Sunday, December 20, 2009

Gilroy Gardens and Snoopy

On Friday we went to Gilroy Gardens where they had the whole park lit up with holiday lights and offered a laser and fireworks show. We had a great time and didn't freeze as we have on previous evening visits. It was lots of fun and they also had Snoopy and several other characters around the park.

Monday, December 7, 2009

O Hanukkah Bush, O Hannukah Bush....

We went to our local nursery yesterday and purchased the most beautiful 7 foot Christmas Tree/Hanukkah Bush. Keeping in style with our white and blue lights, that is how we decorated the tree as well. The kids had a fantastic time and I took lots of pictures.

Glace

Glace is the name of the line from which this quilt was made. I purchased this kit when we first got it in the store and thought I'd make it to help sell the remaining kits we have left. Here is another example of a picture not doing the quilt justice. In person, this one is a beauty!

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Nurse Nili in the LA Times

As many of you know, my sister Nili is an ER nurse at Cedars Sinai in LA. She has been doing it for quite some time. She also has a new job as a nurse in a research facility for Stroke vicitims but will keep her ER skills sharp by some extra shifts. Anyways, there was an article recently written by the LA Times and here is the link. They interviewed several nurses including Nili.

Saving Grace
Unflinching and tireless, the ER nurses of Cedars-Sinai are disaster’s first line of defense

http://www.latimesmagazine.com/2009/12/saving-grace.html

Rachael's Winter Concert

Last Thursday Rachael had her winter concert where she played the clarinet in the advance band group. They played several songs and I used my new camera to shoot the video. It's pretty good and I'm so proud of Rachy!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

My Cricut has been humming....

I took a brief hiatus from quilting to work on my holiday decorating and card making. I actually got all my holiday cards done in one weekend. Then I saw this really great decorating idea on the cricut messageboards. These are those glass blocks that you can buy at the hardware store (I purchased mine at Lowes) and they have a hole cut out of them already. I used some vinyl and cut out the saying "Believe in the Magic" and then an ornamental tree. I put those on after I frosted the glass with glass etching. I then used a 35 light strand of christmas lights, put a ribbon on it and then some quick decorating on top and voila....

This one is lit up!

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Oh yeah, and we put up Christmas....

Also in between doing crafting, we took down all of Fall stuff and put up all of our holiday decorations. Mark strung his candy-stripe rope light in the tree out front and we added our Deer light family (must be why I made deer cards this year). Then we did our usual blue and white icicle lights from the garage and house. Then of course I put all of our cute snowmen on the porch.






Time to switch from quilting to scrapbooking

I'm taking a break from quilting to work on my holiday items. I vowed that I would not buy holiday cards since I have a TON of paper, stamps, embellishments, etc for making my own cards. So for the last two days I've been working on those. Then I finally got the inkling to do these vinyl tiles that I have been staring at for weeks. So I made these cards and then some matching tiles. Hope you enjoy!

Monday, November 23, 2009

Simplicity was not simple

Here is another kit that I finally finished. I've only had it for about 18 months or so. Debbie did a wonderful job quilting it and it's hanging in the shop to hopefully entice some other customers to purchase the remaining kits. It wasn't that difficult to make just a long time for me to get to it.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Graceful Reindeer

I'm trying to get something done at home. I finally put a binding on this quilt I did a while ago. It will be a nice wall hanging for the holidays.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Elf Yourself

I know, I know, I should be quilting, making Christmas Cards, or doing the hundreds of other projects sitting on my table waiting for me....but for those of you who are familiar with JibJab and have seen my other creations...here is the family doing a hip-hop elf dance....just in time for the holidays.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Halloween Baltimore

I realize I'm a bit late to work on this, but my goal is to have this done by next Halloween. I'm making excellent progress. I have two blocks fused and now I just need to applique them. I'm thinking about getting all the blocks fused first and then do the machine applique. That way I can do all the same color on all the blocks at once. Hope you like them. The owl is sooo cute.


Friday, November 6, 2009

Fall Yellow Brick Road

Now that the hustle and bustle of Halloween is over, we are moving ever closer to the great big holiday event....Sarah's birthday!!!! And here you thought I meant Thanksgiving and Christmas. Anyways, it's been crazy at our house lately, but I did manage to finish putting a binding on my fall yellow-brick-road quilt. Are the colors pretty?

Monday, November 2, 2009

Halloween 2009

I know, I know, it's supposed to be a quilting and scrapbooking blog, BUT I just have to post pictures of my family at Halloween. The kids had a fantastic time trick-or-treating. Rachael is a cave girl, Sarah is Daphne from Scooby Doo and Mark, well, uh, he's a dinosaur. Sigh. Anyways, I was a witch. I know, I didn't have to stretch too far for that. Enjoy the pictures!












Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Spoolie Bunnie

At PIQF last weekend, I went up and down all the aisles and while I liked alot of what I saw, I really didn't purchase much UNTIL I came across another wonderful pincushion. This one was a bunny and who can't resist a bunny! So here it is.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Winter Stitchery Sampler

I've had a lot of opportunities to sit and work on this stitchery project, but it took me awhile. It is called "Winter" and the red and white fabrics are from Bunny Hill Studios Chelsea Manor. This project also has small wool pieces and once it is quilted, I will add some shimmering clear gems.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

It's Halloween!!!

I really, really should be doing something else right now, but I get these emails from Jib Jab and made this cute Halloween video. Enjoy!!!

