Straight No Chaser....

Monday night we went to see a 10 man a Capella group perform. It was great.

If you have never heard of Straight No Chaser... You need to google it and watch them perform 12 days of Christmas.

It was my first time at Segerstrom Hall even though I lived and grew up in the same town for over 30 years. It was spectacular!

A sold out event, and did not disappoint!

Country loft in La Mesa...

Sad, sad news... One of my favorite stores is closing its doors...

Even though it was over an hour drive to get there... It is on the top of my list for favorites. 

I have taken many of classes, a lot of BOM's, went to many open houses, and shopped (spent) way more than I should have. But I am glad I did! I am just saddened to know they are closing. You can read more about it on their blog.

Memory quilt...

I think I'm safe to post now. 2 of the 5 gifts were given. The 2 top gifts.

Kelly (dd), her best friend, more like a sister, Kim... Her father passed away end of November. This is Kelly's Texas family to her...

So, she brought home 8 shirts I think it was. I should have taken a pic of them before we cut them up. 

In 6 days we made ALL of these.

2 quilts... 1 for Mom, Terri...

And 1 for Kim, since she is like a sister, and because she watched the dog while Kelly was here in Calif.

I love stars... But I could wait a while before I sew anymore..

And the label.. each point is from each shirt...

Then, for Rick and the other Kelly... Kim's brother & sister..

Table toppers... 4 of them...There is also one for Mom and Kim also...look at the labels! I found these on inside of the shirts... We just added the dates..The dry cleaner labeled them. They made the perfect little label!

Then there is the grand kids...

They each got a memory block...

And the label on them... I took a pocket off a shirt and put it in the corner! Super cute!

The background, binding and backing are the only fabrics I added... Everything else is from his shirts. I had to do the sew on binding because we were on a time crunch. I love the look of this binding anyways! Otherwise I would have did it by hand.

She arrived in Texas this evening and gave Kim & Terri their quilts... They were in tears! Mission accomplished !

Sweat shop....

There has been A LOT of this going on the last week..

I can't quite show you yet what we (Kelly ) and I have been working on, someone might see or read this post... I doubt it, but just in case. There have been 8-10 hours of work a day, probably more because I would go back in after dinner. Secret sewing, my husband called it the sweat shop. We were on a time crunch had to get er done within the week. I'll show you possibly Wednesday...

Santa's elf...

Was quite busy this past week. We had a Christmas celebration this past weekend. Ronna & John John were here during the week. On Friday night Steven AND Kelly both flew in. And the fun begins...

Plenty of toys to be played with..

So much going on ... I had to make a big bag for mommy to take back to put his bicycle in.

More gifts were made by my very talented daughter...

Selfies to take...

Ho..ho...ho... Merry Christmas... We tried our hardest for him to say that before he left, but all we got was "ho".

Prime rib was made....

After all the fun.... Minutes before getting in the car to leave for airport... We took family pictures.

Even though it looks like we cropped Steven's head into the picture.. We didn't .. He was there with us.

It was a wonderful fun filled week! A good time was had by all!

Week #2...

This week....all the girls got a Starbucks! 

Anyone could always use a "little pick me up"... I am only there 2 days next week so I am not sure if they will get a little something or not...

Special....

This just makes me happy..

I bought this sign a couple years ago and then my sister sent me these skates from Massachusetts and I decorated them all up. Every time I look at these, reminds me of how special family really is!

Special delivery...

 Came home from work today with a package waiting for me.  

Isn't it just the most beautiful thing. A Fresh wreath.... Thank you so very much! You know who you are!

I love it!

Finish it up Friday....

This is "hospitality" from Primitive Gatherings...

So huge, it takes almost 8 yds of fabric for the backing... EEK! I better start watching for a sale! At around $11.00 a yard, it's gonna cost the same for backing as it did for the quilt top itself.

Work fun...

Did a little project for the girls at work tonight.

I embroidered each a hat and I'm going to hang it on the corner of their monitor tomorrow so when they come in, they have a little surprise waiting for them.

Hope they like them!

Thought about doing one for each of the teachers.. $1 hats at the dollar tree store.. But it's the stabilizer that will cost me. That stuffs expensive!

Newbie...

Found this cute little pillow at one of the antique stores near me...

Seems like everybody is doing a little red truck of some kind this season, so I had to join on in.

Weeks worth...

While Mark has been home sick all week, I had time to work on this here and there. We have not been sick in years....literally years! Grand baby brought a virus when he came, Ronna & I got like a 4 hr version and Mark got the full blown 7 day bit.  After he finished the stomach part, he gave me the sinus part back. My ears have been bothering me for about 3 weeks now so I go to Dr. on Tuesday. 

I have the binding cut & ironed, I will sew it on some time today. Hoping to decorate a little this weekend also. Let the season begin!

T- minus....

3 days and counting.....

Are you all ready.... Did you do you make your list, grocery shopping?

There is a lot to do... Family coming over? House cleaned and prepped? Rooms ready if there are staying overnight? There's so much to do.

Remember to sneak some sewing in whenever possible... You know that's a stress reliever. Haha.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Turkey Day and enjoy every minute!

Hope y'all have a fabulous day with the ones you love!

