Trip to Lake Arrowhead

I know I've been missing but as usual, there is a good reason. Besides the fact that I'm trying to clean and shop for Thanksgiving, I let my girlfriends talk me into a trip up to Lake Arrowhead for a little retreat. (I'm sure glad they did!!!)
Here we are looking like some deer looking at headlights while waiting for the camera on the timer to take our picture! lol Neena, me, Sherrie and Susan had so much fun. We laughed and carried on and ate and ate and ate. I guess we were gearing up for Thanksgiving. LOL

I was able to keep my nose to the grindstone and get some projects done. The first one is a panel you might've seen in your local quilt shops. I've seen it everywhere. I trimmed the panel just after the holly leaves and added the red and cream checked border. Susan did the same thing on her top and gave me her leftover fabric. She shares very nicely. :o) Now to quilt it. I might just stitch in the ditch and meander the main part and border so I can get it hung up this Christmas. Nothing fancy for this little hanging.

Then I got four sets of potholders done for Christmas gifts. It was nice to be able to get some of that fabric that's been sitting around made into something useful. They are various sizes depending on how much fabric I had. The fat quarters didn't give me enough fabric to make very big potholders but they're good enough and I think they're cute.

Then my boss asked me for a quilt for Christmas made from this Hoffman fabric with motifs from Fullerton High School. She bought an entire bolt of the fabric since it is her and her husband's alma mater and now her daughter is going there. I didn't want to cut up the fabric because it's kind of a big design and I thought I would lose the designs so I just put 6" borders on it. I will have to check my stash and see if I have some flannel for the back.

I got this little quilt (that I worked on the last sewing day at Curves) squared up and put the rickrack on it. I think I'll give it as a gift but not sure yet. I got the backing at the quilt shop on Friday when we stopped on the way to the condo. I had filled my frequent shopper card the last time we were up there so it was nice to spend it this time.

The last thing I got done was to work on four cherry tart pincushions for an exchange my daughter is hosting. There are five ladies who will make some craft item and she will swap them out on Thanksgiving day when we're all together.

I might not get another chance to check in before Thanksgiving. I'm having 26 of my nearest and dearest family over so there are lots of things to do to prepare for that. I hope that you have a blessed Thanksgiving!

Belated Happy New Year!

I hope you had a nice New Year's Eve and New Year's holiday. We had some friends over to play games NYE and then headed downtown Fullerton, where they close off the streets and have a variety of things going on like train rides for the kiddies, bands, food booths, etc. It's called "First Night in Fullerton" and it's got a nice fireworks display at midnight. This is a picture off my camera.

This picture is from the Fullerton city website. It's quite a crowd that shows up.

On the sewing front, I laid these charms on my design wall just to have something to look at. My quilt projects and tops are all buried from stacking stuff up for the holidays. So right now, I'll leave those on the wall for inspiration while I working on some valances for my daughter. The charms will probably be a quilt gift for a friend. I mixed two Moda charm packs called Cotton Blossoms and Wuthering Heights. I didn't know if they would look together but I was pleasantly surprised.

Off to sew while I watch my new movie, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. :o)

One Little Indian

My boss's daughter graduated this past week.  She attended the same high school as my girls did, Fullerton High School, home of the Fullerton Indians.  Because my girls went there, I purchased some fabric several years ago from a local quilt shop.  I guess it was part of a fundraising effort to make Hawaiian shirts from the bolts of fabric which was printed at Hoffman Fabrics here in Mission Viejo, CA.  I made my boss a quilt a few years ago as a panel quilt as she is an alumni of the high school also.

 

Anyway I decided to make a little make-up bag using that same pattern I did a while back for all the craft show bags.  Mariah, the graduate, is going to a college in Georgia so I thought she could use the bag for all her power cords for her travels.  I put the attachment on my machine to do some grid quilting.

 

 

Here is the finished bag. This side shows the Indian and the school name.

 

 

And this side shows the Hawaiian theme print and the words "Tribe" as in Tribe Spirit.

 

I whipped up a card for the Open House today.  I used an older Stampin' Up set for the "hats off" and another set for the Congratulations.

 

 

Here is a little tag I made to go on the bag.  I tucked in a little green stuff for the rest of her graduation gift.  :)

Finally, I can share!

