Time Flies

Wow I can't believe it's been a whole month since I last posted! Time sure does fly by fast it seems like! The love of my life will be home tonight for a 3 day weekend...yea! He's such a sweetie! Yesterday was my birthday (I've had 49 of them now!) and he had a New York cheesecake delivered to my office and had his mom and dad bring me a beautiful cake from a local bakery last night! We have enough sweet leftovers to last the weekend!

Sugarbear wants to give me a mid-arm quilting machine for my birthday but I need to do more research on them. There is an Elna dealer in town that has a good deal and the machine can do more than just topquilt BUT it's not cheap either and I already have a wonderful Elna that can do just about everything but bake so I don't know if I really need the new one for anything but quilting. If I go w/another machine then I won't have the local service and expertise that the Elna provides...what's a girl to do???

I've been sewing a bit. I'm hand quilting my wall hanging and it's going so so. You can definitely tell I'm a beginner! I've also been working on Binky Patrol quilts and also crocheting around the edges of fleece for them. I picked up my knitting needles and started making some dishclothes. My youngest son just laughed at me and asked if I ever just sat still and if not did I ever work on just one project at a time! Poor forgetful kid...you'd think he'd know me by now...he's 22 for heaven's sake!

The girls are as beautiful as ever. Mia is crawling and pulling herself up on stuff. She has 5 teeth and the 6th is sooo ready to pop through! She is an eating machine...so different from her big sister who picks and grazes through her day. Speaking of Brianna, she's talking up a storm and has become my shadow...ok so she's been my shadow almost since she was born. She wants to do whatever me and her pappa do on the weekends and gets in a snit if we leave her at home. She's not above calling us if we leave when she's asleep and don't get back before she wakes up...the girl's only 2 but already knows who's the boss (she tells pappa it's him so he'll feel good). She was playing and counting the other night and somehow counted backwards from 5. I thought it was pretty cool and waited a bit and then asked her to count backwards...you guessed it...she turned around to put her back towards me! How cute is that!

I better run...lunchtime is over!

Well, I didn't make it back to post last Friday like I'd hoped but I guess 3 days late isn't too bad. Andy is in Reno and went to urgent care for a swollen eye. He may have to come home tomorrow if it's not better and go see the eye dr. Silly man should have stayed home today and gone but he had to go be in charge of a meeting instead.

On the home front we got a new fence put up on 1 side of the backyard. It looks really good and hopefully the dogs will stay put now. Riley got out a couple of weeks ago and got bit by a big doggie and is still limping a bit on it.

Rhiannon came for a visit last week with the twins...they are just too cute for words. We had 3 - 2 yr olds and an 8 month old...lots of fun...and noise! I can't wait to do it again! We took them shopping and to McDonalds and of course I had to bring them by work to show them off a bit! We also went and got their pictures taken. Bri wouldn't hardly get in the pics and didn't ever smile. They got 1 pic of the 3 other girls laughing and having a good time and Bri sitting behind them looking sad...it's too funny-I had to buy that one! I can't wait to get the pics.

On to quilting---I finished the fall quilt top (I said that in a previous post), I also got the Valentine top finished as well as 3 Binky Patrol tops done (I think I said that previously too), I started my wall hanging for the kitchen and am now hand appliqueing the flower stems and leaves on it. It's a good beginner applique project. I've almost finished 1 panel on my Snowman quilt embroidery. Tomorrow evening I'll work on Binky Patrol stuff.

How's that for an update?

1 Project Down!

Good morning! 3 days in a row...can you believe it? I was able to finish up the Binky tops last night! Yea for me! I also got to work on the fall quilt for Andy's work...it's not done but definitely getting there! I'm looking forward to some sewing time this weekend. I think I'm going to make a few minor adjustments to the "quilting studio" (I'm calling it that now and my lovely father-in-law keeps saying, "naw it's just a sewing room"-he's a funny guy). I think I'm going to get out my laptop computer and download my EQ5 on it and put it in the studio. It's been put up because the battery is going bad but as long as it's plugged in it won't matter right? I'd also like to figure out how I can get my cutting table set up long term instead of folding it when it's not in use....hummmm. I'd also like to look for an ironing board that I can sit my Rowenta on when I'm ironing. Well, I guess I'm off to the drawing board...see you all later!