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/wjcONz6ulDlDwAT8

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Spoolie and Yellow Brick Road

I'm working on several projects at the same time and I actually don't like to do that. I'm sorta compulsive about starting and finishing one project at a time, however, my crazy schedule does not allow me to always do that. I got this wonderful pattern from one of our friends and teachers at PQ, Beth Upstill, to make this spoolie bird. I loved it sooo much. I bought a vintage spool from Bunny Hill and made this sweet project. Thanks to Beth for the wonderful wool.


For the store I finished a sweet Yellow Brick Road from a line of fabric called Hopscotch. I finished the binding today and it will be hanging in the store. The fabric has sweet little birdies on it. Hum, do I see a trend????


Monday, September 28, 2009

Ladies of the Sea is a winner!

Well everyone, I'm proud to say that the quilt Ladies of the Sea took third place in the category of Large-Applique! I'm really very happy and can't wait to give it to my father. My parents will be visiting in a few weeks and the big unveiling will occur.



Friday, September 25, 2009

Boo!!!

I took a little break from quilting this week after the surge to get samples done for the store and worked on a little Halloween project that I'm going to make several of. It is Halloween cards with little bubbles in them filled with M&Ms. Isn't it cute?

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Look what my Daddy made!!!!!!

My father makes wonderful items out of wood and I wanted a stickle holder. Stickles are glitter paints that come in little plastic bottles. I asked my father to make one for me and of course he went way overboard and made the most amazing item. It has three drawers that slide out and handles on the sides for carrying. Isn't it great?





Monday, September 14, 2009

Is it Fall Yet???

I keep looking out the window at the tree in front of my house for any signs of the leaves turning color, but alas no and with our close to 100 degree heat, I'm guessing fall is a ways away. We did have some rain last night, but even that was a warm rain. Well I guess I'll just have to wait. In the meantime, I did finish a darling quilt for the shop called Pumpkins and Spice and it is certainly help get me in the mood for fall.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

I'm ramping up again....

Well I have two more quilts finished. One is quilted and ready to be hung at the store. It is Over Easy with yellows, oranges and greens. The second one is called Sweet Days and features a monthly embroidery block that I started while on our vacation this past July.



Wednesday, August 26, 2009

My masterpiece is done!!!!!!

For the last 18 months I have been working on a quilt called Ladies of the Sea for my father. I have mentioned it in an earlier blog, but now I can say it is finally done! The quilt started as a block-of-the-month last year and I had it done earlier this year. I then gave it to Debbie for quilting and she did a fantastic job in the borders and cornerstones. I took it home and did some free motion in the blocks. Finally I put individual labels on the backside which has a small description of each ship and now it is ready to go to the Morgan Hill Quilt Show. I'm so so so happy with it. It is beautiful. Both Debbie and April think I'm crazy to have done it and now that I look at it, I think they may be right! This will eventually go to my father after the show and I know he will enjoy it.


Thursday, August 6, 2009

Rachael's 10th Birthday

August 4 was my daughter Rachael's 10th birthday. Boy time does fly! Here she is with her cake (that I made, I know, I know, don't fall over). She got a Wii game from us and has a roller skating party scheduled for August 22nd.

Bali Bowl

Whilst on vacation and one of my shopping sprees, I purchased a "Bali Pop" which is basically a batik jelly roll. I didn't really have any plans for it, but I liked the colors which were purples, blues, greens, whites. When I got home I remembered that I had some "clothesline" from the shop that I was going to make into a bowl. So I put the two together and this is what I have. It is quite large with a 9" base. It's a little off center, but then again so am I. Hope you like it.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Back from Vacation

Hi everyone: I'm sorry it's been so long since I posted, but we just got back from two weeks vacation up to my parent's house in Washington and then to Canada (eh). But I'm back now and I did do some shopping at several quilt shops including a brand new one up in Washington called the Quilt Barn. They were very nice, had lots of samples, but their prices were sky high. I bought some cute patterns and books, but need to save, save, save to buy stuff at PQ! Anyways, while in Canada, we did the touristy things including the beautiful Butchart Gardens in Victoria. Here is a picture of us in front of the sign and some of the gardens. These are great inspirations for picture quilts which I hope to do some day. Soon the children will be back in school and I can get back to doing some heavy duty quilting too.








Monday, July 6, 2009

The birthday cake

Want cake without calories??? Try my little felt number. Took all day to make, but isn't it cute???

The House Next Door

Well, our 4th of July was humming along when at 4:00 a.m. on the 5th we were awoken by our neighbor banging on the door and dog going crazy. Apparently the house next to us had caught on fire. Mark ran out to get the hose, but then realized that was futile and by then the fire department and police had arrived. We had to evacuate!!! So I got the kids, the dog, my purse. Mark grabbed some clothing and that was it. We all got to watch the house burn down from about 3 houses down the cul-de-sac. Fortunately, the occupants got out safely thanks to smoke detectors and our neighbors were kind to all of us, getting us blankets, water and chairs. We were out there for a couple of hours when we were finally allowed to go back in. There must have been over 50 firefighters and 8 to 10 engines trying to get this fire out. The house went up in about 10 minutes. The investigator said it was faulty electrical in the laundry room. Yikes! Anyways, I'm so sorry for our neighbors. They are sifting throught what's left and will be relocating. Fortunately, everything in the garage was fine, including their cars. Here are some photos of the house.