Seeing Yellow

While at work yesterday, my sister Isabel worked on the rehearsal invites here at my house. She got everything layered and glued down. She is so happy with them and I think they came out really nice. The original concept was on a website and cost around $1.80 each. I'm not sure what the cost is yet because we haven't added up her receipts. I think we might've spent around $60.00. That might work out the same as what's online but more important than the cost is we got pretty close to the look of the one she liked online but in yellow, the color of the wedding (instead of the green online, see original here) and it gave us time to do something together. You just can't beat sister time! Here's the finished invitation.


Again, thanks to Neena, our stampin' up friend, she suggested put a text box line around the writing so we would have lines to use to trim the white card to the size needed. It made it go so much faster. She also made a card for her own sample box and when she trimmed her white piece, she trimmed about 1/8" away from the the line. It gave the card such a finished look. It's good to have friends!

Then last night was the assembly line for the table names. Ashley, the BTB (bride-to-be), and her mom Jenny, came over and so did my daughter Kelley. Ashley bought the cutest polka dot paper to use and it looked great with the black cardstock. We layered the pieces to create a stiff card and they will be on clips at each table for the seating at the reception. Ashley and her mom glued the layers of the background together, I cut the letters out with my Cricut machine, Isabel pulled the letters off and ran them through the Xyron machine to put adhesive on the back and Kelley put the letters on the cards. I think they are adorable. What do you think?



It was so fun to be able to help. Isabel kept saying to Ashley, "Lizzie has such fun toys." It's nice to have them but it's even nicer to share. I must've learned that in Kindergarten. :o)

Long Lost Liz :o)

Where has this month gone? I swear, I blinked and it's almost over. I've been busy doing some errands in the evenings and just not getting on the computer too much for blogging.

My nephew is getting married on Labor Day weekend and I'm helping my sister with the rehearsal dinner invites. Since last night was TNT (Thursday Night Therapy), my buddy Neena came over and she helped do all the cutting. Isabel did some glueing and assembly and I was the computer geek. I did a little card that was a decorative piece and the actual information page of the invitation. We had a pretty good assembly line going. I forgot to take a picture but will do that tonight.

The bride-to-be Ashley, asked if we could help her with names for the tables so people would know where to sit. I got out my Cricut machine and laptop adn cut some samples from the Calligraphy cartridge.

They are getting married at a winery so she thought it would be fun to use wine names for the tables to keep a theme going. I tried to use this feature called "welding" to attach the letters together but I couldn't get it. My sis is here for the weekend so she's doing more assembly at my house while I put in my time at work. I told her if she had a minute to read the manual to see what we're doing wrong.

I'll check in later this weekend with a few pictures of the finished projects. As you can imagine, there has been no sewing going on. I hope to get back to some stitching on Sunday.

Donating and Shopping

I got this little sticker put on my blouse when I went to make a blood donation at the local Red Cross the other day.

I usually donate blood but the last time I went, they said they have been asked by local hospitals to get platelet donations. They are in need. I never did it before so I got a quickie exlanation of what it was decided to go for it. Well, I've done it twice now. I still get this sticker so I thought I would look online to see what it meant. This was from the Red Cross website.


In an apheresis (ay-fur-ee-sis) donation, from the Greek "to take away," donors give only select blood components — platelets, plasma, red cells, infection-fighting white cells called granulocytes, or a combination of these, depending on the donors' blood type and the needs of the community. Apheresis is most commonly used to collect platelets and plasma.

Patient Benefits - A single apheresis donation of platelets can provide as many platelets as 5 whole blood donations. In addition, a platelet transfusion from a single donor greatly reduces the chances of an immune system reaction to the transfusion. Bone marrow transplant, cancer and leukemia patients whose immune systems are already compromised, benefit particularly from single donor platelet transfusions.

Don't you feel edumacated now? lol OH, I almost forgot the most important thing. If you are healthy, over 17 and weigh more than 100 pounds, you can donate too. I am definately over 17 and oh yeah, weigh over 100 pounds.

