Recovery and my finished block

A while back I posted about this rose bush called Angel Face that my friend Cindy gave me after my mom's funeral service. I planted it on Labor Day, which was two days after her birthday but I wasn't sure if it was going to make it.

But it came back just look at this beautiful blossom! And this rose has such a beautiful scent. Remember when people used to talk about inventing smellavision? Now we need smellablog. :o)

And on sewing news, I finally finished my Berry Picking BOM on Monday night. This was the last block and one of the biggest but I love it.

And then last night I got the row sewed to the main piece. Now to sew on borders but I'm trying to decide if I should just finish it up with the fabric from the kit or if I should add a bigger border so it fits a bed. Oh, the thoughts that go through this tired old head of mine. Maybe a good nights sleep will help me decide.

Saturday Sew-in Status

You'd have trouble saying that with a lisp, wouldn't you? :o) Just a quick check-in between putting away all of my supplies and doing some housekeeping.
This is our little favor that our friend Neena gave us yesterday. It is so cute with the little 'bat owl' on the outside. On the inside was delicious cuts of Stampin' Up! ribbon in new gorgeous colors, some pretty decorative brads and watercolor cards with the cutest kids on them. I should've taken a picture of the contents but once I put it back inside, I didn't want to mess up the ribbon again. I think I'm just pooped from all the work yesterday. It wasn't so much the sewing, but moving an entire sewing room to my friend's place. But soooo worth it~

Susan went to visit her mom about a month ago and brought us treats from the Quilter's Hall of Fame in Marion, Indiana. One was a cute little finger pincushion and the other was a book with historical quilts and quilters who have made it into the Hall of Fame. I didn't see my name in there so I guess I better get busy!!! lol

Susan worked on some beautiful Fall placemats, which I didn't get a picture of with some of the leftover fabric, she made these cute table runners. I think they took her about an hour. A really simple pattern where you cut a 10" strip of each of the fabrics and sew them into a tube. I can't remember the rest cuz I wasn't paying that close attention.

I was working on these......

And these....

They are from charm packs I bought at Cozy Cottage on the quilt run this summer. The long ones are for me and my middle daughter and the shorter two are for my oldest and youngest daughters. I still need to add black borders to them and I think I'll use a stripe on the bias for the binding. So, I better get my room put back and busy or this will just be another UFO and not done by Halloween!!

Sew-in Treats

I'm all packed for my little sew-in tomorrow. Me and two friends and maybe my middle daughter, will go set up and sew until our eyes blur, our backs ache and we can't sew any longer. I'm all packed up but just have to load the machines in the car tomorrow. Yeah, I'm taking two. The Pfaff for piecing and in case I get anything done, the Juki for quilting. I have a "few" projects packed and hopefully, I'll put a dent in a project or two.

I wanted to give the girls a little something festive for their sewing table. I know it's not even October yet but with Halloween candy in all the stores and me gathering up my stamps up for Halloween cards, I guess I'm in that frame of mind and this is what I came up with.

I found the bottles at Michael's last year. They are "message in a bottle" invitations and I think I got them in the dollar spot. I had seen something similar here but don't have any stamp sets like those in the photo. When I saw these, I HAD to get them even though they aren't quite the quality of the ones on the Taylored Expressions site.

In case anyone is interested, I used the spider from a retired Stampin' Up! set called Just Flying By and "Boo" from a retired set called Bitty Boos. I just stamped them in Basic Black and punched them out. The ribbons are from Michael's and I punched three stars from orange, black and yellow cardstock. I put a small clear bead in between each star to keep them separated from each other and threaded them on 24g wire. It's really easy to bend but holds its shape. I just wrapped the ends around a knitting needle. If I had more time, i would cut a bigger design and colored it but it was getting late after I packed all my stuff so it'll have to do. And anyway, it was just to give the girls 'nutrition' to get them through those grueling hours of sewing!! :o)

I got the candy at Target. Juju Ghosts, Jelly Pumpkins and Fall colored plain and peanut M&M's.

Yum!

GO....a giveaway!!

Millie's giving away an AccuQuilt Go on her blog. I'm not too lucky on giveaways but I'll give it a try. So "go" sign up for a chance to win! :o)

Vintage Halloween BOM

So last night, I'm talking to my sister on the phone. We are going to be doing a pretend Block of the Month with some other friends. (No-blog Isabel and Carolyn, Peggy, Robin, Michelle) The "pretend" part is there will be no kit, no monthly fee and no once-a-month package in the mail to gently remind us to get your butt in gear because you've got a new block due!!! This is the embroidery pattern from Crabapple Hill called Vintage Halloween that we're going to do starting October 1st.