My Brown Bag Swap buddy Joyce, "finally" received her package from me so I can share the picture of the project I made for her. As I mentioned in a prior post, the saying for this wallhanging is from Angela. It worked up really quick. The burgundy floss, background fabric, blue snowflake fabric and buttons are what Joyce sent me in her bag. I could make whatever I wanted with it but when I saw the little faint snowflake design in the fabric, I saw visions of snowmen dancing in my head! Only one made it out and onto the fabric though!!! LOL

The other little goodies I sent her were a tablet, some note cards, both with snowmen on them, and a little button box with a pincushion inside that I bought from Angela. Her stuff is so cute and it's nice to give crafters and quilters things that are made by other crafters. We SO appreciate every brush stroke and stitch in fabric. At least that's how I feel.

And here's some eye candy for you. I guess I just forgot to post about my guilds quilt show. I didn't submit any quilts. Probably cuz I can't seem to finish any! Just kidding....sort of. :o) But this first one is from Juanita Schwartz, who lives here in Fullerton. She is an older woman but stays active teaching at our local shops. She usually teaches hand quilting and trapunto, which she does beautifully as you can see from this quilt.

And I can't remember who made this quilt but she said she took Jodi Barrows workshop and made this quilt. She thought Jodi's technique was fast and accurate. Me and my friends are Jodi drop outs so I can't sing her praises but whatever gets the job done, right?

If you'd like to see more pictures, I posted them in my webshots album here. Now, off to try and do some sewing.

Little Red Riding Hood Shower

I don't have a big beautiful house or a very big backyard but we do the best with what we have.  Saturday was my daughter's baby shower.  The two sisters and many former college roommates pitched in to do this happy day for Ashley, David and their new baby.

 

The theme was Little Red Riding Hood (LRRH)/Woodland in red and aqua.  The Santa Ana winds started on Friday night at 50 mph.  The shower was at 2:00 p.m. Saturday and I swear at 1:50 p.m. the winds subsided.  We hadn't hung up the pom-poms or little banners so we scrambled to get them up as guests arrived.  It was a little iffy there but we did it.

 

We used the EZ-up we use at the craft shows, three umbrellas and two canopies on the patio that are permanent fixtures.  I think we did pretty good provided shade in the 93 degree weather!

My daughter Kelley designed all the printouts.  We cut the pennants and ovals out with my Cricut and glued various LRRH designs inside.  I just love the color combination!

This is where we had Ashley sit to open her presents.  This is the glider rocker she got at Goodwill for $25.00 and I made the cushions for it.  The baby quilt is done and just needs a baby name so I can put the label on.  They want to wait to see the baby before deciding on a name.  Kelley drew the LRRH in the frame (Ikea frame painted Aqua) and leftover mushroom fabric from the quilt and bumper pads is in the background.

Ashley made the mushrooms out of Styrofoam.  We could not find any for decorations anywhere.  We cut the balls in half, Ashley painted them and put them together with skewers.  Kelley painted the dots on.

 

We had a few little candies like red vines, red hots and caramel apple suckers.  Ashley doesn't like cake so I made pumpkin pies and my co-MIL helped me make apple and peach hand pies.  

 

 

Kelley had some little brown paper bags from her craft shows so I used my zig zag rotary cutter to cut them down to a good size to hold the pies.  They were pretty tasty if I do say so myself.  :)



I found this little chalkboard at a floral supply warehouse.  Kelley wrote in the kind of pies we were serving.  She has the best penmanship for a Lefty!

 

You can see the adorable mushroom cake pops made by our friend Becca Gonzalez of Becca's Cupboard in Fullerton, CA.  She does such an amazing job.  Any cake pop she has tried, they are always spot on!  You can find her on facebook under Becca's Cupboard.  And if cute wasn't enough, they are Deeelicious!!  She made some for Ashley's wedding too!

 

It was so windy, we couldn't hang the quilt I wanted behind the table.  :(  I picked up two white chairs at the Long Beach Antique swap meet.  My son-in-law and soon-to-be daddy, Dave, painted them red for me.  All we need now is a little girl to warm them up with her bottom.  hehe  I found the ceramic mushrooms on ebay and we used the same jars from my hubby's going away party but tucked in some moss to make it 'woodland-ish'.  Now that the shower is over, I'm going to pop them in the garden.  

