New Mysteries, BOM, and More

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...

Star Struck and Old Tabacco Road

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.

OC Progress

Ahhh... look at those doxies getting comfy on my newly pieced Orange Crush center. :D
It was a slow progress, but it is done! After piecing the whole thing together, I noticed that I have a few of those 4-patches turned the wrong way. Oh well... no frogging stitches here! I'm planning to do the same border treatment as Bonnie's, so I'm off to do the borders.
TTFN!

Pink Lemonade Top

Our first weekend of summer vacation has been great. Saturday we had a quiet day because the kids had TOO MUCH fun from the previous day with their friends. They wanted to lounge around the house and not do much which was fine ... that meant more sewing time for meeee. :-) plus, John was on call for work so he was constantly on the compu.

Sunday was Father's Day so we made breakfast for John. Well, the kiddos made the breakfast and I cleaned up after them. I really don't care for cooking that much... only cooked out of necessities (he he)... and like it much better when someone else does the cooking... I'd prefered the cleaning up.

Then, for lunch, we headed over to my parents for my little niece's(5yrs) and nephew's (2yrs) birthdays and celebrating Father's Day also. Their birthdays are not on the same day...just close together so their parents decided that it's easier to celebrate both at the same times. There were a LOT food! Of course, I stuffed myself there and then brought even more food home... did I mentioned I don't like to cook? LOL

I wished that I had not forgotten the camera because my new baby nephew (almost 3 months old) was there. He's adorable! Ohh, how I missed my own babies!

We left later for home and made to our friends' house who live down the street from us for a BBQ and swimming. Same friends who had to cancel their previous BBQ due to rainy and cold weather a few weeks ago. Again, I stuffed myself. I guessed the whole point of the story is that I ate too much all day yesterday and will need to go on a diet soon because it's getting a bit difficult to button up my pants. *LOL*

Alright ... about that Pink Lemonade, my baby Orange Crush is now a flimsy!



I used more of those 2 inches strips and sewn 4-patches together in a row around the white border. Then added 4 inches of white border around that. Done!! Nice and simple! :o)

Summer has begun

It's official! As of 12:30pm yesterday, summer has begun at Doxies-Ranch. Sweetie Pie is now a fifth grader; Buddy is a junior... only two more years 'til graduation! And Mandy has a month off before her next quarter starts; then, the first year of college will be done.

Ah, where did the time go? The school year has flown by too quickly. I see the end of the school year as a big milestone for the kids. They brought home their yearbooks, and it's fun to look through them to see what the kids did during the school year. But for me, I always noticed how much they changed from little bright-eyed youngsters, to a bit older and more matured children as they are today. It always a bit sad for me to see the kids grow up so fast.

Well, when I'm feeling blue, I always head to my sewing corner.... the kiddos were with friends to kick-off their summer vacations. My machine was humming along all afternoon.

The results: Step 5 of the first the Orange Crush Mystery is finally finished, and my second OC mystery quilt, Pink Lemonade, Step 5 and 6 are done.

Yes! Pink Lemonade top is together. Since it a baby-sized and straight setting, I only have to do 7 Album blocks to fill in with the 8 Spinning Star blocks. Everything came together quickly.

That's Miles, Mandy's boyfriend, who is not camera shy at all... so he gladly volunteered to hold the top for a photo.

Later on, I played with the regular OC again and laid out all of the blocks. I really like how this mystery is turning out. Thanks again Bonnie for another great design!

I'm hoping to get this sew together this weekend or add the borders onto Pink Lemonade. Well, we'll see what mood I'm in this weekend ... Orange Crush or Pink Lemonade. :-D

BTW, another giveaway at

Embroidery Treasures. Serena is having one every Monday, so mark her site and check every week. But I hope I win; I know exactly what to do with that beautiful green FQs bundle!


And another giveaway, Lynette Anderson Designs is giving away some cute stitcheries patterns!

Oh, one more thing, I still haven't heard anything from the winner of my box bag giveaway. If I still don't hear anything by Sunday evening, I will do another drawing.

Have a great weekend!

Little Bits of Everything

The weather has been really wacky here in Southern California! Last weekend, we went from 105 degrees to around 65 degrees by Wednesday. On Thursday, we had thunderstorm, hail, fire, and tornados, yes! TORNADOS here in CA?! just about 10 miles from where we are.

Well, I'm glad that the storm came earlier than when they had predicted because on Saturday, we had to go to an event with Sweetie Pie's girl scouts troop. We started our day early with flag placements at the cementery for Memorial Day.

Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and ROTC troops volunteered to place flags and poppy flowers at various veteran gravesites. Afterward, we enjoyed a nice lunch given by the American Legion Club. And the girls who came to help, received a patch for their service.

