She should sleep better now, right? :o)

My mom will be 80 in September. Wow, sounds like forever, doesn't it? About a month ago, she was here visiting and we went to a quilt shop - her, me and my sister Isabel. She saw this fabric and said "Oh, I would sleep better under those guys." Ewww! This is my mother talking, not a girlfriend. LOL Well, I thought if it'll make her happy..... So I bought a piece of the fabric, about 3/4 of a yard, I think, and made this pillow case for her. She LOVES getting mail so I guess I'll pop in an envelope and send it to her. On baby project off my sewing table.

I got two more blocks made from the yellow and white swap I did. I want to make 4 more to have a lap size quilt. I pulled some more yellows out of my stash to use. I'll pobably just put two borders on it and that's it. Tonight I'm going to my buddy, Sherrie's house. I'll either put something on the longarm or have her show me how to thread the serger she gave me. Fun, fun, fun. A girls gotta have fun! :o)

Earthshaaaake!

You would think I would be used to the earth moving under my feet. After all, I've never lived anywhere but California. But it still gets me every time. Yesterdays quake was 5.4. It packed quite a jolt. I went home from work at lunchtime and most of the house was in tact. A few things on the floor here and there. But when I got to my sewing room, poor Wee Willie Winkie was on the floor. At first I thought she only had a broken thumb. There was no blood so there was no need to call 9-1-1. lol I went back to work and it wasn't until I got home and went in to sew that I noticed she had more than a broken thumb.
There was something rattling under her sock. Roh-oh-Relroy! She had a broken leg. But look at her! She's still smiling. This girl's my hero! I'll have to stop and get some super glue and mend her. I never did find her thumb. Poor Shirley! :o(

Long Beach International Quilt Festival

A group of us girls went to the Long Beach quilt show. A first this year in California so anybody who's anybody and lives in CA surely had to be there!! haha They only had three ticket booths for a couple hundred or so quilters. What were they thinking!!! The line moved okay though and there was a cool breeze from the ocean so no complaints.
I saw people I knew in line to get in and bumped into people I knew at the show. I'm telling you, this place was happening! My sister and her friends went too. We had a coffee break together and compared our throbbing feet! LOL
I was surprised at how few quilts there were compared to the vendors. There were no ribbon winners, just exhibits. And I found some pretty quilts but it was agreed by all of us traditional quilt lovers, it was too artsy. LOL There were some beauties though. Like this one.....

And this one... which was on the cover of the quilt show brochure. Beautiful, isn't it?
This was a quilt shop in Kansas a friend told us to look for. And can you see that crowd? It was like that throughout the entire show. It didn't stop us from shopping though. We just used our elbows to push our way through. LOL
I was a pretty good girl. I have so many projects to do now, it's not funny. So a little of this and a little of that and I am happy. And this show was the week after our quilt run so how much stuff can a girl have anyway? :o)

If you ever come to visit....

I'll bake you a cake! Well, if time allows. haha I don't bake often because I'll eat it and I can't afford any more hiney than I have already but a friend, Carolyn is here in California visiting. I met her about 7 years ago at a retreat organized by an online group. She landed last night and my friend Sherrie went and picked her up. She will be staying with Sherrie since I am a working stiff and Sherrie is a kept woman. LOL
I wanted to make a cinnamon bundt cake but the only recipe I had was for a pumpkin one. I got online and found this recipe. So, when I got off work, I headed to the grocery store for flour and some things I was out of. And so it began....cinnamon, flour, yada, yada, yada.

It called for sifting the dry ingredients so I had to bend, squat, reach and tug to find my sifter waaay down under the cupboard. I only use it at Christmas time but it was worth digging for it. The dry ingredients were light as a cloud when I finished sifting. Hmm, you think that's why they have you do it? LOL The recipe was easy to follow. I will retype it for my personal use though. I don't premeasure ingredients because I don't have that many measuring cups. I was getting frustrated flipping the pages back and forth from ingredients to instructions so pulled out the staple. I made sure to hold on to it securely and get it in the trash. I could imagine someone biting down on THAT at dessert time!!! So here's the finished product...

Man, the house smelled yummy when it was baking. Mmmmmm. The bundt pan I have is old. One of those orange metal jobbies from the 60's probably. I got it from my MIL Betty's things when she passed away. It works and I think of her every time I use it so I guess I won't find a replacement anytime soon.
You know, my sister was over a few weeks ago when we took the classes at Camp Watchapatcher and I didn't bake her a cake. Shhhhh! If she sees this post, she's going to let me have it. LOL

No cherry on top :o(

Have you seen these Wilton cupcake pan's at Target and Michael's? My boss bought this one and my daughter borrowed it to celebrate somebody's birthday at her work. She baked it and I decorated it. How do I get roped into these things? lol She made buttercream icing but I don't like her recipe. It doesn't go on smooth. But it was made so we used it. She used the leftover cake batter to make some regular cupcakes. I think I might have to get me one of these pans (using a Michael's 40% off coupon, of course!). The big cupcakes are so cute!!