Remember about that quilt I made for hire. Well, I charged the client $108, (two times the supplies plus 20%) but in my email to her I mentioned that it took me 16 hours and that some people charge $10.00 an hour. Well, she ended up paying my $160 saying that she wanted to pay me for my time. I decided to treat myself to a little shopping at the Brick Basement, an antique mall in downtown Fullerton. I found this adorable little ceramic thimble. It's signed on the bottom "Vi's Thimble". It's really cute and only a couple of inches tall.


And then I got this cute little toy clothespin, clothesline set. I want to paint and gut my little laundry room and think this would be so cute as a decoration in there. Doesn't everybody gut a room, paint and redecorate it, around one small decoration? hehe

Mini Dashes and Tax Day

I started pulling fabric for my mini churn dashes last night. I need to make these blocks for a swap at a retreat in IN next month. It's optional to play and of course, I'm going to play! :o)


They are paper pieced so I have to get all my little 'units' made and then some assembly. It should go pretty quick. I can't believe the retreat is almost here. Seems like just yesterday I was taking down my Christmas decorations and now it's mid-April! April 15th to be exact. Yes, I already filed (and paid) my taxes. How 'bout you?

Straaaaaawberrieeeees!

When I hear about high mortgage prices in California, I think of all the great things we have here and why our cost of living is so high. I'm sure fields and fields of these are one reason......

Don't they look delicious?

Okay, maybe strawberries aren't the reason we pay so much to live here. I suppose it could be our weather. Or that fact that in one day, I could drive from the ocean to the snow covered mountains, but would I want to? Probably not. Why not? Because one of the not-so-great reasons to live here is TRAFFIC! And I'm kind of spoiled. My commute to work is 2.4 miles one way. I have to gear up for a drive to the mountains or the beach....but I'm getting off my subject about strawberries. hehe I love this little fruit and my only complaint is that the season is too short.

I picked up a flat when I left sister #1's house on Saturday. There are a lot of growing fields between her house and the freeway so me and my mom stopped and I bought the strawberries and a box of navel oranges. Both are/were delicious. I think I'll need to put some strawberries in the freezer though, unless my kids come over to help eat them. This morning I got up and some of them were fuzzy. Ack! I tossed out a few and washed the rest, bagged them up and stuck them in the fridge. I did all that this morning and was late for work, but it was worth it. I have a good recipe for a strawberry dessert I'll dig up tonight and share with you. It's delish!

Sister, Mother, Easter

I am number 4 of five girls in my family. That's my name. #4. Kind of like Johnny 5, the little robot from Short Circuit. hehe Sister #5 lives in San Diego and my mom lives with her. We try and give #5 a break every chance we get. She loves my mom but has two boys and sometimes she just needs a little break.
Sister #1 (she doesn't let us forget that part, being #1 lol), she lives in Ojai. Quaint, beautiful Ojai, California. My mom has been visiting with #1 for two weeks. I am the transportation go-between for #5 and #1. I live in Fullerton, which happens to be two hours from both cities in either direction so I usually meet #5 at a restaurant and pick up my mom and somehow, #1 gets her from my house.
All that to say that on Saturday I went and picked up my mom from #1's house. I went by myself for a lovely drive. It was mostly sunny and I hardly hit any traffic and got to Ojai just after noon. I took the scenic route. It's a pretty drive, especially this time of year. There is little photo op at the top of the valley.


My sister has lived there for about 30 years or so. Who wouldn't want to live there? It's gorgeous!! There are some kookie artsy-type people, but hey, no place is perfect, right? LOL

Isn't it gorgous? And then I got to #1's house and she is just too perfect. Look at her pretty little Spring display in her dining room.

