Night on the town...

Our neighbors daughter contacted me back in November asking for help on surprising their mom and step dad with a Christmas present.

Sure! Her plans were a Waco Christmas Light tour in a limo!

I set the whole plan in motion, and they thought we were off to Taco Tuesday..told them we would pick them up at 5:15. 

What they didn’t know is that I got 10 (12 including them) of us together to meet at my house at 4:45... so off we went to get them. There are 10 of us in here... really can’t see though.

They have never, EVER been in a limo... boy were they shocked when the driver went to the door and told them that their ride to Taco Tuesday was her!


We had ‘adult beverages’ to drink while we started our way to dinner.. made reservations at Muroso’s... an Italian restaurant. 

Fun time had by all.. in this picture, the shock had worn off.

Bonus! Tuesday’s are ladies night... ladies rec’d certain drinks and appetizers for free...After dinner we started out tour all around town. I didn’t think to snap pictures of lights... kinda hard to see them sitting in a limo really.. need a bus that sits up high with no tinted windows. 

A couple hours later after more drinks and desserts in limo, we headed home.  

Fun time had by all!

Merry Little Christmas...

Bought this panel at the Waco quilt show.

Finished! Put the backing on, quilted it up. Binding. Whoala! Done...


Just love it! Kinda on the large size as you can see!

Magnolia update...

Kelly and I went out last week to see what’s up in the Magnolia area.

Dropped her car off at dealer for oil change.. went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast... stopped at Silos...

Not too many people here yet... kinda early.

Here’s the entry was decorated for Winter. The whole place was gorgeous.


Then we walked over to check out Magnolia Press... the new coffee shop. Another gorgeous place! Well done Joanna! Still working on the back half, it’s not open yet... gonna be her furniture design store also a new patio to sit out and chat while drinking your coffee...it’s not open yet either. 

Then we hit a couple of antique stores... lots of fun!

Quilts of Valor...

Finished 2 quilts for Quilts of Valor. First one was made from scraps using the fast no match stars.

Went together really, really fast.

The 2nd was a kit from the lady who is in charge of Quilts Of Valor in this area. She came to our guild and asked for people to sew them together.

My neighbor picked it up a while ago hoping to sew it up. After 4 months, I grabbed it from her and just did it. She has her plate full so I helped her out.
The waiting list here in Texas is unbelievable. Over 500 service men and woman waiting to receive a quilt. I think they are in demand all over and are looking for people to help.

Baylor Weekend...

Kids came for the weekend so they could go to all the Baylor Football festivities. So while they were gone, Mark and I babysat.

Mr Sloan is eating real people food now. He absolutely loved Rice-a-Roni chicken flavored rice. I couldn’t shovel it in fast enough. Let’s just say a bath was the only option after he was done eating. 

And John John went on a hunt for new things. He found all different kinds of acorns. 

The big acorns were his favorite. He also found all different kinds and colors of leaves.  

They might be back next weekend for another football game. Can’t wait!

Neighbor quilt...

Woke up today and decided to finish off the quilt for the neighbor.

3 hours in, she texted me and asked for a picture of it.  That’s weird, how’d she know I was working on it. Turns out, her father-in-law took a turn for the worst and her husband was getting on a plane at 6:00 tomorrow morning.  She just needed a picture to show her mother-in-law on what was coming her way.  Told her don’t worry about it, it WILL be done by tonight. 

It is extra long.  He is a tall gentleman and that’s what she wanted. It looks awkward to me but oh well. 
Measures 43x73...
Since I was pinched for time, this evening after I finished it up,  I ran down the street to whip up a label. Our computer is on the fritz and didn’t have time to mess with it. Sandy to the rescue!

I truely don’t like my name on there so big but I was over ruled. These were all the things she wanted on there.


Can barely see it, but there is a dotted line from Virginia to Texas with a button around each city.


Washed it up... I wanted to wash it so if it turned pink from that RED backing, I could fix it. I used ‘orvis’ (I swear by this soap) and 5 color catchers. She bought all the fabric and  it was all lower quality fabric from Joann’s. Not my choice at all. That many were not needed at all. Color catchers were a light pink. Shocking!!

So that’s done... now onto the next project.

