Sewing Snow Days!!!

Last weekend I went up to Lake Arrowhead (CA) with my friend Susan and her daughter, Nicole.  We were supposed to have a few other girlfriends join us but things happened so it was just us.  I packed enough projects to weigh down even the best of vehicles.  Luckily Susan drives a 4-wheel drive Suburban and it held all of our 'stuff' just fine.  Three tables, two sewing machines, batting, fabric, projects........you get the idea.

We were to have showers here in Orange County, which usually means snow in the mountains.  The condo we were staying at was at 5000 ft. elevation.  It was supposed to snow down to 3000 ft.  We didn't mind at all because we're So. Cal girls and we don't get to see snow very often unless it's on the mountain tops in the distance.  It was quite a treat to get snow for our sew-in.

This snow girl, Honey, was made by Nicole and her eyes, mouth and buttons are from our Honey Bunches of Oats cereal.  :o)

I quilted my Vintage Kitty quilt with my Juki and got the binding all done.  I think I might do one more row of quilting.  It seems like it needs a little more than the SITD and diagonal stitching down the Irish Chain blocks.  Susan made a baby quilt too, for a friend's daughter.  Her fabrics look so cute together.  I should've gotten a close up but forgot. 

After finishing my Kitty quilt, I went on to this project I worked on last year when we went up to Big Bear.  I did get my sashing cut and a few rows done before I put it away for wedding planning.  I was happy to be working on it again. 



And I'm happy to say I got all of the sashing sewed on it.  But....I couldn't finish it because I didn't bring my laptop with the border dimensions in my EQ7.  After I finish putting everything away, I will add borders and work on getting it quilted.  At least the top is "almost" done!!

I did a few more things after putting away the Jared top.  One thing was to sew two Ohio Star blocks for a swap with my sister Isabel.  We're to use 30's and white on white fabric.  I just love this block.  It's so classic.

The only other thing I worked on was some more blocks for a swap but I didn't get to sew any of them.  I've got to get that unpacking done so I can get sewing while I've got my mojo!  :o)

And just because you know you can't go to a retreat without eating some yummy stuff, Susan and her daughter Nicole made Sopes both Friday and Saturday nights.  We were supposed to have something else for Saturday's dinner but they were sooooo good, we just did a repeat dinner! 

You know you can't have Mexican food without having a delicious Margarita!! 



Friday and Saturday we got mostly sleet but by Saturday late afternoon, the big snowflakes started to fall.  It was beautiful.  We took a walk around to the lake.  it was cold with the wind blowing but still pretty.  By Sunday morning, the complex looked like this!  It was the best of both worlds.  Cozy sewing all weekend and beautiful snowfall.

 Now to unpack and finish those projects!!

Prepping Pieces

I thought I would get some bags cut out and ready for my little retreat this coming weekend.  With my tendinitis, I had to take several breaks so I didn't get as much done as I wanted to but I got all the oil cloth cut out.  I have to make a Joann's run now and get some D-rings, stabilizer, etc.  Gonna put my coupons to work!  :o)

Do you iron your pattern pieces before you cut them out?  I do.  They lay down so nice and are so easy to pin.  To me, it's worth the few minutes it takes to do it.  And Lord knows, I LOVE to iron.  haha....lies, all lies...

The first oil cloth I got was the yellow polka dot at Road to CA quilt show.  Then when I made the chalkboard placemats, I went online to find more chalkboard cloth and found these oil cloth prints so I added to my order. 

I'd like to get one bag started before I go.  I don't know about you but it's hard for me to concentrate when I'm surrounded by chocolate, chatter, chocolate, snacks, chocolate, music...well, you get the idea.

Pinterest...well burst my bubble!!!!

By now,  most people have heard of Pinterest.  There was even a big story about it on our news the other day and sad to say, I am not in the demographic they cater to but whatever.  Unless you're talking about baby-boomers, walkers or medicare, I am not in most demographics!!  lol....just kidding, sort of!

My artsy daughter told me about hearing something 'through the grapevine' about Pinterest so I checked it out.  I'm sure I am not the only one who signs up for stuff online and when it comes to the mass amount of info that is in the "Terms", we just click on "yes" and go on our merry way to play on that site.  Well, this was quite an eye opener to this "I Love Pinterest" pinner. 

When you pin something on Pinterest, it belongs to them, to SELL at their discretion.  For someone who writes quilt patterns or has a copyright on something, or an artist or illustrator like my daughter, I thought this could be a baaaad situation.  Check out this article to see what you think.

I'm still thinkin' cuz I LOVE that site......

This sandwich is done!

I got my vintage kitty quilt sandwiched.  I just love these fabrics!  They are so girly and cute.  Anyway, I got this pinned together and put it in a stack to take with me up to the mountains for a little weekend retreat with my friend Susan.

We'll leave on Thursday around noon because Susan has to work and will come home on Sunday morning.  I'm hoping to come home with lots of stuff done.  Right now I need to make swap blocks and have a UFO list that could wrap around the block!!  

So....this is the first thing in my stack of things to go.  It's so hard packing for a retreat, right?  What if I forget something?  LOL

Busy Card Making...

My daughter Stephanie and I went to a card workshop with another demonstrator.  This woman is at management level with Stampin' Up! and the workshop was for card ideas for hosting workshops.  Me and Stephanie signed up to make three of each of four designs and man, oh man, it was like a card making marathon!!!!  We were exhausted when we got home.  lol  They were sure pretty though.  Thank you Linda for a great card making day!

This card was made with scrap strips of paper.  I know how to make fun quilt blocks with scraps and I save my paper scraps just like I do my fabric.  Now I have a project to actually put those paper strips to good use.  This card was made using adhesive sheets and placing one long strip of paper diagonally across the middle of the card and then place strips randomly, changing directions.  I love this card.  The color, the design (reminds me of a quilt!) and the paper.  This paper pack and the stamped images are from the Sale-a-bration special going on right now.  If you wanna see, you can look here.

 

This card was made using the Sweet Shop paper and Sweet Cake stamp set (the cupcake).  They even have scented embossing powder now and we embossed the frosting with a cherry scent.  Smells as good as it looks!!  :o)  We embossed this card with the Perfect Polka Dots folder and cut out that cute shape with the Labels framelets.

This was my first time doing this type of card.  The outside looks like a regular greeting card. 

But here's the inside.  I love it.  I'm going to try and make some more of these before I forget how.  lol

For this card, we stamped Whisper White craft ink on black card stock. We colored (and not very carefully) with Watercolor crayons and then did little highlights with the UniBall Signo gel pen and embellishments.

Multiply each of these cards by three and you can see why I said it was a marathon!  It started getting late so we were just stamping and coloring and then took everything home to do the assembly and finish up.  Sheesh....these "hobbies" are getting more and more like work.  LOL  Okay, not really but you know what I mean.

Til next time.....