Doxies on my Quilt

Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-24T07:29:00.000-08:00

Where did the time go?

Christmas is here already!!

Wishing you all a Very Very

MERRY CHRISTMAS

The above quilt is Santa Baby

It's a Buggy Barn pattern

I made that in 2010 as a sample for the shop

and taught a few classes too.

Such a fun quilt to make

I will be back next week since I am on vacation

to share with you my 2011 projects.

Thank you for stopping by.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Table Toppers

2011-08-14T19:56:00.000-07:00

2 finishes earlier in the year

2 table toppers

each 24" finished

1 patriotic

1 summer

samples for my LQS

where I teach and work

HOW long has it been?

2011-08-09T21:34:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe that I'd missed the entire 2010 year. It's been so long that I forgot how to do this whole bloggy thing. Yes, I even watched the help videos, lol, it's a good thing they have them now.

Anyway, lots have happened in 2010.

Some of the more memorables....

... DS graduated from high school ...
currently attending ITT.

... DD#2 promoted to middle school...

... finished 7th and will enter 8th grade in a couple weeks. How time flies!

... celebrated my dad's 80th birthday. Here he is with some of the grandkids, grandnephews, and grandnieces who were able to attended. Funny thing is that I took lots of pictures during this time, but this is the best pic that I can show you. It was hard to get all the kids to stand still and look at the camera. lol

As far as quilting goes, not a whole lot was done during the first half of 2010 because after the passing of my BIL in 10/2009, my own hubby had some health issues so all of my energies were focused on him. I'm happy to report that he's recovered and doing well now.

Of course, I jumped back into quilting again... but more on that later.

I hope some of you are still with me and that I'm not talking to myself. :-D

Also, I apologized for not answering the emails coming from this blog. I do thank you for all your concerns. For now, I'm coming back slowly and will share with you some of my projects soon.

Take care,
Rhonda

Hello....

2009-12-21T07:52:00.000-08:00

are you still with me dear bloggy friends?

I apologize for my absents and my lack of email replies.

Thank you so much to those who sent me a note of condolences.

I appreciated your thoughtfulness.

I must admitted that my BIL's death hit me harder than I thought.

Last month I felt .... BLAH...

had some difficulties concentrating on any particular projects,

so there's nothing complete to share.

In case I don't make it back here soon,

I just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas

and a Happy New Year!!

Rest In Peace

2009-11-13T23:30:00.000-08:00

No more pain.

No more suffering.

Only peace.

With our Heavenly Father.

My BIL passed away last week

at the age of 45.

Survived by his wife

and

four little boys

and

two older girls from

previous marriage.

Thank you for your thoughts

and prayers

at this sad time.

Class and Sadness

2009-10-19T21:11:00.000-07:00

I'm back in teaching mode. :o)

Last Friday I taught another Cathedral Window class. This time around there were 3 students: Cindy, Ann, and Linda. They did a wonderful job with their class projects. We worked on making a pillow top and a pincushion.

The first photo is Cindy who just started quilting about 2 months ago. She said that she's been sewing all her life starting with making Barbie doll clothes, and her first quilt was a king sized quilt. Awesome! The second photo is Ann who is a seasoned quilter. I love the colors in the Layer Cake collection that she used.

This is Linda; she the last one to pack up for the day but did got her pillow top done. Both Linda and Cindy used soft pastel colors Layer Cake. Their projects turned out very pretty.

On a sad note....

Last week, my BIL, hubby's brother, was hospitalized because he's been really sick. After many tests all week, it is determined that his illness is terminal. Everyone is devasted! Please said a prayer for us as my family heading down this difficult time. Thank you.

Lucky Stars

2009-10-15T22:12:00.000-07:00

My LQS asked me to teach a beginner quilting class last Thursday. As it turn out, I didn't have to teach it because there weren't enough people sign up for the Thursday class as most of the students wanted to take the Saturday class.

When I teach, I like to prepare some of the steps ahead of time to show the students.... fabrics cut, partial block assembled, a couple of full blocks done. And since someone else is teaching the Sat. class, I decided to pull more fabrics, cut, sew more blocks, then a quilt top. Afterall, it's time for a new couch quilt.

The pattern is called Lucky Stars by Atkins Design ?? (.. will have to check the pattern again ). The blocks do come together quickly once the star points are made.

Here are the 20 blocks layout...
I got the blocks done over the weekend and have done putting the top together a couple of days ago (.. will get a pic of the top soon). Next up, quilting....

*U*

A Finish!.... + ....

2009-10-08T12:07:00.002-07:00

My first finish for October!!

It's a baby quilt that I've been working on here and there for the last two weeks. This quilt is for a my sister's friend who just had a baby girl recently. This so-said friend whom I like very much is happened to be the same person who introduced the Dachshund breed to us... so I guess you can said that we are "kindred spirits".

The pattern, Merry-Go-Round, came from McCall's Quilting magazine. It called for two Jelly Rolls to make a good-sized lap quilt or is it a twin-sized?... anyway, I used only one jelly roll.

Yep, one jelly roll makes a perfect-sized Merry-Go-Round baby quilt. The fabric collection is called Gypsy Rose by Joanna Figueroa of Moda.

If you are wondering what the plus sign in the title for....

I am now on Facebook ------------------->

Actually, I've been on FB since August and have been on there a lot more lately.... that may explained my absents here. *lol* However, you may see me more here in blogland as I am working on managing and scheduling my times differently. And I must apologized if I have not visit any of my bloggy friends lately... that will change as I am working on that too. Ahh... so many things to do, so little time.

Talk to you later.

Catching up ....again....

2009-09-18T10:46:00.000-07:00

Goodness! Has it been several weeks since my last post?!! This time of the year is always a busy time for me. The kiddos are back-to-school and have settled in with their newly routines. My Buddy is a senior and Sweetie Pie is in 6th grade this year. That means I will have two graduates in 9 months. I know the time will pass by soon enough.... so I am preparing myself mentally for it now. It seemed just yesterday that they were just starting Kindergarten....*sigh*

Anyway, not a whole lot of sewing being done here as my part-time job at a retail store is picking up. I'm putting in LOTS more hours there and expected that it probably will be that way until after the Holidays.

Over the summer, I signed up with the Doll Quilt Swap 7 swap. The mailing deadline was on Tuesday. Look what came in my mailbox earlier in the week....

IS IT ADORABLE OR WHAT!! :o)

... the back and goodies...

This cute little quilt is all done by hand!

All the buttonhole stitches, embroideries, and quilting were done by hand. I do a lot of handworks myself, so I know how long it must have taken. I appreciate all the time putting into it and love love this little quilt!

My partner also sent me a charming stationary set and the scraps from the quilt. Ahhh... she's been reading my blog... as she knows how much I love to make scrap quilts. You may see these in a quilt soon as I already have in mind what I want to do with them. :)

And who was my partner?

It's Jennifer at Jennifer Can Quilt!

Thank you, Jennifer!!! I do so love my little quilt and very appreciative of the time you've spent in making it. :D

Do you remember the little Zig Zag quilt top?

Here it is all done... "Tweet Tweet" is it's name.
It is on it's way to ???????? I will reveal who's my secret partner is once the quilt arrive at its destination.

I must admit that it was very difficult for me to let this one go. It's my favorite little quilt as it would be something that I would make for myself. The inspirations came from my partner's Flickr favorite photos. I found that my partner and I have very similiar likes, so this little quilt came to be.

Here is the back side. I used a the leftover zig zag blocks.

I also included a Cathedral Window pincushion and some FQs of my favorite fabrics at the moment.
I hope my partner will like what I've sent her.

It's a slow progress, but I've been working on my Aunt Millie's Garden blocks. I started the 3rd block, then found the fabrics for the 4th block when I was at the quilt shop one day. Of course, I had to start on that block. :) A peek...

Then, whenever I have a few moments, I sat down at my machine and just sewed 1-1/2" strips (mindless sewing) of Kaffe Fassett fabrics together to create this strata. Stay tuned to see what it will become....

Lastly, a cute pic of my baby girl.

Have a great weekend!

Started 3rd block...

2009-08-25T20:26:00.000-07:00

I have prepared the 3rd block of Aunt Millie's Garden. As you can see, the pattern is traced onto the back of the background fabric for my favorite method of applique, the back-basting or no template applique. The fabrics I'm using are mainly Kaffe Fassett.

Another quick post for tonight as I'm excited to start working on this block. Also, I like to thank you for the wonderful comments on my blocks so far. I usually like to send a note back personally, but some of the comments have been coming in as "no-reply".... so I'll do it here.

Have a good night! :)

2nd block and .... Elvis....

2009-08-24T20:32:00.000-07:00

Woo hoo.... I finished my second block of Aunt Millie's Garden last night.

Look who was in the house on Saturday night!
Elvis...

It was my friend's 40th surprise birthday party.

Her husband had Elvis came to their house.

It was a blast!!

WISP

2009-08-19T20:16:00.000-07:00

I posted a peek of this block wayyy back in February when the block was almost done. Well, it was finished a short week later, and I didn't get a chance to get a picture of it before putting it away.

This is the first block of my Work In Slowwwwww Progress (WISP). The pattern is called Aunt Millie's Garden by the Piece O' Cake Designs . I love their applique patterns.

Originally, the plan was to make this as a block a month so that by the beginning of next year I can put the quilt together. Well, scratched that plan... at this rate, I think I'll be done in 10 years. LOL

Not wanting this quilt to be a 10 yrs. project... ok, maybe cut it down to 5yrs... *lol* I pulled the project back out a couple of weeks ago to continue on this second block that was started back in February. I usually like to applique in the evening during my down time, but I've been too tired to work on it. Instead, I bring the block along to Sweetie Pie's tennis lessons during the week. Well not much was done there either because I ended up watching the kids practiced.... So maybe it will be a 10yrs. project afterall. lol

This quilt will be for me, and for some reasons I can never stay on task making things for me. Therefore, I'm hoping that some nice bloggy friends will help keep me going. OK?

Oh... one more thing, I decided to go with this robin egg's blue background because last summer, while stocking up more Kona Snow fabric, I came across this new Kona Robin Egg's blue that I fell in love with and had to have yardages of it without a plan for it. Then, when Aunt Millie's Garden came along, I just have to use it. :o)

Tumbleweeds

2009-08-16T06:44:00.000-07:00

This whole blogging thing sure has been taking the back seat lately.

I took this photo on the left on Monday to show you my progress and now just finally got around to posting it. I wanted to share with you that I was done with all the paper piecing on the shop sample WIP, and I was very excited to start putting the units together.

Well, I couldn't contained the excitement of finally getting the top together, so every chance I got was spent on sewing. This is the result...

This pattern is called Tumbleweeds by Judy Niemeyer.

The colors are washed out in the photo. In person, the colors are more vibrant. One thing that I like to change is the background fabric in that swirl in the top left corner. I was concerned that it might be too dark when I was sewing the top together.... I was right..... picture shows all.... that swirl practically jumps out at you. Although, it doesn't show as much in person as in the photo.

Oh well, not much I can do with it now. The top is done! ... was dropped off yesterday at the shop for the quilting. I should be getting it back sometimes next week to put the binding on.

Overall, this quilt was a challenge but doable if you have a few quilts under your belt. It involves lots of foundation piecing, curve piecing, and my least favorite part... partial seams piecing. Don't get me wrong.... I love the partial seams technique when it's done in small sizes like a quilt block. However, putting the whole quilt top together using the partial seams technique was definitely a challenge for me. But I persevered... and happy that I did because the result is a great looking quilt. :o)

Zig Zag

2009-08-02T22:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I took a break from paper piecing the shop sample (see last post) to work on this little quilt for the Doll Quilt Swap 7. I've been "spying" on my secret partner's favorite list over on Flickr and found that our likes are very similiar to each other.

So off I went searching on the net for some inspirations, came across this zig zag tutorial, thought it's perfect, purchased some fabrics, and made this in a few hours.

What do you think? I didn't measured it, but I think it's about 12" x 15".

The tutorial is from AmandaJean at Crazy Mom Quilts. I think it's simply genius! don't you think so too? A zig zag quilt WITHOUT sewing any triangles. It's strip pieced and cut into squares. It's all in the layout of the blocks that formed the zigzag.

Of course, I have to make a doll-sized quilt, so I started out with smaller width of strips... 1-1/2". I see future quilts with this pattern but big, sleep under, wrap around, cozy kinda quilts. :0)

July-August WIP

2009-07-30T21:26:00.000-07:00

Thought I'll shared my WIP (Work In Progress) for this month and next month. It's that big shop sample that I had mentioned earlier. There are 52 paper pieced New York Beauty blocks done so far.... that's 1/2 of the quilt ... lots more paper piecing to do. Just to give you a clue.... it's a Judy Niemeyer pattern.

+++++++++++++++++++++

This is for Kathi...

Kathi, your comment came in as a "no-reply", so I couldn't answer your question concerning the dollhouse quilt. Please email me at quiltingdoxies(at)gmail(dot)com or change your setting to reply. Thanks for your visit... I love getting new & returning visitors to my blog. :o)

DQS7

2009-07-25T16:05:00.000-07:00

I have been telling myself to NOT sign up for any swap 'cause of to many committments lately; HOWEVER..... in a moment of weakness.... yes, I joined the Doll Quilt Swap for my second time. ;-)

Shhhhh.... this is a secret swap.... partner is to be kept a secret. I have received info on my secret partner. Heehee... let the "stalking" begins!

