The Trifecta.....

Well today was Mindy's birthday. She's finally as old as I am! We go way back in time, in fact I remember when her youngest 2 were born! So I talked her into doing the "trifecta" tonight when we both got off work. When I asked her about it she said, sure I"m free but what is a trifecta?Our community has this great group of restaurants and all 3 are owned by the same people and all 3 will give you $10 credit towards a meal on your birthday .

She wasn't really sure she could do it, but I am seasoned at this and I dragged her right with me in training! So off we went to Joe's BBQ, here we just got her a baked potato which is HUGE and she got 2 pieces of lemon cake, so now she's got a baked potato for lunch tomorrow at work.
We actually started at Liberty market and we both had a great pasta dish there, which of course we couldn't finish so we each took half of that home ( lunch for me tomorrow and maybe dinner for her!) It's kind of funny but the employees actually encourage you to go on to the other restaurants and do this, I had one on my birthday who told me how to do it even!
The last stop of the trifecta was Joe's farm grill which she got a free huge salad, so there's another free lunch the next day!
Here's Mindy at Joe's, we actually did sit down and have half a piece of lemon cake for dessert. So thanks to the Joe's family restaurant group for letting us have such a fun evening. See if you do it right, you offer to take your friends out to dinner and this is what happens...free food. Thanks Mindy for being a good sport and letting me drive you around to collect all the good food! Happy Birthday, I'm just glad you are finally as old as me!
So I just got a text from Mindy who on her way home went by way of Krispy Kreme as she heard they give you a free dozen doughnuts on your birthday so yep she was right....add that to the list of freebies you can enjoy on your birthday!

Paper Back Writer

I hung a new sample at Scrapbooks Etc. today. It's for my next intermediate quilting class, this one will be taught in May and then again in June, both months have Thursday morning and evening classes. This quilt was so fun to make. We haven't had any " non flowery....more masculine" type of samples up so I thought this might fit the bill for anyone wanting something like that. It's all done in the green and chocolates and the back has chocolate minkie on it and it's soooo cuddly. It's a very large lap size, not long enough for a bed but plenty big for 1 or 2 people to cuddle under! You can make any size you like tho by adding or subtracting a row of blocks. The class is three weeks long with lots of tips on how to do it easily. The name of the pattern is Paper Back Writer which is so clever, they used alot of fabric with words on theirs, the brown/black pieces in this border/sashing and binding have a neat stripe to them, it's hanging in the classroom already so come see!

Marti's quilt

I was teaching my tooth Fairy Pillow class today at Scrapbooks Etc. and got to see Marti's quilt she got from us for her birthday. She's the owner of this marvelous store and she had her birthday last friday so a fun party was held and she was presented with this quilt we all made the blocks for. Jenny put it all together for her and Louise quilted it with every last charming detail you could want in it. It's so much fun to look at. My block was the 3rd from the left in that bottom row.Look at the fun detail on the back even. What a fun quilt for her, she deserves every ounce of love that was put into it!

Thornberries quilt meeting in April

I got to go to my quilt groups meeting today and had such a fun day sewing with "the girls" Barb got her rec room at her development for us again and we sewed from 8:30 until 5, of course we took a break and had a great potluck lunch we brought in but it was fun to work on lots of the things I'd packed up! Of course most are either gifts so you can't see them yet or for classes which you'll see when they are finished on here anyway! But here is a sneak peak at some of the other productive gals work! Sue was working on this great batik scrap quilt, oh it just sparkled, it's now on my list of "need to do that "!Louise finished up this darling quilt, loved the scallop border!
Barb finished this darling stitched puppy dog quilt, sorry the photo's are a little rough!
She had this chicken one finished too, all hand embroidery on there, so cute with the mommy chicken chasing the babies. I have these patterns I've wanted to do and some are even traced....living in a baggie, ho hum!
This big quilt was one that Sue finished, so pretty, she always finds the best backs, this one has pictures of the presidents all over it and is so cute to look at and the colors were perfect!
Lorene made this one for her granddaughter's birthday, so pretty and pink!
And she's working on anther pile of christmas quilts ( she's just a machine!)
So we had a great time. I realized when I downloaded all my photo's I"d forgotten to take pictures of my classes on thursday, 6 students started in my intermediate quilt class so I"ll have to remember to show you photo's next time, they all had a great start!

Sew and Go April

Barb and I sure had a fun class today at Scrapbooks Etc. We had 51 come for the fun!Everyone loved the block we were teaching and ended up with such a great table runner. What a deal is that for $18.00! We said goodbye to a couple more winter visitors that had stayed just to do this class.
We had quite a few colors for people to choose from, again we had about 20 people outside the door waiting to get in at 10, actually some were there are 9:30....class starts at 11:00!
They've all learned tho, if you want a certain seat and a particular kit, better come early!
I didn't get a photo of a couple of the kits that were all in spring time colors, so cute. But we sure had a fun class today with all these great gals.

Jamie's family

Here is our sweet Jamie with her folks and brother Joseph. We got to meet them for lunch on sunday at Joe's farm grill along with the THRONGS of other people there. I guess everyone wanted to enjoy the beautiful AZ weather and eat picnic style. We had no problem getting a table but Ken and Bruce got to wait a long time in the line for ordering, it sure is worth the wait tho. It was so nice to just sit and relax and visit with them. So Jamie is back in Mississippi now (WHEW) I for one was watching the weather and calling and texting and was so glad to know when she got home! I think the south has gotten their share of ick weather for this week. Sure was fun to get to spend time with her and her folks while she was here, so here's a family snapshot for you Stephanie and Danielle and Christa.......

