movie and I am finishing the binding on a baby quilt for a new little great niece in Texas.

Tomorrow night is the Christmas Parade in downtown Hanford. Rod, Georgia and I will go together and Steve will be in the parade walking with the giant Elks American flag. After the parade we Will be at the Elks Lodge for hot chocolate and hot dogs. It will be cold so we will need to dress very warm.

Getting my store windows ready for Christmas.

I have spent most of Saturday getting my windows dressed for Christmas at Morrison's Silkscreen an Embroidery. First I dismantled the previous display of letterman jackets and Versacam t-shirts samples. Then I vacuumed everything (lots of dead flies) and cleaned the windows. I then covered the walls and pinboard with red and gold Christmas paper. After checking my inventory of twinkle lights I found that they all do not work, so off to find new ones. This year I purchased colored twinkle lights. I have always used the white clear. I also had to purchase a new hand stapler. Stuff just doesn't last forever. I got the lights installed and some shinny green garland looped over the windows. The next thing I did was start pinning the display to the walls. I did not finish, so will be going back today after breakfast.

This afternoon my husband, Steve needs my help laying Formica on some new counters for our rental that my son lives in. We have been renovating this rental off and on for the last two years. Everything is coming together very nicely. The kitchen is the last room to finish.

Maybe I'll get sew later today. I am trying to finish several baby quilts.

Elk's Mid-Term Convention

Last Thursday I travelled with my husband, Steve to Santa Clara for the Elk's Lodge Mid-Term Convention.  We met lots of new faces and visited with many of our  friends.  While I was in the San Jose area I shopped, visited hospitality rooms, had some very lovely meals, and enjoyed the company of friends.  When Steve decided to be the Exalted Ruler two years ago I had no idea the scope of the Elk's fraternal organization. It is simply mind boggling the amount of monies they have generated for charity.  And they have a great deal of fun doing these projects.  I had a very enjoyable time with my Elk friends.

While I was in Santa Clara I shopped for vintage sheets to make that ruffled quilt for my Granddaughter Georgia.  To my surprise there were not very many to find.  So I am thinking that by February, if I am diligent enough to check all of the second hand stores I come across I will have the 8 to 10 twin size sheets to make a twin size quilt for her May 5th birthday.

Tonight is Material Girl's night a Pam's house.  I've been working on some Grandma Flower Garden pieces.  I am not sure what I will do with all of these little guys, but I'm making them anyway.  It's a good way to use scraps from other projects.  I have a fall table runner I could cut and have ready in time for Thanksgiving.  Tonight should be a fun night, while I was out of town I missed the 42% off sale at Thimble Town and Barb's birthday party.  So it will be fun to catch up on all the gossip and maybe there will be show and tell from the sale.

Material Girls Signature Blocks!

I have finished quilting my quilt and am ready to make a label and hand sew the binding.  This is the first year of the MG challenges that I have been so far ahead of our December reveal and Christmas Party.  Sorry I won't be able to show a picture until after the reveal.  There are 17 Material Girls in our friendship group.  I hope to see everyone's quilt completed.  Our challenge this year was signature blocks from everyone in the group.  We picked our theme and block size.  I chose Halloween blocks at 6 1/2".  Barbara Sindlinger was so nice to organize a list of everyones wants.  We all made 17 blocks as each of us requested.  When I received my blocks I wasn't sure what to do, but after some meditation and reviewing fabrics from my stash I came up with a plan, and I am pleased with the final quilt.  I think this quilt will be for wall hanging.  Too bad I didn't complete this project last week so I could hang for this year's Halloween.   I did get to handle all of the Halloween fabrics during October.

I wanted to make a note of a new purchase on my part, a Dyson 25 Animal vacuum.  After reading Susie Kissler's blog I was sold and I have experienced the same superb cleaning of my carpets and non-carpeted floors.  I was absolutely amazed at the amount of dog hair and dirt that this vacuum picked up.  And my house cleaning people had just been cleaned on the previous Tuesday.  Don't get me wrong, they do a great job, I just think they need a different vacuum (I think they use a upright Oreck).

Sewing Progress

Last weekend I was able to piece together my Material Girl Signature Blocks.  I also pinned my finished top to the batting and the backing.  Now I am ready to quilt.  I would like to have this done before next weekend so I can finish the binding.  I also finished two baby quilts for two new family babies in Texas, my husband's family.  We are planning a visit to see them soon.

I haven't posted over this last week because I was having problems with my password.  Today I decided to try again and the password I used last worked.  The real problem is me.  I cannot for the life of me remember what password I used.  I know that it is 9 characters long.  I need to change it, but cannot, because I am required to verify the old password in order to establish a new password.  What to do?  I will have to e-mail Google to ask for my password.  A dear friend of mine advised me to always write down on paper a password for this very reason.  Barbara is so right about this.