Bag and Quilts

2009-07-22T11:34:00.000-07:00

I'm still catching up with things from the last 2 months that I haven't got a chance to post before....

The first thing is a messenger bag for Sweetie Pie's teacher. It was completed the night before the last day of school, June 12th. Gosh, it seems like it was so long ago.

SP's teacher loves horses, so I used the horse fabric for the flap and a school patterned print for the bag and handle.

The pattern inspiration came from here. I changed the construction and pattern a bit to fit my needs.

Here's SP modeling the bag for me that morning before headed off to school. Of course, the little doxies snuck in the photo too. :-)

Then, as soon as the bag was checked off the list, I pulled out some of my flimsies that have been waiting for the quilting.

Here they are after quilting.

From the top:

1. Fractured Crystal - I made the top a few years back after seeing it on Simply Quilts.

2. Strip Twist - a Quiltville pattern - the top was finished in February and blogged about it here.

3. Summer Breeze 2 - if this top looks familiar to you, then you may remembered that I had made two of the same tops. The first one was done last year, and I blogged about it here and here.

Quilts No. 1 and No. 3 were completed right before we left for vacation. I will count these two as June finishes for the One Project a Month Challenge (OPMC).

I wasn't able to finish sewing the binding down on STrip Twist, so it was completed during vacation time at Susan's house. Then it was washed right afterward. This quilt made the July count for the OPMC.

All three quilts were handed out to the recipients during our mini family reunion/camping.

This is a full view of Fractured Crystal....

... it went home with my SIL, Reyna....

Strip Twist went home with my nephew, Justin.

And Summer Breeze 2 went home with my older sister. Here it is on her couch. I didn't get a chance to get a photo of her and the quilt. :(
That concluded all the finished projects to date!

Have a wonderful day!

Hidden Stars and Shop Samples

2009-07-20T22:40:00.000-07:00

A few weeks before we left for vacation, I started working at Quilter's Cocoon (the quilt shop where I teach) one to two days a week. I truly enjoyed being there wholeheartedly.... from cutting fabrics to helping customers making fabric selections (my fav part).

So I was cutting up some Kaffe Fasset fabrics (luv luv luv these) into charm packs and had to ask for the scraps. These ------------------->
are about 1" strips. What do I want them for?

Well, I blogged about how much I like to make string quilts in this post. These Kaffe Fasset strings will eventually become a string quilt too. But first, I need to get those other string tops quilted.

Hidden Stars was loaded onto Dolly and quilted with simple arcs from corner to corner. My quilting skill is rather limited, so these arcs were quite difficult to quilt evenly. I had thought of taking the stitches out and re-doing it, but then again ... what the heck!... this quilt was made with throwaways (dryer sheets for foundations and little bits of scraps that most people would throw away), and it would ended up on the couch as a snuggle quilt for us. Besides, it would make a great documentation of my quilting journey, right? :)

The quilting will remain as it is!

All Hidden Stars need now is the binding, but that will have to wait as I'm working on a big shop sample

<------------out of these Batiks.

I worked on it before vacation, has picked it back up since I've been back, and now it is keeping me occupied.

Pictures will come once I put the blocks together.

When I went back to work at the shop on Friday, Pagen needed another sample done. Since all the fabrics were selected and cut, this was quickly sewn up. The quilt top was done in a few hours yesterday. It was a nice little break from the other more challenging sample. :>
I am not quilting this top; therefore, I am counting this sample as a finished project! for the One Project a Month Challenge.

Vacation photos....

2009-07-19T21:21:00.000-07:00

....of our RVing trip....

After stopping in at Eugene, OR, we continued to head north toward Washington State and stopped in for the night with my brother and SIL, Susan, who live in Vancouver, WA. They prepared a big and delicious dinner for us. Yummy!

Later on the night, Sue got out her sewing machine and a baby quilt top that she was working on for a co-worker. She wanted to learn the next step of making a quilt which is to layer, baste, and quilt it. Sue is a quick learner and did a great job quilting her first quilt. I can't wait to see the finish product!

The next morning .... onward to our next destination (top photo) ... Mt. Ranier. We were to meet with my other brother and sister and their families and friends for a little family reunion at La Wis Wis campground.

I love camping and being outdoor! There were so much to do..

It's nice to take a mid-afternoon nap in a hammock....

...or just chill in a hammock or two...

or a nice stroll around the campground.....

...or a bike ride if walking is not your thing....
then how about a game of horseshoe after dinner or before dinner or anytime you please....

there's always the river to play in.... toss in a few rocks....
... a game of catch and retrieve the stick...... or just get your feet wet...or just hang out by the edge of the river...or keep watch on the younger ones....... what ever you do during the day....

... the best part was by night fall, the kiddos were fast asleep.... lol

This group photo was taken on the last morning. We're missing a few people who had to leave early.
Well, this is it for now... will post again soon. :-)

Been Away

2009-07-17T20:15:00.000-07:00

Long time no post!

I've been away on vacation with the family for over two weeks and arrived back home last Sunday. It took me this long to get my pictures organized...

We packed up the motorhome and headed north. For this trip, my sister and BIL, along with my darling little nephew, James, and their two Boston Terriers, Lucy and Ricky, came along. Needless to say, the camper was packed to the brim with baby things.

The first and quick stop was Santa Barbara. We spent the afternoon at the pier and lunched at one of the restaurants before heading up the coast.

As we headed north, it was fun to stop along the coast for a little bit of explorations to break up the long drive to our destinations.Other places we stayed overnight were San Simeon State Beach, Lake Oroville, and Eugene, OR, before reaching our final destination. Here are a couple of photos of where we were heading.... Next post, I will blog more of our trip....

Jelly Stars Top and Class

2009-06-08T22:01:00.000-07:00

After a month of dry spell, it felt good to have this Jelly Stars top done last week as planned. All it needed was simple 4" dusty rose border.... easy peasy! The quilting won't be that easy though. My plan is to do some feather wreaths in those light blank spaces, so quilting this top will have to wait until I get more practices under my belt.

I had placed the top on the longarm machine for a photo shoot and look... the furry kids found a new place to play. *U*

On Saturday, I taught another Cathedral Window class... this time I didn't forget to bring the camera. ... left (closer) to right.... Lynda, Lyn, and Denise.

(photo above left to right.... Karen, Audrey, Bethany, Cathy, and Sarah)

There were 8 students in this class. Three of them are mom(Cathy) and daughters(Bethany, Sarah) team, and Sarah is the one who came all the way from Massachusetts! We scheduled this class specifically for them. They are so sweet! Cathy and Bethany started quilting about 3 months ago and are hooked onto quilting!

Lyn and Karen are also beginners. Actually, Lyn mentioned that it's been a long while since she's sewn and had to reacquainted with her sewing machine at first. After that, she and her machine were humming along. Then, Karen admitted to me at the end of class that she'd never made a quilt before. I was blown away! She did great keeping up with the class. They all did a wonderful job... I was so proud!

Here's Lynda with her Cathedral Window. She used Pumpkin Gone Wild by Moda in Layer Cake. It turned out so cute!

I hope that she likes it 'cause I was the one who talked her into using this collection. lol

And here are the sisters.... Bethany used Twiggy collection; Sarah used two colors. Don't their CW look great?!

New Projects

2009-06-02T11:11:00.000-07:00

OK.... so the month of May flew by before I knew it! There weren't a whole lot of sewing or computer time happenings, but I am determined to get back on my schedule... especially back to posting and visiting the blog community again.

Oh how I missed visiting everyone's blog for my daily quilty inspirations. What have y'all been up to? Once I get caught up with some more posts, I will visit yall again. For now, tell me what project or projects you've been working on in the comment.

Do you remember this photo of goodies that I posted back in December in this post?

See those 2-1/2" strip rolls and the Jelly Stars pattern by Fig Tree Quilts?

Whatever free time I had in May, I worked on this Jelly Stars quilt.

.... got the 4 blocks done a couple of weeks ago....

.... and this morning... got the sashings in. The plan is to cut the borders for this before heading out to work. Then sew those borders on tomorrow morning before work again. So that's the plan.... we'll see how I'll do. LOL

Another project I'm working on is using this layer cake.... you will have to wait and see what I had in mind. ;-)

I picked this up in the sale bin at the shop a couple weeks ago when I had another Cathedral Window class. Wouldn't you know it.... I forgot to bring my camera that day. :(

Well... I'm off to cutting those borders and then to work. Have a great day... er... afternoon/evening! :)

Mother's Day Weekend

2009-06-01T11:58:00.000-07:00

Well, here it is.... the first day of June ... and according to the title of this post, I am wayyyy behind with my postings. I thought I should make a post of our trip to the river before I forget all about it.

We had another fun-filled Mother's Day weekend at the Colorado River. The weather was about 10 degrees warmer (about 107degrees) this year than last year, so we spent a lot of time on the water. Hence, not a whole lot of pics were taken. Some of the photos I got from my friend.

This year, Buddy's friend, Drew, came along. The boys had lots of fun jet skiing all day long.....

... then hung out at camp in the evening....
.... boating with our friends....

It was especially HOT at mid-day that all the dogs wanted to swim too. These are our friends' dogs. See that black and white Corgi? His name is Panda... omg... what a perfect name for this dog. He's absolutely adorable!

We brought two cameras this time, and somehow I didn't get shots of my little ones in this batch of photos. :(

I did got one of my adventurous girls....
On Sunday, Mother's Day, I woke up early and had a quiet stroll along the beach and were greeted by this group of morning ducks out looking for their breakfast.

Then all the moms got ready for the annual ride up to the dam. Here we are in our life vests....
... and all set to go....
While we were out, all the guys prepared breakfast for us. They even had mimosa ready for us when we arrived back at the camp. It was simply wonderful!

Dressed up and field trip

2009-05-30T08:09:00.001-07:00

Is it Halloween already??

No.... it's Biography Day for the 5th and 6th graders. :)

For Social Studies this month, the kids have to pick someone in history to do their research, write a report, and give an oral presentation in character.

So last Thursday was the day for their presentations, and they had to dress in character for the whole day. Sweetie Pie was Jane Addams, one of the first women to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Pam's (my friend) kids were Laura Ingalls Wilder and Lawrence of Arabia. Technically, Lawrence of Arabia is a movie in 1960s, but it's based on the life of T.E. Lawrence.

Don't they look so cute in characters?

Then on Thursday this week was field trip day to Riley's Farm in Oak Glen. It's a working apple orchard and living history farm where visitors get to experience 18th century America History. This trip was the best educational field trip that I've attended as a chaperone. Take a look....

When we arrived, we were immediately greeted by this British soldier or "Red Coat". The groups were organized into townships. Sweetie Pie's class was the "Concord".

Then they marched onto the Heritage Homestead and were given instructions by the Red Coats.

I didn't get a picture of Master Riley (the owner of the farm), but Master Riley himself welcomed the groups, told them about the rules, where to find the restrooms, and entertained us with his flute.

While the students were still gathered on the field, a demonstration of how loud the muskets sounded.

... and what will happen should any one misbehave... they will be put into stockade for punishment.

Throughout the day, they were shown what life was like during the colonial days....

...... type of games that children played with....

..... weaving....

.... were shown how to march, load, fire, re-load a musket quickly....

of course, the muskets were just only sticks...

... black-smith....

... a mock trial to show how unfair the court system was under the British ruling ....

Unfortunately, my camera battery died after this. :(

Also, hands-on demonstrations of butter churning, writing with ink and quill, biscuit making.

For lunch, we were given the "ration" of dried beef, corn bread, cheese, apple, and lemonade. However, the adults were able to place their lunch at the "homestead". I ordered their chicken pot pie.... yummy!

The best part of the day was at the end. The groups were divided into Brits and Americans. They did a re-enactment of the battle of the colonials defending their homestead with muskets. Overall, the whole thing was well organized and well done. Every character we encountered stay in characters, spoke the Queens' English, and the costumes dead on.

Of course, I couldn't leave there without their 5lbs. apple pie! YUMMMMMYYY!!

Swaps received!

2009-05-21T21:58:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Sorry for my MIA since last week. We had a lot of fun over Mother's Day weekend at the Colorado river (more on that later) and arrived home last Monday night as planned. However, it's busy busy and has been difficult for me to get back into routines here on the home front.... guessed my brain and body still on vacation modes. lol

There were two packages waiting for me when we arrived home. The first one came from Indiana. My Doll Quilt Swap partner, Solidia, made this wonderful quilt. I had listed this quilt as a favorite, and Solidia used it as an inspiration to make this little quilt for me. Isn't it awesome? I love it! It's so me... scrappy, bright, and happy quilt. Thank you, Solidia!

And look what else she sent.... dots and Dachshunds fabrics! How cute is that doxies in sweaters fabric?!! I envisioned it will be a bag some day.....Thank you, Solidia, I love my goodies and doll quilt!

This is what I made and sent to my secret partner, Karen. Click here to see her post.

It was extremely fun to be involved in this swap, and I would do it again in a heart beat.... though I'm a bit late with posting this time.... sorry.

The other package came from Tammy, my partner for the Annie Swap. Here is Annie all the way from Florida.....CUTE!! Thank you, Tammy, for the lovely scented candles also.

I ended up with two finished Annies... the one on the right went to Tammy....