A week ago, our good friends had invited us to come over for a BBQ and swimming after the flag placement event, but that was when we had summer weather, not spring weather! Our friends decided that it was better to wait for warmer weather to have their BBQ gathering. So instead, we opted for a movie and dinner out. We all went to see the new Indiana Jones movie. Who doesn't love Indy?! I thought the movie was good.

It's that time of the year again and things are getting a bit busier than normal around here, so I haven't had a whole lot of time to sew.... just 10 to 15 minutes here and there. I did managed to finish with Step 2 of OC Mystery!

I also got 16 of 30 blocks of Step 4 done.... Spinning Star.

Did you notice that I have changed my yardage colors? When I saw Bonnie's Spinning Star blocks, I've decided that I'm going to do Orange Crush afterall ... instead of Grape Crush that I've been saying all along. I love the red and black stars.

Here's what 16 blocks look like together.


This morning, with my cup of coffee in hand, I thought perhaps I'll catch up with some blog reading, but I didn't get to a whole lot of blogs at all except for the first one. That was Bonnie's blog; she has posted the next step of OC Mystery! Finally, we are going to get to use that orange fabrics, and I could not wait! Immediately, I headed to my sewing corner and started cutting up some squares. I was able to put together 3 Album blocks.

At first, I wasn't quite sure if I like the orange that I had picked out. So I got some of Step 4 and Step 5 up on the flannel board to look at. And you know what? I love it! I'm beginning to think that this mystery is even better than the last one!

From the look of Step 5, I think this quilt be set on point. Here are some of the blocks together. What do you think? Don't you just love it?

On the right, the blocks are set straight. And you know what? I love it too!

Remember my Pink Lemonade? I made 8 Spinning Star blocks. This quilt is all scrappy except for the background; it is a white tone-on-tone. I don't have any yardage in my 30's collection, so I used the same yellow and green in each star but different yellow and green for each block. Click on the photo to see it larger... maybe that will make more sense. I think I might set the Pink Lemonade in straight setting.... hmmm? Do you see the star forming in the straight setting and the X forming with those lights of those 4-patches? I love it! I can't wait to make up some of the Album blocks in 30's fabrics to see what they will look like together!

Well, I better get going... just got a call from John to meet him over at his brother's for a BBQ. Before I go though.....

I want to give you a sneak peak of what I found that I will use to make something for my little giveaway. If you haven't heard of my giveaway, go down to the post after this one to enter.

Also, check out Stacy's and Jo's blogs; they are having some great giveaways.

Have a wonderful Memorial Day!

BTW, my 100th post will be next Thursday. I will post my giveaway prizes... so see you then.

Sewing again! and Fondue

YES!! My sewing machine is back in working order! Thanks to a wonderful and handy DH. This man can fix anything.... he's a keeper! *lol*

I've been sewing up a storm over the weekend! I worked on the Orange Crush Mystery quilt and finished with step 3. Yeah, I cheated and went ahead with the next step before finishing with step 2. Is it just me or is step 2 seems to take forever to get done?



My favorite unit of step 3 is the unplanned one of a cat face peeking out!

At the beginning of the mystery quilt, I also pulled fabrics from my 30's collection to make a baby quilt called Pink Lemonade. I started sewing on this project too. This one should be quicker to complete each step ... smaller quilt = less blocks to do. Since it's still a mystery, I'm guessing as to how many blocks to do. One of the gal from QuiltvilleChat group suggested to cut the numbers to a quarter, so I'm going with that. When Bonnie reveals the mystery, I will adjust it accordingly. For now, Step 1=40 4-patches.

Fondue anyone?

Celebrating Mother's Day!

Since we spent half of the day in the RV driving back from the Colorado River last Sunday, John and the kiddos took me out to the Melting Pot for a belated Mother's Day dinner. It was yummy!

We started out with two different kinds of cheese fondue: Spinach Artichoke Cheese and Fiesta Cheese that the waiter mixed the ingredients and melted them in pots right at the table along with chips, veggies, bread, and apples to dip. These appertizers did not last long with my voracious group! *lol* Then I had a California salad with Walnut Rasberries dressing. It was delicious!

Of course, the entrees were delectable. We had two kinds of broth to cook the meats. seafood, and more veggies in. Yummm!!

For dessert: Flaming Turtle, Yin and Yang Chocolates! What is better than ending the meal with CHOCOLATES with fresh fruits and cakes for dipping! :-D

It's Friday!

As soon as the kiddos are out of school, we are heading out in our Greyhawk(RV) toward the Colorado River! We are staying here at the Echo Lodge Resort in Parker Dam (photo borrowed from their website). Doesn't it look inviting and relaxing? I'll be relaxing on the beach sipping my Pina Colada! *LOL*

I'll see you Monday! Have a wonderful Mother's Day weekend!!