1 Project Down!

Quilting Projects

I'm going to post a list of my quilting projects to help me stay on track to finish some of them this summer. I was going to try to finish them all by the end of July but that's not going to happen so I'll include August as well. Here I go:

Quilt top projects:
1. Fall quilt top for a raffle at Andy's work (almost complete)
2. Fall quilt top for Brad (only cut out so far)
3. Valentine quilt top for me (ready for design wall and sewing together-I'm going to hand quilt it this winter when it's colder outside)
4. Rag quilt probably for donation (I think I have enough squares done and just need to stage it then sew it together but I made it in browns and may need to add a few colored squares to liven it up-it was going to be for Brad but changed my mind and will probably donate it to Binky Patrol for a teen boy quilt)
5. Fun quilt using Weight Watcher groups 10" squares (barely started)
6. 2 Binky Patrol 36x36" quilts almost finished

Quilting projects:
1. Summer placemats (2)
2. Table cover for under TV

Embroidery projects:
1. Little girl Sunbonnet Sue for Brianna
2. Snowmen in bluework for winter quilt for us

That's all I can think of for now. My goal for this weekend is to finish the 2 Binky Patrol tops then try to finish the fall quilt for Andy's work. Next week I'd like to stage the Valentine's quilt and get it together. Wish me luck!

Get a chance to win a quilt!

I'm wayyyy behind in blogland! I haven't posted in ages but wanted to share a blogspot with everyone. Check out the Old Red Barn Co. at http://www.oldredbarnco.blogspot.com/ for a chance to win a beautiful quilt. I'm supposed to put a link on my sidebar but don't know how to do it:(. I managed to get the picuture on my blog though and I've given you the link so go check it out! (maybe she'll take pity on me and give me a couple of extra entries for a nice try???)

Life has been good DDIL started stenography school last week and is liking it soooo far. She also started back to work part-time at McDonalds so she's one busy momma. DS#2 is still working at Applebee's only now he's a server and enjoying it (and the tips). Their 2 girls are cuter than ever! Bri is an amazing 2 yr old that has a pre-teen attitude most of the time. She gave her uncle the meanest hate stare the other night that I'd ever seen! Her tongue keeps finding it's way out of her mouth too! Mia is an absolute doll at 8 months...chubby doll but what a cutiepie! She's all smiles and once she got over the fact that mom's not at her beck and call 24/7 she's doing ok. They are all still living with us for now. We're getting settled in the new home and working on getting a system down. They are still working on getting the girls into daycare so they are kind of shuffled around to family until the kinks are out of it. DH is still working out of town alot and stressing about the job but I think that's just the way it's going to be for a few more years. DS#1 was cleared to go back to work this week following his back surgery. He's very happy to be going back...he's been bored to tears!

I've been busy quilting and working both at the job and church. Last month we had Vacation Bible School and we served dinner every evening for a week then had a big picnic the following Sunday afternoon. Very busy week! I'm trying to slow down this month. My to-do list for July includes trying to finish quilting projects I've started. I'm also a part of a new chapter of Binky Patrol. We make quilts/blankets for donation. It's a very worthwhile organization. Check it out at www.binkypatrol.com.

I'm not promising anything but I'm going to try really hard to start posting once a week...don't hold your breath though!

Time to Catch up

Wow I can't believe it's been a month since I last posted. I think we're finally getting settled into the new house. The garage is still a mess and we need to make another cardboard recycling run. Let's see what else is new:

Brad is moving this weekend. His back continues to heal from the surgery. He can't do much lifting yet so he's going to need help moving his bedroom things. I guess we're going to try to help him a bit and of course his brother is helping.

Tim is still working and says he's going to start getting more hours/days a week of work soon. I guess because so many of the servers were college students and they are graduating and moving on.

Vanessa will be starting school for stenographer in the 1st part of July. She's looking forward to it. She's getting bored staying home.

Mia has her arm in a cast! She has a hairline fracture...poor baby. Her little cousin was helping her roll over and her arm didn't roll right. Here's a picture...