 

Before putting everything away, I took some pictures of the items Kelley printed up because I thought they were so cute.  Stephanie and Ashley glued the little wolf pictures to tongue depressors for fans for the heat, the other artwork was for describing the menu for the day.  The aqua frames came from the dollar store.



 

Because we expected a big group, the girls played simple games that wouldn't keep people waiting.  They played Bingo where you wrote in what you thought her gifts would be.  I love the little "free" space mushroom.  :) Stephanie wrapped the cards and added the little berries.  When I saw that, I thought these are the little touches that make things look so cute.

 

Here is my daughter Ashley in front of her gifties.  She's got one of those little basketball bellies.  She's 33 weeks now.  Yay!

 

 

This is daughter #2, Stephanie.  She hates having her picture on the internet so don't tell.  lol  I thought this was a cute picture of her (on L) and her school friend Cristalle.  Stephanie did all the mason jar favors, helped with the little details and helped me with shopping.  She also did a MOUNTAIN of dishes with the help of my friend Susan!!  

 

Other than the horrible winds and scorching heat, it was a great day.

Brown Bag goodness

Before I share what I received from the Brown Bag swap I was in, I want to share a picture you will see if you come to Fullerton via the Amtrak. The train station is right across from where I work. It's in the hub of Downtown Fullerton. Isn't this tree pretty? Seems like it would bloom during the springtime but here it is Fall and it's pretty in pink. It was so pretty, I had to unload my bags in my arms and snap a picture.

And now onto my goodie I received from Joyce, my Brown Bag Buddy (BBB). The guidelines for this swap were you mailed a fq of background fabric, fq of focus fabric, some buttons, rick rack and ribbon. Your partner could use some or all of what you sent and they kept what wasn't used. I mailed Joyce the sewing fabric for the main part of this little trashbag and the blue that she used for the pincushion. Isn't this the coolest little trash tote?

I love all the other fabrics she used. That tan dot looks perfect with the fabric I sent her. And I LOVE all the fun buttons she used on it! Only a few of these were my buttons. She said she has quite a collection. The bag has a great little pocket on the inside and a velcro closure.

Joyce included lots of sewing notions inside like an air erase marker, more rick rack, a thimble, seam ripper (unfortunately, I always use one of those!), thread and a pair of stork scissors!

Joyce said she has made quite of a few of these bags for friends. People use them in their cars for trash because the pincushion holds it in place, for stitching while watching tv, and of course in the sewing room. This little grip is on the back to keep it from slipping and the pincushion is weighed down with sand so it really stays in place.

I can't share pictures of what I did for her just yet but I did mail it yesterday. I'll post a picture or two once I know she's received it.

After finishing the project for Joyce, I started working on my Berry Pickin' BOM #3 and added some of the setting triangles to my cherry quilt that has been sitting on the design wall for the last couple of months. I didn't get a picture of it yet because I only got half of the triangles on. I hope to have a finished top to share soon. :o)

BOM Block #3

I finished this just on time this month. I went online and saw that my checking account had been billed for block #4 so I'll probably get it this week sometime. Yay!

This block is called Sweet Cream. It wasn't too bad but this was the biggest block so far. So far being the key here. I checked and block #4 is a big one! Kind of the center block of the quilt. I'll be hard pressed to get it done this month with it being the biggest and squeezing in a holiday and cleaning but I'm gonna give it the old college try. (Even though I only took two classes in college; drawing and weaving!) I guess I didn't want to push myself too hard. haha

I used a quilting pencil to mark the pattern for this block and had a hard time getting the pencil off. You might be able to see some shadows around the neck of the bottle. I used everything, white eraser, eraser that is on the pencil, a little soap and water. Nothing really removed it but now that the block is sewn, I think I'll put it in a shallow bowl and soak it in a little detergent. Hopefully, that'll do the trick.

We've had beautiful weather here in Fullerton. The skies are blue and it's been in the low 80's during the day and cooling off in the evenings. You can feel Fall in the air. I don't know how I feel about this time change though. It's dark early and by 9:30, I feel like I should go off to bed but that's not gonna happen. :o)

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