BusyLiz...understatement!

Well, since my last post, I took some classes at our local camp that the Orange County Guild puts on. I took them with my sister Isabel and the instructor was Sharyn Craig. She is a great instructor!! One class was the Glorified Nine Patch pictured below. My sister used 30's fabrics and I used Civil War repro's and shirtings. I LOVE 30's but have several quilts out of those fabrics and thought I should travel to the dark side for a little while. LOL

Um, you might have noticed that Miss Speedy up there has way more blocks done than me. Well, I was working on some swap blocks while she was putting the petal to the metal on her blocks. Some older sisters are such show offs. lol

And these bright yellow babies are the swap I hostessed on Backporch Friends, a Yahoo group.
I worked up the kaliedescope block in EQ6 and requested butter colored fabrics, 5 blocks with white blades and 5 with yellow blades. They make a circular secondary pattern which I love. I think I'd like make 6 more blocks to make a nice sized lap quilt.

After all the fun at quilt camp, Isabel and I started our local Quilt Run that started last Thursday. We left camp and hit one shop and then went and got my friend Sherrie. The shops all gave away closinae charms to celebrate their 10th year. So we got those at each shop and a few choice pieces of fabric. LOL One of my favorite shops is Cozy Cottage. It's probably the closest to me and the owner, Kris has a great selection of 30's fabrics right by the front door. It's like she designed the shop with me in mind. hehe Anyway, we had a great time. We hit all the shops in our area, 9 I think, in two days.

On Saturday, Isabel headed back home and Sherrie and I hit three shops in Murrieta and Temecula. Two of the shops were sure worth the drive. About 30 miles I think. The first one was a bust. We found out later the owner has the shop up for sale so she didn't even have a breath mint to give away. Pooey! Not only that but she didn't have the pins she was supposed to have. She was giving away some she had from last year. It was sorry to say the least. Good thing the other shops made up for it. We hadn't been out there before but we made nice deposits in the next two stores. And we were so convinced we weren't going to buy anything!! HA!!!! The Quilters Coop is in a downtown area with quaint gift shops and restaraunts. I tried to find the website but I guess they don't have one. Take my word for it, if you're in the area, go there! Great patterns, gift items, retro fabrics and lots of samples. The other shop was Temecula Quilt Co. This store wasn't big and not a typical quilt shop. Kind of simple in design but oh, the yummy "cupcakes" and minis. There are 39 shops total participating and I might do a few more shops this weekend but not all of them. I have the energy but not the wallet!!!! LOL

For Kelley from the Ogre

This is Skooter. Ashley, my 23 y.o. found Skooter when he was just a pup after Christmas several years ago. Kelley, my 29 y.o. quickly adopted Skooter. She even took him to obedience classes and he was a good student. The thing is, Kelley went away to college and Skooter had to live with his Doggie Grandma and Grandpa at our house. :o) My friends tease me as being an Ogre and accuse me of not liking animals but yesterday, I was working around the house and couldn't resist taking some pictures. And Skooter was very accommodating.
This green "thing" is Skooter's baby. It used to be a teddy bear. He has, um, loved it to death. Ashley was cleaning up some things in her room and had some stuffed animals. I told her, "Why don't you give Skooter that little Valentine devil?" So she pulled it out of the yard sale box and gave it to Skooter. He had his green baby and didn't want anything to do with it. Sara thought she might like it and "eat" it. But her excitement didn't last.
Maybe she didn't like the taste and thought it would make a good cushion instead. lol

Later in the day, I went outside and this is what I found in Skooter's dish. Look at that face. "What? The little devil was hungry. I'm sharing!" The little devil didn't have any eyes left. I'm sure I'll see them in the yard later from Sara, if you know what I mean. Eww. lol

Happy 4th of July!

Do you like my cheesy centerpiece? I bought the silk flowers at the Dollar Tree store and the flags at Target. The tin container is recycled from a couple of Christmases ago from some Moose Munch. My boss was going to throw it away but it was red! How could I let her do it? lol
The kids are coming over for a barbeque tomorrow and I don't think I'll get on here much so I'm wishing you all a safe 4th of July today.
I just finished the potato salad and did all the shopping. It's supposed to be in the 90's tomorrow so I don't know if we'll gather outside or inside but I did set up the patio for a party. We'll see how it goes. :o) I hope you have a wonderful day, no matter how you spend it.

The Big A

My husband got tickets from a guy at work for the Angels game. Pretty awesome seats. Ten rows from the field with a birds eye view of the Angels dugout!
Look at all them studly boys. And boys is right! How do they get younger every year?
Go Vlady!!! He was on first in the 9th inning against the Oakland A's. The score is 3-3. Anderson was up to bat and B-A-M, hits a home run to score two!!! And the crowd roars....rrrrrrrooooaaaaarrrr. lol I'm sure I have some sewing to do!