...the one on the left went to my DQS partner's mom.

Yep, the Annies enjoyed being out in the sunshine and liked climbing tree.
Well, that's it for tonight.... lots more to come. Have a good night!

Links and Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-08T03:46:00.000-07:00

The doxies woke me up so early this morning to go outside, and now I can't go back to sleep.... thought I pop in and write a quick post while I have a quiet moment.

Thank you for all the lovely compliments on the Hunter's Star doll quilt. Here's the link to show you how to draft the pattern. There are actually 3 parts to this Simply Quilts episode.... be sure to watch part 2 , and part 3 also as there are other methods to making this pattern. I had fun "watching" Simply Quilts again.

We are heading out this weekend for our annual trip to the river for a little bit of R&R.... will be back next week.

Have a great Mother's Day weekend!

WOO HOO!!

2009-05-01T06:11:00.000-07:00

I am done with both of my swap projects! I was a bit stressed on Wednesday that I might not make the deadlines.... well, I missed the Annie Swap by one day, but I did notified my partner that her Annie will be heading out first thing this morning. Here's a peek....

It was fun making Annie! So much fun that I finished two Annies! I will show both Annies once I know that my partner has received hers.

The other swap that's due today is the Doll Quilt Swap. Here's my completed quilt.... labeled, washed, and pressed!

The quilt measured approx. 17 1/2" X 17 1/2". The block pattern is called Hunter's Star or Indian Star. I couldn't find a pattern so I drafted the block at 3" and paper pieced the blocks. I learned how to draft this pattern on Simply Quilts from way back when the show was still on. If you want to know how to do this, do a search on HGTV..... Or drop me a comment, and I'll try to look it up for you.

For fun, I thought I give rounded corners a trial, and you know what... I really like it.

Right now, this is my favorite little quilt so far. Maybe that is because it has my favorite color combination, or maybe it's the stars, or maybe I've been wanting to do this pattern ever since I saw it on Simply Quilts. I want to make a full size quilt of this pattern for myself someday.

Anyway, I hope my partner will like this quilt. On the questionaire, she listed orange as not one of her favorite color, but I love orange! .... especially... orange and blue! I did tried my best to use very little orange, but somehow, a lot more snuck in than planned. ;>

Quick Post

2009-04-29T09:23:00.000-07:00

Just want to make a quick post.... I'm still here and still busy! Things are picking up at work, so I've been putting in lots more hours there.

Last week, my brother and SIL, Susan, were in town for a couple of days. It was a quick visit, but we did lots of cooking (I learned a few new recipes...) and did some sewing. :>

If you've been following my blog, you may remember that Susan wanted to learn how to quilt and started blogging also. She wanted to learn how to make the Cathedral Window while she was here, so I taught her that. I'm hoping that Susan will start blogging again and show us her progresses on her quilt.

Like I said, it was a quick visit for all of us.... I totally forgot to bring out the camera for some snapshots. :(

While Susan worked on her project, I sewed the blocks together for the Doll Quilt Swap. Here's a peek of the finished top..... I have today off, so the plan is to turn off the phone.... don't want to get a call from work.... and finish up my swap obligations. The doll quilt is quilted.... the binding is on.... just need to stitch it down and add the label.

Another swap I'm in is the Annie Doll swap... see link on the right. I started the doll a couple of weeks ago, and she's been sitting there naked on my desk. lol Poor Annie! I think it's time I start on that dress for her.

Both of there swaps are due tomorrow! I have my works cut out for me!

Have a wonderful day!

DQS6 Progress

2009-04-19T21:06:00.000-07:00

Well, April is flying by real fast... so I really need to get going with my Doll Quilt Swap commitment. Here are the blocks for this swap so far.... .... 3 1/2" unfinished.... I'm off to sew these together into a quilt top. :-)

Busy!

2009-04-18T06:20:00.000-07:00

Wow, another week flew by in a blink! It's been a busy week here for me with family life.... haven't had a chance to sit down at the computer at all!

Thank you for your interest in the Easter Tablerunner Tutorial. I won't be able to get the tutorial up for another week, so please be patience.

It was Open House on Wednesday at Sweetie Pie's school. The Basket Auction also took place that night. Sweetie Pie's class chose horses as their theme, and I donated a horse quillow for their basket.

My friend, Pam, did a great job of putting together the basket. She used a horse head for the front and added some yarn for the tail (the photo doesn't show it very well). There were some great themes and creative baskets this year. We placed a few bids on several baskets but didn't win any. :(

This is one of my favorite basket.... Crochet and knitting basket... lots of goodies in there.

Overall, the fundraiser brought in almost $3000... not as much as previous years, but a good turn out.... and the horse basket has the most earnings of $200... and has earned Sweetie Pie's class a pizza party.

Then on Friday, I taught one more Cathedral Window class. There were four students in this class, so it was easy for me to remember everyone's name: Barbara, Judy, Caroline, and Judy P. As usual, I love teaching this class. I get so inspired seeing all the different colors and fabrics combination that I wanted to rush home to make a few more CW..... so many projects so little time. *s*

Happy Easter and passed 200

2009-04-12T05:59:00.000-07:00

HAPPY EASTER!!!

I really like my new Easter Eggs tablerunner. The colors are so bright and cheerful; it makes me smile everytime I look at it. On the tablerunner are about the only things that I have that are Easter related. The bunnies were made in 1995 when I took a few ceramic classes with my SIL. The girl bunny was for Mandy and the boy bunny for Buddy (no Sweetie Pie back then). The egg globe was given to Sweetie Pie one year and the flowers basket was given to me by my SIL.

Last week, I noticed that I had went passed my 200 posts. To celebrate, I was thinking perhaps I will do a tutorial.... so how about a tutorial on my Easter Eggs Tablerunner. Now, I know what you are thinking .... today is Easter and Easter maybe over for some of you ... a bit late eh? But it will include how to make those prairie points and a surprise. So are you interested? ... stay tuned....

Easter Eggs Tablerunner

2009-04-11T09:05:00.000-07:00

This Spring break week has certainly flown by... not much is going on here.... just the usual work and family stuffs. I'm still having a problem with my laptop where it will shut down the computer when I tried to open any blogs with Blogger. It probably has to do with the security setting which I will have to wait for my very own Geek Squad to fix when he has time. In the mean time, I will use his computer to visit yall.... 'cause I'm having serious withdrawal. LOL

Here's a little project that I've working on here and there during the week....

I used Moda Oh-Cherry-Oh (my favorite collection at the moment) Honey Bun and a white fabric.

The end result is an Easter Eggs Tablerunner ...

.
...don't know why the photo is vertical when it's supposed to be horizontal??

Have a wonderful Easter weekend!

Santa Barbara - Part 2

2009-04-06T07:15:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the best laid out plan just doesn't happened. Sorry for my my intention to post the second part of our Santa Barbara trip the next day turned into 3 days instead.

On Saturday, I took the girls shopping for the day, but by the time we got home in the evening, both Sweetie Pie and I felt very sick. Ughghgh.... we came down with a nasty cold that wiped us out the rest of Saturday night and the whole Sunday. It's not a very good way to start Spring break. :(

BTW, sales tax for California went up by one percent! How could they to that in a time when the economy is so bad?!! I'm definitely will cut down my shoppings to the bare necessities.

Anyway....

Well, if you guessed the winery was our next stop, then you're correct. Not only one but two wineries .... with 8 different wine tastings at the first one and 6 more tastings at the second one.

I must admit that I'm a light weight. By the time we arrived at the second winery, Bridlewood, I was a little bit tipsy. TEE HEE

The weather cleared and the sun came out by then too. I took quite a bit of scenery shots. It's difficult to decide which one to post... just a few here....

This last photo is the view from our room out on the patio. Peaceful.... isn't it?

Santa Barbara is such a beautiful place. We will have to visit again when it's not so cold and with a longer trip.

Santa Barbara

2009-04-03T09:06:00.000-07:00

Today I'm sharing photos from a few weeks ago....

On March 18th, John & I celebrated our 20th anniversary. Since that was on a Wednesday, we didn't have any special plan. However, John scheduled a special trip for the following weekend for just the two of us to.... you guessed it.... Santa Barbara. It is about 3 hours drive from where we are, and it's our first time there.

John arranged a fun day with Captain Jack's Tour Guild. The first part was....

horseback riding. We had hoped for sunny weather, but as you can see, it was very cold and misty that morning. Just the same though, it was fun and beautiful place to see on horse back. We took a trail along the backside of the mountain and arrived at the vista point on top. Too bad the mist came on more heavily when we arrived there, or else it would have been a beautiful photo op.

The last time I'd been on a horse was more than 20 years ago. I wasn't quite sure if I could handled it for almost two hours. So I was quite rather proud of myself for not feeling sore at all the next day... LOL ... except for wobbly knees when I got off the darn thing. LOL

Afterward, our tour guide took us to an original-old-stagecoach-turned-restaurant place for lunch. They have the best BBQ Tri-tip steak sandwich I'd ever tasted. Yummy!

The weather cleared as the day went on. I love taking scenery shots... especially trees!

I love these photos!

Can you guess where the next part of our tour was?

I'm stopping here as I have to get ready for work... will continue tomorrow. Have a great day!

Quillow

2009-04-01T12:34:00.000-07:00

It's so frustrating! I finally have a free day today to catch up with emails and blogs, but the laptop is still having some hiccups! When I tried to open a blog site (including my own), the blog opened up on the screen but then froze on that page and closed down the whole thing after a minute. ... Argghgh.... at least I can still get to my email... no problem with reading the messages..... but to send a reply took FOREVER! Sigh.... I will have to ask the in-house tech to take a another look.

Well, it's a good thing that I still can open blogger and make a post.

Every year Sweetie Pie's school have a Basket Auction. It's a fundraiser to raise money for the school field trips. Each class supposed to make a theme basket, and the supplies for the basket are donated by the students and their families. When my friend, Pam, asked me to help with our girls' class basket, I offered to make a quilt since I haven't been as involved in the school PTA as in the past (feeling guilty here).

That was at the beginning of March, but when the last week of the month came around with NO quilt in sight, that quilt plan quickly changed into a quillow instead.

What is a quillow? It's a quilt that folds up into a pillow.

Can you guess what is the theme of Sweetie Pie's class?

HORSES ....

I love Sweetie Pie's teacher and so do her students. She is the best! Mrs. Mathews loves horses and owns a couple of them. Naturally, the kids picked horses as their theme.

For the front of the quilt, I found a flannel with horses on it by Debbi Mum on sale at Jo-Ann's Craft Store. The back is burgundy with little yellow stars. I also used the same stars fabric for the pillow front.

Here's that horses flannel. As usual, there's always a helper around... she's playing peek-a-boo here. LOL.... See those eyes? ....

See that nose? ....

How about now? lol So cute! Look at those pleading eyes! I had the quilt on the table. She wanted to try it out. Sorry little doxie.... this one is not for you either. :(
The quillow instructions can be found in Jan./Feb. 2007 issue of Fon's & Porter's Love ofQuilting magazine. The horse silhouette and chenille rope inspirations came from another issue of Love of Quilting. I don't have a pic of it but will look for the magazine if anyone needs to know which issue it is.

Technically, this project should be counted as a March project for the One Project a Month since it was finished yestesday morning before I headed out to work. However, I didn't get a chance to post it last night. It will be counted as an April project instead.

Another CW Class & 1st Birthday

2009-03-29T21:30:00.000-07:00

Hi there,

I'm back from my unintended bloggy/computer break. Mainly, just busy with work and life in general. Then, this last week my laptop had serious virus infections. The in-house tech revamped the whole thing to get it back up and running again. Yep, he fixed it while I was out teaching another class yesterday. So far it is running great except for when I tried to visit a couple of my favorite blogs earlier, then it froze up and shut down instantly. Blog hopping will have to wait another day. :-(

Hmmm.... finger crossed... hoping this laptop will let me finished with this posting. Anyway....

As I mentioned, I had another wonderful Cathedral Window class yesterday. This group of ladies sewed fast and furious and did a fabulous job with their pillow tops. There were a few finishes by the end of class.

Here's the whole group.... don't they look happy and go-lucky bunch of quilters? ....

This is the fist finisher of the class.... love that green... almost the same color as my bedroom!

More finishes!

These soft colors came out so adorable.

And more finishes....

Love that one in Batiks!

I love all those smiling faces! It made me feel great to see them still smiling at the end of class!

Then right after class, I rushed home to pick up the family and headed to my sister's for my nephew's first birthday. When we arrived, the party had ended because the birthday boy had to laid down for a nap. Oh well.... we got to watch a clip of James with his birthday cake...hilarious and cute... and we had a nice visit with everyone who were still there instead.

Of course, we had lots of fun with the birthday boy when he's awake.

Here he is .... giving his cousin a big smile ... Sweetie Pie was taken the photo.

It's play time....Then it's dinner time....Look at these two! Lucy and Ricky! They belong to my sister and BIL.

I don't think it's the first time that James dropped a few morsels for Lucy and Ricky though. lol

It was a full and joyous day yesterday. LOts of laughter... and happiness... I wouldn't want to change a thing. Except... maybe slowing time down! I still can get over that James is one year old already!

I'm Liberated!!