Block #8....

Yay....

Finished it in a couple nights watching tv. 

Oh boy, I thought I was on the down spin with these...thinking #7 was the biggest.... Pulled out the next one...GOOD GOLLY!

Not sure if it will get done before Christmas... Eek!

Block #7

This was a biggee...

I put it away when my little guy came to visit & forgot about it. Outa site, outa mind.. When I cleaned the sewing room it's like, oh ya! So I brought it out for a couple of days.

Pineapple quilt...

Found this one on Facebook or Instagram or maybe both, I don't remember. 

It was fun and quick... Gathering all the fabrics, they looked wonderful together. Now that they are all put together I now see my greens needed to be darker. Oh well. Here's a close up..

Pattern was free from Jackie Padesky. @jackiepadesktquilts. She made it and it looked wonderful then offered it to anyone who asked. It measures roughly 62x78. 

Now off to sew backings together. 

Double 9 patch

Finished this one this past week. When I took the picture, it was super windy out & this was the best I could do.

It's called Double Nine Patch by Primitive Gatherings. I stopped at the shop today (PG) and got the backing. Well, I got the backings for 5 quilts, bought 1 more kit, and then a couple more pieces of fabric for 2 more quilts in progress. I love keeping busy. Then Dru tells me she's dropping off some samples for me to work on... Eek! I have to have them done before Road to Calif.  

Punkin' Patch....

Took the handsome man to the Pumpkin Patch today...

Wasn't too sure... Especially in the petting zoo. I couldn't get the camera out to take a picture. He was all over me.

But, we had fun!

Give Thanks...

Found this on Facebook I think...it's a Deb Grogan pattern.

I downloaded it from somewhere... Don't remember where..I just noticed my shadow in the middle of the pumpkin. Looks like a big spot but it's not.

Pumpkin Spice...

A MyRedDoorDesigns, machine appliquéd with wool thread, sewn on binding. 27x27

Super easy and quick! 

Finish it up Friday..

A day late that is..

I finished quilting yesterday and put binding on today. The kit was gifted to me by my sister a LONG time ago. I was always afraid to start it because it looked liked it was WAY over my sewing level. It was a challenge, looks a lot better quilted that's for sure.

And there she is..."Pacific Rim Quilt", 61x61.  Already washed and dried and all crinklie... I LOVE that last part!

Label and all!

Busy weekend....

Started off with the Palm Springs Quilt show, which was amazing... Kinda disappointed with the vendors, not quite as many as last year. I still came home with a couple things.  I think they all chose to go to the Pomona Show. Oh well... Quilts were just AMAZING! Then went to Fallbrook to sew with my good friend Marian. Together we figured out how to take a bag of M & M's and make a zippered pouch out of it.

They turned out so stinking cute! I don't want to give them away.

Finished up my Norma Whaley quilt.

I started hand stitching everything down and my hands just couldn't handle it. I have severe carpel tunnel in my right hand and it took me close to 3 weeks to get not even 1/2 way done.. So, I machine appliquéd the whole thing down in just a couple hours.. Phew! What a relief. Should have thought of that 3 weeks ago. Now to add it to the pile of "need backing" stack. 

Onto the next project now.

Rain...YAY!..

What a gorgeous morning to sit hear and catch up on my emails, blogs, face book, Instagram..

I sit here with my latte in my hand wishing it will stay this way all day. I did all my shopping and running around yesterday so I can do absolutely nothing all day today.

Scrappy....

Just picked this up from Kerry's house today. I had to send it out to be quilted because it was SOOO large, there is no way it would even fit on my little ol' machine. It's about 94x100. It is going on the guest bed as a blanket. I even used wool batting. 

The pattern is called sweet 16 and is by Sandi Hairgrave. It's just a wonderful way to use up a lot of scraps.

Binding is cut, pressed and ready to go on. I have to do a wee bit more appliqué on a quilt that is covering my table first then I can sew er' on.

The true colors match up with the bottom picture.. I think I'm going to really like this when its done.

Block #6

Here she is....

I'm working on a whole other quilt as I'm doing this one. Can't wait to share, I just got back from Primitive Gatherings because I didn't have fabric that matched just perfect. Hoping to have a quiet weekend just sewing. I may venture out and try to go to Soka Univ quilt show though, but we'll see.

Babysitting....

I took Monday & Tuesday off to hang with this little man.

He is just so stinking cute! Mark took weds, Thurs, Friday. We are having a blast.

I love being a gramma!

Did you know....

"Fiskars" is a great company! 

I bought a 3 1/2" ruler not to long ago, maybe used it 6-7 times and the #'s I noticed were coming off where ever my fingers had touched it. Oh joy, I thought.. What a waste of $$. I wasn't too upset, I still had my ol' faithful 6" to do the job. 

So, I got  to thinking... Does the company even know that this is an issue?! So I went online and emailed them, just as an FYI, told them the problem.

Guess what I got in the mail? 

A new ruler! I was so NOT expecting it...

Then right on the label, was...

A lifetime warranty , no wonder they sent it! I guess when I unwrapped mine, I missed those words.

So, I got myself a new ruler! Yay! Thank you Fiskars!