We're smokin' in So. Cal

I know there are fires but that's not the kind of smokin' I'm talking about. :o) This is a picture of the dashboard of my car from yesterday. According to Yahoo, it was 104 degrees outside but it was 109 in my car!!! Yikes. It cooled off to 94 today. Yay, a cooling trend! lol

Tonight for dinner, hubby and I decided to try this place in Orange called Tulsa Rib Co. It's in a strip mall so it doesn't look like anything fancy but it was decent. My friend Carolyn (an avid OU fan) would be happy to know they had a Sooner Burger on the menu. :o)
Look at my hubby Richard. He just looked at me and asked me if I HAVE to take pictures of EVERYTHING!!! I told him yes. How else will my family know what I've been doing. Right, Isabel? hehe

And the only reason I mentioned the Tulsa Rib Co. is because we took a wrong turn and stumbled onto this newer quilt shop!!! Richard asked me if I wanted to stop and I said, "No, I'm hungry." He was hoping I would want to go there first because he wasn't really too hungry. But he's such a sweetie. He took me back after dinner. Luckily, they were open until 8:00 most weeknights. Yay!!!

There are two owners, Lisa, who we met and Pebbles. Isn't that cute. I wonder if she has red hair? :o) Anyway, it's got 2500 bolts of fabric and it's something like 3500 sq. ft. Nice shop, nice owner, good hours. SOLD! They have a website and blog so check them out. http://www.orangequiltbee.com/ If you're a local gal, the address is 628 E. Katella Ave. in Orange. 714-639-3245.

I did make a purchase. Shocking, I know. LOL

I'm off to Carlsbad for a girlie getaway with my boss and co-worker. I'll be sure to take a few pictures and tell you all about it when I get home and settled.

They're giving away the farm....

Man, everybody's having a giveaway!! Go see Barb and see if you can win this quilt or a membership to a neat online website.

I guess I better jump on the giveaway bandwagon. I'll think of something soon.....

I did my duty....

...Jury duty, that is. I received my notice several weeks ago and did the "phone-in" thing for the Fullerton Courthouse. They didn't need me Monday or Tuesday but Wednesday I was asked to show up. Pooey...

I got called first thing in the morning after orientation and as if I had a sticker on my forhead, I was one of the first groups to be polled. I didn't even put a dent in my stitchery that I took with me!!! It was a DUI case and before they even called any jurors, they read what the charges were. In my head I thought, 'GUILTY!' I kept telling myself that I didn't even know this person but I couldn't help it. During the polling process, the attorney for the defendant asked me if I thought his client was guilty or innocent. I told him that I thought he was guilty from the moment they read the charges when I was still sitting in the chair with the other jury members. They waited a while but they dismissed me. They dismissed my entire row. I never really gave it much thought but in this day and age, I would hate to be on trial for driving under the influence. Who hasn't been affected by a drunk driver, either personally or just in their own town. I would've listened to the information and based my decision on that but the first thing that came into my head was guilty so I was being honest.

Since they let me off the hook, I could've gone back to work but when I called the boss said I didn't have to. YAY!!!! Time off for good behavior! lol I was still on Harbor Blvd., our main street that runs downtown Fullerton. Here's a picture from the internet to give you an idea of the quaint feel.

There is an awesome little antique mall I have mentioned here before, The Brick Basement. My daughter Stephanie met me there. She had seen some elderly patients for P.T. and was done. Perfect timing! We went in there and found some treasures I couldn't live without. :o) Like this two tiered wire basket. All of the booths are owned by individuals and one vendor was filling her booth when I saw the basket sitting on the floor.

I pretended to look at other things on the shelf because I wanted to give her room to breath but I just kept looking down at it. Finally I reached down and picked it up and saw the little sticker that said $11.00. I guess I expected it to be more because I said the price outloud....ELEVEN dollars???
I'll take it!!! The woman said she was thinking she would use it at Christmas and fill it with glass bubbles but never did. I already set it on the table and can picture using it for every holiday. And if I get tired of it inside, I can put it on the patio and fill it with moss and flowers.