Jamie's visit to Arizona

Jamie got to come and visit her folks this weekend here in Arizona! They are so kind to share her with us! She and her Mom came for a visit first thing on thursday and we had a relaxing few hours just visiting the 3 of us. Then we decided Sat. AM was the best time to catch a few family members who all wanted to see her too. So we invited the gang to an informal b-fast. Gene came, here he is with Bode ( who had such a great morning nap here that he missed most of the party!)4 little boys, having their b-fast, we had sticky buns and bagels, and fruit and muffins.
Marcy and Vince came by to see her too.
My folks came too,
Here are Chris, Bode and Jamie.
Garrett with something very special he built. The boys had fun playing and running around, inside and out.
Two little boys needed some lunch...
MB, Chris and Bode with Jamie.
Jamie with Aiden, Garrett and Ethan....1,2,3!
And the rest of the Silvertooth gang...
It was great we could all share the morning with Jamie. In the afternoon, everyone went their way and Jamie and I took off to do a little bit of Baby Noah shopping. We had some luck and found several sweet little things, I wanted her to choose and now I can make a few little tidbits to match! We are having lunch with Jamie and her folks and Joseph tomorrow, it's so nice of them to share their time!

Table mat Class at Scrapbooks

We had the table mat class yesterday at Scrapbooks. It was called Taco Salad ( name in the book) and I have made a couple and they were quick and easy and so fun. Here is Ruth with hers. She made the small size and is going to make 5 more...place mats. Won't they be cute with her white dishes with a blue rim! This was the small size in the book.Here is Sara behind hers. She did the larger size that I redrafted to make bigger. Very bright and cheery, she picked these colors from the basket she had made at Sew and Go , so this matches it, will be on her table along with the basket filled with napkins and silverware! Such clever gals! That was a fun class with these 2 gals. The calm before the storm.....I'm hearing Barb and I have 47 coming on Tuesday for sew and go! Kits are ready, we better be geared up too!

Sew and Go for April 5th

Next week is our next Sew and Go, the first Tuesday in April. We've been cutting kits like crazy as of this week ( one week away) we have 41 signed up already. It's a nice medium size table runner so I think alot of people will be happy with this project for $18.00!Here is part of Barbs done in Batiks. It's going to be fun as it's a neat block to learn and fast to do. Barb's putting together a whole quilt with this block and it's wonderful. I can't wait to show everyone how to do the block, it's got a fun trick to it! There are still a few spaces left if you haven't signed up and want to join us.

What a fun class!

I got to take such a fun class this week myself. One of the great perks of my job is to get to take one class a month for free so that I can learn and figure out what the heck all the other teachers do and products they use. It really does help me as I try and help customers with products at Scrapbooks Etc. and also what the classes are all about. So this was the class I took this week. STOP THE PRESS! Oh what fun! We built this great book from cardboard, a pile of paper and loads of fun stuff. We even took dictionary pages and crumbled them up and glued them to make the cover! Amy T. teaches this and what a blast to go in and have this wonderful kit and project all planned out for me. We glued and punched and just had a blast and yea I finished it! I took her class last month and that one is still on the desk waiting for the finishing touches. so I'll post it when I get it done, but if y0u ever get to take one of Amy's classes, you'll love it, she's so creative and generous with her kits and it was a great evening! I just need to decide what sort of pictures to put in this one as it's ready to go!

Sew and Go Again

Here is the sample bag of our next Sew and Go Again class at Scrapbooks. It's a great reversible tote bag. May 25 at 6:00 PM. Come join us for 2 1/2 hours of fun sewing time and the $18.00 even includes your kit all cut out for you! It's our once a month night time version of our Sew and Go daytime class. You'll love this bag! I have several and they are the best to just grab and haul all kinds of stuff. Shhhhh don't tell but this one is actually for Bode's first birthday to put his Birthday presents in come June! I usually make all my Grandboys a pillow case for their birthday and wrap their present in the pillow case, but being that Bode will just be turning one I figured he'll get his presents in this bag and then it'll be good for hauling to day care as he grows bigger. So come make a fun bag with us, I"ve started picking fabrics and cutting kits, they are all going to be great but not "kid fabric!"

Garrett and I had a Date!

Lucky me had a Garrett "adventure" yesterday! We had such fun! Ken took Aiden golfing so Garrett and I decided to do something fun too!We went to the Riparian Preserve here in Gilbert and had a little hike, went by the lake and saw a guy with a huge catfish he'd caught, saw lots of ducks and a turtle. He had a blast playing in the little stream. I love that place, you can be back in there and never know you were in the middle of town!
Lots of fun walls and things to climb on and run around in one section.
We had a blast. I asked him then where he'd like to go to lunch and he said he wanted to go get subway again and go to the lake that had the lady bugs like we did 2 days ago! So that's what we did, and yep he found more fun ladybugs. Sure was a fun adventure with you Garrett!
Ken called and found us on their way back to our house, so here is a picture of Aiden and Ken after they played 9 holes of golf! How fun for a 7 year old! The boys wanted to come home with us so they came and helped us backwash the pool, and had fun running around with popsicles while I mowed the grass and got some yard work done. We took them home and had a nice dinner on the patio with Amy and Chris and Ethan, what a fun frivolous sort of Sunday it was! Sure was fun hanging out with those 2 little boys!