Terry and her Crazy Life

Thornberry quilt meeting in Feb.

2012-02-13T19:55:00.000-07:00

Lorene hosted our Thornberry quilt meeting in Feb. and we had a great time. Sue brought this beauty that she finished, it was her 2nd quilt she's made of our itty bitty tiny teeny 9 patches that we made...that we squared up to 2 inches. It's darling. But I havn't even made one yet...ho hum I have this huge bag of these crazy things, one of these days!.....

We had a fun lunch of the best tomato soup I've ever eaten, Lorene is going to post the recipe soon, lots of other yummies, everyone was into dippy things this time...it's always amazing what we end up with our little potlucks!

This cute little wool piece that Lorene did too.

And a few have made some of their 375 houses....one a day....aren't they darling and they are tiny, blue sky, yellow window, a few things consistant.....I did print the paper pieced pattern.....sigh....

And here are the yummy cupcakes that Lorene made us...she has this cupcake thing going, these tasted like a payday candy bar......ummmmm....

Oh and she showed me how to do a button bracelet, that was fun!

Charming Pinwheels

2012-02-12T19:48:00.000-07:00

Here is the sample going up at ETC. of my next Beyond Basics class called Charming Pinwheels. It's our intermediate level class that I'll teach in a 3 week series in March and then again in April. Lots of fun things to learn in this one including pinwheels, the raw edge applique, how to make a pieced border fit and then the border has scallops and a bias binding. Lots of fun! This ended up being such a happy quilt!

Around the world ....to Italy

2012-02-12T04:30:00.000-07:00

So it's been a couple months since we went on our "food quest" and this week we went to "Italy"!!!!! Ahhhhhh I can do that! I was so excited, if you follow you know about this food quest so here we are at Rigatoni's in Tempe and look at this lucious meal....compared to Ethiopian, this wins hands down! Yum and I even have lunch for tomorrow!

So here are these two dragging me around the world! Sarah and Denise! Thanks for the fun evening girls! I'm hearing Puerto Rican or Cuban is in my near future!

Heart Table Runner

2012-02-11T04:30:00.000-07:00

Here is our heart table runner from sew and go this week. We had 29 gals come and make it, they all came out so cute! Such a fun easy project and everyone enjoyed the happy fabrics.

We've got to cut more kits as we sold so many extras for next week. If you missed it, we'll be doing it again next tuesday at ETC. They sure did come out cute!

Buggy Barn Bunnies Class

2012-02-10T04:30:00.000-07:00

We taught our Buggy Barn Bunnies class last week at ETC. and had 14 people come to make it.
Such a cute quilt!

It was fun to see everyone's choice of fabrics and how cute all the bunnies were turning out!

We had requests for the santas in the same book so we'll have to see what those look like to do for summer. We do try and do one buggy barn class every 4 months.

Everyone got quite a few done...

This was the easiest Buggy Barn class we have done.

Monica got hers put together even!

Here's mine, I guess it'll get to hop on home with me now!

All Cut Up

2012-02-09T04:30:00.002-07:00

We had our All Cut Up demo yesterday at ETC. and had a great turnout! I was finding chairs for more people and if you've been to the big classroom you'll know that's a bunch. 34 came and enjoyed the project demo. This is mine, I made the blocks into a baby quilt instead of the table runner, in fact I made another row and it's on the back. It just flew together, a great project. If you missed it we'll have the patterns and charm packs we used for the table runner out for sale. On to plans for the next one for next month...I think a jelly roll is next! It's always the 2nd wed. of each month, we even had show and tell from people making last months project, was that ever cool to see, Barb and I get such a kick out of seeing people do these projects.

All Cut Up

2012-02-08T04:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, here is your big "leak"! Today is our All Cut Up demo at ETC. This is the class that started in Jan. for the first time, we prepped layer cakes and made a quilt and pillow and it was s HUGE success, the layer cakes ( all gazillion of them ) are almost gone and everyone has loved the project. So here is the one we are doing today, it's this darling springtime table runner with a scalloped edge made from charm squares. Remember this is a demo showing people all kinds of ideas of things to do with your precuts that you buy. I think everyone will love this and I'll show you my version another time. I made mine into a baby quilt. This demo is such a deal, $2.50, you get the pattern and then the $2.50 is refunded back to you with a purchase. So the coupons are printed, the emails are flying back and forth between Barb and I getting the pattern ready to print, the same charm squares we used on this are ready to go, so we'll see you today at ETC at 11:00. I'll show you more photo's and my version tomorrow.

Finished UFO quilt

2012-02-07T04:30:00.000-07:00

I finished another UFO quilt from last year, a nice size fall quilt that was actually one of our Jelly roll race quilts we did while trying to figure out the class. It started with a fall jelly roll and now I"ve got a neat quilt! yea it's done. I can put it on my UFO list for my quilt group! It didn't make it for last fall but I'll be ready for 2012!

Fun Day with Bode!

2012-02-06T04:30:00.001-07:00

What a fun Saturday we had with Bode! Chris was having a Daddy weekend while MB got to go away for some girl time so we headed to the zoo with Bode and Chris.

What fun, the same tractor his Daddy played on! We saw a few animals but mostly had fun watching Bode wander around checking out all the fun things you can play on at the zoo!

He really liked the "moo"!

And he enjoyed the goats! We had a great view of the elephant and the giant tortoise. By lunch we headed home so he could have a nap.

In the afternoon we met at Home Depot for a fun adventure of "sandbox building"!

Bode and I kept each other busy so the guys could build him a sandbaox in his back yard!

He was right in the middle of it with his tools and helping carry screws. He loves being around all that.

We packed up his tools in the wagon and went for a long walk around the neighborhood.

We got back just in time to do more building! The sand box was looking pretty good by the time it was getting dark!

Valentine runner for Sew and Go

2012-02-05T04:30:00.000-07:00

Here is my sample for our Sew and Go this next Tuesday and the one after that ( 14th) It's a valentine table runner and a very nice size for a Sew and Go Project! Course these are fabrics from my sewing room but Lisa is busy cutting all the cute Valentines fabrics we have at ETC. and making cute kits. This pattern even will include a place mat size! Come join the fun! 1st and 2nd Tuesday in Feb. at ETC. $18.00, what a deal!

Jelly roll race!

2012-02-04T04:30:00.000-07:00

We had our jelly roll race at ETC. what fun we all had! We of course have already done the pattern that is all over the internet and the one that all the local shops are now doing, we did that one last fall so we did a race with a new idea! What fun, we wrote up this pattern and everyone had a blast! Our winner Julie got hers done in 2 hours and 29 minutes. Not bad for a quilt top!

Ginger got hers done just a few minutes later, wow, it's amazing if you have to get something done fast, you really can do it!

We had about an hour of prep time for everyone to get some additional cutting done of their jelly roll and have a snack and then the race began! Phyllis just zoomed with hers!

Talk about alot of fun to see 21 women all intent with their pedals to the floor! It was awesome! If you missed it our sample quilt will be up at ETC. along with a few of the jelly rolls left that this was made from, also the patterns so you can find them there. And we'll have another race come summer so don't miss that one!

Bode in Papa's trailer

2012-02-03T04:30:00.000-07:00

I just had to show you these cute little action shots of Bode.

We got to go help Chris and MB get some furniture picked up for Bode's next room that they bought from some friends. So Papa had the trailer and this was Bode's first time of ahhhhh what is that and what is in there and I wanna be in there! It was so cute, several times up and down the ramp and what a fun place to be... inside Papa's trailer! ...well at least one of them...those that you know Ken and his "trailer collection"!

Every little guys dream to get to be around "guy stuff" and Papa has alot of that! What fun to get to run around in a trailer!

Intro to Mystery quilts class

2012-02-02T04:30:00.001-07:00

We had our intro to mystery quilts class last week and had such a great turn out of people to make our project! Of course they had no idea what it would be, they were to choose fabrics by value...lightness and darkness.

They made this great linked table runner and everyone's came out so pretty.

I didn't get photo's of everyones, as we had a full class but each was so pretty...

And alot of fun for the students to realize they could do a mystery and such a neat value lesson in choosing fabrics and why they do work the way they do!

They all came out so great!

Here is mine that I made, I just love it and can't wait to bring it home to use. Watch for our next mystery project this summer at ETC!

Sew and Go Again

2012-02-01T04:00:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed our Sew and Go Again class this week, our night time class made this cute little clutch purse, they all came out so cute!

And so nicely finished on the inside!

And Carol and Grace made 2 while they were at it! It was nice to see so many return and a few new ones too! We offer our night version of Sew and Go once a month, the last wed. of each month, you never know what fun project we'll have you make!

Ready Set Sew Race - Window Box Quilt

2012-01-31T10:00:00.000-07:00

Here is the finished quilt from our Ready Set Sew Race at ETC. A pattern Barb is busily printing at her house we named" Window Box". The race is scheduled for today so it'll be fun for everyone to get theirs done! Everyone gets the fabric with the class, plus the ruler they'll need. Students have a bit of prep, time then for a potty break, snack, wind bobbins and then the race begins!!!! Barb and I will keep them running those machines at high speed! So if you hear the music beginning sounds from the Kentucky Derby today around 11:30 you'll know the race has started! We have over 20 people coming! The winner gets hers machine quilted for 1st place! and we have a booby prize for last place ( actually a very nice prize!) and then a prize for who finishes theirs closest to some random time on the clock we pick. This quilt is darling so I think they'll all be happy with theirs and to think you can get this done in just a couple hours!! These races are so fun so if you missed this one watch for one this summer....yep it'll be a totally different quilt! And if you'd like the pattern we'll have it for sale at ETC. after it debuts at "the race"! I'm not promising the jelly rolls will be left as last time quite a few extra's went out the door, but it sure is one happy quilt!

Curacao Clutch

2012-01-31T04:30:00.000-07:00

So I just had to show you this Cuteness! Another pattern on it's way the Curacao Clutch... and another Sew and Go project for March...(the first or second tuesday!!) Isn't this fun!

( Curacao pronounced Curaso is an itty bitty Caribbean Island)

So I just couldn't stand it so don't tell Barb I leaked this....this early! Lots of cute fabrics in the kits all cut to match the cute ball tops, they are so fun to make! I just want all my favorite people to get the chance to make one at Sew and Go since I think this class will fill up! We can only have so many because of the cute ball tops....which you can't find in any retail store around! So if you want to make one be sure and sign up, and if you want to make 2 better sign up twice or come the second week as we won't be having extra kits I don't think. So here it is, our cute little clutch...shhhhhh don't tell BARB!

Aiden's 8th Birthday party

2012-01-30T04:30:00.000-07:00

We got to enjoy Aiden's 8th birthday party celebration this weekend!

I can't believe he's 8 already!

We were invited to Peter Piper Pizza and had a great time, the boys love it there!

He liked his quilt and said Grammy did you make this? I think he was a little embarrassed tho to look at it spread out, so I'm sure he'll open it up at home and look at it. One of these days he'll start finding his name stitched in the quilting all over it!

He got a radio so loved his new CD to play with it.

How cute was the money all taped together...

Birthday cake...

sure was fun to celebrate you turning 8 years old Aiden!