2009-03-12T16:29:00.000-07:00

I've burned the midnight oil for the last couple of nights working on this quilt. Especially last night 'cause of too much time on the computer. My 30 minutes allotted time turned into more than two hours! I was having too much fun catching up with y'all in blogland. :-)

This wonky stars top is my first true liberated quilt which means .... the whole thing was not planned, other than I wanted to use up all the scraps from Carolina Crossroads quilt. Yep, I did used it up... every last itty bit of it ! All I had left are a few orange strings that can go into the regular scrap box. Because I ran out of the blue scraps, I had to dig in my 3-1/2" scrap box for more blues to put in the border. Can you guess which one? .......

.... the one with the planets of course .... how perfect is that!

I truly enjoyed making this kind of quilt. It's very.... well... . liberating! There's hardly any math... no measuring or planning... just sew strips or scraps together... sew them to the star blocks .... then trimmed the all the blocks to the same size.... sew those blocks together and add the border. I approached the border the same way. It's too much fun!

Since Liberated Stars is made from scraps, it's perfect for the Nothing but Scraps Challenge. Yep, I've joined Anina's new challenge.... couldn't help myself. Hee hee...

Anina also has a Flickr group for all the scrappy quilts. Click on the button on the right side of my blog to see them.

Happy scrappy stitching!

Random Photos

2009-03-11T19:43:00.000-07:00

I have selected the fabrics for the Doll Quilt Swap6. They are all Batiks .... don't know if I'll use everything here or maybe add more as I go along... we'll see how it go.

This next pic is a pattern from Trudi.... I won it when she had a giveaway a few weeks back.... isn't it cute? Thanks, Trudi!

This is our cat, Tabby. Do you remember her misfortune a while back? Click here for the story...

Well, here she is.... with hair fully grown back in... she's still sweet as ever...

and she LOVES our Yoshi Bear....

and Yoshi Bear loves his kitty friends.... don't they look so cute snuggling in their quilts?

The next two photos are from the Road to CA show back in January.

I just loved looking at this quilt... calm and soothing ... that's how I felt. The whole quilt was made from hand dyed fabrics.

These miniature quilts are to die for .... wow, woW, WOW!

and this last one is a table runner that I made before Christmas. It was intended as a gift, but one of the red fabric bled .... oh no, I was sure I had pre-washed all my red fabrics! You can't see where it bleed in the photo. It's not too bad but enough for me to be disappointed. So now it resides on my kitchen island.

Can't get enough of....

2009-03-10T09:03:00.000-07:00

these Maverick Stars!!

John stay home from work yesterday. He didn't have the whole day to himself though. He put in a couple of hours of work on the computer, and while he was doing that, I sewed 8 more blocks of these wonky stars.

You may remember 4 of these stars in this post last year.... Wow, has it been a year already?.... Anyway, the scrap fabrics are from my Carolina Crossroads quilt. Click here and here to see the posts for that quilt.

Have you ever go back and read what you wrote in your earlier posts? It brought back lots of fun memories for me while I was reading mine. Those little doxies always cracked me up... lol
>

Anyway...... back to these stars.... the plan is to use up all the scraps from Carolina Crossroads quilt. I think that there are enough scraps here to make a baby quilt.

Well, I'm off to work on this quilt.

Have a wonderful day! :-)

Bushfire Quilt - Finished

2009-03-05T21:39:00.000-08:00

Yay!! This wonky stars quilt is finally finished. It took me a bit longer to stitch down the binding than planned as I had other non-quilty things to take care of.

Here it is all washed and ready for a photo op. I couldn't really get a good picture of it yesterday because it was cloudy outside, and my quilt holders were not home.

Here's a shot of the back....

Just take a look at these two pathetic doxies....

they were sulking....

all because Mom wouldn't let them sit on the newly laundered quilt.

Not this time little doxies... this quilt is heading to Tia ....

.. along with two extra blocks....

DQS6

2009-03-01T18:56:00.000-08:00

Yep, I've gone and done it! I've joined the next Doll Quilt Swap. This is my first time in this swap and looking forward to it.

I have an idea as to what I want to do... just waiting for my secret partner's info so I can start the "stalking" .... hee hee .... I hope she/he like brights because that is what I'm leaning toward. If not, that's OK too... just feel like doing a bright quilt right now.

The mailing deadline is May 1st. I can't wait to get the info so I can get started. :-)

It's quilted....

2009-02-28T13:00:00.000-08:00

Are you tired of seeing these wonky stars yet?

I promised to show my other projects as soon as I'm finished with this quilt. I want to get this out to Tia by Tuesday morning.

It took me forever to load this puppy onto the quilting frame on Thursday. Frankly, it's been so long since the last time I did it that I simply forgot how to do it. lol By the time it's loaded, it was all I could handle.

Friday morning came around, I got it quilted in lick-i-ty-split right before I headed out to work. Gee, good thing I still remembered how to do loops and stars. :-)

And this morning, I got the binding on. I will stitch down the binding to the back later tonight.

----------------------------------

On the home front, we are without water today. We discovered that there's a leak in the water heater a couple of days ago, so Mr. Handyman (aka John) turned off the water this morning to see if he can fix it. Meanwhile, the laundry and dishes will have to wait. :-)

Anyway, my task for now is to check into the warranty 'cause shouldn't water heater last for at least 10 years or more? This is a new home and we've been here for only seven years. Arghghgh... the joy of home ownership.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Star in a Star

2009-02-26T10:26:00.000-08:00

I was inspired when I visited the Bushfire Project Flickr Group the other night. It occurred to me then why not finish off Bushfire Stars into a quilt since I enjoy the whole process of quilting from the beginning to end. Plus, Dolly has been neglected for the last 3 months. Oi vay, will she forgive me and still work like a champ?

So off I went that night and pulled out some half-yards and larger pieces of scrap fabrics. The result ... a Star in a Star backing for Bushfire Stars top.

The plan is to quilt loops and stars all over. I'm excited to get this quilt done... off I go to load it on Dolly. :-)

Happy Stitching!

Mother Superior

2009-02-25T18:44:00.000-08:00

Have you heard of Superior Threads - Mother Superior's Blog? It's Bob's birthday and they are celebrating with a big giveaway... go join the fun!

Bushfire Stars Flimsy

2009-02-23T15:25:00.000-08:00

How was your weekend?

My weekend slipped by way too quickly. Saturday morning was filled with errands, dropped of the Spring totebag (see last post) down at the quilt shop in the afternoon... of course I did a little bit of shopping too *U* ... and babysat my cutie and youngest nephew, James, in the evening. Then Sunday was a work day. So I didn't get to work on the Bushfire Quilt Project until after dinner.

All I had to do to finish it off were to make two more side borders and attached them with those four 6" wonky stars that were made from last weekend.

TA DA....

I like how this top came together so nicely. It's made from scraps fabrics and the background fabric came from my stash. To "tame" the bias edges, I stay-stiched all the way around the border. This will be heading to Tia soon.

Spring Bag and weather

2009-02-19T23:08:00.000-08:00

I took a break from making the quilt top for the Bushfire Quilt Project to finish this project. You had a peek of it from the other day.... it's my Spring flowers bag.

BTW, I have two scrappy side borders sewn on that Wonky Stars top... hoping to finish the other two sides during the weekend.

Anyway, there are some interests in needle turned applique using my favorite applique method, which is the back-basting method, down at the quilt shop. So I drew up a couple simple flowers for beginner applique class which I'm hoping to set up class schedules with Pagen (owner) soon.

If you have been following my blog, you know by now that I like to try and use a variety of quilting techniques. One of my favorite is hand applique. I L-O-V-E applique quilts. So I'm hoping that this applique class will take off and get more people into applique.

The students will learn the basics of applique and work up two flower blocks. Then, they can use their favorite tote bag pattern to turn the blocks into one to carry their supplies in ... or whatever else they like to use the blocks for.

Here's the other side of the bag.

Note: A single flower and lots of buds on my plum tree. :-) Will spring be here soon?

It was absolutely a gorgeous day today.... around 75 degrees. The news mentioned that it happened to be the warmest day since Feb. 4th, and I believe it. For the last two weeks I have been soooo cold! We had a couple storm systems came in during the last two weeks. It brought a lot of rain .. . and cold temperatures... like in the 30s. I know what you're thinking for those of you back East... that it's not that cold. But for Southern California.... it IS COLD.

I took this photo for Diane. She had sent me a message earlier in the week asking about the rain 'cause she's still waiting for it in Nevada. I hope you get some rain in your area by now, Diane. You can't really see it in the pix, but it was raining hard that morning. That's the view right outside my front door.

And the same view after the rain....

I love it after the rain! The air is clean and fresh... no smog! For the last few days when I stepped out my front door, I am greeted by the beautiful snow-capped mountain.

Take a closer look...

And this next one is for Mrs. G. .... she commented that I'm a big tease for showing you a peek of the bag. Why YES I am, Mrs. G! *LOL* and I will continue to tease you since it's great fun. Tee hee

Here's another peek of another project....

Aw gee... I am chatty tonight! It's way past my bedtime, so now I bid you a good night. :-)

New Blogger

2009-02-19T08:43:00.000-08:00

Please welcome Judith! She is a new blogger and is having a giveaway. Do drop by her blog to said hi and that I sent ya.

Have a wonderful day!

Wonky Stars Top

2009-02-15T20:43:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post...

I made six more wonky stars last night for the total of 18 star blocks. Then set 16 of them together for the center and added a 2" yellow border. My plan is to piece more of my scrap fabrics to make up the outside border. Tia wanted to make her quilt size at 60" x 60", so I'm sticking close to that size. My quilt top will finished around 64" x 64".

I also worked on another project last night... here's a peek...

6 more blocks

2009-02-14T07:35:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day is rather low-key this year. I picked up some candies and little things for the kiddos, then maybe we'll go see a movie later... that's all our plan for the big day.... boring huh? John got hit by the flu bug hard the last few days and is still sick and achy all over, so I'm not expecting him to be out and about anytime soon. But that's OK... this will give me a chance to work more on the Bushfire Quilt Project (see post below).

So far I have 12 wonky stars done. I have 6 more cut and ready to sew last night, but I had stay up too late the night before and after a busy day at work, I was exhausted! Mr. Sandman visited me around 8pm.... oh, my life is soo exciting! LOL

These blocks are really fun and quick to make up. What a great way to use up scraps! The only thing is my scraps basket still looks the same as when I started. lol Look who decided to pose with the blocks.... my doxie girl.

Have a loving Valentine's Day!!

Bushfire Quilt Project

2009-02-12T23:23:00.000-08:00

As you may know by now about the devastating fires that swept through Victoria, Australia last weekend that took many lives and properties. My heart goes out to the people who have lost their homes and their loved ones, also pets and livestocks.

I wanted to help and so have joined the Bushfire Quilt Project headed by Tia of Camp Follower Bags. Tia has set up a Flickr group... take a look if you're interested in helping out. All she asked for is for us to make a couple blocks of wonky stars, then in turn, she will finish them into quilts to donate to the bushfire victims. Sounds easy enough....

I pulled out one light fabric and some scraps yesterday.... the result.... 6 blocks done. These stars are quick and easy.

It's Bonnie's Maverick Stars pattern but at 12-1/2" unfinished blocks.

I made up 6 more blocks tonight and thinking maybe do six more blocks tomorrow night. Instead of sending blocks to Tia, my plan is to send a finished top.

Pillow and Class

2009-02-06T10:57:00.000-08:00

This red and white Cathedral Windows pillow is my first finish for February (can't believe that we're already in Feb!). It's perfect for Valentine.... don't you think? This pillow was a lot of fun to make what with the polka dots and rick-rac. Unfortunately, I don't have the pillow here at the house; it is residing at the quilt shop as a class sample. I might have to make a couple more just to have them here.

Talk about class, I had another Cathedral Windows class yesterday. What a fun day it was! This group of students was hilarious! They had me laughing all the time. Apparently, they all knew each other, and most of them are in the Wednesday Friendship Group at the shop. It's so great to have a chance to meet them all.

I'm usually not very good at remembering people's name, but this time I think I did. So here goes ... starting from left (Sue, Pam, Nancy) ... back table (Ron, Arlene, Tonya is hidden)... Diana at the iron station... then Lora is behind Chris who is in that pretty blue shirt.

Yes, I had a man taking my class! That's Ron and his wife, Arlene, they make a great team. There's Tonya, in the red shirt, who also brought along a member of her family... who you will see toward the end of the post.

This is Lora. Instead of making a pillow, she's making a table topper with her Layer Cake.

Here are Chris's and Diana's. They used the same Layer Cake but look how different their pillow tops look!

Here are Arlene's and Sue's pillow tops. They also used the same collection, Fig & Plum, which I'm in love with at the moment.

Lastly, here's Tonya with her baby girl! Tonya used scrappy Christmas fabrics... you can't tell from the picture, but she has sparkly fabric for the "windows".... and her pillow top came out so cute! Even cuter is that baby; she was so good! Look at her go for it... she's a doll!

I truly enjoyed teaching and hope you like seeing my class photos.

Twist top done!

2009-02-04T09:43:00.000-08:00

The weather has been gorgeous here in Southern California (sorry to those back East who still having the cold winter weather). It's perfect to go out and take a photo of my Strip Twist top that I got done yesterday.

I love the plaid and turquoise borders that Sweetie Pie had picked out for me! I think she has an eye for colors.... now if I can get her interested in quilting....