Isabel said she went through her floss and didn't have all the colors she needed so she had gone to her local "in town" craft store. They didn't have any black or a couple of other colors she needed. I had already eaten dinner and my hubby was playing golf so I told her I'd run to Michael's real quick. She lives in a cute little town with Ben Franklin as her local quilt shop and has to make a kind of long drive to get to "the big city". LOL I make it sound like she lives in po-dunk, huh? She's not but she still has to make a drive to get to the good stuff. I'm a city slicker, with many craft store choices in any direction. So off I went and found all the colors of floss I needed except one, #444. That little space was empty. Isabel told me that it's a yellow color so I picked up some alternate choices. I had her on the phone and she was looking at her color chart. :o) Technology. What did people do before computers and cell phones? I got the floss for her too and back home I went. (And let me tell you how hard it was NOT to buy any new Cricut cartridges at Michael's!! I had to walk right past them to get to the floss!!!)

When I got home, instead of working on my current (and very behind) BOM, I sat and cleaned up my floss box, wound my new pretty colors and re-wrapped some that were loose and messy. Look how pretty it looks now. (My sock drawer should look this good!!) lol

While I was sitting winding, winding, winding, I was watching some tv and then the news came on. The weather man said something about a Harvest Moon and that we won't have another one like this until 2029. Hello? I'll be 72 in 2029....if I'm lucky. Since I didn't know if I'd see another one, I got up, grabbed my camera and went outside to take a looksie. And this is all my little old Sony camera could do....

I could've gotten the same results by using a hole punch and a piece of black cardstock!! LOL So I looked online today and got this 'more-than-I-need-to-know' explanation about a Harvest Moon, the equinox, yada, yada, yada and some much nicer pictures than what I could take. Now this is more like it. Makes you want to snuggle up with a nice flannel quilt and get those cooler temperatures for Fall's arrival.....

(Photo removed)

Those cooler temps won't be happening here in Southern Cal. We've had such a mild summer but I guess we're gonna play catch up because that same weather report last night said it'll be in the 80's today and 90's this weekend. Argh!!! So I guess I'll be feeling cool temps but only because I'll be running my a/c! :o)

Scrappy Swap

About a year ago, I received a mailer from McCall's Quilting to subscribe to their magazine. Inside was a free pattern sheet for a quilt and it was called Scrappity Do Dah. I liked the block and it's super easy to do. It kind of wastes a little fabric but I like the scrappy look without doing lots of cutting and sewing like a string quilt. We are having a swap over on the Backporch (my Yahoo group) and the blocks are due October 1st so I'm trying to get mine done and move on to other projects. Here is a picture of four sets (of 12) I did a few nights ago. I already finished two more sets so I just have four more to go.

I did this sample layout on my EQ7 quilting program just to give the ladies who are swapping an idea of what the quilt might look like.

And today I received an email newsletter from a local quilt shop with this book for sale, Vintage Journey by Jo Morton. It looks like a similar block but those look like signature blocks. Pretty cute!

Gotta get those blocks done because my friend is planning a sewing day on Saturday. Looks like I'll be hauling everything AND the kitchen sink to go play. Now to toss the names of all my UFO's into a hat and see what I'm taking to work on!!!!! lol

Post-it Note Clipboards

I've mentioned before that my middle daughter, Stephanie, is a Physical Therapist Assistant at a hospital. Her manager asked her if there was something "they" could make for PT Week as a gift for this week. Stephanie looked on Splitcoast Stampers, one of the greatest websites EVER!!! If you go there, click on Galleries in the upper right corner. You don't need to log in but the ideas there are endless.

This is what Stephanie (and her elf helper) made yesterday. Instead of using cardboard coasters, she used chipboard (a knock-off really) from my buddy Carolyn. Carolyn does payroll and the packs of checks have these cardboard sheets. She mailed me a bunch and they saved Stephanie or the hospital actually, a bunch of money.

Stephanie tried to cut the chipboard with her Cricut Expression but it was giving her a bunch of grief. We trimmed them up and made them pretty and glued on decorative paper (on the front or top side only). She found binder clips at WalMart on clearance and also the post-it pads for .17 each! We did the best we could to match up the sets and used ribbon to try and coordinate.

We made 60. Yup, 60! They measured approximately 4 1/2" square. The actual coaster clipboards are a bit smaller. I think around 3 1/2".