BTW, Step 4 of OC Mystery is posted today! Ahhhhhh!!! Wish I have a machine to bring along so I can do some sewing!!! *VBS*

Lighthouse and Clue 1

There's not much going on here this weekend except for John needed to smog his truck for registration, shampooing the carpet, and the usual house chores. The older kids had things to do with friends. Sweetie Pie was invited to spend the night at a dear friend's home and swimming. Yes, swimming! Today, the temperature almost reached 100 degrees, just shied by 3 degrees. So no kids ... quiet house.

After a dry spell of no sewing for about a month due to life happenings, my friend, Cheryl, came by for our usual Thursday sewing morning. Poor Cheryl! Her allergies were acting up so bad that morning, but she managed to finish with her fused lighthouse. Good job, Cheryl!

For me, I finished with the first clue of Orange Crush Mystery the day before. All of 150 4-patches pinned in sets of 10 as Bonnie recommended to keep count of how many blocks were done.

The Recipient and OC

Dear Bloggy Friends,

Thank you so much for your help in choosing which photo to post to the QuiltvillChat group and your comments on the photos. By popular concensus, photo #1 is the chosen one. I'll post to the group in the morning. I have a whole day open for quilty things tomorrow. Yeah!

The recipient to this quilt is my DD#1, Mandy. It is only right that she receives this quilt since she's the one who had suggested the color combos. Plus, I've been a bad Mom..... everyone in the family got a quilt made by Mom... except for Mandy. So this is just for her.

It's not that I haven't thought of making her a quilt... it's because I taught her how to sew and quilt six years ago. She made two quilts with help and has two quilt tops that are waiting for me to quilt them. Mandy has been patiently waiting for her quilts to be done for five years now. Poor girl... is my guilty conscious showing? *LOL * Boy, sure glad that she has her own quilt now and to get that guilt monkey off my back! Oh wait, I still have to do those other two... guilt monkey is back on. *LOL*

Now that I can crossed Carolina Crossroads quilt off my list, I am starting Orange Crush or should I said Grape Crush. I have some of those 4-patches done for step 1... but still have a lot more to go. Step 2 was posted last week. You know what I'll be doing tomorrow.

Photo is the yardages pulled for OC Grape Crush.

CC = Complete (part 2)

Hello, did you catch the first part of this from last night? Just scroll down, it's right after this post.

Yesterday, we went outside to get a photo of my Carolina Crossroads quilt with the help of those doxies. Let me tell you, it was no easy task getting photos with two little dogs and a little girl playing, jumping on and hiding under the quilt. We took quite a few shots of the quilt, but there are only two that I think that I might be able to use. I can't decide which one to post to the QuiltvilleChat group. Won't you help me?



Photo 1 - Serious

Photo 2 - Funny

CC = Complete

YES!! My Carolina Crossroads Mystery Quilt is finally finished!!

I needed to get a photo of the quilt with me in it to post to Quiltvillechat Group, so we went outside to the backyard to take the pics in the natural sunlight. Ohh... it was a fun photo session! There's nothing more exciting for those little doxies than laying out a finished quilt. The session went something like this.....


Look! Mom is putting out her quilt! Let's go jump on it!We're tired of playing on the quilt... let's play soccer...get that ball ... get that ball ...
It's mine! It's mine!!Mine turn to kick the ball...Ha... forget the ball! I found something... is it a bug?Forget the bug! Mom turned the quilt over ... let's jump on it again!Now... it's nap time.... zzzzzzz.....Tiger wonders what's all the fuss...Stay tuned... tomorrow I'll post the photo of me and the quilt.

Pink Lemonade

After the post from yesterday, I went to my stash in search of fabrics for the Strawberry Crush Quilt. Well, No-Can-Do on that red quilt. Eventhough I love orange, red is really my favorite color, but somehow there are only 5, yes, f-i-v-e different red less than 1/2yd. each of it in my bin. On top of that, none of them has that strawberry red I was looking for. Oh well... moving on.
While I was there, I started to think about what Bonnie had wrote about this Orange Crust quilt leading us into summer and the "dreamsicle" treat. It got me thinking about what other favorite drinks that my family and I enjoy on a hot summer day ... PINK LEMONADE! We always kept a pitcher in the fridge during the summer months. The kiddos went through gallons of it especially on hot days.

So a new color selection was pulled from my 30's collection ... pink, yellow, green for main colors, and lavender for accent. The fabrics on the left are for scrappy darks, and I'm going with one Tone-on-Tone (TOT) white for light.

My plan is to make a baby quilt from this selection.

Talk about baby, take a look at MY baby...

Is it just me ... or is she adorable?