Batik blocks for swap

Here's another thing happening in the wee hours of the morning. I"ve been working on my swap blocks for my quilt group, these pretty batik ones.  They area all scrappy and when it's together it's going to just sparkle!  We trade a pile of them each month, so I keep plugging away, using up a bunc of scraps too!

 

Emma was helping one morning...

 hot chocolate and Emma, my ahhh moment of the day!

 

Do you think she needed some attention!

Boston Pops

What a great evening we had this last weekend!  My parents gave us tickets for our birthdays to join them at the Boston Pops!  It was an outdoor concert and so much fun!  We had great seats, right behind the dugout at Hohokam stadium, so we had a great elevated view of the stage! Our first time to see them live!It fell right on my sisters birthday and they had tickets so we all enjoyed it together, along with Jen and Nick.  Dinner before and off to the concert!

 Here was our view of the stage before it got dark, weather was wonderful to be outside and enjoy!

they had a magnificent fireworks display at the end.  Of course they ended with the 1812 overture and that started all with the fireworks going off at the cannon spots.  Then  a Sousa march and by then everyone was standing and cheering and the fireworks went on and on!  They played so many favorites and had a wonderful patriotic sing along.  1 1/2 hours of constant playing I don't know how the picalos had any mouth left to play the Sousa march at the end! It was great to learn more about the conductors over the year with the Boston Pops and be a part of a great American tradition!  They educated you between each piece and it was Very entertaining!  I think we stood with the crowd as much as sitting everyone just enjoyed it so much. If you ever get a chance to enjoy a Boston Pops concert it's well worth it. I hope we get to go again!

flowers

Heres another peek at some of the mess in my sewing room and what it's becoming!  These are the flowers that go with the baskets I showed you a bit back.  They are now done...20 of them.  And so I can start putting it all together one of these days.

 They will make the corner stones for the sashing around the baskets.  You'll have to stay tuned to see the finished thing ....Bramble Baskets 2014 ETC!!!!  Gonna be a fun class!

The Daddy doll

Just a kinda rough picture but so cute when you realize what it is!  Noah has a daddy doll!  What a great concept!  He plays with him and then Jamie said time for bed, get your daddy doll and off to bed he went, him and daddy!  So cute!  Great ideas are out there for coping with time apart!

Row by Row

Here's just a little peek of what I"m working on design days at work!  Next year we are doing a row by row and so I"ve gotten fabrics chosen and rows made for a few, Lisa is already cutting the kits as I organize it all for each row.  There is a row of baskets.... 

 A rw of mittens....aren't they cute!

 a row of cocoa cups!

 And I love the butterfly row! Thy go together so easily and have been so much fun!  more to come so stay tuned to hear about the fun at ETC for 2014!!!!

Sew N Go Sneak peek

Here's your little Sew N Go sneak peek for tomorrow's class at ETC!  I'm gonna get you girls all organized!  Everyone needs a notebook in their purse this time of year so here you go!  It'll make you smile even when your list is long!  Shopping, gifts, food, what are we taking to what party on what date!  You will have it all in your book!  And what about a gift for someone....

 Here's the inside...

 Here's the botton, I will pull out the beads and button bins and let you play away on top of your yoyo circle...

 And here's a sample of one not in Christmas, so see what you can do with your scraps and make some more....perfect stocking stuffer!

Noah had some playtime

Our little Noah came to play first thing this morning, was hoping to give Mommy a break but I don't know how much of a break she really got!  Gave Grammy an excuse to go buy some donuts...course he picked the sprinkled one and had fun playing in his jammies. We got to face time with his Daddy which was great, and time to play outside and with toys most of the time!  "people" and the big truck were the favorites!  Altho he had quite the conversation going on with the 2 sheep and the "person" in the baby bed.

 We packed him up then at noon and headed to Joes farm grill to join Jamie and her parents and Aunt for lunch, always fun!  Sent him home with a big sucker for the way, Jamie said it got him thru the last half hour of the drive and  he was going from the car seat to the tub without getting down!  ha!  Sure was fun!  ( see the truck even went to the Farm grill!)

Dinner out

We had such a nice dinner with Chris and MB on the weekend.  I had done the "ring" drop off and pick up to have them checked at Shane up in Scottsdale ( we team up ) so I needed to get MB's back to her so they had us over for steak on the patio!  Lovely kale salad, wine, steak on the grill, ahhhh it was so nice out too.

 And a pizza cookie for dessert!  That was fun! Bode helped me chop up the candy bars, there weren't quite as many tho as his little hands had one in the mouth every other time!