I got this cute photo on my phone the morning after his party saying he slept with his quilt, was already cuddled up with it the next morning and Yep, he'd found one of the "Aiden's" I'd quilted into it. Some of them are hard to find so it'll be fun for him to find one here and there! Looks like the matching pillowcase that everything was wrapped in is getting used too! Happy cuddles to my 8 year old!

Aiden's quilt

2012-01-29T04:30:00.000-07:00

Aiden's quilt is done and ready for the party! Here it is, it's twin size and BRIGHT ! I loved how the big A came out on it. He'd asked me months ago if I'd make him a quilt so I got it done for his 8th birthday. If you follow along you'll recognize this pattern as the one we wrote up for the All Cut Up class at ETC. It was lots of fun to do. Especially when you have someone so special to make it for!

There are lots of "a-i-d-e-n" 's quilted into it so now he can hunt for them! I hope he has fun with his quilt!

Happy Birthday Aiden!

2012-01-28T04:00:00.000-07:00

Today Aiden turns 8 years old! how did that happen!

Just how did you get so big little buddy!

I've loved having you in my life the last 8 years! I can't wait to celebrate with you at your party today!

Merry Go Round Quilt

2012-01-27T07:32:00.000-07:00

My 3 week series at ETC. of Beyond Basics ended yesterday/last night. Everyone did so great. They made some great progress and we spent half the class this week doing a bias binding so they'd all could get it made. Here are a few quick photo's to see the fabrics, they are all going to be so pretty. I missed one of Alisson, her's is just like mine. Here is Jills, she was in the night time class...she had alot done when she left, just a few more rows and it's done. ( sorry for the rough photo's, my camera is acting up again.....booo....:-( )

Tammy's is this pretty soft blue for her coworkers new grandbaby...a surprise!

Julie had this pretty one almost done...

Jessica had a bright set that was so pretty...

Julie in the morning had reds, pinks and black and white...

Here is Marti's, its the new urban cowgirl line and so pretty...

And here is the Merry Go Round quilt of mine that is hanging in the classroom. Teaching it again starting up next week if you missed it, morning and evening. It's lots of fun with a jelly roll! And not very hard!

Sew and Go pillow

2012-01-27T04:30:00.000-07:00

We had another big class this week of Sew and Go at ETC. Everyone lived thru our pillow project again! This was the second go around with this project, we didn't kill anyone off, but they thought we might in the process! There was a lot to learn, the pretty braided front, a nice and neat zipper closure in the back and the mitered flange...that was the killer!

But they all did it! And they admitted they learned a ton and whew, they finished. Moving on to something easy next week. We knew after the first week of this project it was going to be "fun", but there sure were alot of pretty pillows going home. Wait until you see next weeks project! I'll try and post a photo soon, shhhh just don't tell, you will love it tho! It has to do with Valentines and it's a neat big project!

Ramblings...on a homeless quilt...until tonight...

2012-01-25T04:30:00.000-07:00

I make alot of quilts...some are big, some are little...this one was big...some of them have a purpose from start to finish....I have someone in mind to make them for...I choose the fabrics, make the quilt all the while knowing who it's for....this quilt has always been sort of homeless until tonight...I loved making it.... it was for a class at ETC... The quilt was fun to make, it was for a mystery class we taught.... It had some great intricate piecing and I loved making it....I choose the fabrics because they were so pretty....the class was lots of fun to teach, we had fun and everyone enjoyed it... but it has hung on the wall there since the class ended....just filling a space, it looked very pretty,but it was there since it really didn't have a home yet.....until tonight.....my coworker friend came asking me before my class what do I do, I have a memory book I made for my friends, they gave me photos, for their little 18 month old baby....how do I give it to them, how do I wrap it, it's done, the funeral is in 2 days, I have to give it to them tomorrow, how do I wrap it, what do I do?????? Ding goes the bell....off to the register she runs....I turn around to teach my class....How would you wrap up this gift showing their sons life to be displayed at his funeral, this gift for these parents burying their son.....of course a quilter right away thinks, Jamie you have to wrap it in a quilt...how is she going to whip up a quilt overnight to wrap this tribute book in...we are both at work until 9PM what else can she do... and there it is, up on the wall, the quilt with no home....So after class, Ken is vacuuming for me, we are putting things away, I take it off the wall and now it has a home and now I know really why I made it....I hope it brings comfort...

Twister Class

2012-01-24T04:30:00.000-07:00

I hung a new sample at Scrapbooks for our Twister class. Yep Twister just keeps on Twisting. Louise and I have taught this quite a few times, still having requests so I shook it up a bit and came up with this one! We'll be teaching the original twister in any size you like and you'll get the pattern for placemats and the cutting sizes for this one too....March 29 at ETC. Wonder who this one is for?????? :-) These twisters are so much fun to do you can't help but make another one!

All my Boys!

2012-01-22T21:26:00.000-07:00

I got to catch up with all my "little boys" this weekend. Ken and I had a great time! Bode came over on saturday afternoon, we played outside for the longest time, he just was so happy in the sand box. We finally did some swinging and sitting at the picnic table and then wandered around a bit.

We came in and had dinner and a bath and enjoyed watching this little cutie! He's talking so much now and will repeat anything you ask him to say.

Sunday morning we had a "park date" with Garrett and Aiden and Ethan.

We started at the Riparian by our house and had great fun hiking around and running around on the features there.

We went to subway next and got sandwiches to take across the street to the lake and had a picnic, walked to the toys and had a great time. Our little ice cream shop wasn't open so we went to McDonalds to get a little treat before they headed home.

Our last catch up had to be electronic, but here is Noah showing us his new jumper! He looked like he was ready to parachute and jump away he did! I can start the week now that I got a little boy fix!

Sew Sampler class

2012-01-21T04:30:00.001-07:00

We got things organized for our next Sew Sampler coming up at ETC on Feb. 18th. It's a fun little intro class on a saturday for people to come and make 3 quick little things, this time we are doing a wrist pincushion, a little coin purse and a little basket/box to hold all kinds of goodies. I'd like to make some of those for my kitchen to put silverware in when we are having a party! I think the little coin purse would make a great gift with a gift card inside! We have 2 times, one is at 10 and the other at 1:00. Lots of fun....we gotta get kits cut, the fabrics were all so cute! We can only take 30 in each class tho so don't wait to sign up!

pretty quilts at Thornberries

2012-01-20T04:30:00.001-07:00

I didn't get to show you all the pretty quilts that came to our quilt meeting. Barb hosted us at her clubhouse work room so we had a great day sewing together and a wonderful lunch...soup and salads we all brought! Here is Sue's batik quilt, it's finished and on to live at her son's house, it's just beautiful as it sparkles. I took close ups so you'll probably see it on my blog header. I loved this quilt and think I might have one to make in my future!

Here is one Louise finished up, this one was flannel.

Barb finished up this one, it was so pretty.

And here is Lorene with a finished witch stitchery she did. We had a great time visiting and catching up after the holidays.

Ready Set Sew Class

2012-01-19T04:00:00.000-07:00

I spent my day playing with these pretty fabrics at work. Prepping for our coming Class on Jan. 31 called Ready Set Sew! It's our next Jelly Roll Race! We did one last quarter and every one loved it! We had a great turn out and everyone had fun racing to see who could get their top finished first...it really is a race. We do some prep for a while, then after everyone takes a break, has a snack, potties and winds bobbins we are ready for the race to start. Barb found the starting music for the Kentucky Derby so we borrow that and away we go...machines going top speed. The last race took under an hour and one gal had her top done and the winner gets their top machine quilted! This time it's a totally different pattern , still uses a jelly roll but it ends up being a totally different quilt. Soooo if you need a quilt top done fast, do charity quilts, hubby comes home requesting a gift next week for work, a baby shower invitation comes late....this is for you! Jan. 31st 10:30-3:00 price includes these same fabrics for your top! It'll be lots of fun, there are still a few spots left so don't miss out on it!

Sew and Go

2012-01-18T04:30:00.000-07:00

Here is our Sew and Go project this week. Lots to learn on this project!

We had lots of ladies in to make one.

They learned how to do the braid design on the front, how to do the mitered corners and we again did the neat zipper closure in the back. Such a neat way to finish off a pillow. Karen with her finished one...

Julie with hers, several other styles of fabric that I didn't get photo's of.

And Karen with hers. If you missed it, we'll be teaching this same project next tuesday at ETC. Gosh for $18.00 you even get the pillow form, what a deal!

Sew and Go Again for Jan.

2012-01-17T05:00:00.000-07:00

Here is the samples we have at Scrapbooks for our Sew and Go Again Class. This is our once a month Night time Sew and Go class. We have these darling little clutch bags for you to make! They have the cute bow on the outside. Lisa has been magically cutting kits so we are all ready for you!

Such a fun project! See you there!

Jeremy's whirlwind trip to AZ

2012-01-15T04:00:00.000-07:00

Jeremy's been home for 5 days for a fun whirlwind trip to Arizona! They had a skiing trip planned, he, Chris and Chris. So we filled every little thing we could into the 3 1/2 days we had. He was very busy zipping back and forth to see Grandparents and get to everyone's house. We planned our Christmas dinner the night after he got here so here he is helping me prep 2 prime ribs for 19 adults and 6 kids. It was so nice for being a monday night, everyone took time to come and enjoy another family gathering. He even got to open his christmas presents!

Chris and Bode

Jeremy pushing Ethan on the swing....Can you tell Uncle Jeremy gives pretty good rides!

Here's my sister admiring her grandson Landon... It was great for the cousins to all get to see each other. and for Jeremy to meet all the little bitty cousins.I look back at the week and am amazed at what we got to do, alot of eating, a night out for pizza, someburros lunch with all our kids in one spot! Oreganos..yum! While Ken and I were at work Jeremy had time to zip around to spend a few hours with Grandparents ...

This afternoon while the guys were heading home from skiing my phone started beeping as I was getting photo after photo, they stopped in Heber at our old cabin in the woods. What fun they had tromping around in all their favorite places on the acreage we owned to see all the sites for the many tree houses they built together. They said the cabin looked great yet and I think it was a great time for reminiscing! Even seeing nails in trees that they had pounded 20 years ago building tree house after tree house!

Another crazy trip home but I know Jamie and Noah are ready for him to be back in Mississippi, sure was alot of fun!

Sun Lakes demo/trunk show

2012-01-14T04:00:00.000-07:00

Well my crazy week continued, I tried to snap a couple photo's of our demo at Sun Lakes. Couldn't really do it and take photo's so I just took a few when we got there. Lots of ladies all milling around waiting for their meeting to get underway. I think there had to end up being 100-150 ladies all in attendance. They did their usual meeting things and then called Marti up to introduce the store and tell everyone about what ETC. is all about. Then she introduced Barb and I. Barb did a great job keeping them all engaged, they seemed very interested and had alot of questions. We had a few raffle prizes to hand out so 3 ladies won gift cards to ETC. so I hope they have fun shopping or taking a class!

We had lots and lots to show them of the classes we teach, we passed around alot of our samples and then did the demo on our Slice of Bali pattern that we did for the All Cut Up class. We had done the demo at the store that morning for 28 gals that showed up. It was the beginning of something new for ETC. and it was great to see that many show up to see what we had going! They all seemed to love seeing something fun to do with a 10 inch square, had lots of questions and loved seeing our project quilt and pillow. What a great way to Sew them together and chop them up and sew them back together, it was lots of fun. I hope we see some other quilts being made from the pattern! Several all came prepared with their sewing machines and stayed to start their own project, we had to leave really fast after our demo ended tho to get to Sun Lakes in time so it'll be fun to see them all come in! All Cut Up happens again next month, we'll be playing with 5 inch squares so you never know what we'll have up our sleeves!