Me and My Friends at Pacific International

Last weekend was great fun at Pacific International Quilt Show  in Santa Clara. I traveled to the show with Diane, Debbie, and Barbara.  We will all be attending Road to California in January and are all taking David Taylor's class.  We always have fun being the crazy quilters that we are.

SEWING DAY!

I woke up at 7 am and began thinking about this very special day 41 years ago. Today is my son Rodney's Birthday. It is so hard to believe that 41 years has gone by so fast. I started my day very early with my water breaking, then a call to the doc, then waiting for those labor pains to start, then a quick ride to the hospital. Labor had to be induced and I endured the pains until 7:30 pm. Then the doc decided to perform a c-section and I had my boy at 7:37 pm. And he was a big little man at 21 inches and 9 pounds and the only boy in the nursery. All of the nurses had fun referring to the nursery as his harem. I know every Mother goes thur the birthing process of every child on their birthdays. It is a special experience. And later today when I take Rodney and Georgia for his Birthday lunch he will hear the story one more time, but I will probably note more of the details.

I just finished my cinnamon toast and am taking my coffee with to my sewing room. I will open all of the windows and enjoy this fall air. Today is a little cool and overcast and reminds of the climate in Cambria.

Pacific International Quilt Show was very fun. I looked at so many quilts and came home inspired to sew, sew, sew. I purchased two Robyn Pandolph 5"x5" Rue Saint Germain square packs and 2 of Moda's 5"x5" Gobble Gobble square packs, bamboo batting for my Posh king size quilt, and a purple Tutto travel bag for my sewing machine. I also purchased three patterns from Fig Tree Designs, a dress pattern for Georgia,a Jelly Girl pattern, and Dancing Dollies Samples pattern.

Do I have to add these new patterns to my "Waiting For Kathy" list? I don't have fabric for them yet, so will add to my list when that happens.

Pacific International Quilt Show

Looking forward to this fabulous quilt show. This show has a different flavor, I thinks it's more Asian and Northwestern types of quilts. Last time I attended a quilter from Japan showed a quilt with thousands of very small flower garden hand pieced parts. She spent many years working on this quilt. Her dedication to complete her quilt was simply amazing. So I'm off for a fun time with some of my Material Girlfriends.

Clothespin Bat!

Here is the picture of the clothespin bat.  My Mom always made these around Halloween.  She gave me a bat about 10 years ago and I still have it.  This year my Granddaughter Georgia was old enough to help cut them out of Fun Foam and glue to black painted clothes pins.  She took two home and I kept two for myself.  The next project we will make for Halloween will be Jack-o-lantern cans.  We will be painting some cans with orange paint and making a jack-o-lantern face by punching the can with a nail and then adding a wire handle to carry.  We will then put a candle inside to light at night.  Georgia was practicing her hammering of nails last night with her Grampa supervising. So she should be ready to make holes in the cans on Monday.

Georgia's Birthday Quilt #3 - May 5, 2009

I am finally able to start posting pictures on my blog. Georgia is my one and only Grandchild. I started making a Birthday Quilt on her first Birthday. And yes I do have pictures of the four quilts I've made so far and I will post soon. I have been know to say that I will make a quilt for each of her birthdays until she is 21. The 21st quilt will probably have a Margarita theme, since her birthday is an Cinco de Mayo. I will post this year's birthday quilt tomorrow when I have a picture ready. Birthday Quilt #4 was named "You can never have enough Flip Flops".

Georgia was with me tonight and we made clothespin bats for Halloween. We cut out 2 bat shapes and punched out eyes using black fun foam. Then we painted our clothespins black. Next we hot glued a bat to each side of the clothespin. When you are done you can clip your bat anywhere you like, on a hat, a curtain, your hair, anywhere you want. I will take a picture to show the finished bat.

LOVING THE FALL WEATHER!

It is Saturday morning and I'm getting a lazy start to the weekend. Since I was at Pismo Beach last weekend and the weekend before at my nephew's wedding,I have to catch up on life's duties like washing the accumulation of dirty clothing. Thank goodness I have a good housekeeper every three weeks. She keeps me pretty neat and tidy. I would probably let things go too long if it was up to me to be the house cleaner. I would certainly pick sewing or gardening before cleaning. I wonder if there is clothes washing person that comes to your house?