That one yard of turquoise fabric was just the right amount to do a 5" border. I had about 1" strip leftover and little bit of scraps to go into my scraps basket. What a great way to use up my stash! :-D

While I was out in the yard, I couldn't help but take a few flowers pix that are blooming my neglected garden. I'm not going to show you my weeds covered garden... OK? .... don't want to shock you! Thank goodness for hardy plants and photo cropping and editing! LOL

This Calla Lily is beginning to fade, but I still love the look of it.

Pink verbena...

Pink miniature roses...

... and of course, my cute little doxies.... on the hunt....

... for some little creatures... what's lurking in that groundcover?

Have a wonderful day!

Super Bowl Twist

2009-02-01T17:51:00.000-08:00

I visited Bonnie's blog this morning and saw that she is doing another Super Bowl quilt. This time it's with her Strip Twist pattern.

Well, since I didn't really have any plan to work on any particular project today, I thought I pulled out my Strip Twist to work on too.

A couple of months back I had an unexpected free day, so I decided to spend the day stripping. :-) My scraps basket was full with 2 1/2" strips. I just started sewing dark and light strips together until there were none left. Then after that day, I continued to sew here and there until the center of Strip Twist is done. I never did get a chance to post about it because of the Holidays and life got a bit busy.

So here it is.... with Sweetie Pie's help, the border fabrics are chosen. Fingers crossed... I only have one yard of that turquoise fabric to work with.

Hmmm.... I think someone is hungry! I'll get to the borders right after feeding the animals and.... family.

Happy Sewing!

I had a blast!

2009-01-31T22:14:00.000-08:00

My first Cathedral Windows class was today. I had eight students in this class, and they were just wonderful. We started out with the basic steps of building the "frames" or folded squares, adding the "windows" to the frames, then moved onto constructing the pincushion. We had a lunch break next, and afterward, they started on building the "frames" for the pillow. We didn't get the pillow finish as I had planned, but I think, all of the students got the gist of building the CW.

These pincushions are the result of the class. They are too cute! I love all of the different color combos... so much fun.

Everyone is busy with building their Cathedral Windows.

What a fun time I had! I didn't know that teaching can be so rewarding. I mean... I probably wouldn't have the patience to be a school teacher, but teaching quilting is a blast .... especially when the students are awesome!

Red CW Tablerunner

2009-01-29T06:32:00.000-08:00

Yeah, it's done!

The "frames" from yesterday and red window blocks are now sewn into a table runner.... now, off to write the instructions.

This and That

2009-01-28T13:38:00.000-08:00

At last, it's back to normal around here. No more fevers or Dr. appointments or living on DayQuil or NyQuil.... except for the coughs that just linger on.... but I'm sure it will be gone too in a few more days.

I finally got around to uploading pix from Road to California show... thought I share with you a couple awesome quilts. I'm sure you have probably seen them in magazines or at other shows. Click here if you like to see the 2009 winning quilts.

Other than volunteered to hang the quilts, Cheryl and I almost did not make it back to see the Road. We barely made it back on the last day. We had only a few hours to shop and view everything there before it's closed down. Needless to say, we did missed quite a bit.

This is the loot for this year.... I know, not a whole lot. I didn't have the desire to buy much this time... probably the beginning of the flu was coming on that day. The red bag is one of the perks for volunteering.... found 60degrees ruler that I've been wanting... and some special Road 2 CA Batiks in a souvenir traveling mug.

My other "happy" purchase is a book on needle tatting along with some needles and DMC thread.

********************************

Over the weekend, we had a cute little visitor.

It's Miles' little Polish rabbit, Pancake.

Isn't he cute?

But wait....

Ohhhh ....the crying .... the whining.... the begging... the sleepless night.....

it's not from the rabbit.....

but from these two....

Isn't the little wabbit for us Mommy? Please, please, please can't we just play a game of chase with him? We promised not to eat him even though you're supposed to eat Pancake.

LOL

And so .... they were banned from the room....and the crying, begging, whining, scratching at the door continued...

LOL

*****************************

It's getting close! My first Cathedral Window class is this Saturday. I decided to make some more to make sure I am prepared to teach. This is a bunch of prepared "frames" ready to be sewn together. Then, I need to write up the instructions. Lots to do.... but I feel like I'm in molasses mode all week.

Sniff Sniff, The Road

2009-01-20T01:54:00.000-08:00

It's been busy here.... especially last week... what with the extra days of work and sick kids, I haven't done any sewing. Now that the kiddos all are better, it's my turn to be miserable. Cough, sneeze, sneeze, cough, cough, sneeze, sneeze, cough, and one big lousy headache since yesterday.

One thing that I did managed to squeeze in (before this lousy illness) was the Road to CAlifornia show. Anyone else went to the show last week?

My friend, Cheryl, and I did our usual part of helping setting up the show for half of the day on Wednesday. It's always so much fun to help out at these events and wished we could have stay all day.... but we have kids to pick up from school.... those darn kids! Just kidding.... it's the stuffy head talking. LOL

Here's Cheryl during our lunch break.

We got to hang some beautiful quilts. Here's one of my favorites... this crazy quilt is amazing! It won an award. I wished I had more time to look at the quilt closely, but we had lots of quilts that needed to be hung. I left the picture large... so click on it for a closer look.

It's Cheryl again with an unusual quilt. This one is dimensional! The letters are about 3" in depth! I wished that I had thought of taking a sideview pic to show you how much the letters are sticking out! Of course, the saying describes how we felt last week.... LOL "Too Much Work NO Time NO Enery".

More pics to come... just have to upload from the camera. For now, I need to go back to bed.

Talk to you soon!

Forgotten 2008 Projects

2009-01-08T19:42:00.000-08:00

Remember this photo that I posted back in December? They are the three "cake layers" that I had picked up at my LQS for my birthday. What's wrong with this picture? There are only TWO cake layers in this shot.

Well, I already used up one of them when it was time for this photo op.

That missing cake layer is Portugal by April Cornell.

Back in November, I had an addiction to making some CW pincushions. Well, that addiction continued and some of Portugal became another pincushion....

.... then more of Portugal became a pillow....

.... and the rest of Portugal turned into a tablerunner...

All three things came from one Portugal cake layer.

uh.... we interrupted this program to announce that there has been an earthquake!! Yep, people... earthquake.... part of living in California. It's a long rumble and rolling motion. We just turned on the news and it's a 5.0 magnitude. We're OK here... everything are still running.... nothing is broken. Whew!!

OK... back to the projects.... I love making these Cathedral Windows. It's like origami... reminded me of my childhood when I spent many happy hours folding boxes, airplanes, cranes, frogs, and even attempted a giraffe... except, it looked more like a dog. lol

I like making CW so much that I took my projects down to my LQS, Quilter's Cocoon, and Pagen (owner) scheduled a couple classes for me to teach at the end of this month. I taught my friends and the kids how to sew and quilt but never in a group setting or in quilt shop either. I'm very excited to start on this new venture. Even more exciting and amazing is that those two classes are already filled, and Pagen has asked me to schedule two more! If it's not too much to ask, I hope those two new ones will get filled too. he he

I am soooo thrilled! Wish me luck on my new adventure. :-)

New Mysteries, BOM, and More

2009-01-06T16:08:00.000-08:00

Only six days into 2009 and blogland is already in full swing! Here's a list of new projects that I'm considering doing this year:

1. Bonnie's New Year Mystery, Double Delight, started on Jan. 1st. Just the name alone makes me want to do this quilt. I like the colors and blocks so far (yes, I peeked!) *lol*..... but first, I have to finish Orange Crush!

2. A Tisket A Tasket 12 Months of Baskets - Anne Suton of Bunny Tales mystery BOM. Her patterns are adorable!

3. Bea's "Once Upon a Time" stitcheries BOM - This will be saved for later.

4. Rachel at p.s. I quilt, a new 2 me blog, is having a Calendar Quilt Challenge. It looks like a lot of fun and will make a great memory quilt when done.

5. This has been on my wish list since it first came out. Santa brought it at Christmas. I'm in the process of planning the fabrics. :-)

Have you seen the Whirl Into Winter Giveaway? Go check out all the blogs on the sidebar...

New Challenge and Mini Pinwheels

2009-01-04T19:52:00.000-08:00

It has been a great work-free weekend for me!

We did quite a bit of yard clean-up and got the house cleaned yesterday. Then, in the evening, John went off with his friends to their annual event of watching the Supercross at the Anaheim Stadium. It's his birthday next Saturday so this was part of his birthday present. They have been doing this every year now for the last 8 or 9 years. It's a tradition that I expected and looked forward to because you know that meant I got the whole evening to do as I'm pleased. hee hee

Well, not really.... the older kids were out with their friends also, but Sweetie Pie was home. The evening started out with us watching a show, and then she was contentedly playing with the Wii game that Santa brought for her this year.

While she was doing that, I was surfing in blogland and joined a new challenge, One Project a Month Challenge, hosted by Abyquilt and Kris at Tag Along Teddies . Remember Peg's challenge of finished five? It's really fun and a lot of finished projects... how could I not joined this new one? I'm looking forward to finishing LOTS of my WISPs (Work In Slow Progress) by the end of the year.

After that, I headed off to my sewing area in search of something to use as batting for this mini quilt. I didn't find any light flannel that Jennie had recommended but did found a small piece of thin batting. It worked out quite nicely. I just stitched cross-hatched on the machine and added the binding. Voila!

I felt good to have a project finished for the new year even if it's just a little one. :-)

Oh, one more thing... I updated my sidebar and added Followers.... kinda made me feel famous or something. *LOL*

I also wanted to change my blog background like some of your beautiful blogs out there but felt a bit intimidated by all of it... so it will have to wait.

A Mini for a New Year

2009-01-03T10:06:00.000-08:00

I have not done much sewing lately, so it's good to spend a few hours in my sewing area yesterday. I have quite a few projects going on that needed my attentions.... however... a new year needs a new project, right? :-)

First, I took those wasted-HST from the tablerunner that I made for my SSCS .... pressed and squared them up to the same size.

The quarter is there to show how small these HST came out.

An hour later, those HST became 1-1/2" pinwheels.

Added a few pieces of scraps to those pinwheel blocks .... and a miniature quilt top is finished.... 7.5"x7.5"

Now here's my dilemma... what do I use for batting for a miniature? Please help me.....

Doxies Fun

2009-01-02T16:04:00.000-08:00

I was on the phone a couple of days ago with my SIL who lives in Washington. She said that they're snowed in, and it's freezing up there. It reminded me of this little cartoon... I imagined this is what it would be like for our little dachshunds if we were to live in a place with lots of snow. LOL Although, we came pretty close to having what it looked like snow one morning. It rained a lot and was sooo cold during that week before Christmas. Here's Yoshi Bear checking out the frosted lawn, but Suki didn't want to have anything with the cold and ran back inside. :-)
Christmas was hilarious with those little doxies around....

... opening presents and playing with new toys.... Do you need help with your present Daddy? Suki asked.

He's not a dachshund.... but he does like to be included... what's in that box?
well... he couldn't care less. :-D

Handmade gifts and...

2008-12-31T10:09:00.000-08:00

....the end of the year. Wow, 2008 has flown by so quickly!

It has been a great year of blogging. I made many new cyber friends from it. I'm grateful for everyone and everything that has touched my life in the past year. Thank you to those who stopped by and read my blog.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year!

*****************************

I thought I share with you some handmade gifts in this last post of the year. I love to make handmade gifts for Christmas and have always included my family in the making of those gifts throughout the years. So it is a pleasure to know that they have adapted this attitude which made this Christmas even more special.

The first present is from Sweetie Pie.

OK.... it's not handmade, but it's a thoughtful gift from the heart. Every year, her school set up a Christmas Shop for the students to buy gifts for their families. I helped out in the Shop every year, so I knew what they had to offer and would perused and mentally picked out the items for each person on her list. However, my guesses were always wrong.

Also, she bought everything with her own money this year; I didn't have to help out. The mug said... "Mom ... you're the best in the world". It's an expression that she often uses.

For her Grandma (my Mom), she picked a mug that said "Grandma gives the greatest hugs". Sweetie Pie's explanation ... that is what she loves best about Grandma.... too sweet!

Now you know why I called her my Sweetie Pie. :-)

The next gift is from Mandy. She sculpted a miniature of our little Suki in clay. You know how much I love my doxies.... gotta love this mini creation. *:-D* She said she ran out of time but promised to make one of Yoshi Bear when she has more time.

Mandy also has taken a fancy to making little plushies lately and sewed some up for her friends. I wished I have pix to show, but I was working so much during that time that I missed the whole productions. :-(
I heard that there were a panda, a dog, a cat, and a tiger.

Here's a raccoon that she made for her friend's birthday a couple months back. It was made from one of her drawing, and she designed the pattern all on her own. I'm very happy that she has taken an interest in sewing again. :-)

Mandy is also an artist. She drew a portrait of her youngest cousin, Baby James, at 6 months old in charcoal for my sister.

The photo isn't the greatest due to the glass, but I thought she did a wonderful job.

Here's James admiring his portrait along with his dad....

Remember this quilt, Nifty Thrifty? I finished it just in time right before Christmas for John. Hee Hee... he saw me working on this quilt and didn't know that it's intended for him. He even suggested what color to use for the binding! lol

The quilt is very cozy. I used a combination of flannel and homespun plaids for the top, and the back is all flannel.