Little Grandboys

2012-01-13T04:00:00.000-07:00

Here's a few more cute photo's of my 2 littlest grand-boys I didn't get to post yet. One day after Christmas I got to keep Noah for the afternoon while Jamie had some time off with her sister and family so of course we spent some time on a Christmas Quilt under the Christmas Tree....

I got him here right before he rolled over! He's got his new pants on his Mommy found, big enough in the waste so he can sit comfortably....but way to long. Noah we'll miss all that cute baby fat when you start running around and it disappears! Such a cutie you are Noah!

That same day in the morning Bode came to play with me too. He has such fun outside now, loves wandering around checking things out! Such a grin Bode! You are loved!

Martinique Bag Class at ETC.

2012-01-12T04:30:00.000-07:00

Barb and I taught our Martinique Bag pattern last week at ETC. We had 11 come to class to make it! Here is Denise's

And Marti's, you should see the inside of hers, black and hot pink polka dots, it was the cutest thing!

Julie with hers! She said her friend at home in Ireland always checks to see what she's making on here so I'm glad she's found the link to see what fun we get in to!

And Kathy's! Several more I didn't get to photograph and a few still have handles to get on but they'll all be such fun bags! And of course we've tweaked the pattern here and there so it was great to have so many come and make our bag!

Bruce and Vickie

2012-01-11T04:00:00.000-07:00

Ken and I enjoyed a fun Sunday with Bruce and Vickie ( these are Jamie's parents) We met at Joes Farm Grill for a wonderful lunch outside in this fantastic weather! Then followed them out to see their new home under construction! It's going to be so wonderful, can't wait to see it finished! It's only about 15 minutes from our house so it'll be nice to have them on this side of the valley. I can tell it'll be a wonderful home for them!

Slice of Bali.... All Cut Up

2012-01-10T04:30:00.001-07:00

Here's this sneak peek at what our All Cut Up project is for Jan. Barb and I will be doing our All Cut Up class this week and here is the finished sample. I brought it home to bind and have just loved looking at the georgous batiks in it. The premise of this class is to give a demo to inspire on what the heck do you do with the precuts available on the market. This months project will use a layer cake...10 inch squares of fabric packaged with 1 of each of 40 different fabrics. We made ours out of this assortment of batiks that will be available after the class. We have the pattern written, and Barb came up with the great name for it as Slice of Bali. This is such a fun block to do you will just love it and it hardly takes any cutting, you sew a bit and slice it up. So come and join us on Wed. and see what you think!

A fast and fun way to build a quilt that looks hard but isn't! For $2.50 you get the pattern, you get to listen and see how to make these fun blocks and then your $2.50 is applied to your purchase that day so how can you go wrong! If you make quilts for donation or need one done fast, this one is for you! I have one started at my house that I"ll show you soon, it's twin size and bright and fun!

So wish us luck as after we demo this at ETC. we are heading to Sunlakes to do a demo of this and trunk show to inspire all those ladies down there. I hear their group has between 100 and 200 members, yikes! It'll be fun tho to show them all our Fun classes and Sew and Go projects. Marti and Julie from ETC will head down early to set up and take product down to sell and Barb and I will get there after the ETC. class. Just a little organization and coordination going on to pull it off! Wow how fun to get to share all the fun things we come up with for all the ladies at Sun Lakes! Next month All Cut Up will be featuring what to do with 5 inch charm squares!

3 little boys come over to play...

2012-01-09T04:00:00.001-07:00

My 3 little guys came by for an afternoon during their Christmas break. We had fun picking grapefruit and oranges in the yard...

Aiden with his new cub scout hat on... he's going to have a birthday this month....8 years old, oh my!

Here's Ethan and Garrett...can you tell we had chocolate frosted donuts...with sprinkles!

Welcome Home Jeremy

2012-01-08T18:57:00.004-07:00

Soooo Excited! Jeremy is on his way here as we speak! Yea, our youngest son home for a visit, January Christmas which we've just adapted too since he's been in the Air Force. Wishing Jamie and Noah were coming along! He'll be cramming as much as possible into his 5 day visit so we'll take whatever we get!!!! We'll kick it off with dinner for 25 tomorrow for a welcome home! We are off to the airport, let the fun begin!!!!

Jeremy and I Jan.2011 in the Caribbean

Buggy Barn Bunnies

2012-01-08T05:00:00.000-07:00

Here's another look at our Buggy Barn Bunnies class coming up at Etc. Again the iPhone photo was a bit rough so I'm posting it again... enjoy some details. These guys were so much fun to do!

If you've not tackled a buggy barn you'd enjoy this one for sure! They are the most carefree quilts to make!

When I chose my fabrics I picked out this border first....then later decided to miter it.

These guys each have some personality, did you see the chocolate one in the first picture!

And here is Barb's version, bright and cute! She found the perfect buttons for eyes in all the right colors! It looks like a big bright Easter egg! Our class teaching this at Etc. is Feb. 3rd. It'll be so much fun to see all the bunnies that day!

Jeremy and Noah

2012-01-07T04:30:00.000-07:00

I took a few minutes the other night and hunted some photo's of my youngest son as a baby. Jamie's Mom had asked if our little Noah looked like his Daddy....well, I'll let you decide.... here are Noah and Jeremy....

Do you think they are related????

Sew and Go Is back!

2012-01-06T04:00:00.000-07:00

Sew and Go started out with a bang this week at ETC, we had 28 come to class and enjoy making our Hidden Pocket Bag.

They all came out so cute!

It was so nice to see all our students back again after having no classes in December.

We were just as excited as they were! We'll be teaching this same project next Tuesday and then we'll have a different project for the last 2 Tuesdays in Jan. And it's the coolest project....I'll be dropping hints in another week or so!!!!

And here is our newest little student! Angela was back after having her darling baby boy, he was so good, we are glad he's here so his Mommy can come and sew with us!

New Years Day

2012-01-05T04:00:00.001-07:00

We enjoyed a wonderful relaxing time with Chris and MB and Bode on New Years Day. MB cooked a wonderful dinner and we enjoyed appetizers sitting out on the patio watching Bode play. Our weather couldn't have been nicer!

I got to watch Bode take his bath, what fun! And no their water isn't normally that color...Grammy got him some bath colors in his stocking, so half was blue and half was purple and pretty soon it turned into this lovely color!

Grammy's little cutie at 18 months!

Martinique Bag

2012-01-04T04:00:00.000-07:00

Well it's official, Barb and I officially introduced our pattern today at Etc. After many hours we officially printed and produced this pattern for a purse that's been requested by many. It's a fun purse to carry with lots of dividers and pockets and zippers, we've made our samples out of laminated cotton but this weekend I did one out of regular cotton fabric and it will soon be my favorite purse! How fun to take them in to work today, show it in class and have 80% of them leave! More are being printed tonight and our first official class to teach it is this coming Friday! It was fun at Sew and Go this week as several students who purchased it were surprised we'd written it....wondering who is this....We decided to have it written by This Old Bag....yep that's us....we even had to autograph a few of them. So after lots of hours, tons of text messages, emails flying back and forth, sewing another one...one more time, rereading it...one more time, changing things, reading it again, one more trip to the store for ink, it's here!

The Martinique Bag! Why the Martinique bag???? We both love the Caribbean and so we decided it should be named after one of the islands in the Caribbean! And you can reach us at thisoldbags@gmail.com

And there are more in the works so watch for more from

This Old Bag!!!!

Noah in the cradle...

2012-01-03T04:00:00.000-07:00

While Noah was here he had a brief little time to get to lay in the family cradle. My Dad built this cradle in 1976 when I was expecting my first born. He made it for my sister and I for our children and now all of their grandchildren have gotten to use it at some point. It's funny as babies have come along it's gone from house to house... So nice to have one more place that is safe to lay baby down in bedrooms or family rooms.

Under the mattress is an engraved plaque from when it was made, since then they've added each baby with their names and birth dates to it. I was going to post it and thought twice about that with the info that is on it, but if you ever want to see it, it's really quite neat to see, such a wonderful family heirloom being passed around.... It's going to Chris and MB's house next :-)

All Cut Up

2012-01-02T04:00:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to show you something that is coming up at ETC. Barb and I have a new Inspiration class we are doing for the store. It's called All Cut Up. Soooo all cut up was not all cut up so I've spent a few extra hours at work making sure we are ready for you all to come! It's the 2nd wed. of Jan and will be once a month, each time something new! It's all about what you do with the precuts that are out there that we all love to buy and what to do with them. Once a month you'll come and we'll have a new pattern for you using a precut of some sort...jelly roll, charm squares or layer cakes, a project done out of the pattern for you to see. We'll be able to give you all the tips and tricks of making it since we already made it and have it all figured out. You never know what it might be tho, some projects are quilts but some will be smaller things so it won't be a huge project each month. The best part is it's only $2.50 ! Yep, how can you go wrong! You'll get the pattern and then whatever you buy that day, your $2.50 is applied back towards your purchase so essentially it's a free class! So here is your sneak peak at the fabrics we have prepped that our sample is made out of.....hint #1, it's using a layer cake ( 10 inch squares...yep I've been doing a bunch of cutting once we had the sample done...and they are all in the sample) hint #2, they are georgous batiks, but actually any layer cake will work nicely. You will absolutely love how this project goes together too, ok I'm not going to give it away, so come and check out the fun we'll be having at All Cut Up! We had so much fun making the sample up at work that I"m dying to get in my sewing room and make one now too!

Teacher sign....all the fun for the next 4 months at ETC.

2012-01-01T04:00:00.000-07:00

So at work I have a frame that is all mine behind the register to fill with whatever I like for my classes, I've changed how it looks a few times, this last time I left the background and have foam core behind the pieced fabric background and then I took tacks and made them cute with buttons and things, that way I can just change the classes each quarter as the new calendar comes out. So I brought it home last week to get it all updated for the new year and got everything listed to add all my new classes at ETC. that are coming up...it sort of made my head swim... then I realized I even forgot one! But then I got all excited about all the fun things that have been in the plans for months now. We are always trying to stay quite a few months out with our plans for ordering/designing and kit making. Yep it's crazy but what fun to come up with so many fun things for everyone else to enjoy....I try and choose my classes wisely....things I want to do! So to start out the new year, here's a peek at what's just coming up in the next 4 months in my life! I wish all the samples were done, patterns written, class sheets done....but it's getting close, Like Barb says, not in the boat yet, still hanging on the edge...maybe one foot is flopped in!...but we'll get there cuz guess what ...it's time to start thinking about all the fun we'll have ready for you for summer! Yikes! Happy New year!

Sew and Go sneak peek!

2011-12-31T04:00:00.000-07:00

Well we are off and running again now in 2012, Barb and I had December with no classes to teach but boy were we busy getting ready for everyone! We were still at work, sewing, cutting, designing and we have such a fun year figured out already! Sew and Go starts this week again, each tuesday of the month, so the 1st and 2nd tuesdays are one project and the 3rd and 4th tuesdays are another project, you can come to however many you'd like. This is our first project...it's a hidden pocket bag, so cute, I can't wait to use it!