And this was my other find. And embroidered tablecloth. Lazy daisies all over the place.

It looks handmade and there was this little tag on the back. I liked it even if it's store bought. I'll have to take a leaf out of my table for it to fit or I can use it on a card table. So darned cute.

And here are my cherry tart pincushions.

I didn't think of these myself. I saw them on a blog and saved the picture for reference. But I didn't save the link to give the lady who thought of this pincushion credit. :o( I'll keep searching the internet because even though it isn't a pattern, it was someone elses idea and I'd like to mention who thought of it. I do like the way mine came out. I couldn't find the right color tan for the crust though. Looks a bit "burnt". lol

Giveaway and free pattern

Angela, over at the Country Cellar is having a give-away with the drawing on August 31st. Go visit for your chance and look at the adorable Snowman freebie pattern. It's sooo cute!

Wicked friends and family

Gotta wrap up posting these Wicked pictures from my trip to San Diego. My pal Sherrie was driving us all in her Sequoia. It was a little bumpy. (The girl drives like she lives in TJ!) hehe Just kidding. Here we are on our way to the Wicked performance. That's our mama, Virginia (youngest sis), Isabel (oldest sis) and Rachel, Virgie's friend and co-worker.

Here is the dorkus Liz and the mad hatter driver Sherrie. You can't see the speedometer from this shot but she was going 95. Look at the scenery flying by. LOL

A view of the Performing Arts center from the parking garage. The crowd was starting to gather. It was a beautiful afternoon in downtown San Diego.

In this photo, my mom is practicing her "Wicked" face. LOL I don't know what she was looking at. She probably didn't hear Rachel say smile. But actually, this face is probably why most of us girls behaved as children. LOL (You know Virgie is going to show my mother these comments and I'm going to get in trouble.)

You're not supposed to take pictures in the theatre but I've been to this play four times and I wanted something to scrapbook. I had my camera on no-flash (so I wouldn't get busted!) and my shutter stays open too long for me to get a good shot but it'll just have to do. Unless I go back to see it a fifth time. :o)))

I finished my cherry tart pincushions. I'm trying to figure out if I want to post a picture or tease the girls I'm swapping with. They sure came out cute.

Happy Birthday Ashley!

Friday was my baby girl's birthday. She doesn't look much like a baby girl. Ashley turned 25. TWENTY FIVE!!! Ack, I am getting sooooo old!

This is her and her sweetie David. We had brunch on Sunday at a little Mexican restaurant in Anaheim. Ashley was trying to have everyone there and since Stephanie (middle sister) had to work, brunch it was.

That is the first time we've been there for brunch. They had chorizo and eggs, Mexican sweet bread and Mexican chocolate milk. You could taste the cream and cinnamon. Yum. Chilaquiles (the girls said Aunt Virgie makes them better), menudo (if you don't know, don't ask). lol... It's a Mexican staple for weekends and for hangovers. I gross the family out everytime I eat it but I can't help it. When you're raised on that stuff, you just love it. Look it up. I can't bare to tell you what's in it. LOL
And then it was time for presents!!! I told her we'd go shopping after brunch so that was her gift from us. She wanted some new clothes. Kelley, the artsy daughter painted her a picture. We're looking forward to a holiday when we get a gift from her. We love her little people!!

She found a cute saying about sisters and cookies. Two favorites in our household! :o)

Here's a close up. Sorry for the glare from the flash. It was a dark restaurant.

I have a little catching up to do with the last day of our sister weekend when went to see Wicked. I'll try and post that tonight so I can do an update of my pincushions I'm working on. Oooo, one of them came out soooo cute! :o)

Blog Giveaway

Designer, Heather Mulder of Anka's Treasures is having a giveaway of some yummy goodies. Go check it out.....here. I hope we all win something. I love her books and fabrics!

Fabric shopping...again!

