The Mystery Project is complete...

However I can't show it quite yet...so here are two more little hints at it.
My friend C helped me create the quote and picture and I am going to do it on my future projects!

A Little More Thanksgiving Day

I was very proud of my Apple Pie this time around. I mentioned before I am getting more into using my "emergency" food storage lately and this pie is a great example...OK I did cheat and use a frozen pie shell but the rest of it was stuff that I keep on hand all the time. The special touch is the use of dehydrated apples and whole wheat flour in the topping. DH loves apple pie and he says it is one of the best I have made...how bout that LOL The dehydrated apples are easy peasy and no peeling, coring or slicing involved. Just rehydrate them with boiling water.
The Mac and Cheese is one of my most favorite versions. I use low carb elbow macaroni, two cups of cottage cheese, one cup of Parmesan cheese, two cups...or a bit more...of shredded med to sharp cheese and then I add about a quarter cup of cream to moisten it all up. You could use powdered milk made like "evaporated" milk and add some butter or margarine if you don't have or want to use cream.

Here are the Thanksgiving eaters that showed up later to our house. LOL
Baby I loves dill pickles and you see him munching away on one but he did enjoy the dinner not too long afterwords. D says to me, I used to be able to eat two plates of Thanksgiving dinner but now I can hardly eat one! I reminded him that he used to be a runner and now he doesn't so I am not surprised about that. LOL

Black Friday!

Well the rush is on and how many of you are doing the early morning Black Friday thing?
Not for me this year...first time in quite a few years I am going to skip the early morning thing and try and order online mostly or not worry about the super dooper savings and just get what i am looking for when I see a good price.
Anyway....
For the first time since DH and I were married waayyayyay back in the day it was just Him and Me for dinner on Thanksgiving.
Of course B and B and baby A are in Texas now, Big A had to work 2-6 pm so he ate after work as he decided it wouldn't be a good thing to fall asleep at work! LOL D and P and baby I went to her Mom's home before dropping by here. I did have a plate full and D his daddy ate too. Sad thing is this was my best turkey in years and everything came out quite yummy but that's the breaks.

Here are DH and I before dinner and then me trying to decide how I can manage one of each dessert LOL...I ended up with a tiny piece of Pecan Pie (thanks Marie Callender) and the new recipe this year Pumpkin Cake made in my Betty Crocker Pans...kind of cool with the yummy filling inside. DH ate the Apple Pie that I made thanks to my food storage dehydrated apples that make quite a tasty pie I must say.

Here's little I with DH H when he was eating a pickle...he loves those baby dills. and finally the yummy turkey with herbs from my garden...still growing even in the end of Nov!

Tomorrow for me will be a bit of shopping and then working on that mystery project...hopefully getting it done!

Update on the mystery project

So any ideas yet? LOL
Bad thing about doing a real close picture is you can see all the flaws in my piecing but I guess it doesn't matter in the galloping school of quilt making! Just a little hint of the project
Yesterday I had a double dose of quilting as it was both the New Friends day and night group get togethers. We were busy sewing in both meetings...I had to complete a block for the donation quilt the night group has been working on, on and off and then day group had me sewing sashing onto tree blocks that will go into a donation quilt as well. There was some sizing problems and with my headache I decided that I was done for the morning LOL When I came into the quilt room that night (we have our own room in the AF Senior Center) there were 7 completed tops from the work earlier that day! Of course our Quilt Room Queen C had finished up several on her own but it is great to see how hard the ladies worked after I left.
Anyway C will be helping me with my Mystery project on Friday if I am able to get out of bed after Thanksgiving dinner.

IN the Quilt Room

Dusting off the machine and getting to work today on a Secret Project. Pulled from my stash fabrics that seem to be just right for the project. As you see lot's of flying geese....
or are they? LOL Don't want to spoil the surprise do I?

Some Quilt finishes!