See where there is another zipper pocket....

It's under the trim!

The hardware is in. We love to start things out with a bang so you'll be happy if you come, it's a fun project!

Janne Family Christmas Party

2011-12-30T13:30:00.000-07:00

Here are a gazillion snapshots of our christmas party this year for my side of the family, we had a great time, we'd had our family portrait taken that morning so we were all ready to don the sweats and relax and enjoy some fun! Alissa and Alan arrived so I put her to work making the punch...

Here is Cailyn, our only little princess!

Alissa and Jamie...

Amy and niece Jen

Here's my Mom arriving with her cake with santa atop!

Ken helping MB carry in her plate of cookies....he tried making a detour straight to his office to drop them off and hide them.....but I caught him!

Chris and MB and Bode

Jen, Corissa, Amy and Alissa...

Chris and my Dad off to the left...

Dad getting into Vince's home made salsa....that and Alissa bean dip didn't last long!

Chris thinking....why did we buy Mom this camera?????

Mike and Corissa...

Little Landon and his Grandpa Vince...

Chris and my Dad....

Chris with his arms full of Noah and Bode...

Playing games, even the kids got to role the dice!

Landon with his Aunt Alissa...

Look at Cailyn rolling her dice!

Jeremy came via skype...

The kids table at dinner time...of course it's a bit chaotic but I hope they'll have fun memories of getting to sit together with their cousins!

Opening presents...isn't it always a bit chaotic but it wouldn't be Christmas without that. My folks gave all the great grands these cute bags, their names embroidered on the front, so cute! They did their first on line purchase, wow, pretty good to get that figured out!

Lots of fun amid the craziness! That's what it's all about isn't it, good memories!

Chris and Chris....

A bit of a break back in the bedroom for these 2 cousins, so cute together.
We had 3 highchairs, a rotation going in the crib and the pack n play... who needs a nap next?

And of course desserts.....

Amy with Noah and Chris and Papa all enjoying this little one...

Grandpa Vince showing Landon the jingle bell on Santa...

Aiden adding sprinkles to his hot chocolate...

Time for everyone, even the youngest to enjoy each other....that's what it's all about!

Grammy is sad, Noah is heading home to Mississippi

2011-12-30T04:00:00.001-07:00

Grammy is sad....this little guy is on his way home to Mississippi. I know his Daddy is anxiously awaiting on the other end! He told me he really really really missed him, so I guess it's time for him to go home with Mommy.

Noah Your visit didn't last long and there was alot of people dying to meet you and play with you, but I treasured every minute I got to hold you and make you giggle and laugh. I'll miss your darling smile and that wonderful laugh and I know in a couple months I won't be able to stand it so I'll be looking at the calendar trying to figure out how I can come and see you! I'll need to see you crawl before you are running around !

I'm glad we got every little minute we did together! I love you Noah!

Photo shoot 2011....Janne Family

2011-12-29T04:30:00.000-07:00

What an exciting time was had yesterday morning! The long ago scheduled photo shoot for my parents. There were 23 of us in one spot all at the same time...amazing feat on it's own! We missed you Jeremy! He's getting photo-shopped in to the big family portrait for my parents, since this photo of all of us was their big desire for the 60th wedding anniversary celebration. so I snapped a few candid shots here and there just for fun, it all went amazingly well, 23 people, including a 7,5,3,2 1/2 year, 18 months, 11 months, 6 months great grands! It was quite entertaining as a couple of the Daddy's standing in the back kept running around with the 18 month old and 11 month old until the exact moment, then they'd jump into place, Jamie would pull the pacifier and flash goes the camera!

Here is Jen with her Uncle Ken....

Alissa getting to meet Noah...

So here is our photographer Richard ( Mr. Patience) setting up his equipment, chairs etc. in one of the anterooms at my parents church.... We took a few candid individual family shots outside in the pretty garden then did the big family all together with these chairs and the mob of us all standing behind. Richard had jingle bells that really helped with the kiddos. At the end we thought we'd try Mom and Dad with just the great grands, so here they are getting ready. It was hilarious, I"m sure one of them will be just perfect :-). Little ones looking at each other in the chairs, it was so fun....

And this angle was almost as much fun, all the parents....

One of these days we'll have some finished shots I can show you but for now, here's the behind the scenes trying to make 7 little ones all look up and smile at once!

And of course here is Jamie and Noah...with his tie! ( shirt wouldn't quite button under that chin!)

This whole group is coming to our house at 4 for a mexican feast and holiday celebration, tons of food, drinks, a couple games and gifts to open! It'll be great fun!

Elijah's quilt

2011-12-28T04:30:00.000-07:00

I finished up this fun little baby quilt made especially for Elijah!

It was such a fun one to make I'm kind of wanting to make another one in colors for me! I hope Elijah will love his soft little baby blue quilt! All the raw edges will make this a very comfy little quilt. Stephanie....After it's washed a few more times it'll quit fraying and be so soft and fuzzy!

Elijah is 1 month old now and lives in Brazil with his Mommy and Daddy, Stephanie is Jamie's sister whom we got to meet last year when they were in the US for a visit, Elijah was just a twinkle in their eye at that point! So with all their family together they had a baby shower for Stephanie and invited me to come....

So we spent a few hours celebrating Stephanie and Elijah in Brazil via skype! How fun to see them, he's just darling and seemed to enjoy his party!

He was very strong and alert and so cute! It was fun to be included, and Stephanie did say she was hoping I'd come and bring a quilt!!!!! It was finished on Christmas day with just the last bit to do on it. Their Grandma saw it when they were over Christmas eve so she asked first thing when I got to the shower...did you get it done????? Yep, it's ready! All the gifts will go to Brazil in Feb. when Bruce and Vickie get to travel there to meet their Grandson. I'm sure they are so excited! It was fun, we played some games that Stephanie could play along with us, then we each took a turn sitting in front of the computer and opening a gift that someone else had brought so we could be all excited to see what it was! It was my first skyping shower and so fun! So wonderful that their family can stay so well in touch with each other even on the other side of the world!

And guess who was there!!!! Noah!!!! I got to play a bit, Noah jumping on my lap squeeling and giggling, soooooo fun! Then he had to take his nap :-( , ho hum, Grammy can't get enough of you Noah!

Christmas day

2011-12-27T04:30:00.000-07:00

We had a great Christmas day, Chris and MB and Bode invited us over to enjoy a brunch and Bode's special time after they'd opened their gifts. Here he is yet in his Christmas jammies, how fun to see him answer the door in these!

Such a happy boy, this wasn't a new horse to ride but he's just sort of gotten the hang of it, he doesn't just sit on it he gets it going so seriously, jumping up and down, it's hilarious! At 18 months he's figured this out, how to dance so cute, always asking "whatish" ....what's this. nibbles on food here and there, busy with things for 15 seconds and moving on. Loves being in his daddy's garage with him. Bode's so like his Daddy!

Santa brought a vacuum, there was some serious vacuuming going on, can you tell!

Chris, Ken, My dad watching Bode., Grandma on the side ready to snap photo's! We had mimosa's, I had a pomegranate one, yum! yummy egg bake, some butterscotch rolls, fruit, bacon, it was all so good.

Bode and his Daddy...

Chris and Gene...

My folks with MB...

Jeremy came too, we skyped several times this day too, I love skype!

It was a great morning, Ken and I came home and mucked out the floors from the day before party, had time to relax, then went out to see his folks, Delores was sick and not able to join our brunch so we took out leftover food and got to have a nice visit. Drove around looking at alot of pretty lights and still had the rest of the evening to relax, visiting again with Jeremy and talking about his and my projects....he's realizing why he's always busy....:-) he said...thanks Mom! Hope your Christmas day was peaceful and fun too! We are still in party mode tho, more to come in the next few days!

Our Christmas Eve

2011-12-26T04:00:00.001-07:00

Here are a few candid shots to see how our Christmas Eve was spent. It was an overall great day, I would describe it as a bit chaotic, lots of coming and going, people needing to be certain places at certain times, eating and drinking and playing and overall having fun!

How lucky to be able to have our loved ones with us!

Here is Aiden enjoying his hot chocolate he made himself out of my new machine, whip cream and sprinkles to make it festive!

Bode getting his new red wagon! Lots of rides around the house and then he even shared with cousin Ethan so we had 2 going for rides! They had to leave to early for us to get to go outside and go for a "real ride". Bode I hope you love your red wagon!

Santa came for a visit. Garrett called it Amy said, a day or so ago she said he told her that the real santa would be coming to Grammy's and whoa I guess he was right. This is the 4th year Santa has shown up and found these kiddo's at my house!

Everyone is a bit shy and in awe! Lots of big smiles tho. Ethan was afraid last year but very brave this year, Bode was a bit shy and not so sure. Little Noah missed it all and didn't arrive in time. Thanks to airline messes and late arrivals, but oh well, Santa left him a treat anyway. And if you look really close over behind Santa is Chris holding the computer with Jeremy on Skype in Mississippi!

MB was a good sport since Bode wasn't so sure about a picture with Santa. Santa brought elf hats to the kids this year so they each had an elf hat on to help him. Look at Ethan watching Santa in the front there! Aiden at 7 1/2 has really been wondering this year...look at that grin!

Santa had certificates again this year for them, saying they'd been good. Santa has really watched these kids grow from year to year and we've added along the way! He even knew what they'd been up to recently and asked Garrett how his program was and if Ethan was liking preschool!

Garrett's million dollar grin!

Aiden and Santa...

Garrett and Santa...

Ethan and Santa...

Everyone having fun with the games that Santa brought them. He stayed a long time watching them play and enjoying the moment!

Chris helped Aiden with his new Snap Circuits, a little boys dream of learning electronics! What fun, one engineer helping a budding engineer! He can complete circuits and make music, lights flash, beeps, he's going to have fun with this! Notice Batman there watching! Ethan had such fun, later he turned into "robin"!

And here's the best part of Christmas! Jamie and Noah arrived! We were so glad to finally see them! What a crazy time for Jamie, but she made it!

And here they are, Jeremy skyped with us several times during the day and on Christmas Day too, every few hours he'd call and see what was going on. His box of treats arrived that day on the porch so he munched on the same goodies we were having.

And lookeeee here! All 5 of my Grandsons together for the first time!

Ethan 3, Aiden 7 1/2, Bode 18 months, Noah 6 months and Garrett 5.

Here are the 3 youngest, Ethan, Bode and Noah...

More candid shots...MB and Bode

Noah with his Aunt Amy,

Noah got his puppy dog quilt, yep that is Jeremy in the picture too! and yep that is wrapping paper all over the floor, we were having to much fun to clean up!

My folks stopped by to get to meet their 7th Great Grandchild!

Noah, gotta love the cheeks! Jamie's folks, her sister and her Grandma stopped in later in the day, joined us for some dinner, it was great to see all of them too.

So glad our little Christmas angel made it! Hope you all had a great day too!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T05:00:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas to all! Hope you are having a wonderful holiday with your loved ones! I just wanted to show you something very festive that we've been working on. This cute quilt is now hanging down at Scrapbooks all quilted up, eyes on, DONE! It sure was alot of fun to do and I was hoping it would take care of that itch to want to make one for me, but it's not quite doing it! A darling lap size it's our Christmas Block of the Month that will start in Feb. It's a great deal and a great way to tackle a project like this so if you are in, make sure you check it out! It's hanging up in the classroom. I took alot of photo's so you can see the details so have fun poking around! And Merry Christmas to you!