Two of my sisters didn't get a chance to see Wicked when it was in Hollywood at the Pantages Theatre so when they found out it was in San Diego, they got on the ball to get tickets. My younger sister lives in San Diego and my mom lives with her. So the plans were on....with my oldest sister, Isabel, my youngest sister Virginia, and my mom. We also had two adopted sisters go with us, my friend Sherrie and Virgie's friend, Rachel. But before we even got to San Diego, Sherrie, Isabel and I were off for a little bit of a shop hop.

Sherrie was on a trip when the CA Quilter's Run was happening and my sister wasn't able to go so we hit some shops that I had gone to on the Run in July. Our first stop was this cute shop in Riverside, Stars & Scraps.

When I was there the last time, I only had my iphone so the pictures I posted were blurry. These are much better. It's such a cute shop with great samples all over.

I controlled myself pretty good here, since I had already done some shopping here just last month. They had an adorable little Christmas tree skirt for a mini tree. I have several Christmas trees so I will need several little tree skirts. Add that to my list of a billion projects!!!

Then we were off to Temecula to Quilter's Coop in a quaint downtown area full of shops and restaurants. It's always buzzing downtown.

This new location (I think they moved about a year ago) is open and spread out. So many great fabric collections. This side of the cutting table is all civil war. Yummm!

The other side of the room is wool, stitcheries, and more fabric collections. The shop continues to the back which is bigger than this front section. So much fun stuff.

From here we went to The Fat Quarter shop in Vista and then a little shop in Chula Vista. We got to my sister's place with time to visit for a few hours before the play. I have a few pictures of our trip to the theatre. I'll share those tomorrow. I'm still catching up on things around the house and sleep!

Working on blocks

I've been working on split nine patch blocks off and on for the last few weeks in between other of life's happenings. I love the Triangulations program for projects like this. It's really no different than Triangles on a Roll or Thangles except with this program, you print the size form you need. It's perfect if you have a lot of units to make and you don't have to store a bunch of rolls and papers. You just print what you need! For this project, I used the 2 1/2" size. This is after I cut them apart but before you trim off the little dog ears.

Dog ears trimmed, paper torn off and finger pressed open.

Here they are with my white-on-whte and scrappy squares.

Last night at sewing night, I got these four sets sewed together. I'd like to make some more. My deadline is August 31st. The blocks are 6 1/2" so they're kind of small. If I want a good lap quilt, I'm going to need more blocks. Guess I've got to attack the scrap basket a few more times!

Rose Bowl Flea Market

Sunday I went to the Rose Bowl Flea Market. My husband went with me so that I wouldn't get lost. The last time I attempted this trip was several years ago. My friend Sherrie and I tried to get there but we got to talking.....and we missed a freeway merge and ended up in Barstow! If you know CA, you know Barstow is a little farther drive from Orange County than Pasadena. lol Hard to believe two women in a car driving would get so busy talking we'd miss a turn off but I'm sure it's been known to happen. :o)

This time, with my hubby at the wheel, I made it. Although he told me I owe him a trip to Pomona when they have their car swap meet. There are hundreds of miles of car parts so I'm going to try and think of a way out of that one. Don't tell. I'm hoping he'll forget!

So, this is the Rose Bowl entrance. This picture is from their website. I didn't think of taking a picture until we were about ready to leave! DOH!

This picture is from the parking lot where we parked.....using the zoom lens!

And this next picture is without the zoom. This was the FREE parking! The bad news is far from the entrance. The good news is it's close to the exit! :o) Can you see that itty bitty Rose Bowl sign? lol

Again, by the time I thought to take pictures, we were in the junk aisles. I like those film reels though. Those would be cute if you had a home theatre room.

My hubby liked this furry hat. We didn't buy it.....thank God!

But I did get these cute little egg cups.

Their marked Pacific and Made in USA. I doubt they're worth much because they're chipped around the base but I liked the colors. Reminds me of Fiestaware. I actually thought I might use them with 30's fabrics and make some pincushions out of them for the upcoming swap I'm in but I'm not sure if they'll work. If I do that and they're cute, I'll share a picture. If they're ugly, I won't. LOL

They sure are cute stacked up like this. Hmmm, I think I need to boil some eggs.

And I got these jello molds thinking about that same pincushion swap. Stay tuned.