Brianna is doing fine...growing like a weed! She has decided she likes the pool and her water wings. She's even getting used to us not holding her in the water. Here's a picture of her w/daddy in the pool last week...

Hunny Bunny is still working hard and out of town most of the week.

Me-well, I've been busy (as usual). I'm trying to learn to machine top quilt. I've made 1 placemat, and top quilted 3 Binky Patrol baby quilts the past few weeks. I've almost got all the fabric cut for 2 fall quilts as well. One will be a raffle prize and the other is for Brad. Between the 2 of them I'll have cut over 800 2 1/2 x 6 1/2" pieces when I'm done! It will be like my fall quilt in an earlier post but w/different fabrics.

I guess I'd better run!

Stop and Smell the Roses

Hi,

We've been sooo busy the past few weeks that I think now is the time to stop and smell the roses. Here is a picture of a rose off one of our new rosebushes in the front yard. It smells more wonderful than it looks!

Hi,

Just have a second to make a quick post. We're slowly getting more settled. I had whatever stomach virus, that's currently living in our house, on Sunday evening and Monday...managed to muddle through work with it since I've been off soooo much lately between the cold virus and then moving. Life was good again on Tuesday. I still haven't taken any pictures of the house with our stuff in it yet...for 2 reasons-1) the house is still in a bit of a mess and 2) I don't know where the camera is. I think Andy probably packed it in some of his office things but keep forgetting to ask him about it.

I'm going to have a fun evening. My ex's sister just called. She's visiting from out of town and she, another sister, and their mom want to come over to see everybody tonight. I was married to her brother for over 20 yrs (I was 18 when we married and 40 when we split) so they are very much still my family. I don't get to see them as much as when we were still officially family since I don't want to step on ex's new wife's toes or make Andy feel too uncomfortable but we still manage to keep in touch. I call myself an outlaw now instead of an inlaw. I still call their mom "mom" since she was that for soooo many years. She's a quilter too so we talk quilting once in a while and when I get my room all set up I'm going to start inviting her over more to quilt with me. Anyway it'll be a good visit. My son has to work tonight but I suggested we go visit him at Applebee's for dessert. Don't you think that was a good idea?

We're in the house!

Hi! We made it...we're in the new house. Of course we're not all the way out of the old house yet but almost! Tim got the flu from Vanessa on the Saturday before the move and didn't feel better until last Friday (3 days into the move). Needless to say, hubby was a little put out by this....then he got the flu on Thursday and let's just say he understood son's illness a whole lot better I think! Hubby is still not feeling well but flew out today for work and won't be home until Thursday evening. Hopefully he'll get to go to bed early each night while he's gone and come home well again. I thought I might be coming down w/it this morning but the noodle Cup-o-soup seems to be working out well. Now back to the new house...the furniture is all there but our refrigerator is still in the garage...along w/a bunch of boxes and "stuff" we're sure we need but don't know where to put it all. The pool fence is still being worked on by my oldest son and father-in-law...thanks guys! Hubby had wonderful plans just more plans than time and then the bug didn't help! The dogs spent the 1st night in the new house last night and of course got into the neighbors yard this morning. Ruby (Chihuahua) was raising such a fuss I was sure she was either stuck someplace or hit by a car when I couldn't find her in the yard. They had dug a little hole and crawled through and then I guess they weren't smart enough to find it to get back.

Brianna has been a cutie during the move. She saw her mommy's wedding dress and told her daddy that her mommy was Cinderella (or as she says Cineryaya)! I told them that was 1 for her baby book. Brianna's world revolves around Cinderella right now and her mom did the girl's new room in Disney princess. She really outdid herself! I'll get a picture to post as soon as I can find the camera! Bri has almost always slept w/her mom and dad and they are trying to work on getting her into her own bed. Before the move they had her up to falling asleep someplace else and then putting her into her bed for the night. Since the move she's actually fallen asleep in her bed (watching Cinderella on her new tv of course). Yesterday I asked her if she'd slept in her bed like a big girl...and her answer was...ya pretty much (she got up around 7 and crawled into mom and dad's bed). She is such a hoot for a 2 yr old!