The last handmade gift this year is a shelf/quilt rack that John made for me. Usually, I know what he's up to, but I was clueless and very surprised on Christmas day.

My plan is to hang it in the play/guest bedroom. It's not on the wall yet, so that's why the hands are in the photo. lol The kids were holding it for me to get a photo.

My SSCS

2008-12-29T11:47:00.000-08:00

I hope you all had a magical Christmas. We spent a quiet Christmas Eve over at my sister's house and a quiet rainy Christmas Day here at home..... simply wonderful!

It was nice to have had some quiet and relaxation times after the last few weeks of getting ready for Christmas and working almost full-time on top of it. Then, I'm back to working this last weekend; of course, being in retail business, it was a crazy place to be in right after Christmas. I'm looking forward to getting back to just doing part-time hours after the New Year.

On Saturday night, with John and the kids helped with the cooking, we had a some of our friends and their families over for dinner. What wonderful time spent catching up with our friends! It's the best part of the holidays for me... spending time with family and friends... and eating! ;-D

**********************************************

I survived the temptation to open the gift from my Secret Santa till Christmas Day ! :-)

This is what Vickie sent me.... a quilted Christmas wreath...

... a Santa ornament...

...a book on Northern Australia, chocolate, candies,

Christmas FQ and pre-printed ornaments panel,

and a lovely stitched card....

...here's a close-up of the card...

isn't it pretty?
Thank you Vickie for all the lovely gifts. It made a very special Christmas Day!

**********

This is what I made for my SSCS partner, Gertie at Trudi's Craft Room....

do visit her blog... she has a great blog and more pix to show.

Also, a big thank you to Chookyblue for this excellent swap! This has been a lot of fun, and I'll definitely will do it again next year if she's doing it again. :-D

Merry Christmas!!

2008-12-25T16:49:00.000-08:00

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas

from all of us!

44

2008-12-13T19:43:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday was my birthday. Since I had to work on that day, we decided to go to Downtown Riverside to see the Festival of Lights the night before. We got there just as the sun about to set ... love how the colors came out in this photo. This is the Mission Inn all lit up.

I collect Nutcrackers... so love this too.... Another favorite.... almost life-sized mechanical figurines ...

As we walked around, we came across these two....

Great Dane! I'm so used to the size of my litte doxies that these two are like ponies to me. :-D

Then we found Cinderella's carriage....

... how could we not ride in Cinderella's carriage?.... It supposed to be 10 minutes ride turned into more than half an hour ride due to traffic. We enjoyed the extra long ride. :-)

After that, we found Santa (he's not real) sitting on this huge chair.... had to have the kids take a pic with him. Buddy wasn't with us that night because he's in a rock band and had a gig.
We did a lot of walking and window shoppings. The shop behind Santa's chair is an antique store... we spent a large amount of time in there. I found a couple of things that I liked but couldn't really asked for them since I've already received my presents earlier. One thing was a 24" white goose-feather Christmas tree (forgot to get pic), and this tiled birdhouse.
At $89 ... it's out of my budget. But I do love the whimsicality of it; this will be a future craft some day. I even have the birdhouse already.

As mentioned earlier, I had to work the next day on my b-day. John wanted to take me out to dinner afterward, but truthfully, after a BUSY day and even stayed longer than my scheduled time, I rather not go anywhere but just to be home and just eat leftovers. lol I was quite happy when I got home to discovered that he had ordered pizzas.... that definitely worked for me. Then, he and the kids had a banana split ice cream cake already for me too.... gotta love them all. :-) ... don't asked me why there are only 4 candles on the cake.. lol

I got to pick out my presents this year. I love it when that happened....
...found three layer cakes (10" charm pack) at my LQS. I already made something from one of them so that's why there are only two left... will share my project in future post.

I ordered a few things from Connecting Threads...
and the last gift from the family is a new LITTLE camera... so small that it will fit in my pocket.... these photos were taken by the LITTLE camera.

My friend, Pam, gave me this pampered set and matching pouches. It's so sweet of her to think of me.
Well, so far 44 is starting out pretty good. LOL I hope it stays that way.

SSCS

2008-12-12T08:41:00.000-08:00

My goodness! Is it only 13 days left 'til Christmas? I haven't done a thing for the holidays yet... except for adding a Christmas tree countdown to the sidebar.

It seemed that I may have lost the last few weeks. Where did the time go? Usually, we bring out the Christmas decorations right after Thanksgiving, but since I worked that weekend, we didn't get to it.

Then I worked last weekend too, and again... we didn't get to it. Hmm.... do I see a pattern here? I guessed Christmas doesn't come if the person (ME) doing it every year wasn't here to set it up. Hopefully, we will get it started today; I will have the older kids help get the decors down from the rafters after school.

I am soooo looking forward to a weekend of no work(job), and a weekend of decorating, crafting, and maybe get some shopping done.

Anyway, I had good intentions to post about the Secret Santa Christmas Swap but that got away from me too.

The package for my partner went out on time and has arrived safely to Australia.

I received my package from my Secret Santa right before Thanksgiving. It is safely stored in my cabinet so there's no temptation to open it. It will go under the Christmas tree once we have it up. Let's see if my resistance to open the gift will hold out then. lol

Thank you, Secret Santa, whoever you are.

Well, I better get my rear going if I want to get things done.

Have a great day, everyone!

The Black & White Quilt Challenge

2008-11-28T20:05:00.000-08:00

We spent a quiet Thanksgiving afternoon with our friends, Pam and Ted. I baked an Oink turkey, aka ham, and green beans casserole while Pam baked the turkey and all the trimmings to go with it. Pam did a great job roasting the turkey this year; he came out looking beautifully.... nice golden brown.

As usual, we stuffed ourselves with too much of the good stuffs... doesn't everybody? :-) Afterward, we settled down to watch James Bond movie marathon on the tube while the kids played their games upstairs.

We didn't stay very late... had to head back home for an early night because I had to work today, the Black Friday. Since I work in retail business and they're open at 4am this morning, I was scheduled to be there 15 minutes before they open. It's my first time working on Black Friday, and all I can said is ... CRAZY! Tomorrow morning, I'll be back in that craziness again... although, not as early.

So how's your Thanksgiving?

Not much sewing going on lately here....

but last week, I discovered Jackie at Canton Village Quilt Works started a new challenge for 2009. It's the Black & White Quilt Challenge Project; of course, I signed up right away.... 'cause you know I love working with black and white fabrics. It's a good thing also that I signed up right away because Jackie has now closed the challenge.

That's it for me tonight.... I can barely keep my eyes open now... off to bed I must go. You all have a good night. :-)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

2008-11-27T08:24:00.000-08:00

Wishing you a happy and yummy Thanksgiving!

Cathedral Windows

2008-11-20T04:46:00.000-08:00

I tried to write up this post last night but ended up falling asleep at the computer. lol

Then, I tried to watch Pushing Daisies with Sweetie Pie and couldn't keep up with the story ... what with the nodding off again! So I was in bed by 9 pm.... only to be awaken at 4am by the little doxie girl. Apparently, she must have heard some little creatures rustling in the bushes because when I let her out in the backyard, she darted out there and disappeared in the darkness within seconds. She is a fast one! It always cracked me to see how fast those little doxies can run with their short legs. If you have ever seen a dachshund run, you know what I mean. :-D

OK... so you asked what does all that has to do with Cathedral Windows? Nothing! lol

Nothing came to mind when I sat down to write except for the images of those little hunters running back and forth in the yard. We do get wild rabbits and bushy tail squirrels in our yard every so often... and that's right up the alley of what little doxies were built to hunt.

OK... about the Cathedral Windows...

Last week, I went to Jo-Anns Craft Store in search of blue thread for sewing the binding down on Freshly Sliced (see last post) when I happened to see this book.

Now, I don't need another book or another project, and I had made a couple of samples of basic Cathedral Window(CW) before. But what caught my eyes is the shapes of the windows ... this book has different variations of CW such as working with rectangular blocks instead of squares and extra folding techniques. Plus, it was 40% off and another 10% off on top of that with a coupon. How could I resisted? :-p

This book has lots of fun projects in it like these pincushions here....

These worked up rather quickly. As you can see, it is also addictive! I have a couple more that I'm finishing up. The larger ones are about 5" and the small one is about 4".

This is my first sample of CW. It is a little quilt (12x12) and machine-pieced... no hand sewing at all. I saw this technique on Simply Quilts with Alex Anderson a few years back when it was on HGTV.

I'm in the process of looking for the second sample which is a UFO that I had packed up during one of my cleaning episode.... will post more about it when I find it.

For now, I have to get going with my day...

Have a great one!

:-)

2 Finishes

2008-11-16T22:14:00.000-08:00

I am done with stitching the binding down to Freshly Sliced. This quilt is the quickest one I've done so far. All it took were 4 packs of 5" charms and half a yard for the inner border. It came out to be about 49"X64".... good lap-sized quilt. :-)

I even remembered to add the label when the bindings were sewn on.

The second finished quilt is Star Struck ....minus the label.... still have to do that. I quilted this in yellow variegated thread.

Whew!! ....So happy to have two quilts done in one week. :-)

.... the back.

Star Struck Backing

2008-11-11T16:34:00.000-08:00

Happy Veteran's Day!

I finally stopped by my LQS the other day and picked up some fabrics for the back of Star Struck. They had the perfect yellow fabric for this quilt, and even better, the fabric was on sale. ;-)

The backing made up of the new yellow fabric, leftover piano border, 2 leftover blocks, and a purple fabric that came from my stash. That green bundle on top is the binding. I like to prepare the bindings at the same time as the backing. So as soon as it's quilted, the binding goes on. This way I won't loose the momentum of getting the quilt finished. :-)

SA and Freshly Sliced

2008-11-09T19:31:00.000-08:00

Good news! The package for my Stitcher's Angel partner has arrived safely overseas. Now, I can revealed who it is....... Bea. Yes, it's the same Bea of Capricorn Quilts with the Quilters Blessings BOM. I've been following along with this BOM but haven't started yet. It was a pleasure to be able to make a few stitching projects for someone who has freely shared her adorable stitching patterns.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It's been rather a quiet day here with the teenagers gone, and John was busy with his project and Sweetie Pie with her Social Studies assignment. I love it when that happens. It means I have the afternoon to sew with no interruptions.

During the summer, I had ordered some "Fresh Squeezed" charm packs from Hancock of Paducah during their great 50% off sales. I love the colors of this collection.... it's so fun and "fresh". :-)

I wanted to do something quick and easy.... the Disappering 9-Patch that everyone's been doing came to mind. Thus, last weekend, I started sewing the 5" charms into 9-patches.... then, sliced them into quarters and sewn them back into 4-patches.

It's amazing how quickly this quilt grew.

By the next evening, the borders were added.

Isn't it such a happy quilt? I love it! I used four charm packs and a little bit of muslin for the inner border. It makes a good lap-sized quilt, and I called it "Freshly Sliced". :-)

Yesterday, I loaded the top onto Dolly, my HQ16, and quilted before heading out to dinner with John and Sweetie Pie.

Today, I prepared and attached the binding. All I need to do is to sew the binding to the back. Yippee!! I love to make these kinds of fun and quick quilts.

And now .... time for some relaxations... Sweetie Pie and I will have a nice soak in the spa.... Afterall, there's no school or work tomorrow. :-p

Have a good night. xx

Halloween Fun

2008-11-08T08:34:00.000-08:00

Yeah.... it's the weekend! Work gave me more hours this week, so by last night I was pooped. The kiddos (except for Mandy) and I are looking forward to a four days long weekend. :-)

Here are some Halloween pix that I managed to capture before the battery in the camera went dead....

Meet Waldo and his bunny.... aka Miles and Mandy....

James the Monkey....
I snagged these shots from the family blog. My little nephew... isn't he adorable! One very happy monkey!The Ladybug and the Bumblebee....Here's the Ladybug tried to shed her shell.....and the shell complete gone... only the Bumblebee left....and off they went...

Stitcher's Angel

2008-11-01T14:06:00.000-07:00

I was in such a hurried yesterday that I did not see who had sent the box, so it was a delight today to discover that the package came from Peg of Happy in Quilting!

Inside, there were two bundles beautifully wrapped with pink FQs and a card.

And what's inside those bundles?...

Stitcher's Angel projects! WooHoo..... Peg is my stitching Angel! I had admired these projects on Peg's blog and had thought that her swap partner is one lucky person. Who knew!! ... that I'm the lucky one!

The colors are lovely... the stitchings are beautifully done.... the projects are well made.

And look at these treats she sent .... all the way from Australia! Lovely card by Chookyblue and chocolates.... a girl can never have enough chocolates. lol

I have never seen Vegemite snacks nor Eucalyptus drops before. My family tried the eucalyptus drops. They liked the drops and agreed that it's quite different. Thank you, Peg, for allowing us to try something new and different.

Again ... thank you, Peg!!!! I love everything, and my family thank you for sending the treats. I'm glad that you're my Angel! :-)

Angel and Lil' Devil

2008-10-31T09:04:00.000-07:00

HAPPY HOWL-LO-WEENIE!!

Wow!! It's Halloween already! It will be a busy day here at the Doxies-ranch.

These pictures are from last year. What will those little doxies dress up as this year? Stay tuned....