Stephanie's manager took the scrap paper from the clipboards, rolled them up and tucked them inside a pen. Each PT and PT Assist. will get a set. It's a usable gift and hopefully they'll appreciate them.

We were busy all last week and into the weekend. I only had Sunday to relax and helping Stephanie took up most of my day. I did get two sets of blocks sewed together in the morning and another two sets cut out after she left. They're simple scrappy blocks for a swap and the deadline is quickly approaching so I better get some done this week. And all those new tv shows are starting this week. Ohhhh, it's going to be rough to balance my evenings! I like House and Castle but would like to catch a few of the new shows.

Wedding Favor prototypes

My friend's daughter, Jessica is getting married next month. My pal Neena and I offered to help with table favors so last night we got our thinking caps (and our paper toys out) and came up with a few prototypes for the bride2be. Before you start looking, remember these are 'rough drafts' and we glued and pulled apart pieces and there are no embellishments. These were just to show the bride and get the thumbs up so we could order supplies.

The popcorn box and little black heart box were cut with the Cricut machine and the Tags, Bags, Boxes and More cartridge. The matchbox was cut using the die from Stampin' Up! The tags were made using either the SU circle or oval scallop punches and the circle or oval punches.

One white popcorn box was rolled with black ink and a jumbo design wheel from SU. The other white popcorn box was dry embossed with a scroll design and the black one we used a dotted embossing folder. The matchbox was embossed with the new SU wallpaper embossing folder.

Here is a close up of the heart box, which you really can't see and the matchbox. Neena used a flower punch and cut two 5 petal flowers and layered them and then added a dark rhinestone. It needed a little something so we embossed it with the dots but we're not sure about that. Maybe a little ink.

This is the other box Neena had the die for. We cut it out and then embossed it with another folder she had. It was getting late so we didn't even add a ribbon but it's enough to show the bride2b the shape and size.

When we get the 'go', we'll order supplies and get an assembly line going. The wedding is mid-October so we want to get going. These were fun to make and having all these toys sure makes doing mass-production things like this a little easier. Sheesh, when I got married you bought things like plastic swans and filled them with butter mints. It's so much easier to be creative nowadays. :o)

Big Hearts

For the next two months, the city I live in, Fullerton, will have 5' hearts on display to benefit "All the Arts for All the Kids Foundation". If you're interested in the article you read about it here.


Having an 'artsy' daughter who got her beginning in the Fullerton school system, I thought this was a pretty cool thing. The hearts will be auctioned off on October 30th and though I can't afford one, have no place to put one or really don't want one, I think seeing them around town makes my little city of about 126,000 seem just a little prettier. :o)

These photos are from the article in the Orange County Register. They were taken at the Farmer's Market in downtown Fullerton.

Those pictures don't do any of the hearts justice. They are really pretty in person. I'm sure a lot of hard work went into each one. And not to be outdone by the professional photographers at the paper, I have taken a few pictures of my own......as I've driven down the street on my way to get my hair done or on the way to the bank. It's not easy doing a drive-by photo shoot!!!

This one is called Children's Dreams


All Kinds of Friends

The Academy of Performing Arts St. Paul

The Essence of a Dream

Of course, I had to share all of this with you as a stretch....because I don't have any crafting or sewing finishes to show you. lol I'm going to my buddy's house for a little crafting tonight so I should be able to share some goodies with you soon.

9/11 and Hailee's Centerpiece

I keep my American flag flying all the time but today, it had more meaning. Today, it was for all those families who try to live every day after 9/11. It's hard to believe it was nine years ago. Bless all of the friends and family of anyone who was affected that day.

My friend Debbie asked me to make a centerpiece for her daughter's baby shower. I used my Cricut Personal cutter and a couple of different cartridges. It needed a little something after the shapes were cut so I added some glitter glue and curly ribbon and I'm happy how it came out.


Most of the shapes were cut with the New Arrival cartridge. The baby bottle in the back right was from the Doodlecharms cartridge because it was way cuter than the one in the New Arrival cartridge.

The paper was from the Nana's Nursery paper pack that I got at Joann's and the solid paper is from Stampin' Up! I used my Big Shot and the polka dot embossing plate on a few of the solid color pieces to give them a little dimension (like the pink flower).

The "It's a Girl" saying is a one button cut. Those make cutting easy but what's even better is that they are super easy to glue down because these little 'cheater buttons' are usually attached letters. I ran the letters through my xyron machine with permanent adhesive. I love using that for letters. It's easy to run them through the machine and they are ready to position on your project. My sister Isabel tells me I have all the toys. I don't have them 'all' but the ones I have, I like using.