 Bode is getting so tall!

 And every picture of Brock that night was blurred.....he's definitely faster than the iPhone!

New House

Here's an update on our new house.  We took my parents out to see where it was on friday and walked in to this....awe the cabinets have arrived!  They were busy out front pouring the driveway and as of yesterday we have light fixtures too.  

 A couple days later and the cabinets are hung!  Something different for us in this house are white cabinets.  They have a pretty brown glaze.  That's the microwave/oven cabinet with the pantry off to the right.  Now we can go pick out a refrigerator since we have the size and our built in one is staying with this house.

 The island and bathrooms are this darker stain.  I have a feeling the tile crew will be in next.  Fun to see what's happening.  And the sorting and packing continues!

baskets

Here's a sneak peek of something going on in my sewing room!  These baskets have been my little happy spot lately.  There are 12 of them for an upcoming class in 2014.  

 Lots of fun, next are some flowers that go between them for cornerstone sashings!  stay tuned !

Celebrating Chris's birthday

We got to celebrate Chris's birthday this year with some fun.  On his actual day we got to play with Bode and Brock so these two could have a much deserved dinner out!

 Then on the weekend MB had us all over for pizza and a fun evening.

 Chris is showing me his frosted sugar cookie he snuck on his plate with his pizza.

  Then after Brock went to bed and the rest got settled into a movie we played this game, Ticket to Ride, such a fun game!  We all had a great time, happy birthday to Chris!

Butterfly Wonderland

We took my parents on an outing for their anniversary this year.  Butterfly Wonderland.  What a neat experience.

 So many butterflies from all over the world actually.  You watch a very neat movie that explains their lives and migration.  I really look at a butterflies totally different now knowing what and where they come from !

 You go out into the greenhouse type area and it's just amazing how many you see.  And yes they do land on you and hitch hike along!

 They loved Marcy's green shirt and she had a traveler with her most of the time!

 You can see how misty it is in there, I thought Mississippi was humid, oh my!  Nice lunch out and it was a fun day!  62 years of marriage, amazing isn't it!  We are so lucky to get to celebrate with them!

All Cut up

Here's  a little glimpse of what I"m featuring at All Cut Up at ETC on Wed.  It's a sweet little baby quilt out of one of our organic cotton lines. Great pattern using fat quarters and flew together!  A few fat quarters and a background and it was done in no time. You'll love getting this pattern.  Easy to enlarge to make a big quilt, one of those that would make a good guy quilt too since it's very geometric.  

Look at the cute little owls in the quilting...

Matches some of the prints in the fabric!  Come see what's going on!  ETC, demo at 11:00, might as well come and sew for the day as it's all included plus the pattern for your $5.

Sew N Go Sneak Peek for Tuesday

Here's our project for this week's Sew N Go at ETC.  A fun little door hanger for the holidays.  Ready for you to hang up in Dec. and leave up thru Jan!  Snowmen are so good for that.  You can hang it on a door know or hook, give it as a gift.  

We'll have some piecing to do. We'll be using our tube turners and doing some fun applique.  Cute little wool ball and jingle bell included!  

House news

Fun at Az Tile this week looking at the 3 granite slabs for our new house.  It was kind of hard to remember what we'd picked at their design center months ago, course it was about a 6 inch piece that you choose from.  But I was glad to see it in person now and know that I still liked it!  Very neutral tones. Light cabinets and some dark cabinets and dark floor so I think the lightness on the counters will be good.   There was more movement in the slabs then you see when you pick off such a small sample so I was glad to see that. I love seeing the beauty of the rock in that polished stone. Those are light reflections in those funky white spots in the upper right corner.   So one more step done.   Painting is happening now so that'll be fun to see when we go have a look see again.  

halloween

Fun time on Halloween this year! We started the day early taking bagels to Amy's house for b-fast with them, running A& G to school while Amy did preschool prep, then enjoying this great Halloween performance and parade by these darling kiddos.  So cute!  Ethan is clear to the right, that's Julie's little Brookelyn as the witch and there is Bode in the center.  They sang their little hearts out!  

I think everyone had a great Halloween.  Got this photo from Tucson of N. sleeping in his super hero costume!  

We had lots of errands and appts that day, but ended it with chili and cornbread at Chris and MB's. Then down to Amy's to trick or treat with those boys.  

 Amy's Aiden was a tank...

 Garrett was a tank

 Here is our Pirate!  AKA Bode

 Brock was a puppy dog

 Can you tell Amy's boys had fun with boxes and paint this year!

 And Ethan was Stitch from Lilo and Stitch.