Ahhh, it's like Better Homes & Gardens. :o) We watched some of the movies I mentioned in a blog a while back. And I got to see the ones that she had taken of when all our kids were little. They are mid 20's to early 30's now. I'm going to check into transferring the film onto DVD's to preserve them. It was a nice trip down memory lane. But it was getting late and I needed to get on the road back home. I had food to prepare for Easter Sunday so we loaded my mom up and off we went into the sunset. :o)

Happy Easter!

No matter how you are spending your Easter holiday, I hope it is a wonderful one!

And if you don't celebrate Easter, Happy Spring!!!

I am having some family over and our kids. Got the makings going for potato salad, veggie platter, ham, cupcakes and fruit. I hope you have a wonderful day!

Did I say I had blocks to make?

Ahhh, proscrastination. My trusty friend. hehe Actually, I will pull fabric out for my retreat blocks but probably not until next week. I have to go to my sister's tomorrow to pick up my mom and with Sunday being Easter, I doubt I will walk in my sewing room this weekend but you never know.
At the recent shop hop, my friend Sherrie bought a cute caddy pattern at Flying Geese Fabrics. I think I mentioned it in that LONG post a few days ago. Well, the TNT girls are going to make it together and needed to cut out our fabrics. It took my half of the night to pick out my fabrics and then ended up with a completely different set than I started with. Picking fabrics can be so messy. LOL So here are my choices......

I've had that yellow crow print for years and thought it would be perfect for this. Kind of whimsy, country with a touch of homespun. Yup, I like the combination. I put this away and will work on it next week with the girls. It's a pretty cool caddy. Holds a medium size mat and ruler and a few notions that you would need at your sewing area.

Now to go make my grocery list and get through the workday. I have some cleaning to do when I get home and sheets to change to prepare the guest room for my mama.

Happy Birthday Stephanie!

Yesterday was my middle daughter's birthday. She had to work so we celebrated today. The kids all came over and her dinner request was Tamale Pie, Frito Salad and Texas Sheet Cake. Yes, we did all ROLL away from the table. LOL

This is the picture Kelley, my oldest and artsie daughter made for Stephanie's gift. Kelley is a starving artist so everybody gets drawings for holidays and celebrations. We don't complain, believe me.
Isn't it cute? I don't know if you can click it to see a bigger view. Some of my pictures do that and some don't. The saying is: Sister to sister, we will always be, a couple of nuts off the family tree. Author unknown. :o)

UFO #4

Last night I finished tacking down the binding on this quilt. The blocks are from a swap with my online quilting group, Backporch Friends, from several years ago. The swap was called Sunshine & Blue Skies and the block is the split nine patch. It's embarrassing to say but this top is over four years old! I had Quilters Block!!!

Why did I wait so long? Well, because I "thought" I wanted to do some wonderful quilting, like a wavy water something-or-other in the blue sections and some sun motif or sunshiney design in the yellow sections. And that's why it sat. Dumb, huh? LOL

I'm glad I worked on Neena's quilt first. It convinced me that the butterfly pantograph would be perfect on the quilt. I'm very happy with it.

And here's a very simple label just to document a few facts.

I'll have to take a break from my ufo's for some block making. I'm going to a retreat next month and there is a swap for little churn dash blocks we'll swap. Gotta get started on those before time gets away from me.....like it hasn't already!!!

Feeling Chatty-Cathyish...

Remember Chatty Cathy? Yeah, somebody pulled my string!!! :o)

I think I am finally recouperated from my weekend. I can't believe I haven't posted since the bridal shower. My, oh my, how time flies.

There was a small shop hop here in Orange County this weekend called Spring Fling. Seven shops in the surrounding area all giving away 5" charms (about 5) and a free project sheet/pattern. Who could resist? NOT ME!!! lol And not the girlfriends of TNT (Thursday Night Therapy). We were supposed to get away for the weekend up to my friend Sherrie's condo in Lake Arrowhead but she just got back from a retreat and wasn't really ready to go away again so we decided to do the "Fling" and have a sew-in.