This cute bear has his earmuffs on, his cardinal friend on his earmuffs is so cute!\

Mr Penguin looks like he got into some mischief! I know the store will mail these out too, we already have some out of town participants in the Batik BOM

This gingerbread boy was alot of fun to choose the fabrics on, Barb and I had so much fun picking each block!

Santa, so cute!

Mrs. Claus with her pretty holly and her little glasses.

This guy was so much fun to make!

A happy bear! The red stripped inner border was perfect! Louise quilted it with swirling snowflakes for us.

Love the nutcracker, the pattern has entire quilts and runners just of different nutcrackers, they are so neat.

And last but not least this sweet little angel! It came home with me for a couple days to get the binding on, ho hum, maybe I'll have to sign up. It would be done for next year! Or it sure would make a wonderful gift, 11 months, and the best thing is the registration fee gets applied back to your choice of a back if you keep up and get it done! Merriest of Christmas's to you! May it all be as sweet as this little angel!

Special Day!

2011-12-24T08:51:00.003-07:00

I had such a nice visit yesterday with my sister and my Niece Jen who came in from Florida, so great to see her after 1 1/2 years! They came for lunch, it was such a special day, and today is my niece Alissa's birthday...happy Birthday to our special Christmas angel each year! And it's Christmas Eve...

We are ready for our family celebration....anxiously awaiting 5 little Grandsons to be here

All is ready! Hope you all enjoy a wonderful time with your families too! Merry Christmas!

Martinique Bag

2011-12-23T05:00:00.000-07:00

Barb and I are teaching this cool laminated cotton fabric bag in Jan. at Scrapbooks. It's such a handy bag to throw on your shoulder and haul! Our first ones that we made we just left open as a tote, well.....we got a little more ingenious and added pockets.....then we got a bit more into it and changed the whole thing and now it has a really cool inside! You will love it clear down to the magnetic snap closure and divided center area with a zipper!

The black and white one was one I did and this darling one Barb put together. I have more of the laminated cotton for another one.....it's on the list....talk about handy and fun, if it gets dirty, just wipe it off. These laminated cottons are so fun! Check out our Martinique Bag!

Holiday Program

2011-12-22T04:00:00.000-07:00

Lucky me got to attend a great Holiday Program today. I'm so lucky I can shift my work days and get to attend things like this! Ethan and Garrett had their preschool program today so Ken and I made it there to hear them sing their songs! Here is our Ethan....

So cute in his sweater vest, he was staying on his circle!

Here is our Garrett with his reindeer hat on...

Here is most of the class, Amy has had 12 little ones this year, it was hard to get all 12 in one photo! They made great santa hats with their cotton balls too!

These little guys are so cute!

They each had a present for their parents...an ornament they made, you should have seen the other side with all the fun glittery sequins, I could tell Ethan liked the bling!

Amy and her Dad...

These little reindeer hats were so cute with their little hands traced....

Let the party begin.... after the program there were donuts and juice...can you tell Ethan helped himself, that was so cute, his plate was full! 3 years olds are so fun! What a fun holiday program to get you in a festive spirit!

Merry Go Round

2011-12-21T04:20:00.000-07:00

Here's another look at the Merry Go Round quilt coming up in Jan. and in Feb. At Scrapbooks Etc. It's the quilt I"m teaching in my Beyond Basics class, see the cool edge! Thought you'd like to see a better photo since the last one was off my Iphone and pretty rough.

It's hanging in the store now, I'll be moving it into the classroom the first week of Jan. when all our classes kick off. I'll be teaching it morning and evening on Thursdays.

Orpheus concert for the holidays

2011-12-20T15:23:00.000-07:00

My friend Linda and I went to a wonderful concert this last week, just to put you in the holiday spirit. It was in Mesa and we heard the Orpheus Choir perform, what a wonderful event.

They are an all male choir, such talent in the group, loved when the low base voices came in, and how clear they call sang in such quiet voices! beautiful! My friend Ken is in the front row clear to the right on the bottom step. We used to work at a quilt store together.

Their accompanist was wonderful, he used to play the pipe organ at Organ stop pizza for years so maybe you heard him play there. When he first started playing my mind sort of went gosh is he going to raise up and twirl on a pedestal like at Organ stop? He did some of his accompaniment on the pipe organ here and some on the piano himself and as a duet with another pianist. I know Ron as a quilter also, he would come in while I was at work so I got acquainted with him then.

A couple of their numbers had percussion which was wonderful, this gal was great, for this number she had big straps of bells around her ankles so she'd tap her heels to add that to the sound. What a great group of talented musicians, if you ever get to hear the Orpheus choir be sure and attend!

Thornberries Christmas Party

2011-12-19T16:00:00.000-07:00

Here is my quilt group at our christmas gathering at my house this year. We were missing Terry P. but her package is on it's way to California where she now lives. I guess once you are in this group we never let you leave! :-) She still participates in alot of things and stays in touch with us all...We choose a secret santa person to make something for the each year ( I've already got my name for next year). This is what Sue made for Barb....darling baskets!
Sue got this darling red and white quilt made by Lorene with redwork in it.
Lorene received this quilt with fun dots from Louise.

Here's Judy getting her pretty wall hanging from BobbiBobbi got this table mat and snowman from Mindy...
This is what Barb made for me, isn't it darling, beautiful redwork, she is the pro at that, she does the most beautiful stitches and now I have a piece made by Barb K.!!!! She said this was just like all "my boys"!

This is what I was working on for Louise. I made her a themed gift of sweet dreams... a set of pillow cases...this one is springy with a crocheted edge...

These had a pieced border on them...

Here are sweet dreams for Valentines day...

And sweet dreams for Christmas...

Everything went in this box with a soft night shirt, slipper socks and some chamomile tea.

Here is a darling small quilt that Terry P. made for Mindy.

Back to the games...We all made a couple red and white pinwheels, so fun, we played a game and Judy won them all!We played another game with fat quarters and Louise won those.
Here we all are playing games with the pie tins, lots of fun and laughing going on!
We did a pincushion swap and played a game stealing each one. What fun! I made the cupcake in the middle and received the pretty pink one at the bottom made by Lorene. Wasn't there some great ones, a christmas tree, the pretty embriodered candy canes, an apple on a candy stand and a monkey!This appetizer was made by Lorene, cranberries with some other ingredients over cream cheese.....yep to die for! What a fun party we all had with good memories to last us another year!

Ethan's Date for Christmas Shopping

2011-12-18T15:00:00.000-07:00

I took Ethan on his date this week to go and do his Christmas shopping for his family. He had such fun. We started out at the dollar store and he made all his decisions. Then we went to get a donut at Dunkin donuts....plus some grape juice! He had talked about a lunch spot of Peter Piper Pizza, but then in the end just wanted to come home with me to play.

Being just 3, I helped him out with his wrapping and he got to do some playing, even outside for awhile. He loved driving the train! Here he's saying All Aboard!

Sure was a fun date Ethan! I wish we'd have just had more time to just play besides shopping! He never did know quite when it ended tho as my date fell asleep in his car seat on the way home :-)

2011-12-18T04:00:00.000-07:00

Just took this quilt to work today to hang for our class coming up in Feb. 2012. This is our Buggy Barn Bunnies class. It was sooooo much fun to make. It's a very easy buggy barn pattern and if you havn't attempted one Barb and I have all the kinks worked out for you! Barb has her sample of this same quilt almost done, hers is all in brights so check this one out when you get in! ( sorry for the rough photo, I'll take a better one this week...my camera lens is back, yea for Canon!)

Aiden's Christmas shopping

2011-12-17T08:28:00.000-07:00

I took Aiden Christmas shopping this week, we had such fun! I got to pick him up at the appointed spot after school. Right by the crosswalk as he leaves school so what fun to be the one to wait for that smiling face. He waved to me as soon as he saw me and came running across with a big smile! We had to start our adventure with a snack at sonic....so he chose a cherry slush and some popcorn chicken....car food! Downed that with no problem! He did his homework of reading to me along the way, what fun to hear how well he reads. Then off to Sweeties candy store. He chose a YARD of gum for his treat and then picked boxes of nerds to take home and share with his brothers. He sure had fun checking that place out! From there we went to the dollar store. He chose fun things for everyone and then we went to Someburros for dinner with Papa.

Again this growing boy downed his burro, his chips, his beans and his churro plus half of another churro!

Home was the next destination. He had a bit of time for train driving and then got his presents all wrapped up. Before long it was time to head out to go home so we'd have time to stop at Swirl it for an ice cream treat. Again, downing that with no problem! Aiden is definitely turning into a hungry growing boy! This cute shot is Aiden wrapping his present for himself! Yep, he got himself what he got his brothers so they could all play together. Love that toothy grin, he lost another tooth this week, lots of fun little gaps to put a straw thru but some of the gaps are filling in! Sure was a fun 5 hour date with Aiden!

Scrapbooks Etc. Christmas party

2011-12-16T07:44:00.000-07:00

Once again the Christmas party at Scrapbooks for all the employees and teachers was lots of fun, everyone relaxed and there was alot of laughter and fun, here's a fast shot of just how many people keep that place running! We had a great dinner, baked potato bar with lots of wonderful toppings, a salad and wonderful dessert. I'll show you a few candid shots of some of the people that surround my work day and keep this amazing place running.

Here is Marti, the fantastic owner of Scrapbooks with the cookbook we put together for her.

And here is Sandi, if you know Sandi you'll just laugh, we all wondered what planet she bounced in from, Sandi is more fun than you can imagine! We played a couple games, each getting to choose a gift card from a store....I picked Amazon!

The little gal in the black is Haley sitting next to her sister Heidi, they are the owners daughters. Haley is the name I was given for my secret Santa present...

And here is my gift from Amy T. She made me this awesome cookbook, just like the one we gave to Marti. I'm so tickled to have a copy of all the recipes from all my coworkers and here it's all fixed up in darling scrapbook pages!

Here is Theresa, she keeps the fabric dept. running smoothly, that's Lisa behind her to the right and then that is Amanda on the side ( Theresa's daughter) Check out Theresa's gift, she loves containers and someone made her this cute one, a crystal candlestick with a canning jar clued to the top, it was soooo cute!

And here's the gift I made for Haley, a new apron. Everyone told me which fabrics she loved the most in the store. Joel Dewberry's new line with grays and mustard. So she'll have a new apron when she comes in to work.

Ready for the Holidays

2011-12-13T15:46:00.001-07:00

We've enjoyed getting all ready for the holidays this year, quilts are up and everywhere, you don't realize how many you have until you gather them, but every night they come into use covering us up!The stockings are hung....Noah a new one awaits your arrival!

The village and train are up and have many miles around that track already by some little boys!Tree is decorated, our tree is adorned with all sorts of loving ornaments....not a beautifully decorated one but beautiful in our hearts as each has a meaning. This year 3 foot down is all stuffed animals so little hands can enjoy! I did put up the tree in my bedroom as I love it's twinkly lights at night. Christmas dishes are all in use, so fun to change those out come December and look at something new!
A few things are wrapped, shopping is on the downslide ( thanks to amazon...my best friend) The lights are up outside.... rather homely too as it was whatever I could reach but adds to our festive neighborhood. Ken's been addressing the holiday cards and so those will be ready to mail soon. Still lots to do, a few more trips to the store, much wrapping, a few gifts to still make ( yep I'm crazy), a few more grandsons to take shopping for their families, but we look forward to parties and fun family times!

