My Life!

Since my Christmas vacation to Texas I have been to Road2CA, Long Beach, and work, work, work. Work is good, my business - Morrison's Silkscreen and Embroidery has been very busy. I can see an increase in the customer traffic. So much so, we are now open on Saturdays to accommodate out-of-towne customers.

Road was so fun. I shared accommodations with three dear friends, and we all took the same 2-day David Taylor: Pictorial Applique. I made some progress with my project during the class, but have not touched it since. My hubby picked me up in Ontario and we finished the weekend in Long Beach at the annual ISS Show for screen printers and embroiderers. We stayed the night on the Queen Mary and had a lovely time. That Saturday night we had dinner at the San Pedro Elks Lodge. It was their fine dinning evening. We had the prime rib dinner with a full view of the harbor as evening set in. We watched a cruise ship take out to sea and it's fire works. Very special evening for us. On Sunday morniwe had had a very delious breakfast in the Promenade Cafe looking out over the Long Beach harbor. The weather in southern California was in the 80's and so enjoyable. We headed home to Hanford and coming down off the grapevine we hit a wall of fog. Ugh! I've been cold ever since.
Two weeks ago I lost quarter-round diamond out of my 6 ct diamond ring and my husband won $2000 at the Hanford Elks Lodge. Can't find the diamond, so we hare replacing the lost diamond and we are going to update the tile floor in the kitchen. I am not looking forward to the mess of taking up the old tile, but the new floor will be so nice.
Yesterday I traveled to Paseo Robles for my sister's grandson's, Dillon, 1st birthday. I traveled with my brother Ernie. We all have a great time. Dillon is so cute and starting to walk. I also delivered my Gramersy Park quilt top to Bobbi Jones, Dillon's other grandmother, who is a long arm quilter. I gave Bobbi full license to quilt my quilt as she felt appropriate.

Today, Steve and I purchased a gas grill and had a very yummy dinner tonight. I have been sitting in my sewing room doing this blog instead of sewing. Maybe the sewing will happen tomorrow.

Fredericksburg, Texas

We are on our way Fredericksburg and I am excited about taking the day to shop and see what we can see. I have not checked for quilt stores yet, but I will after this post. Steve wants to go to the Museum of the Pacific, which is going to be a lot of planes and military stuff. My sister in law Bobbi said we must find this candle place and climb the Enchanted Rock. I'm not sure about he rock climbing, but we will look into the possibility.

We are currently just outside of Austin looking for breakfast and gas. The sun is shinning and it is 61 degrees. A beautiful day for a drive in the countryside.

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).