It was time to get those Nov Civil War Love Letter blocks complete so that I don't have to rush at the last minute at the beginning of Dec.
It was my quilt friend MA's turn to choose and in following the colors etc in the book blocks there was lot's of red used in the blocks. I as usual have a few favorites and one that just looks like a "mess" but it is done correctly according to the example. I dug into my Poison Greens...just love them..and the one in the middle of the bottom row featured one the hard to use large prints and I love how it turned out. And of course there had to be "problems" that had to be fixed but unfortunately one that can't be fixed. It will probably have to be remade...sigh. I did a close up of the problem so you can see it. I was trimming the edges of the block and put my ruler down in the wrong spot and zip off went the seam allowance. I knew it immediately and just cringed

The two table runners were made right before I left for Texas with my quilt group during one of our quick project days. I did a quick turn on them and then stitched around the edges and will put in some simple ditch quilting when I have the time. The two are really close to the same size so the photo is sort of an optical illusion LOL
This is a quick and easy project and I think one will be a gift for Christmas and one to keep.

Faces from Texas

Not to bore with more pictures from my trip but...
Hey, it's my blog right? LOL

I love this picture that my sil B took of my DD, Grson A and Me on our San Antonio Cruise along the river walk. If little A had been facing the camera that would be perfect but I love it just the same. I tried a collage feature with Picassa and problem is it cuts off part of the photos so next time I will play with them a bit but I wanted to share for now

Did a bit of cleaning today...yah know those junk drawers we all have? Well I decided it was time to get one of them in order and cleaned up. I should have taken a before pic but I didn't think about it until I was putting stuff back LOL Oh well one more thing "down" to get the house ready for the holidays. I really need to tackle the cookie jar collection in the kitchen but that is such a task! I hate the way there is that kitchen grease with the dust yuck! OK I guess it needs to be done so maybe Friday if I can get it started.
Still reading Eclipse but I have been using it as a reward to myself when I get something done that I need to do! LOL only about maybe 1/4 left to read and it will be read tonight.

Should have been posted before the previous!

More pages from scrapping at DD's
Tummy time page is when baby A was spending time on his tummy instead of back, which is "required" now since the "old ways" are now out of date! "Back in the Day" we were told to have the baby on his tummy and then they would sleep better and not aspirate if they....well you know! LOL Anyway, A doesn't like tummy time to this day and always sleeps on his back. Kind of sad as there are no more little tushies in the air while they sleep on their stomach any more.
also a page of DSIL B with baby A...he just loves being a Daddy and is the best ever! I loved his laughing face as A tried to "nurse" LOL

Here is one of my favorite pages with kitties and puppies cut from my Doodlecharms cart and Storybook title. I also used some very old paper from AMM that I never used and then dd B had for a couple of years and never used but finally I decided to ignore the "photo mats" and just use the pages and I love how it turned out!

Last of all a little play on words Labor Day...DD in the hospital as her labor began and then the Labor of Love page with newborn baby A!
Again used the Storybook cart for the titles and I think Walk in my Garden flowers?

Scrapping at DD's

I mentioned before that I did some pages for my Grson A while I was visiting TX. Dd wanted me to do some of his earliest pictures and I did. First is a layout of DH and baby A as the baby was fascinated by a Curious George balloon that I had used at the Open House the day before. He loved to watch it move in the air as the AC came on LOL

The next pages are of his blessing which is a religious ceremony in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints where the new baby is officially given a name and a special blessing from someone who holds the Priesthood...usually a father or grandfather but can be any male who has the Melchizedek Priesthood.
You will notice some blank spots and those are for pictures that I took that day and need to send dd B some copies. Then she can fill in the gaps and do the journaling.

Last ones of this post is when baby A had Jaundice and had to be in the Belirubin lamp for several days. He was such a teeny weenie guy and it was hard to make him sleep that way. B and B spent several nights on the floor with him while he slept.

All the supplies I used were mostly out of DD's stash and needless to say it is very tiny beside mine! LOL I used her Cricut and brought along my carts so that I could use what she had and not buy a bunch of stuff. I did buy the stripe paper in the first layout and the felt ribbon too. More pages in the next post

Yes, I'm Back home again...

I had a good flight and the plane wasn't crowded thank goodness so I was able to have an isle seat with no one in the middle all the way to Utah. I arrived home to a much cooler place than I left LOL but it is nice to be home again.
Somewhere in my stuff is my cord to my camera for uploading pictures so as soon as I find it once more then I will share more from the trip.
While I was gone I discovered from Nedra's blog a link for a Food Storage blog and then a link to another one and have decided to re-commit myself to getting a year's supply a bit at a time.
With times the way they are it makes me have the feeling that I need to be ready to take care of my family if necessary and be ready for whatever happens and having good healthy foods on hand is a great goal to making me feel better prepared. Thanks for the link Nedra!

