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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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!