Stuff...

Been quite busy around here lately. We have been trying to finish up projects...here is the shed all painted up.. still have to do a little touch up... ground is still so soggy to use a ladder in some spots. We have a couple other projects also... garage cabinets, security cameras, window estimates... things like that.

Went to Fort Worth to see “Menopause”. If you haven’t seen it, put it on your list of things of MUST see and do. I want to see it again!

Went to Houston Quilt Show.... simply amazing! I give props to whoever had the vision to to hang these the way they did. 

These were taken 10 mins before closing. We went back after dinner...That’s why you don’t see very many people. During the day.. a wall of people everywhere.

DINNER!

Then Halloweeen came in the middle of all this.....

This picture is taken from second floor. This is one small portion of what’s to see. To get the full effect I would have taken 6 more of these and not overlapped any pictures at all.  Just huge! The first day we easily hit 15,000 steps by the time we got back to the hotel.


I have been working on my quilt of a million half square triangles... middle is done, working on borders. 

Then a neighbor came and asked to do a quilt for family member who is not doing so well.

It’s just laying out here, gave her many options and she chose this layout.  Kind of a rush quilt, needs it by the 22nd.. better get busy! I also have a greenhouse to assemble before the next freeze comes. 

Heart O’ Texas Fair and Rodeo...

It’s that time of year for the fair and again I entered a couple of quilts.

First place on both.


And the blue one here got Best in Division.  Woo Hoo!

There was Waco quilt show going on at the same time so there was not very many entries at all to the Fair this year.Im already working on a quilt for next years entry. I think it’s gonna be a WOWZER!!!

Pillows...

I put another quilt on the machine yesterday and it failed, I had made it over 2 years ago and never quilted it because I didn’t know how I wanted to do it.  It was a sew along from different blogs that all contained wool in patterns. The quilting pattern I picked to go on top was a E2E criss cross hatched design, but  it was super small and I didn’t realize it till after it had started by the time I turned around and looked back, I knew if I stopped it I wasn’t gonna pick it all out so I just let it go. I wanted a large cross cross but it wasn’t. I am no good a custom quilting...

I knew it was gonna have trouble going over the wool and I would be ok with that. Kinda thinking I would un-pick it on the wool anyways. It just wasn’t co operating with me and it ruined it. 

So....

I took a couple of blocks and made pillows. 

I know this Harvest one was a Lisa Bongean pattern from her blog...


I have no idea who designed this one. Like I said... it’s an oldie... over 2 years ago. 

Thimble blossom...

Finished this one last week...

It is a Bonnie and Camille pattern... using ‘little Snippets’ fabric.


Turned out really cute. 

Then when I was shopping for backing fabric, found this other fabric that would be great on my ironing board. Mark made this for me also. It’s perfect. Bigger than an ironing board and has storage!

Matches perfect!

Vintage Fall...

Had this one sewn up for quite a while...

Pulled it out last night and started quilting it up. 

Measure 

S up to about 66x68

Put it on the bed for the season!

Mark left this am for Mammoth  Lakes, CA for a fishing trip, he’ll be gone almost 2 weeks. Kelly comes home tonight from CA, then she’ll pick dogs up and I can REALLY start quilting!

‘Tranquility”

Finished another one  off today. It is 9:00 at night and I was so excited that I finished it up... I took pictures in the kitchen. 

A while ago... a friend who asked if I had anything in blues and browns that would go in their 5th wheeler. Saw this in the store and thought of her. 

Quilted it with dragonflies. Perfect since they are in the fabric.

Measures about 62x76. Its in beautiful blues and browns. Pattern is from Pine Tree Country Quilts. 


If it’s a no go... it will be for sale.... I really don’t need another quilt in the quilt vault. Hahhaha 

Pesto...

So... with all that basil I got at the rain class yesterday, I made homemade pesto!

It’s what’s for dinner tomorrow night. Also froze 3 additional containers of it also. Yum!

Then...

Finished off another baby quilt for one of the teachers at Kelly’s school.

Have a great week everyone. I love Monday’s these days. Brady Bunch Show is on, It is really interesting and is bringing back a ton of memories. Mark has class also, so it’s just me... I don’t have to worry about cooking.