I did manage to scrapbook a few pages for baby A's album and did some reading...speaking of which...
I have become one of those "Twilight" fans! LOL As I was trolling Wally-world (which we managed to do a lot of ) I saw the display for the Twilight series and since I love a good story I decided to jump on board and see what all the hoopla is all about. In the beginning as I started the book Twilight...I thought "oh my, Bella (the female lead), is a whinny teenager and I have already done that in my life LOL. However as the book continued and I got into the story I began to like her more and by the end knew I was going to be reading the whole series LOL
Stephanie M is a great writer and really has created some interesting characters and ways to address the Vampire myths and later other myths too.
So today I sprung for the 3rd book since I read book 2 on the plane and then finished it early this morning...did I ever mention I am a fast reader LOL?
I will start book 3 tonight if I can but since tomorrow is my quilt day I hope I can manage to put it down enough to get some of my leftover projects finished or at least on their way!
So no pics but at least I have "said Hello" and checked in!

Lovein' My Time in Texas

Baby A and family with his new 6 month birthday toy from Nana!

DD and I have done some scrapping together and I need to make sure I take some pics before it is time to leave. However

We have been spending time with DSIL as he is home for a few days and after getting some needed sleep we decided to explore downtown San Antonio and the Riverwalk area but...

SOMETHING was going on down there for sure. First a Vetern's Day parade and who knows what else but roads were blocked and traffic snarled up and people everywhere so we decided to do it another time and find some lunch LOL

Anyway after a nice Sunday with church and more relaxing we were ready Monday to try once more to see San Antonio and it was great although like most cities parking was expensive and if you aren't familier with the area it would be best to park near where we wanted to be for this trip.

Here's a few pictures I took..and we had an early lunch at Rio Casa one of the oldest places on the Riverwalk. Surprisingly reasonable priced and very yummy Mexican food. I got a platter with a variey of goodies and all was tastey but the Chili con Carne was outstanding alongwith the salsa and taco.

6 Months Old

Baby A turned 6 months old yesterday gosh I can hardly believe it has been 6 months!

He is a happy healthy baby and brings joy to his parents' lives and of course to his Nana and Papa's too even though he is now living in Texas and we are in Utah. Thank goodness for the Internet, cell phones and airplanes! I would probably make the family pick up household and move to Texas if not for all those wonderful inventions!

Just a couple of pictures from Alex's second food experience. So far he has been breast feeding and eating a small amount of rice cereal but here he is trying squash! Liked it pretty well so as long as their aren't any strange reactions for a while he gets to try a new veggie soon! Mommy B is being slow to introduce foods in hopes of avoiding allergies. Hope it works!

More From Texas

What could be more precious that a Dad and his baby boy?
The day before Daddy B went on his "field experience" I took this picture of baby A and Daddy. A loves to ride on Daddy's shoulders and you can tell B kind of likes it too!



Another little taste of the Houston show...this was in the Miniature pieced category and you can get a feel for size from the ribbon next to it. Not many minis this year but still incredible quality. The roses are silk ribbon ( I think) and those are teeny tiny pieces that come to that incredible point!

Last of all baby A is learning to roll over and even though his back is to the camera we tried to commemorate the event LOL.

Still having fun but unfortunately I have a cold and can't "touch" the baby and have a clogged up head...Yuck!

HI From Deep in the Heart...

Of Texas!

Am having a great time down here in San Antonio and the International Quilt Festival in Houston was spectacular as you can imagine! According to the brochure there were over 1,100 vendors and all had more and more stuff you just HAD to have! LOL

I was a good girl and passed up several things that I would have loved to have but I think in the end I will be remembering my time at the show with some wonderful photos and selected goodies.

My time with my dd's family has been so precious and I try to treasure every moment as I know that sooner than I think I will be back home and away from my little grandson A. You can see the mystery project on little A...I made him a Sheriff Halloween costume and a matching vest for DD as his deputy...SIL went as the "bad guy". Don't they look great all ready to trick or treat?

Son in Law B leaves for his field experience and we will miss him for the week but dd and I and little A will have some girl fun while he is gone and look forward to his return...

Just two of the quilts that caught my eye at the show to whet your appetite for more later.