And I walked by one vendor who had what looked like a vintage wine carrier filled with these knitting needles. The container is probably worth more than the needles!

My sister knits and I can knit and purl but that's it. I was curious about the price so I asked the vendor how much? He said eight dollars. Hmmm, I wasn't willing to give up eight dollars on those. I told him I would think about it. We walked by him again because me and my hubby got separated and he wanted to show me something on that aisle. I walked by and asked the vendor if he'd take five dollars. He said, "How `bout six?" He was a cute little old guy so I said okay. I guess I should've looked for a vendor selling yarn to make this a worthwhile deal! LOL I put them in a little pitcher. They're kind of cool. And actually, out of all of these, there were only three that didn't have a match. And there were some cool looking plastic ones that look like they might be from the 50's and the little metal tops have neat old numbers on them. My sister is coming over Friday so I'll let her take some if there are sizes she doesn't have but I'm going to watch her. She tries to take the good stuff!

The weather was perfect and though I didn't "need" anything that I bought, it was fun to walk around and people watch. There were all kinds out there. One guy dropped his drawers at one vendors space to try on some jeans! I didn't have the nerve to take a picture. Believe me when I say there wasn't 'much' to see. LOL Just kidding. I was too embarrassed to look!

Pincushions

We're having a pincushion swap on our Yahoo group, Backporch Friends. That got Peggy to share pictures of her pincushion collection. What she posted must only be a little bit of what she's got because she said she's going to have to add shelves to display them all. These are most of my pincushions....
Two chickens, a little ME teapot pillow and a ZsaZsa Liz. That bear is the result of one of those emails where to you took the last letter of your first name, etc. and got a nick-name. Because of the "z" in Liz, my name was Zsa Zsa something or other. I was the only person in the swap who got a boa on my little bear. :o)

A wool flower, a velvet and leapard purse. I made the rolling pin and the watermelon.A little wool flower, maybe a black eyed Susan? A bunny, a sunflower on a wood base and a lady's bonnet.

A bright little square pincushion, a Homer donut. Peggy made that one and it reminds me of Homer Simpson....Doughhhhhnut, yum. :o) A little wool felt cat and a mouse.

Wool is popular for the pincushions because you can layer and manipulate the pieces. A ladybug, frog, shoe, little pillow and a crocheted needle keep.

This one had to be by itself. It is so grand. This is my Humpty Dumpty. There was a member of the group that has tole painting experience. Her name is Alice but she left the group for medical reasons. This Humpty was one of her pincushions. She did a Raggedy Ann that was as fabulous. Alice also made the black hat and my ZsaZsa Liz bear. Such a talented woman.

I'm still working on my split nine patch blocks and then I'll get to working on my pincushions. I'll share pictures of what I come up with but I can tell you, it won't be fabulous like Alice's!!!

Alan Jackson Concert

It was my sister-in-law's 60th birthday on Thursday, August 6th. She loves country music and we do too so we got tickets to go see Alan Jackson at the Orange County Fair. I'm such a goof though, I read the information on the website and it said no cameras....and I listened! And everyone around me had a camera. I was so mad at myself. Luckily, I had my cell phone but the pictures of the concert once it started aren't very good. There's no zoom on my phone. :o( My other goof is I didn't take one picture of the birthday girl. Sheesh, I'm losing it! lol

We had a nice dinner at Mimi's Cafe and got to the fairgrounds early. Traffic in Orange County can be horrendous, especially by the fairgrounds because it's by the OC airport and about three freeway merges. But we made it. The weather cooled off to a nice mid 70's or so.

I had never been to the Amphitheater before and didn't know about the seating. Our tickets were about $40 each and I was hoping we weren't too far away. It didn't seem too bad compared to some venues we've been to.

And they started the countdown two minutes to 8:00. Sit down people!!!!!!

Not a great picture but it was good to the naked eye!

Alan sang all of our favorites like Itty Bitty, Where Were You (the tribute song to 9-11), Red, Red Rose and lots of others. We were bummed when the concert was over. It wasn't quite long enough but a good show anyway.