New coffee !!!!!

2011-12-12T15:41:00.000-07:00

I made the jump and got myself a new coffee pot. I've been eyeing these for months and have used several friends who love them, so I finally did it! I had a gift card from my students at Scrapbooks that paid for it so the guilt was a bit less. I've been saving it since Sept. and finally decided to spend it all on this! So thanks to all my students for a fun new kitchen appliance!
It's so perfect for making a single cup of anything, that was of course the seller for me, you can make hot chocolate, teas, apple cider, and of course any kind of flavor of coffee you want. It's been fun already for Ken and I and then whoever comes by wanting something warm to drink.

Happy little Bode

2011-12-11T15:36:00.002-07:00

Ken and I had such fun last night with Bode! Mommy and Daddy had a fun "big people" party to go to so lucky us got to have Bode! He had a few tears again when they left, it's getting to be the same each time, we have to go peek 0ut the door to make sure they are gone and then even go out and look, he was very sad but easily got distracted with hunting kitties and then Papa got the train going!
He loved watching it go and of course each time it passed he would say "MO" for more and wait for it to come around again.
So darn cute, don't you just want to eat him up!

Parties...

2011-12-09T17:15:00.000-07:00

We had our thursday club Christmas party this week and we actually had it on Thursday! How about that! Ann hosted us and it felt just magical in her pretty home she has now. Here are Mindy and Kathy and Judy as we enjoyed our appetizers.

Look at this cute snack that Cindy made. She made a snack mix with the white chocolate poured over it but the cute santa hats are actually bugles that they dipped in the red dipping candy. Aren't they cute!

We all brought things for dinner, white chili in bread bowls and a salad. Our dessert was so pretty warm gingerbread ( all cute and cut round) with a carmel sauce and whip cream!

And here is our hostess Ann, sure was a fun get together to catch up with everyone's lives and wish them all a happy holiday!

Garrett shopping date

2011-12-08T05:44:00.000-07:00

Garrett and I had a date this week. Lucky me got to pick him up from his other preschool and we went to lunch....his choice....Pizza! We went to do his Christmas shopping then and he picked out all sorts of things for his family and even a couple other special little people! The dollar store is just the best! He paid his money and then we went to do something else fun! Off to the biggest candy store around! What fun, he'd never been and every aisle we looked at he saw excitement! He picked out something special to get just for him ( which was some kind of spray candy....I'd never seen it before but it was total excitement to him!) Then we picked out something fun to take home to share with his brothers and then some fun christmas candies to make treat bags for zoo lights. We came back to our house after that and he did his wrapping, and went home with a fun bag of gifts to put under their tree. We went home then with a detour past our local little ice cream shop, what a fun afternoon with Garrett!

Merry Go Round

2011-12-06T23:09:00.001-07:00

Well in all the camera confusion I think I forgot to post this one. I finished up the sample for my Beyond Basic Class at Scrapbooks Etc. and it's now hanging down there. I'll be teaching this class in Jan. and then again in Feb. It's a great fun project and this one took 1 jelly roll. The actual pattern was much bigger but I made mine smaller for the sample. So if you want to make this fun project join me for 3 thursdays in 2012 and we'll have a great time!

Little Boys

2011-12-05T05:42:00.003-07:00

I had a fun filled Saturday and Sunday. It started with this cutie coming to my house to play with me first thing in the morning! Bode and I had a great time and he got to make his first gingerbread house with me. He would poke a piece of candy on it and then get busy toddling around and then later come by and poke another piece on...

And of course he got to taste a few...thus the drool. Bode and I had a good morning!

By later afternoon we met up with Amy and Garrett and Ethan to watch the Chandler Lighted parade. They have such a great parade going with floats and lights and all kinds of great things. A few years back we always went with Amy and the boys and boy has there been an improvement to the parade in that time. We bundled up with quilts and watched for Aiden to come by, he was with his boy scout troop, they each had battery lights on them and Chris was walking along with Aiden and his Santa hat . All my photos from the parade were BAD, hurry back camera, the I phone doesn't do so well at night!

Then the rain moved in....so once Aiden came by then we all went back to the car as it rained and rained. What an adventure, we don't get to walk in the rain to much. We peeled wet clothes off little boys and got them in our car with the heat on to warm up, Aiden and Chris found us and Ken and I brought the little guys home with us for a spend the night! The washer started, shoes out to dry... You never appreciate how cute that is to see those little bitty shoes all lined up when you are the parent so now I even take a picture of how cute that is....isn't being the Grandparent the best!

Everyone was up bright and early on sunday so we got right into some fun. They got to make their gingerbread houses... Here is Garrett with his.

Aiden and his masterpiece...

Ethan looking so proud...
Back to Garrett working intently on his masterpiece. They took a ton of time this year and seemed to really enjoy it.

Ethans chocolate santa kept shrinking....... this was all before b-fast! Shhhh don't tell!
Garrett was building an outdoor firepit on his!

Aiden and Garrett loved being able to do their own frosting. I had built them the day before so we could just do the decorating and not have casualties.

And in between they all enjoyed the train being up. Ken and I stayed up late the night before getting it up so they could play with it. Ethan got to drive this year with supervision, a first for him.
A good time for us all to start our holiday fun. Ethan realized the little candy balls we had to decorate the houses would bounce ......I"m off to hose out the house!

Korean Food Adventure

2011-12-04T14:28:00.002-07:00

I met Denise and Sarah this last week for dinner......the country of choice as they PUSH me around the world was Korean. Being such a brave person I happily went and here is your place setting, this itty bitty little bowl and chop sticks!Denise had her write up from the paper for this place so we ordered off that and what Sarah had eaten at another place one time. We tried fried dumplings, they were a little like Chinese egg rolls.
Then there was this interesting bowl which came to the table sizzling, the bowl was heated and cooking yet, under it was sticky rice and then all these vegetables and meat.....still not sure what that meat was, it looked really pretty UNTIL I saw the raw egg floating in the center....hmmmmm..... but they said you just stir it all up......raw egg....hmmmmmm....didn't do so well on that one. But it was pretty to look at.
This was a beef dish that was quite tastey and then you had all these bowls of different things. The one on the top right was paper thin sea weed....I did taste it... The one on the left top was apple slices with this creamy dressing....The middle left was a cabbage thing with HOT red sauce stuff, next to it was these bean sprout things...on the bottom left was these diced radishes with more of the red hot sauce, and the thing on the bottom that looks like green beans....sea weed. So I was brave and tasted everything but I must say the choice for the next round in our adventure is ITALIAN!!! I CAN DO THAT !

2nd Thanksgiving

2011-12-04T08:10:00.001-07:00

We enjoyed a 2nd Thanksgiving celebration at my Sisters house last Sunday. I didn't get any good group shots but lots of candid ones from all the people I love!!!!

Here is Amy holding little Landon... he's graduated from his Doc Band so it was so fun to see his sweet little face, he was so dang cute in it but we are glad that phase is over! Our Aiden had one too so we know exactly what that took.....time...running to appts....more time with baths, drying, adjusting....more time than you can imagine! So glad his little head is just perfect!
Here's little Ethan....on the go...of course!
Aiden...everyone loved being outside, weather perfect!
My Dad with Landon...
my Niece Alissa....
Here is my newphew Mike with Corissa and Cailyn and Landon...
Alissa and Alan...
Hey look at this, the book that Alan helped coauthor is out now.....how cool is that....I wonder if someday my grandsons might get to their algebra class and find this! Yea Alan, that was quite a year for you!
My sister Marcy...the hostess with the mostess!
Here is Chris, he and Bode and Ethan are all watching something REALLY fun on his iphone.....who would have thought that Chris's Iphone would be playing Yo Gabba gabba! I still laugh when I see his sports car drive away with little boy songs pouring out the window that they are both "rocking out to"! And Garrett with his favorite of the season....Pumpkin Pie!

Pizza night

2011-12-03T08:02:00.002-07:00

We enjoyed a pizza night out with Amy's family last week. It was fun to see them as we'd miss them for our thanksgiving and it was the same day as their Anniversary. We have a great local spot that we can get pizza at, the boys love it with a few games....Papa's quarters...and then....You can walk next door to the ice cream place and fix the best sundaes yet! It was a fun evening!

projects at work

2011-12-02T10:49:00.002-07:00

I just had to show you the progress we are making on the blocks for the Blocks of the month for Scrapbooks. Barb and I got these prepped and pieces ready to be cut into kits. It's so much fun to go around the store finding the perfect fabric for the perfect spot! All the kits will be just like this. They'll be so cute when they are detailed out but here is a start. I stitched these out one day at work last week and they are coming out so cute. Every time I"m working on them someone comes by and is so excited at how it's looking that they go and sign up. Goodness the calendar and announcement about our Block of the Months won't even come out until for a couple weeks but there are only 10 spots left!

We got it all together this week and I know it's not quilted or no one has eyes since it has to be quilted first but I just had to show you how CUTE it is! And such a fun way to do something like this. There is a 25 registration fee, but that includes your pattern and at the end if you bring it back at this stage and show it to us, Scrapbooks is giving that $25 back to you in credit for your backing! Now how cool is that, what a great store! It's a great incentive to keep up and get it done. I'll show you the finished thing when it's quilted and bound with some closeups on the details, hopefully by then my camera will be back and we can get some cool ones. It sure was fun to spend the time at work stitching this out.....I was hoping it fixed my craving to do this one...NOT! If you are thinking about doing it tho don't delay in signing up, the new schedule will be out in a couple weeks and by then I think it'll be to late! We've given our students a great headstart on seeing the result so we are glad you've signed up! Starts in Feb......I'll see you then!

Sew and Go Again

2011-12-01T07:43:00.002-07:00

We had a great class last night at Scrapbooks. It was our last Sew and Go Again night class for the year. We'll spend december prepping as we are kicking it off BIG in Jan. with new ideas and new classes so we are very busy making all our samples/kits/plans/patterns and on and on. Kind of sketchy photo's from last night, thanks to my Iphone or we'd have none! My SLR lens has a hiccup so it's in the mail to canon for a fix up! I MISS IT!

Amy got to come and make our cute little bag.... she's sewing like a crazy woman since she had kids elsewhere and drive time and she zoomed! But it was fun to have her come!
What an awful photo, but here is Melissa, this is MB's sister and she's a faithful student at our night time class! Well no photos on this post of the darling bag, but I've shown you and it was really cute! We'll see all these great gals in Jan, last wed. of the month! We'll be waiting for you!

Mystery Quilt at Scrapbooks Etc.

2011-11-28T04:38:00.000-07:00

We had 8 gals come and solve our "Christmas Mystery" class at Scrapbooks Etc. this weekend. Mystery classes are so fun, you are given the size, the fabric requirements but you just have to trust us that you'll have a good time with your project and I think everyone did! You get to pick fabrics you love and we give you the exact cutting and you come with baggies full of fabric pieces ready to go.... of course while we are sewing there is alot of wondering...what are we making????? Lots of guesses too. Finally midway thru we "revealed" what the mystery was and then everyone ooohs and ahhhs and we can finish them up. So our Mystery this time was a Santa...