I finished my Nephew Josh's wedding quilt and will begin posting quilt pictures soon. I need to have time at my business computer to post pictures, since the posting of pictures to a blog on my iPad is very involved. I would love to prepare my newly finished king size Chez Moi quilt top for quilting today, but the washing is first since my hubby and I are off to a Elk's Lodge State President's dinner this evening. Semi-formal dress is required. So there goes most of Saturday to the Elks. Tomorrow I have plans to be home and make the day mine alone. Steve will be laying some new entry tiles at Our business, Morrison's Silkscreen and Embroidery.

I am pretty jazzed about a ruffled quilt pattern I found via Jodie Bisigg's Blog. She is involved with vintage sheet quilts, which brought my curiosity to this pattern. When I saw the quilt I was immediately drawn to make it for my Grandaughter, Georgia. I have been making her a quilt for each of her birthdays. Georgia turned four this last May 5th. Yes, I will certainly post pictures very soon. I purchased the pattern on line and have been reviewing this morning while laying in bed. The author suggests taking your time and allowing up to 4 months to complete. This will allow you to work on it a bit at a time. So now I will be off to shop for sheets at the thrift stores and looking into my own sheet collection.

Gotta go start my have-to-dos so I can play tomorrow.

Feeling Better!

Being sick was not in my plans during September, but I made it to being well again. Doc said I did not have pneunomia, but acute bronchitis. He gave me a pneunomia shot and said chest xray was good and my lungs sounded clear.

I attended my nephews wedding last weekend and had a great time and this weekend I am in Pismo Beach with my girl friends for a quilting retreat. We had fish and chips for dinner and did a little sewing and we are off to bed to rest for a big sewing day tomorrow.

Pneumonia!

Who would have thought I was that sick! Dr. Gavini diagnosed pneumonia and ordered a chest xray. He also prescribed cough surup, Levaquin (antibiotic), and gave me a inhaler to ease the discomfort. I go back Tuesday for confirmation of his diagnoses. When I dropped off the prescription I find out that the Levaquin costs $110.00 for 7 pills at one a day. I ask for a generic and there is none, so ask to call doc for a substitute. Doc sez that I need Levaquin to recover, so he gives me samples. Saved me some bucks.

So I need to rest and get better so I can go to my nephew's wedding next weekend and the Material Girl's Quilting Retreat the next weekend.

Sore Throat:

Well here I am at the doctors office waiting for my appointment. My sore throat has evolved into a terrible cough along with other things that the flu brings. The last 4 days have not been fun. I haven't seen my Granddaughter, Georgia, and sure do miss her. Everyone has been after to me to see the doctor so this doesn't evolve into something worse.

I haven't been in my sewing room for over a week. Maybe I'll forget how to quilt? I need to be well for a family wedding next weekend in Woodlake and the Material Girls Quilting Retreat the following weakened in Pismo. I will think positive and be ready for all of the fun things coming up.

Elks vs Quilting vs Sore Throat!

Here I am again, out at another Elks function in support of my husband Steve. Friday night Steve was the host of our local lodge dinner. Saturday afternoon we pulled our fifth-wheel to the Fresno Lodge for their annual Luau in the evening, and this morning Steve has a booth space at the District's annual Membership Round-up. There will be a luncheon too. I am not feeling very good, a bit of sore throat and congested head, so have been resting in the fifth-wheel with our Jack Russells, Jacquee and Dexter. I brought along my Gramma'S Flower Garden project, but have no interest in a quilt project right now, just not feeling it. So I am going to get myself dressed and make it to the lunch in a bit. The RV park next to the Fresno Lodge is very nice and I could be happy just hanging out in the RV area playing on my iPad.

iPad Why Not?

I have been trying to post my profile picture and any other pictures to my blog for over a week. Today I figured out that my iPad will not allow me to do this, so I was able to post my picture from my husband's work computer. So now you all will know what I look like when you read my blog. Now that I figured this out I will be able to post pictures of my quilts.

Tuesday's Blog!

This is my second blog to myself until I learn the blogging ropes.
Today is a very hot day , over 100 degrees and tomorrow will be maybe 109.
Maybe we should all sit on ice to stay cool? I am on my way to Michaels to locate some wire picture holders for the Longaberger luncheon on Saturday. I am going to decorate the my table with a bouquet of zinnias and pictures from previous luncheons. This is a fund raiser for cancer research. When I get home I will continue working on my nephews wedding quilt. His wedding is in late September, so I have plenty of time to finish. I already have the top completed. I will square up tonight and prepare the back.

The first blog!

I joined the YMCA yesterday so my granddaughter Georgia and I could continue her swimming on a regular basis. We had great fun and she can swim the length of the pool. She is 4 years old. I will have some pictures soon of she and I and my quilting projects.