Mia is finally starting to feel better. She's such a happy baby...unless mommy puts her down at naptime. She's only 5 months old and had a terrible cold twice already so she's very used to being held while she sleeps to keep her from coughing and choking so now she wants the same treatment...and it pretty much has to be mommy. I think I'm glad I work outside the home for when she gets broken from that habit cuz I can't stand to hear her cry.

Great news! Hubby has the keys to the new house in his hand! He's got the trailer loaded with garage items and probably unloading it already! I can hardly wait to have everything in and start getting settled! I'm very anxious to get the sewing room set up and have some time to create again...probably won't happen for a week or two though. I'll try to get a few pics posted soon!

Here's a picture of the fall quilt all finished with the binding and everything...I finished the binding on it when I was off work with that nasty cold a couple of weeks ago. I still need to work on making my corners more square...either that or start making them rounded...haha.

I know, I know it's been 2 weeks since I last posted. I've had that "bug" that's been going around...you know the one...coughing up a lung and the head sooo stuffed up you'd think you'd never breathe through your nose again...yep that one. After about 10 days my nose is now clear and I'm only coughing bad at night and about every other day through the daytime. I'm thinking this is a good case of the old fashioned cold that we never call a cold anymore...always say we have the flu or a virus...I never hear anyone say, "I have/had a cold" anymore! The house is only 3 days away from being ours (and the bank's)! I can hardly wait!!! We're going shopping this weekend for a few things we'll need when we move in. Oh course the kiddos will be moving in w/us. Vanessa has been busy buying things to decorate the girl's room and their room too. Andy is taking the week off and I'm taking the last part of next week off to do this. I've got to run for now. I'm going to take some quilt photos this weekend to post...

Almost Thursday

Hi, I know I haven't been on lately but I have a really really good excuse...we're buying a house! Life is getting crazier but the day around here. It's a beautiful home w/4 bedrooms, a lr and fr, 2 bathrooms, kitchen (of course) and are you ready for this???? A built in pool! We have to get it fenced in before we move in w/the kiddos though (yes they are moving w/us). All in all it's going to be perfect for us now and when the kids get on their feet as well. For now DH is going to put is office in the smallest bedroom and I'm going to use the "formal" living room as a sewing room. We'll have a couch and tv in it as well since that seems to be where me and DDIL gravitate in the evenings along w/DGD. We're supposed to close escrow on April 8th...really soon! We want to have a garage sale next weekend so I've got to get busy and sort through stuff. I don't know how we managed to collect so much in such a short amount of time but we did! DDIL is starting school that day too so we really have alot going on right now. I've got a bit of quilting done but all the pics are in Snapfish right now. I'll have to save some to my computer and post them next time...until then.....

Happy lunch time! I just have a few minutes to post about my long weekend. I got lots of sewing time on Sunday evening since hubby left for out of town early. Here is a picture of my scrappy Valentine quilt. The white squares will have applique hearts on them and there will be white ricrac around each square. These are kind of fun to make and definitely use up scraps!

I'm going to start doing donation quilts for a group called Binky Patrol. A very nice lady named Kathleen started a chapter here in Fresno the end of last December. She came over yesterday and brought me some flyers and showed me some of what the group has been doing. After she left I whipped up a little top to see if my idea for doing some would work. I think it turned out nicely so spent a few minutes before work this morning picking out some more fabric to make a few more. Here's a picture of my first Binky Patrol quilt top size 36xz36.

Any handmade blankets are accepted including knitted, crocheted, quilted or fleece. We are making them for a local hospital that has over 100 births a month to mostly migrant workers...anyone want to help us? She said they've already donated to a nearby women's prison. They give 1 fleece blanket to any inmate that has a baby. It has to be a single layer so they decided fleece would work best. She also makes burial blankets for stillborns...they were being wrapped in newspaper. Isn't that the saddest thing you've ever heard???

I better wrap this up for today since it's back to work time!

Here it is the middle of February and I haven't updated this blog for days! I have been busy to say the least. I finished the top to my fall quilt and am attaching a picture of it. I got the back sewn together and it's at my friend Tammy's to be quilted. She got a beautiful Gammill a few months ago and is starting a quilting business so this one will be good practice for her since it's a full-size. I'm pretty sure I'm going to give this one to Brad since he needs one not only for his bed but also when he goes back to work he likes to take his own blanket to the different posts. I was thinking about keeping it for myself but decided that I don't need a full-size one and will probably make us another one only smaller for next fall.