Here is Kathy with hers, her background looks like a starry night sky!

Karen had borders going on...

Everyone was down to the final steps when they left, Isabelle's background looked like swirling snow!

Here is Julie's santa, just needs the border on it, she's on her way back to Ireland for the holidays.

Jeannie with her santa...it's getting close! Her background gray snowflake was great.

Here's Karen again and Tash...

And here is my final project too. It was alot of fun to make and fun to do some detail quilting on.

Lots of fun that day, everyone just seemed to have a great time. Our next mystery is a project for spring is about this size and will be alot of fun too so watch for the calendar, it's coming out soon! Don't be like everyone that is asking now for this pattern...gotta come enjoy our "mystery" quilts with us, you won't be disappointed! We've got one scheduled for this spring, a larger lap quilt size picked for summer and a darling fall project later, watch for the Mystery quilts and join us!

Last Sew and Go for 2011

2011-11-27T21:33:00.000-07:00

We did our last Sew and Go for 2011 at Scrapbooks Etc. this last week. We'll take a break from teaching while you are all to crazy to come to class anyway! We finished up with 12 gals coming to make our little gift bag. Here is Denise, she whipped up 2 during class! Her girls will love them this Christmas!Christie said hers will be ready for a perfect little grandaughter filled with a dolly, blanket and bottle and ready to take to church.
We'll miss all our great friends at Sew and Go this next month but Barb and I will be busy getting everything ready for a very full 2012, Sew and Go starts up again the first week in Jan. It's already in the computers so get signed up!

Thornberries Thanksgiving gathering

2011-11-27T04:45:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful time with my quilt group at Joes BBQ the day after thanksgiving. Our friend Terry P. who moved to California was in town so everyone moved aside their busy days and took time to come and meet her and catch up. We had a great time and it was so good to see her! She and I had met for breakfast one day this week, we enjoyed the time chatting so much that all the sudden we both looked at the time and realized we'd been there 2 1/2 hours!

It was great we could all meet and have lunch at Joes on friday and again chatted for 3 hours!She got her Christmas present from Bobbi.... just a tad late by 2 years but still done and on it's way home to California!
Sue brought her 9 patch quilt to show her since she hadn't seen it together, she's making a cool border for it next, this is the one that mine live in a baggie.....sigh...
This was another one Sue finished that Terry P. hadn't seen so it was fun to share things. This was another swap we have done with these blocks...yep mine occupy a baggie! Terry brought alot of her little blocks of applique and our Block Challenge Group squares so those were fun to look at, and of course everyone is talking about what our next swap to move on to will be.
Such a beautiful day out and so nice to visit with friends, we sure have missed Terry but so glad she's still a part of us as we mail things back and forth!

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-26T04:24:00.005-07:00

I hope you all had as nice a Thanksgiving Day as we all did. There is always alot of prep for these kinds of days but always worth it in the end to be able to relax and enjoy everyone together. Our little Grandson Bode with his turkey hat he made at his daycare!

My Dad had a wonderful prayer for us and time to fix plates! Everyone brought a dish to share so we had more than any family could hope for!

Bruce and Vickie ( Jamie's parents) stopped by for a visit in the morning so we enjoyed a bit of time with them talking and eating the wonderful pumpkin bread they brought. They have a new grandson in Brazil that is just a week old so we had lots to catch up on! I hear Elijah is doing wonderful! Another thing to be thankful for this day! A healthy well loved baby into this world!

Gene brought pies ( always so grateful, one less thing to think about when prepping everything!)
Gene enjoying his feast!

My Sister Marcy and husband Vince...Bode enjoying his thanksgiving feast!

Grammy's sweetheart!
We all got to visit with Jeremy and Jamie and Noah in Mississippi!
MaryBeth with Grandma and Aunt Marcy enjoying my parents anniversary book. It was wonderful to have the day to relax and do things like this. With 6 reclining seats in my family room, there were alot of naps while the games were on!
Wonderful memories of a great Thanksgiving Day!

Sewing class

2011-11-25T05:19:00.000-07:00

Here's my sister and niece with their finished notebook project the other night. It took 2 evenings due to machine and part malfunctions but this week all went well and these 2 breezed thru their project! Alissa did a pretty batik pink and burgandy one and Marcy is now set for many a Christmas list! Something she'll use year after year! They decided to take a break from our weekly sewing over december so I'll be coming up with something new and fun for you guys by Jan. so get ready!!!

Happy Anniversary Amy and Chris

2011-11-24T04:30:00.001-07:00

We've another anniversary today to celebrate! Our Daughter Amy and Chris have their special day today! Here they are back in 2000! It's fun to look back and remember the special times of their wedding day!And here they are today with their 3 little ones! Happy 11th anniversary! We hope you have a lifetime of years together!

Fast and Fun time with Bode

2011-11-23T21:41:00.001-07:00

I love those quick little 1 hour fixes you get to have with your grandsons! We ran down to meet Bode and Chris last night while MB was teaching her teachers. We met them at Chick fila and had fun watching Bode be so big and play in the play area. We inhaled a sandwich and then went over to the San Tan mall to a new ice cream shop called Frost. MMMMM was that good. Gelato that was picture perfect! Busy little Bode enjoyed ice cream, a little bit from all of us.Here hs is looking at the cow at Chick fila. It was hilarious to get to watch this in action! He was scared but really couldn't help but want to see more. He'd run back to Daddy and then turn around and say MOO. Then he'd have to turn around and go back and see where did the "moo" go. Of course when you are only 2 feet high it's hard to see over the people and chairs so he'd go and look, big eyes when he'd see him and watch him, pretty soon running back to Daddy again. By the time he left he was ready to give the cow a hi 5. I was so amazed he wasn't terrified of him and screaming! What a brave little boy! So cute to hear him say Moo! Love these quick little evening fixes of grandsons!

Happy Anniversary Jeremy and Jamie!

2011-11-23T05:23:00.003-07:00

Happy Anniversary to Jeremy and Jamie! What fond memories we have of your wedding in Charleston South Carolina! Here's a fun snap shot of them leaving their ceremony at Battery Park right on the water with all the canons. A carriage ride thru town I'm sure they'll never forget! The carriage brought Jamie and her Dad to the wedding ceremony, it just gave you chills to see her and her Dad walking up the sidewalk!
And here they are the night before, they hosted a fun gathering for all their friends and family that had come to town. Those smiles of happiness are still as big today! Happy Anniversary you two, may you have years and years to celebrate being together!

The ovens are ready for the turkey!

2011-11-22T21:06:00.004-07:00

Well after lots of measuring, trips to the cabinet shop, help from Chris and Bode, Ken has the new microwave in! So far so good, I guess I should read the directions but I did heat some water for tea this morning and it worked fantastic! Seems very user friendly.And with Thanksgiving 1 day away I'm happy to say that all this with many adjustments, sawing and clamping, making the bottom drawer smaller and the top a bit narrower, we have OVENS installed!
YEA! I came home from work last night to find them in their place. The electricians had shown up in the afternoon and done their part to run a new line so we'd have plenty of power for both ovens. I whipped out some instant slice and bake cookies to try it out to see what it would do and all seemed well! Course that was only in the bottom oven. So I guess we'll be breaking them in with thanksgiving dinner around the corner! It's a great update to our kitchen and being one who does like to cook I think they'll see plenty of action!

Apples!

2011-11-22T10:53:00.003-07:00

Remember all the apples from my parents home in the woods, well this Sunday was apple day! They went from this....To this! Yea for the apple peeler!
I decided I wanted this batch to just be frozen slices for the freezer, so I think there are a few pies or apple crisps in our future! And none of it went to waste, Ken took all the scrappys down to the cabinet shop and threw them into the gravel area under the trees for the birds!

New Ovens

2011-11-21T10:57:00.000-07:00

Well our house is at the age where things are needing to be replaced. I guess after 15 years our appliances really didn't owe us anything else. So new ovens have been purchased and now await the installation! Chris and Bode came this week to help get the microwave up into position. Ken had done some tear out on the cabinets so they were ready. Bode was right there to help!

Out comes the old oven, we won't miss that timer going off on it's own at all! Or the light starting to blink off and on all on it's own!
Little guy in training!!!

Bode helping with the clean up! All little boys love my built in vacuum, you can make it just their size! Vacuum away Bode!

Well the cabinet man has his work cut out for him yet. He's got everything out, back to the cabinet shop to make different trim pieces. Saw dust everywhere from cutting out cabinet parts ( I was the dust collector with the vacuum hose!) The electrician has come and decided we need new wires run since we've gone from a single oven to the double oven.... the thanksgiving turkey is unthawing in the refrigerator.... we have 3 days to go....I'll keep you posted and show you the finished project soon...I hope!

Doggie Quilt

2011-11-20T10:34:00.003-07:00

I just had to show you one of the quilts from my intermediate class at Scrapbooks Etc.. Here is Linda's quilt that is all ready to get quilted and go to her grandaughter. It came out so cute. The dogs all have such personality! My intermediate Beyond Basics class has ended for this year but will be starting up first thing in Jan. again with a new quilt to learn. I saw another students doggie quilt on it's way to the quilter so I can't wait to see it come back too. I get so excited when people take my design and run with it!

Sew and Go November and Lisa!

2011-11-19T04:30:00.003-07:00

We had a great group of gals come to Sew and Go this week at Scrapbooks. All left with their cute little quilted gift bags done. There were 3 varities of kits to choose from and I heard several plans of what they'd do with theirs to fill and give for the holidays. It was fun to do something like that to get everyone thinking along the gifting line!And I wanted to introduce you to Lisa. This is Lisa, our right hand gal that gets so much done for Barb and I . She helps us at Sew and Go, does lots of set up for us and cleans up so we can escape and collapse after!!!! She also keeps kitting for us all the time while she's working the floor at Scrapbooks too. So we just have to stay ahead of her with our lesson plans so we are ready for her, then she in turn gets our kits ready for all of you! By "getting Lisa" we now have our design days to do lots of design and planning for all the fun classes and events we do.
So if you missed the fun this last week, we'll be making the fun little quilted gift bags again on tuesday so you can join us then. We have Sew and Go Again yet the last wed. night in November and then we'll have the month of December off from teaching, but believe me we will still be there doing all kinds of prep for you all as Jan. we kick off a new calendar of classes and fun events all for you! So don't miss out, as we'll be ready for you the first week of 2012 with more fun than you really should be having!!!

spending the night!

2011-11-18T07:31:00.001-07:00

We had a great time with our 3 big boys this last weekend. They came on friday afternoon and got to spend the night. We walked/rode bikes around the corner to the neighborhood park and had a great time on the swings! Here is Aiden flying thru the air...

Garrett having a blast!
And Ethan hanging on with everything he's got!

Papa had them all 3 going, laughing and begging for more fun pushes!
Garrett here has the best balance for a 5 year old! He walked these walls several times, pretty soon he was running along them. After watching him all summer in the pool and then seeing this, he's got the best spatial awareness of his body, makes me wonder where and what he's going to be doing in the future!
So yep I'm admitting we had some fun "junk" before bed. I ran across this cool donut. Biggest one I've ever seen. I swear they put that stuff out there cuz they know Grandmothers will buy them! So this "Texas Donut" had to come home with me but it sure was fun for these 3 to eat.