The letters for Hailee's name were cut using the Alphalicious cartridge. And below is a better shot of the cute baby bottle.

This took me all day but it's okay, I was having fun playing with my toys. :o) Now to clean up so I can play with fabric tomorrow!!

The Birthday Boy, cuttin' and sewin'

Yesterday was my hubby's birthday. The family went out to PF Changs for dinner. Yum! We were pretty stuffed after our meal but I still ordered their Banana Spring Rolls for dessert (six warm, crispy bites with coconut-pineapple ice cream drizzled with caramel and vanilla sauce and sprinkled with berries) because we couldn't make the Birthday Boy share his little itty-bitty complimentary chocolate mousse dessert. :o)

Then, we all had a little fortune cookie. We all read ours out loud and Richard was last to read his. This man is all about numbers and luck, and look at what his fortune said....

When he first read it, I swore he was pulling my leg!! Last year, his birthday was 09/09/09 so we went to Las Vegas. We had fun but the numbers didn't help us any. I still think he should go buy a lotto ticket this week, don't you? :o)

And just so you don't think all I'm doing is sitting around twiddling my thumbs and eating spring rolls, here are a couple of pics of what I've been doing in the evenings. These "parts" are for a scrappy swap I'm hostessing on Backporch Friends. It's from a free handout from McCall's Quilting.

And I'm STILL working on my last block from the Berry Picking BOM. I can feel me getting closer to the end!!!!! I might have a quilt top ready to be quilted one day soon. "I think I can, I think I can!!"

I don't really have any plans this weekend. I would like to get in my sewing room and clean up a couple of piles that have not put themselves back into the closet. The nerve! lol Have a great weekend everyone!!

Happy Labor Day!

Just popping in to say hello, wish you a Happy Labor Day and hoping you had the day off. I did and it's a gorgeous day in Fullerton. Blue skies, a light breeze and 74 degrees. Ahhhhhh!

Saturday we went to a car show in Ventura. First off, it was a Rat Rod show with lots of primered cars, tattooed dudes and pin-up girls, just to give you an idea of what types of people were there. Well, there were some regular folks like us there too but mostly the others. This sight gave us all a laugh. Glazed Almonds, cooked in water, no oil and no butter, zero customers. Budweiser at $7.00 a glass.......well, the line speaks for itself. lol


My sister and I both thought this was a great sign. It was under a tarp for a car group but we thought it fits our sewing groups too. "No dues....no don'ts" The group name, Yakety Yaks fits most quilting or crafting groups too, don't you think? :o)

They had a pin-up girl contest and I'm thinking this little one might have won in her age group. She even had adorable little red polka dot shoes on. I think she had the best seat in the house!

And today I did a little planting. I am the person with two brown thumbs but I keep trying!! My friend from school, Cindy, gave me a beautiful lavendar rose bush in memory of my mom. It's called Angel Face. The bush was in the car for the service and afterward so it's showing some shock. I'm hoping it makes it.


While at Home Depot picking up potting soil, I found this pretty rosebush called Aquarius, my sun sign. I liked it even without the Aquarius name but that was the clincher. I hope they both produce lots of pretty roses. (fingers crossed)

Off I go to do that last block in my BOM Berry Picking. Wish me luck in getting that block done and my top finished soon. I am going to do another BOM that starts October 1st so I 'have' to get this one done! Ack...the pressure!

Missed my deadline

I signed up to play in a block swap over on the Yahoo group I run, Backporch Friends. This time I didn't have to do the be the hostess, I just got to play along which was fun. One of the regular ladies who is chatty like me, Barb, offered to be a guest hostess. Wasn't that nice? :o)
Due to all the goings on with my mom's illness and her funeral, I didn't get my blocks done on time to meet the 8/31 deadline. Barb let me send them in late so I got those in the mail yesterday. I had the "parts" left to make one more block so I'll sew this up and try to get a few more put together so I have more to work with for a little quilt.

There are only 5 blocks in a set and I did two sets so I'll just have 10 blocks. They are 8 1/2". My initial thought for the setting for these was to put the blocks in the middle of the quilt and do a big white-on-white border and try my hand at applique. Machine applique probably! Swaps are fun but I hate that they lead to UFO's. Not for everyone but they seem to for me. Grrrr.
Heading to a car show on Saturday with my hubby. We'll go with my sister and BIL and my nephew and his wife. We'll stay the night and come home Sunday. Hubby has homework to do for his online class and I have the need for speed...on my sewing machine foot pedal, that is. ;o) Have a wonderful Labor Day!