HAVE A SAFE HALLOWEEN!!

ps I picked up the mail earlier this morning, and there's a box for me! :-D

WOO HOO.... will open it tomorrow when I have more time. Have a great one!

Bad Blogger

2008-10-29T22:12:00.000-07:00

I'm a bad blogger. I've neglected this blog and the family blog for too long... hopefully, that will change soon.

What have I been up to? ...

Well.... I went back to work! It's been almost two years since I left my last job, and now I'm back doing the same thing. So for the moment, I have to really manage my time wisely to keep things running smoothly around here.... time is limited.

oh.... it's only a part-time job, and I still have time to do things that I love to do like quilting and blogging .... except only with less time now.

I had several chances during the week to write something up in this blog, but I chose not to. I know... I'm a bad blogger. :-(

You see... when time is limited and the choice is computer or sewing machine.... my sewing machine won! ;-)

It's a good thing that I picked the sewing machine because I am done with all swap projects. The Secret Santa Christmas Swap is completed. Yeah! Can't share with you what it is yet... it's a secret. ;-)

However, I can share with you my Stitchers Angel project. Tomorrow is the deadline for sending out all of the projects. Talk about cutting it real close, I barely finished with the this project for my partner today.

I couldn't resisted ... I had to make a Stitching Angel. I hope my partner will like her.

Here she is enjoying the sunshine and roses.

The pattern is in this book "Gift" by Rosalie Quinlan. For fun and a little of sparkle, I added beads to the wings and changed the word to "stitching" on the heart.

And this is everything that I'm sending to my Stitching partner... the armchair caddy, bag, pincushion, stitching angel, chocolate, and a California thimble.
It may still be early for some people, but for me, Christmas is right around the corner. So here is a Christmas gift in progress. It's a pattern called Nifty Thrifty in Bonnie's new book, Scraps and Shirttails.

The little furry animals were asleep when I spread out the quilt top on the floor for the pic, but as soon as that camera click, they came running and wanted their pix taken. lol ... silly little doxies!

A Good Mail Day

2008-10-22T21:14:00.000-07:00

I love getting packages in the mail! A box came yesterday from Sherri at A Quilting Life; I won her Fall into Fall Quilters Giveaway!

A cute little turkey pillow.... perfect for Fall decorating! A cute little basket which I already filled with little scraps, and 5 yummy fall colors fat quarters along with a Mary Engelbreit card! Thank you Sherri!

Indeed, it was a good mail day!

QUILT Giveaway!

2008-10-16T16:14:00.000-07:00

OK.... you've probably already seen this 'cause I'm usually behind with this kind of thing, but Lizzy Anne at Pigtails and Snails blog is having a QUILT GIVEAWAY! Yes! She is giving away a beautiful quilt! Be quick though.... the giveaway ends on Friday the 17th at 7pm MST.

Blog Award and Baby Shower

2008-10-12T21:56:00.000-07:00

Oops! In my last post, I mentioned that the SSCS is due on Nov. 1, but don't panic! The mailing date is from Nov. 10th to Nov. 25th. Thanks to Julie for straighten me out on that one. Now, I can relax a little bit.

Awhile ago, Julie and Peg awarded me with this award. Sorry it's taken me so long to post this; I really appreciated that you thought of me. The rule said that I have to pick 5 other bloggers to pass this award onto, but I could not decided which blogs to pick. So I have decided to give it to everyone on my favorite list. If I visited your blog and commented, then this award is for you 'cause I love you all. Each one has inspired me one way or another. :-)

My BIL and his wife, Annette, are expecting their first baby. Yesterday was the baby shower. I gave them the Pink Lemonade quilt along with Miss Milly... because.... IT'S A GIRL!!! They are expecting a Christmas baby... her due date is Dec.25th! Sorry the pix is so blurry...

Wednesday Randomness

2008-10-08T19:59:00.000-07:00

Well, so much for cool Fall weather. The last couple days had been too hot here in southern CA. When I picked up the kiddos from school yesterday, my car registered the outside temperature to be at 100 degrees. It is another warm day today, then it will cool down by the weekend in the low 70s... yeah... lol I sounded like a weatherman don't I?

My DD, Mandy, didn't have class till evening, so we went out to JoAnn's to get some ideas for Halloween costumes. We didn't stayed too long (had to pick up kiddos) and decided to come back this weekend for the Columbus Day sales. But.... I did managed to find a book on Mariner's Compass by Judy Mathieson.... used my 40% off coupon. :-)

Then, when we got home.... look what is in the mail... Bonnie Hunter's new book, Scraps & Shirtails: Reuse, Re-Purpose, Recycle! The Art of Quilting Green ... :-D

Two wonderful books to stir and to fill my brain with more wonderful quilts to make.

Also, I received a postcard from Brigitte yesterday but forgot to share ... thanking me for the Crazy BAg from Linda's Bag Swap.

Wow! What a great quilt and a great idea to print the photo onto postcard cardstock!

Things that I worked on today ....

Secret Santa Swap -

Since it a secret, I very well can't show you my project... but the project came from this magazine. Half-way done with this one... I really need to get a move on with this project. Deadline is November 1??

The Center Pinwheel -

Not something that I did today, but I worked on this for the last few days. It's the Center Pinwheel of Pinwheels and Posies BOM. This block is the last block of the series that was released last month. For this month, it's time to put everything together. I'm hoping to find sometimes this weekend to do that.

Calico Garden

I was distracted last night so only quilted one 9-patch. I'm hoping to get more done tonight. With that in mind, I'll end this post here.

Thank you everyone for the lovely comments on my CG. I'm putting this quilt on top of the list to get it done.... sew I must go off and quilt, quilt, quilt. :D

Calico Garden

2008-10-06T22:17:00.000-07:00

Do you watch Dancing with the Stars?

I do.... I L-O-V-E watching this show.

Usually, I don't watch a whole lot of TV, but when I do, I like to have some kinds of handwork on hands to work on. Well, I could hand piece those Dear Jane blocks that I haven't worked on forever ... which, incidentally, I am wayyyy behind than the rest of the DJ group.

Likewise, there is another project that I haven't touched forever.... my Calico Garden quilt. I am in the process of hand quilting this crib sized quilt. My goal at the beginning of the year was to finish this quilt, and here we are.... it's October.... I'm still not done. :-(

The pattern came from this book.... Enduring Grace, Quilts from the Shelburne Museum Collection. Calico Garden was made by Florence Peto in 1952.

My CG quilt top is hand appliqued and hand pieced. The appliqued blocks are tiny, 3" finished. The nine patches also finished at 3".

The quilt was started in October 2004; it took me a whole year to complete the top (see below). Then, it took me almost another year to work up the nerves to get it basted and started the quilting.

Unfortunately, I hurt my hand shortly after that, and the quilt ended up on the shelf.

I am determined to get this quilt done ... hopefully, by the end of this year or beginning of next year. Please do feel free to cheer me on, I think I need it. lol

By the way, I should mentioned that there is A LOT of quilting that goes on in this quilt. I have quilted around each appliques and the broderie persed swags. There are still the 1/2" cross hatchings in the background and 9-patches to do.
But.... OY VEY.... there are way too many seams to quilt through.

While watching Dancing With the Stars tonight, I quilted through 5 nine-patches. I'm looking forward to tomorrow night Result show and getting a few more patches done. :-)

This photo was taken after the top is done... no quilting on it yet.

Soup and Sandwiches

2008-10-05T22:17:00.000-07:00

Finally, there is a change in the weather! It feels like fall... if there's such thing here in California.

The last two evenings had been so cool that John and I actually got cold in the middle of the night. The whole house fan that John added at the beginning of summer is working like a charm.

When it's cold outside, then it's soup time! My family loves soup, and I love making soup for them.

When Sweetie Pie and I were at Sam's Club on Saturday, they had those taste stations as usual. At one of the station, they were passing out samples of soup and sandwich along with the recipes. Both of the soup (Sausage and Ravioli) and the sandwich (Grilled Panini) were delicious! Sweetie Pie even begged for a second sample. Of course, I picked up the ingredients to make them both.

Click on the pix to get the larger size if you like to see the recipes....

I made them tonight for dinner..... YUMMMMY!

Both of the recipes were a big hit with my family. They were real simple and quick to make. I forgot to buy the spinach for the soup, so I used extra pieces of asparagus from the sandwich instead.

Although our sandwiches don't look as pretty as in the recipe.... gotta remember not to walk away from the grill when grilling bread.... it's still yummy. :-)

A Sigh of Relief

2008-10-03T11:42:00.000-07:00

My mom was released from the hospital yesterday, and my sister and Dad brought her home. I just got off the phone with her. Mom is doing much better, in good spirit, and so happy to be home among her similar surroundings.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

I am home today with not much plans.... oh, there are a dozen of things that need my attentions like house cleaning, laundry, walk the dogs, etc... but I'm ignoring them all! I need to go grocery shopping also 'cause there are no food in the house, but I'm not doing that either! It's Friday... so I will let John be in charge of dinner..... pizza or Panda Express???? :-D

Soooo WHAT am I doing today.....

SEWING.......

.... got an early start this morning right after the kiddos went off to school.

Prepped and sewed some dolly body parts.... these will get turn inside out and stuff when I have more patience....

For now, I'm in the need to power sew....

a bunch of 2" strips sewn together.....

then, off to press... still in need of trimmings....

hmmm.... what will these be? :-)

Fun and Not-so-fun Weekend

2008-09-29T22:49:00.000-07:00

Today, Sweetie Pie officially turned 11 years old. The older kids had baked a couple of batches of cupcakes for her to take to school to share with her classmates.

We celebrated her birthday on Saturday with the family. Then, one of her friends stay for a sleepover.

My parents, sister and brother-in-law also came out along with their baby, James. I can't believe that he is already 6 months old. Time sure flies!

My DS and BIL are so blessed to have such a wonderful and good-natured baby. We enjoyed visiting with them all.

Gotta love that toothless smile!

Everyone had fun that day; unfortunately, the next day was not-so-fun.

My parents are elderly and my mom has a long history of health problems. One of those health problems is being a diabetic. Her blood sugar count skyrocketed that night and had to be hospitalized.

She was in the ER all day yesterday. They were able to bring her blood sugar level down but not down to a normal level. As it turned out, the prescribed medications she's been taking are way off for her. The medicines aren't working correctly and would raised her blood sugar level extremely high everytime she ate. She will require to stay in the hospital for a few more days so they can reassess her medications.

Mom is doing much better today. She hasn't been taking those medicines for the last 2 days, and already she is feeling like a different person. I will be taking my dad to visit her again tomorrow. Don't know when I will be able to post next time... so count this as a bloggy break.

Bag Swap

2008-09-25T22:40:00.000-07:00

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!!

Around this time of the year, I always wished that there were 36 hours in a day... with the extra 12 just for me to do things that I like such as quilting and blogging.

I've been wanting to get pictures and write up a post of my partner's bag to share with you since Monday... and here it is, Thursday night already!

The bag came all the way from Australia, and my swap partner is Nicole over at Down By The Creek. It's a lovely bag with not just one side of stitching, but two sides of stitching of Rosalie Quinlan patterns! The stitching designs made up the outside pockets, and the bag is in one of my favorite colors combination... pink and brown.

Nicole also made an extra very special gift for me...

it's a dachshund dolly! A-DOR-A-BLE!! I have named her Mindy. She has resided by my sewing machine and will keep me company and very happy as I sew. :-D

Thank you so much Nicole. I'm glad that you're my swap partner. :-)

**************************

The crazy quilt bag has arrived safely. My secret partner is Brigitte at Beadtex. Pop on over to her site.... she has made a post about it.

It's now after 11pm here... and so I must head off to bed.... have a good night everyone!

No Stitching Done

2008-09-21T07:26:00.000-07:00

Well... there's been no stitching around here because this is how I spent my nights lately......

That's right! John got the jacuzzi up and running since last week. We've been enjoying it.... including Suki! She loves water!

Although Yoshi loves to get a bath, he rather stays clear of the spa.... LOL

Peek-a-boo.... we see you....

I believe Suki is ready to get in again...

Have a great day everyone! You know where I'll be... LOL

Crazy Quilt Bag

2008-09-16T18:11:00.000-07:00

Here's the bag for Linda's Bag/Bucket Swap.

It is winging its way overseas to my partner, _ _ _ _ _ _ _. I hope she'll get it soon... I hope I'll get mine soon too. :-)

Third SA Project

2008-09-14T19:44:00.000-07:00

I'm done with the third Stitchers Angel project designed by Karen Gass at Cotton Spice blog.
I don't have any chenille on hands... so used quilting cotton instead...
... then had more fun with embroideries and embellishments... then, a couple of yo-yos and a bead on top... I'm done! :-D

Stitchers Angel Projects

2008-09-12T06:02:00.000-07:00

Dear bloggy friends,
Thank you for all the well wishes from yesterday. I'm feeling much better, finally! :-)

I even had a few laughs with the kids last night from their stories of the day. What will I do when they all grown and flown from the coop? ..... More quilting!... :-D

Here is Helen's armchair caddy done in country colors as per my secret Angel's request.

I had a lot of fun adding beads to Linda's bag swap that I couldn't resisted adding some here too.

:-)

This next one is designed by May Britt at Abyquilt... again, I couldn't resisted adding a few extra seed beads and embroidered the flowers (didn't have buttons) and a couple of butterflies.