Thornberries quilt meeting in November

2011-11-17T07:21:00.003-07:00

We had our Thornberrie quilt group meeting for November and I had all my churn dash blocks ready to turn in. This has been an ongoing swap this summer and I've been getting mine done a bit at a time. I finally turned them all in this month. 7 people participated and they each got one of each color, so I made 7 of 7 varieties. They were alot of fun to do and since I can't count I still have parts for more floating around in the sewing room to finish up. I have a great pile of these now from everyone else, it's going to be fun to put this quilt together. Look at this great top that Lorene is working on. She brought it to get opinions on the border. Ahh it's going to be so pretty. Barb finished up this cute cat quilt she's donating to a group. Isn't it cute!
And here is Sue with her finished UFO for this month. OH MY GOSH isn't this amazing, Sue has been finishing so many big things this year. This group leaves me so inspired! Our Christmas party is next month at my house so everyone is finishing up their secret person's gift!

Happy Birthday Marcy!

2011-11-16T04:13:00.000-07:00

This is my sister Marcy, today is her birthday! We got to celebrate her on Sunday going out to the Queen Creek Olive Mill. Here is her husband Vince and my folks, along with Ken and I, we drove out and had a wonderful lunch outside, it was a cool, cloudy day, with a few sprinkles here and there so we loved being out in the wonderful fall weather. By the time we left tho the sun was out and shining.
If you've never been it's a great stop, and boy was it packed! I've only been there during the weekdays for lunch but on Sunday's it's a hot spot! Here's the array of food we all ordered, it's all so tasty and good. I had that acorn squash soup, something new to try and the 3 baguettes/tapenades. It was fun to try them all since they are some of the ones they sell. What a great little store they have of their locally pressed olive oils and and olive bar to take some home, lots of interesting things to try out, so you always want to take something home to try.
My Mom brought some cupcakes ( apple cake of course) and we all enjoyed a very fun lunch and relaxing time together out there. So Happy Birthday dear sister, I'm glad we got to enjoy celebrating YOU!

Free!

2011-11-15T07:09:00.002-07:00

I won a prize this weekend! Can you believe it! A local store was having a grand re-opening day and I won one of the door prizes. This floor sweeper. I was so surprised to get a call from them saying I'd won a prize! I've never had one of these but you can bet I"m going to use it! I wonder how it'll do with the remnants that Katie and Emma leave behind for me! I have no carpet in my house but it says it works on hard surfaces. So cat hair, threads and little boy crumbs here I come!

Apples and More Apples!

2011-11-14T08:40:00.002-07:00

My parents have this cute little cabin up in the woods in Strawberry and they were just up there last weekend when it snowed and became winter in an instant! They had picked and picked Apples on this trip up the mountain and came home with an abundance for a fall harvest! I got to go over for the day recently and help them with several projects, one being all the apples! We started out in the garage with the big sorting adventure...They have several trees giving them 3 different varieties of apples. They love to share with all of us so we divided them all up into sacks and my car was loaded when I came home. It smelled so good in there after a while, I kept thinking someone was making apple something! I dropped off 3 bags at my sisters door since we live just a few blocks apart and another bag went to Bode's house and another bag went to 3 more of my favorite little boys. They are just right for little boys as you see....
Guess who likes eating apples! And what a perfect size for perfect little boys!
So apple recipes are everywhere! So far we had apple crisp warm from the oven for dinner, several go with us for lunches, boy are they sweet too! So thanks Mom and Dad for sharing your bountiful harvest with us all! I'm thinking apple butter might be nice and maybe some apple oatmeal raisin muffins!

Cute little Bag

2011-11-13T21:11:00.001-07:00

Here's a sneak peek at our next Sew and Go project at Scrapbooks Etc. We'll have this project for you on tuesday Nov. 15th and 22nd. It's such a cute bag, It could be used for a gift bag, or it could be used to haul some cool stuff, or If I was a little girl I'd have it be my purse! SOOOO cute!

Time with Noah!

2011-11-13T04:45:00.000-07:00

Noah and I had a great little visit today. Of course he was in Mississippi but thankyou to FACE TIME we had fun anyway! He was out in Jeremy's shop jumping in his little jumper and having the best time, squealing and jumping and watching his Daddy go by, then he'd look at me on the screen and back to jumping and squealing. We probably did this for an hour and it was so much fun. You can see me in the upper right corner on the phone screen taking the picture! It's not as good as being there but I love getting my little "fix" every few days with the help of technology!

New things Comin!!!!

2011-11-12T08:08:00.000-07:00

Well, my brain has just been busting with all the new designs and classes bouncing around in there...YES there is a reason this is called my CRAZY LIFE! Lots of classes have been booked at Scrapbooks Etc. for the first of the year thru April and everyone better get their party shoes on cuz we are going to be having fun!!!! So the brain has been mulling all the classes, samples and ideas. Barb made a list of things we have to get done just for our classes we teach together and Sew and Go, then we have a couple new classes/events for the store we are facilitating besides the ones we always do. We have Lisa who cuts faithfully for us every moment she can while she's working the floor....I will have to take Lisa's photo and introduce you soon! Then we have Angie who now is also cutting things for us. So the lists go on and on as we stay ahead of them and all our students, and get things out there and organized so things can be ordered and ready for all our fun students. I'll tell you about some of the new events and fun coming soon, but for now here are 2 little teases. This is for my next Beyond Basics class I teach on Thursdays. Louise teaches the beginners and gets them going and learning to make their first basic quilts, mostly squares and simple things as there is alot to learn with quilting. So Beyond Basics takes you to the next level and we get into some angels and fun things that are just a tad more advanced. It's a 3 week series and basically I tell my students that Louise teaches you how to do everything the right and proper way and then I teach you how to kick it up a bit and add more variety to your quilts.... and "CHEAT".... as I will show you the ease and shortcuts to make it all simple!!!! So with that, here is a sneak peek at what is coming up in Jan. and Feb. in my Beyond Basics class..... Ahhhh I know it's just a quick peek but it'll be done soon and you'll get to see it all, but it involves this lucious line of" Ruby" fabric and that 60 degree ruler...hmmmm...It's spread all over our pool table ( isn't that what those are for?)and tends to get worked on between 5 and 6:00 AM!Now this next little sneak peek will entice you to come and see what the heck are they doing to Twister!!!! Louise and I have taught a Twister class 3 times this last quarter and we are kicking it up a notch with some new things added. And for those of you that know me I just can't ever seem to follow a pattern( like the puppy dog quilt class that is in process now looks NOTHING like the original pattern) So with that in mind I've been making these fun twister blocks and designing my own fun pattern with them. Lots of mulling over the blocks and moving things around and running back to Scrapbooks for more of the matching fabrics, it too was spread all over the pool table and is close to being ready for quilting....In the meantime here is a little bit of this fun!!!! It's getting prepped for a wee little boy with the first name that starts with a "B"....hmmmm so stay tuned, you'll be seeing it soon after I get it finished and ready to hang at Scrapbooks, and I think since there isn't a pattern for this one that you just might get the layout sizes when you come to our twister class next spring!
More teases to follow as this is ONLY THE BEGINNING!

2 Block of the Months!

2011-11-10T21:47:00.002-07:00

So here are 2 more things bouncing around in my brain these days.... 2 different Block of the Months that Scrapbooks Etc. is offering next year. Both will start in Feb. of 2012. This one is a hoffman Batik quilt that is just beautiful. They are offering a great finishing incentive also for 2013 if you have it done your $25 registration fee will be applied towards your back! Our prep kit hasn't arrived yet but should soon and then Barb and I will be building this amazing quilt at work for the store. It's a nice big quilt too, 90"x 100" and out of these beautiful batiks.Here is the other one. Barb and I started pulling fabrics for these kits, it's so cute! We've gotten alot of organizing done on it and a couple blocks are now prepped and ready to sew up. And yes Lisa will be cutting parts thru December so we will have it ready for you to begin in Feb. We've got a tad bit of sewing to do to get these done and up! They'll be fun to do tho and with 2 of us doing them they'll go together pretty good. Be sure and stop in some time and take a peek as they'll be so cute when done. And stop by and say hi to Barb and I as we sit in the classroom sewing away on these great projects! The new calendar doesn't even come out until Dec. and we've got people already signing up. Spaces will be limited and I can see these selling out before we even get them up!

Cute little Bag class!

2011-11-09T22:45:00.000-07:00

Here is the sample for our next Sew and Go Again class at Scrapbooks Etc. It's happening the last wed. night in November (30th) This cute little bag and this cute little posie will be fun for everyone to make!

Sew and Go November

2011-11-08T20:51:00.003-07:00

Here's more of our cute spinning mat that we did at Sew and Go this week. Our second class is growing now that we do it each week repeating the project from the first week. We had 15 come today, that's not as many compared to the 32 we had last week, but lots of cute little mats went out the door again today!We did have one gal coming back to make another in a different color way. I think alot of people have figured out it's more fun and better to just come make it with us, visit with friends and help is just a moment away and you really can't put one of these together for $18, what a deal Sew and Go is! Thanks to Scrapbooks Etc. for allowing all these fun classes to exist at such a good price, they've allowed us to have alot of faithful followers who are learning so much as they come again and again every week!
We've got a great project for everyone for the 3rd and 4th Tuesdays in November so don't miss out on those. Then we take a break thru the month of December. You are all TO BUSY to come to classes and that gives us a month to play catch up before we kick it OFF BIG in Jan. The new schedule will be out so be sure and get signed up, you won't want to miss Sew and Go at Scrapbooks Etc.!

Halloween Fun!

2011-11-08T05:36:00.000-07:00

We had a little halloween party this year at our house on the sunday before halloween ( I'm behind on posts can you tell!) I wanted to make sure I got to see all our special Halloween trick or treaters in their costumes this year so everyone came over for a lunch of chili and lots of yummies that everyone brought. And if you havn't ventured to Jamie and Jeremy's blog to see the updates on their lives I thought I'd share this picture of Noah all ready to go trick or treating in Mississippi! They were the 3 blind mice so here is Noah looking so cute! You should go see the photo's of the three of them all dressed as the 3 blind mice! Jamie said Noah went to his "school" in costume on monday too and of course they loved him! So here is our MOUSE...Here is Ethan just looking cute...you'll see him soon as SPIDER MAN!
I tried to catch them as they came in the door....Garrett....soon to be...
A transformer named BUMBLE BEE...
A VAMPIRE....as Aiden...
So we did get a picture of these 3... the door bell rings again and it's....
A puppy Dog....with Daddy filming right behind... it was so cute, him standing there waiting...
The cutest puppy dog on the block....otherwise known as BODE!
And since we would all run to the door as each came with our cameras ready we opened the door this time and it was this kitty cat with Alan otherwise known as my niece Alissa! They were good sports as there was a big crowd on the other side of the door waiting to see who was there!
Then this cute Kitty cat arrived...other wise known as Cailyn!
Here is little Landon, the cutest pumpkin on the block!
We did try our hardest to get a group shot....
one escapes and there goes another...
Fix the ears...there goes another...
It was almost as funny watching the crowd on the other side....paparazzi! Not a whole lot of success but we all had fun!