I found a cute pattern for a baby doll bag that has a matching blanket and pillow for the doll that I'm going to make for the girls for Christmas next year. I'll have to make 6 or 7 total so I guess I need to get busy on them soon! I'm also thinking about making them aprons for Christmas.

I've started machine quilting dad's "Gone Fishing" quilt that we're giving him for his birthday...shhhh he doesn't know about it! I also started a Valentine's scrappy quilt...I know I'm behind on the holidays but am trying to get caught up-I've actually bought some patriotic fabric for the 4th already!

I'm also trying to learn how to hand quilt. I'm using a technique created by a lady that goes by the name "Thimblelady". She's from Australia and I bought her book and DVD. She's going to be teaching a class in CA this summer that I'm seriously thinking about taking.

On a different note: Vanessa, Melissa (Vanessa's sister) and I took Brianna, Bella (Melissa's daughter, and Clarissa (Vanessa and Melissa's little sister) to see Disney on Ice last Sunday. We had a blast...and spent lots of money of course. I'll have to upload the picture when I get home.

Well it's cold outside! While it's not as cold as the midwest it IS cold for here!

I'm adding a few pictures taken in the past week or so. This is a picture taken at the movie theatre last week. It was Bri's 1st movie date w/Nana. Doesn't she have a beautiful profile...even if she is sticking out her tongue!

Here is a picture of the girls watching Baby Einstein last night. Mia prefers the "Santa" one. Maybe it's all the bright reds in it. Brianna loves to sit in Mia's bouncy chair so sissy had to sit in her boppy instead. Vanessa said that Mia especially loves it whenever Bri pays attention to her.

Here's the last picture I'm adding today. It's my very 1st quilting quilt project. I made these 2 quilts for the twins for their birthday. When they opened them they started laying on them immediately. I sure hope they continue to like and use them.

Hi,

No new pictures today. Andy is out of town with work and will be home on Thursday. He sounded blue today. I'm sure he's gearing up for his business review coming up. Brad said his dr. recommends back surgery to remove several discs. He's bummed about it since he'll be off work 3 more months if they do it.

I've been trying to learn to hand quilt. There are a variety of ways to do it and it's not as easy as it looks. I guess that's what makes it worth while huh? I tried using an "Aunt Becky" and am now trying the Thimblelady technique. I think that is the one I will end up using. She is having a workshop up near Sacramento in July that I'll probably try to attend.

I guess I should get to work! I'll try to post some more pics tomorrow.

D

Hi,

I've been very bad about posting lately. I think I'm about caught up with life though. We still need to put the Christmas stuff up in the garage but at least it's IN the garage. We've had a lot going on lately. Mia is getting bigger and more beautiful every day. Her hair is starting to get fuzzy and stand up on top. I keep teasing Vanessa that she's going to be the one to get the Indian baby hair doo. Here's a pretty recent picture of her. She's starting to coo and smile. She's even managed to almost laugh a few times. The kids got a new puppy and named her Ruby. She's a cute little brown and tan Chahuahua. She's very smart and already knows how to go out the doggie door. Too bad she doesn't use it to go potty! She's a whiner and thinks she needs to be held all the time unless she's playing but overall I think she'll be a great dog. Brianna is starting to cough. I fear she's coming down with a cold. I was off work yesterday and took her to her 1st movie at a theatre. She liked it fine and only got a little restless. She got to play in the play area right outside the theatre and really loved that! We'll have to take her again when it's warmer. We went to Modesto for the twins birthday party on Sunday. Their mom wanted to do a Princess theme but the would have nothing of it...they wanted Nemo. They sure are cuties. I wish they lived closer so we could see them more often. We gave them the quilts I made for them and I think they liked them.

I've been working on a few projects. I started a rag quilt for Brad, a quilt for my father-in-law's birthday in April, embroidery squares for a girls quilt, and almost cut out all the fabric for a scrap fall quilt. I'm going to learn how to hand quilt tonight at church. I can hardly wait.

I guess I better get busy and be productive. I'll try to post some more quilt pictures soon...