These projects have been a pleasure to make.... I enjoyed stitching away every evening. The next project is a pincushion... I'm almost done and will show that soon.

Keep Stitching...

Hello, it's me...

2008-09-11T06:55:00.000-07:00

Goodness... has it been 12 days since my last post!

Sorry about that... I am in some kind of a funk lately... blamed it all on the hormones. Last week or so truly has been difficult... I've been on the emotional roller coaster ride for too long! And if it doesn't stop soon, I'm heading back to the dr. to get me some pills... so I can deal with this pre-menopause stuff and don't drive the family crazy with these yo-yo emotions. lol

It's a good thing that I have quiltings and stitchings to keep me sane. I have finished with Linda's bag swap and a couple of Stitchers Angel projects... will post about them soon.

Have a great day and keep stitching...
Rhonda

Star Struck Flimsy

2008-08-30T09:24:00.000-07:00

Yeah!!

I stayed up late last night just so I could get the border onto this Star Struck. It's so well worth it 'cause now I can call it a flimsy. :o)

I was afraid that I might not have enough leftover yellow and purple squares to do the piano key border, but as you can see, I do have enough and more. Those extras will go into piecing the back.

The weather this morning is a bit ugly... cloudy and humid.... so the snapshot is a bit dark. Click on the photo to see who's underneath...

It's our Suki Girl! She loves quilts and loves to have her picture taken... wether on top or bottom. lol ... and look at those feet. LOL

Have a great long weekend!

Star Struck and Old Tabacco Road

2008-08-28T05:49:00.000-07:00

I have finished with the embellishments on the crazy block for Linda's bag swap and should be working on the bag.... but... I need a little break from it. Plus, I haven't decided on a pattern for the bag... I'll probably make it up as I'll go along.... and that takes a bit of using the old noggle on my part....

Besides, I haven't touch my sewing machine for the last two weeks... I need a sewing fix! :D

I have this leaders/enders project that I've been working on for more than two years now. It's another Quiltville pattern, Star Struck. The fabrics came from swapping 5" squares with the Nickels Yahoo group. The subunits were done awhile back and sat on my desk staring at me all summer long. It is time to put these units into blocks then into a flimsy....

Onto to the border.... the plan is to use all of the leftover yellow and purple squares in the border..... something along the line of a piano keys.... and maybe a little bit of applique???.... We'll see.... :o)

The next Quiltville Mystery, Old Tabacco Road, is starting tomorrow. Am I doing this one? Probably yes.... but not until toward the end of October... I need to focus on completing all of my swap commitments first. In the mean time, I am looking forward to see everyone else's quilt.

Moving the Spa

2008-08-25T16:09:00.000-07:00

It's official... summer vacation is over! Today was the first day of school for Buddy and Sweetie Pie. Buddy is a Junior in high school and Sweetie Pie is a 5th grader... my my... how quickly they have grown!

I took this photo last Friday of my Sweetie Pie and Tiger taking a few winks on the couch. We worked on getting Sweetie Pie back on a school schedule last week, so she had been waking up early and going to bed earlier. By Friday night, she fell asleep wayyyy before bedtime... heehee, easy as pie... she's back on schedule... and Tiger couldn't resisted snuggling with her. Don't they look sweet? :-D

About the spa... our friends, John and Nina, who had moved to Arizona last year, gave us a GREAT DEAL on their jacuzzi... and all we had to do was to move it from their house to our house... good thing that their old house is just right around the corner. Knowing my hubby, the weekend was filled with plans on how to move an almost 1000lbs. spa. First, he rigged his old trailer to fit the spa on top. Then, disassembled the awning from the spa. You can see the dismantled awning leaning against the side of the house in this pic. He hired a few guys to help out.... except for one of them... the one without the hat... he's our friend, Ted. They were great help! Then back the whole thing through the RV parking area to our backyard. All that plannings paid off 'cause it was so quick and simple.... no hassle at all like I thought. The jacuzzi will stay atop the trailer while he'll preparing a site for it. Hmm... when will we get to enjoy it?

Knowing my John, we will be relaxing in it very soon. Thank you Nina & John for all the future fun and relaxations. :-D

I've been stitching away!

2008-08-22T15:16:00.000-07:00

Every chance I got, I've been stitching away on this crazy quilt block for Linda's bag swap. I'm almost done with it... only two little spots left to add embellishments. Then, I will work on making it into a bag.

I'm quite certain that my swap partner doesn't read my blog, but just in case, I'm only giving a few sneak peeks here and there.

These are the fabrics (left photo) that I

pulled this morning to use to make the bag.

It is my first attempt at crazy quilting, and I just love it... though, there's a lot of work and time involved in stitching. But that is just part of doing any kind of handiworks, I supposed.

Stay tuned for another sneak peek ... I'm hoping to get this swap done this weekend ... then onto Stitchers Angel.

Susan's Giveaway

2008-08-20T22:33:00.000-07:00

If you have been following my blog, you know that Susan, my SIL, is working on her first quilt and recently started a blog, Ape Over Quilting. Well, pop on over to her site to take a look at her first block... she did a wonderful job... way to go, Susan!! Wish we live closer... I'm in southern California, and she's in Washington... we could be having weekend sewing every weekend!

Not only did she just started her blog, Susan is also doing a giveaway already... can't wait to see what she has in mind. :-)

Susan asked for us to blog about our first quilt...

I started quilting back in 2001. My first quilt was a handquilted queen size purple/green/white Irish Chain. On and off, it took me about two years to complete that quilt because we were selling our house and moved at that time. However, like most of my beginning quilts back then, I didn't take any pics.

So the Irish Chain was the first quilt that I started, but it was not really the first one that I finished.

That doggy quilt in the photo is the first completely done quilt... top pieced and appliqued, machine quilted, and bound in a couple of months from start to finish. Before quilting life, I did a lot of cross stitches, so it was natural for me to design the dog on graph paper and sewn from a grid.

I forgot all about that quilt. It's for our little niece on John's side of the family. About a month ago, we stopped by John's sister and discovered that she still has the quilt... of course, I had to get a pic. Now, I have a photo to remind me of my earlier quilt. :-D

Running Here and There

2008-08-19T16:02:00.000-07:00

Appointments, appointments, appointments!! That's what I've been doing since last week... running from one appointment to the next one.... So glad to be home today. :-)

First, thank you everyone for the getting well wishes for Tabby. She is doing great and had the drainage tubes removed yesterday afternoon. Our vet said everthing looks good; I just need to take her back one more time for another checkup and the rest of the stitches still need to come out. I'm amazed at her resilient; she hasn't shown any stress or crankiness throughout this ordeal at all.

Isn't she so sweet? She doesn't like for me to take pics of her and was moving around too much for a good shot... It's a good thing Mandy's finger was around to help. tee hee

We kept Tabby in Mandy's room most of the time while she recovered... so the dogs were a bit excited and very curious to see her today.

Here, Yoshi Bear wanted to play and got too fresh for Tabby that she had to remind him she's still the eldest and boss in this family. lol

All that doxies silliness are too much for a recooperating cat! She followed me upstairs and jumped on my bed instead.

Tabby's favorite thing to do is sleep on piles of blankets... especially freshly laundered blankets and quilts. She's eyeing Buddy's raggedy jeans quilt that I made for him a few years back... but then decided to sleep in Mandy's room .... Probably doesn't want Mom to take pics of her anymore. lol

Speaking of Buddy, he had oral surgery yesterday to remove all 4 of his wisdom teeth. He did very well and on his way to a speedy recovery.

I was going to take some snapshots of him after surgery and post it here, but I figured that it wouldn't go over to well with him. lol

So here's a pic of him a few months back, after his braces came off ... one happy kid!

Poor Tabby!

2008-08-14T20:36:00.000-07:00

This is our oldest furry baby, Tabby. She is 8 years old and the most gentle and timid cat I know. Although she's an indoor cat, she has taken a fancy to the outside world lately. She loves to hang out in the backyard with the doxies. Perhaps I indulged in her fancy too much because...

One night last week, I woke up at 3am to let one of the doxie outside, and Tabby jumped out the door before I could stopped her. After 5 minutes of playing tease-n-chase with her... her teasing and I'm chasing, I decided that she's not ready to go back inside and that John could let her back in when he's up in an hour. I was not worried that she would leave the yard because she doesn't.

Well, the doxie and I went back to bed.... only to be awaken after 40 minutes by an awful howling noise. It only took me a couple seconds to realize that it was Tabby's. I was out of bed in a heartbeat and ran downstairs. John said that he's never seen me bolted out of bed and moved so quickly... he he... we can laugh about it now...

Anyway, Tabby was still crying when I got to the door. I opened the door; she flew in from the side of the house. Clearly, she was shaken by something because she ran upstairs and hid in my closet. John went outside, both front and back yards, to see what's out there but didn't see anything... except for the neighbors' dogs were barking... probably from Tabby's cry.

Things calmed down, and Tabby finally came out of the closet for me to take a closer look at her. Upon close inspection, I found a patch of hair missing and scratches on her back. So an appointment with the vet was in order. Her injury seemed superficial with a little bit of swelling and pus forming due to the sores. We walked away with medication for the infection and hopeful that she will not need surgery 'cause we caught it early. After a couple days with medication, Tabby is back to herself or so we thought...

Here we are a week later and a revisit to the vet. Tabby's swollenness didn't get bigger but it didn't go away neither and now needed surgery to drain the build up fluid.

As it turn out, her injury is a lot deeper than we thought including the doctor. Whatever that tried to get her had claws. We concluded that it must have been an owl because of the sizes of the scratch marks on her, we heard owl screeches before, and John had seen the actual owl.

Here she is after the surgery... shaved back and drain tubes. Those tubes and stitches will come out on Saturday or Monday.

Despite her discomfort, Tabby is a true trooper; she is still sweet and gentle as ever.

I think her outside escapades will end here though. But I'm concern that if an owl tried to pick up an 11+ lbs. cat, will it able to pick up the little doxies? :-[

Crazy Quilt Block

2008-08-06T10:58:00.000-07:00

This is for Linda's Bag/Bucket Swap.

It is my first attempt at crazy quilting. What do you think? It is rather plain. I'm hoping with a little stitchings and embellishments will add some sparkles.

Can't wait to work on it tonight! For now, I'm off to do a bit of school shopping.

Have a wonderful day!

Dryer String Series

2008-08-05T11:16:00.000-07:00

Still no sewing ... I've been cleaning and organizing my sewing corner after all the finishes from last week. So I thought I'll show you my Dryer Strings for the last two years and work-in-progress (WIP) ...

When I first discovered Quiltville, Bonnie's String Quilt pattern really interested me. About the same time, I heard from somewhere the many uses of those dryer sheets... it's not just for your laundry... it's for cleaning your iron, dusting, bug repellent, air fresheners, glass/mirror cleaner, thread detangler, etc. I'm sure that you probably could name a few uses of it yourself. But, my favorite use of all is to use the used dryer sheets for foundation piecing!

Also, at the same time, I was in a few fabric swaps to build up the varieties of fabrics in my stash. There were plenty of 'strings' after all the trimmings, and they started to overflow from my baskets. So this is where I merged it all together to make my first "dryer string quilt".

I started in 2006 and completed this quilt by Christmas 2006 for my nephew, Victor. The blocks are rectangular because the sheets are rectangular shapes. The blocks finished at 6"x9". I did the blocks as Bonnie's leaders/enders technique. It took about eight months for me to do all the blocks for this quilt and another two months to finish it up. I pieced leftover strings for the binding too. It is 1/2" binding, not the usual 1/4" binding, due to the thickness. It was a blast making these string blocks, not to mention that it was also mindless sewing. I like to do them when I need not to think but just power sew.... just pick up one string and sew to the foundation, then add another string, then another string, then another string...

The result is another strings flimsy, Hidden Stars. This one took from the beginning to the end of 2007. It is waiting to be quilt. I'm planning to put this on the quilting frame next once I have the back and binding prep. Also, not quite sure how I will quilt this one... any suggestions?? Maybe simple arcs from corner to corner?

Hmm... this photo was taken right after I finished with the top last year and is dark because I snapped the photo just as the sun was setting... will have to take another one.

Well, after I finished with Hidden Stars, I made it my personal challenge to make a quilt every year by recyling those dryer sheets. Less stuffs to fill up the landfill is a good thing ... not to mention, all of those skinny strings are used up.

The most recent and for 2008... (yeah, top done before the end of the year!) ... is Don't Throw It Out! Finished back in June... just didn't get a chance to post.

Since I had to buy new rulers for Bonnie's Carolina Crossroads (the quilt above in the banner), I might as well use the rulers for other quilts. The Companion ruler was used to make the blocks. Here's the quilt top...The funny thing about this quilt top is that while I was piecing the blocks for the last row, I ran out of dryer sheets! I couldn't believe that I actually ran out of sheets! Do you know how many loads of laundry a family of five need to do a week?!! A lot! But here I am with no dryer sheets, so I was constantly looking for a laundry load to do. As it turned out, the kiddos forgot to save them for me and have been throwing out the sheets when they do laundry. Then I was constantly reminding them to not throw it out, hence, the name Don't Throw It Out! :-)

This is the back side to show your those dryer sheets...

I have a couple more quilts dancing in my head for this series, but first, I need to do lots more loads of laundry... LOL