So, we got started on Friday with the first shop, Cozy Cottage Fabrics. I had a $25 gift card for the store so I splurged and bought a pattern for apron blocks. They're doing a BOM with it and the samples in the store were freakin' adorable!!! Kris, the owner was there and she let me take a sneak peek at her computer with a picture of some fabric she designed with Hoffman Fabrics for the big So. Cal Quilter's Run in July. It is verrrrry cute fabric and I know I'll have to have some. It was beachy and oh-so California! Oh, I almost forgot. I won a charm pack too! Woot woot. Thank you Kris!!

From there, we went to Calico House and my friend Susan just moved her Curves location right next door so we had to stop in and say hello to her too. We made our purchases at Calico House and FLEW to the next shop in the area. We knew if we didn't get there on Friday, we would be hard pressed to get there over the weekend with our sewing plans. After some crazy directions and not being familiar with the area, we found it, Quilter's Garden. They don't have a website but there are some pictures here on the quilt run site. I don't know why, but I never think to take pictures on shop hops. I figure they's slap my hands or something. LOL I highly recommend all three of these shops as a nice little trip. They are reasonably close to each other and all offer a different flavor. Quilter's Garden is jam packed with fabrics and samples. Well worth a trip on it's own. There is a great 'authentic' Mexican restaurant in the same parking lot so after some major shopping, you can treat yourself to a good meal like we did. Yum!

That evening we went back to my house and I made these two little tooth fairy pillows for my husband's great nieces. They will be six in July and will be losing teefies. I got the request for them when they were visiting during the holidays. Hmmm, four months to fill an order? Not bad....for me! lol

I got the adorable pattern for these from my talented friend Michelle. The link is to the post with the tooth fairy pillow but you should check out her site since then. She is a busy mama with all kinds of fun stuff knit, crocheted, quilted and crafted. :o)

Okay, try and condense this NOVEL!! Saturday we hit the other four shops in the Spring Fling: Timeless Quilts-a small shop but good to visit if you're in the area, The Quilt Cupboard-which is moving this next week and Bear's Quilt Shop. Bear's is in a warehouse area and we keep trying to give these guys the benefit of the doubt and visit them during the hops. The shop is always dirty and this time, we were met by a barking dog. I don't know what the story was on the pooch but it doesn't seem like a good idea to keep a dog in the shop when there is the traffic from a shop hop. The last stop was Flying Geese Fabrics , just down the street from Sherrie's house. Sherrie bought this cute caddy pattern. We're all going to make one for classes, retreats and TNT. We figured we better get it cut and sewed right away before we tackle one of those other million and a half projects on our to-do list!!!!
We stopped and ate lunch (aaahhhhh...food) and hit the strawberry stand on the way back to Sherrie's house. We FINALLY got to sewing at 4:00 in the afternoon. Sherrie (on the left) and Neena (on right) sat in the sewing room while I was out the door in the garage on the longarm.

Sherrie worked on her BOM banners and Neena worked on some aprons for her daughter and granddaughter. (I forgot to take pics of all of that!) I didn't take any pictures of me either. I just didn't think of it. I know what I look like when I'm working. LOL

Anyway, the first project I did was Neena's quilt for her mom. She gave her the top over a year ago for a birthday gift. It was time to get this puppy quilted! I used a simple butterfly pantograph.

Isn't it pretty? The colors are so soft and romantic. It only took me two hours to quilt because I already had loaded it on the machine on TNT. Here's a close up pic.

Because that panto went so fast, and because I didn't know what the heck I wanted to do to my quilt, I loaded it up and did the same butterflies on it. I got my binding sewed on Sunday night and have been tacking it down the last few nights. I've had other stuff going on so I've been working on it in spurts. Here's a peek. The blocks are from an online swap called Sunshine & Blue Skies and the block is the split nine patch.

Sherrie was the hostess with the mostess. Not only did she make us meatloaf, red pototatoes and green beans for dinner, she also walked in the room with this pretty plate and this delicious treat......

And...slurp......they 'were' delicious. We licked the plate clean!!!!!! What a GREAT weekend!