New BOM Fabric Choices

I have been asked to teach the BOM in my weekly quilt group New Friends and since I had already have the same quilt in progress for my night group I had thought I might just not do a step by step example of the blocks but decided that isn't fair for my group so I have chosen to work in pink and black...way different for me...and see if I can keep to those two colors!
I have a small amount of white that appears in a few of the prints but hopefully it will not detract from the idea of only pink and black. Too bad the polka dots aren't black with pin and the deep rose print doesn't have light pink as the additional color. LOL
Anyway hope this will be a good new adventure for me!

Snow Fire

If you haven't read the previous post yet please do! As this was posted second LOL
Anyway here are the almost buried luminaries and a few pics I took at twilight. They reminded me of fire under the snow.. I did un-bury the ones that were completely covered so at least you see something under that snow LOL

Snow Day!

Got up this morning early early and looked out of the window and it was snowing....and it snowed...

And it snowed...

And it snowed...

And it kept snowing...

Almost the entire day! So we have about 10 inches of brand new snow...sigh and there is more to come on Thurs or so we are told.
Bottom pictures shows my luminaries almost covered and by the time it stopped they were covered so we had to un-bury them slightly! LOL

And so it Snows...

More snow today as you can see. I think the table had cleared of snow after yesterday's sunny day. I think we have maybe 8 or so?
Belle still has to go out of course and then you can see the birdies up in the trees waiting for me to go back in so they can resume time at the feeder. Just thought I would share the pics even though I can't share the snow.

It's beginning to look a lot...

LIke Christmas!
Yesterday my grson I came by to say hello and Nana wanted him to put "his" ornament on the tree. Yeah right! LOL
Oldest son D had to help him decide it would be fun to put it on the tree. I figured it was a plane so that means it needs to fly around at bit before it landed "near" the tree. It was cute to see him fly it around and tease Nana.
He discovered one of Papa's "trucks" from the train set and played with it before his Daddy told him it was time to pick up Mommy at work.

A rare smile from I as he is a solemn boy sometimes but loves to play hard and have fun.
This morning we woke up to this...DD had asked for snow for Christmas and I had DH call her and tell her that the order was early.
It is very pretty but wet and cold!
I did shovel it in the morning when Belle and I went to get the paper and was glad it was the normal light and fluffy stuff for Utah.
We ended up with about 4-5 inches and cold cold weather for the rest of the week will probably keep it around for a while.

The Wheels on the Train...Teddy Onboard

One more project done! Yippee...celebration going on here! LOL
The more grandchildren that are added to our family then Nana needs to come up with a new stocking for him (this time it is a him) so here is baby A's stocking all finished. I took some shortcuts, fused applique not hand and left off the cording from the edges and Jodi has a darling little bear in her pattern but I found one at Hobby Lobby that was just perfect so I didn't make the bear. Now for the story of the large wheels. I decided that using Yo-yos and my yo-yo maker would be a perfect solution to the wheels on the train. I cut out some silver/grey Fairy Frost fabric and made a set of two wheels so that when I was finished and added the detail stuff I could just sew them on. Yeahhhh right! Funny thing is the wheels are hiding out somewhere in the house, probably in the sewing room LOL
So this morning I had to make new wheels sigh...but they are pretty quick and easy so no harm no foul. Wonder how long it will be until the first wheels show up? LOL
Thanks for the great pattern Jodi!

The Card Inspector...and cards

Anyone who hasn't tried the One Sheet Wonders method of cardmaking really is missing out if you love to make cards! I think is originated with the Stampin Up Company as a way to sell product probably but whatever ,,,it works so nicely and even if you don't have a huge stash of scrapping/cardmaking supplies you can do this!
I did a search and found Mae Collins blog where she shows how to divide a 12x12 inch sheet of paper and then has some basic sketches of 15 cards you can make from that one sheet of paper...thus the One Sheet Wonders (OSW) name. I added a second piece of pp and a piece of cardstock along with some ribbon, flowers and brads along with ink and an acrylic stamps Christmas greetings set from Close to My Heart Company with a touch of glitter glue to a set of blank cards and envelopes and VOILA...15 cards!
Of course Muffy had to inspect the cards as I photographed them to make sure they didn't have any flaws! LOL

A Peek Under the Tree

Shaking is not necessary, as they aren't wrapped yet!
Finding something that I can make for my bonus grands isn't always easy but this time it sure was fun. LOL I had purchased these fiberboard hanging plaques last spring from Archivers clearance corner thinking I would let the kids create their own during Camp Nana but we just had way too much fun doing other stuff so they got shoved in the scrapbooking room closet for "later"...it's NOW later!
My goal was to use what I had on hand (which believe me is plenty and more) and try to capture a bit of the personality of each of the children in their name sign.

Since I am pretty sure these kids don't read my blog I thought I would share them but holding back on the two for my babies little I and little A until after Christmas.
I really did have fun picking colors and digging through my stash to see what I could use the hardest was N's because being a grown up 12 year old I didn't want it to be too kid like but yet have some fun. I have added more to his since I took this picture with some Snoopy stickers and a few ribbons on the wire handle.
Some of these supplies have been in my stash for years and years LOL

See it pays to have a good stash of supplies because you never know when it might come in handy! LOL
Oh yeah and I ended up buying two bottles of paint so that's pretty darn good for me.

Easter Part 2

Got this finished a few days ago and wanted to share with you all....
The rest of my Easter pages for 08 with our family. I tried to concentrate on coloring eggs on one page and the other is a bunch of photos that didn't fit the other pages! You can see big A finally and little I enjoying a plastic egg and then there is Belle and her "headband of humiliation" (so named by my friend Marilyn who has her Flatcoats wear the headbands on every holiday she can think of to honk off her DH... or so she says, LOL).
We had a fun Easter with little I and the kids to hunt the eggs and help with the coloring.
Supplies
DCWV cardstock and pp, other pp Costco stack, accents from Storytellers kits, inks Stampin Up

The Mystery ...

Revealed!

My DD and her DH had never had a full sized Christmas tree until this year so of course they didn't need a full sized tree skirt until this year. Being the good quilty Mom that I am I decided to make them one and started looking all over the place to find just the right pattern. All those books and magazines in my quilt room, NOTHING, searched magazines and books in my group's library, NOTHING.
OK maybe the Internet...googled and googled but NOTHING. Then I tried Ebay hoping for some inspiration and FINALLY found what I liked! I was ready to bid but something told me to email my friend C back in UT. (I was in Texas at the time)
"Can you help me figure out how to make this?" I wrote her.
"Sure" she says, "it's just 60 degree star! And by the way I think I have a pattern for a similar one!"
And sure enough she did but the blocks were only a 12" size and I knew that the skirt would end up too small (to me) so after I got home and after Thanksgiving she walked me through how to enlarge a template...not as hard as I thought...and over the course of 3 days I made the skirt and I just love it!
DD loves traditional Christmas colors and even with all the problems I made for myself by not cutting accurately, in the end it turned our great and I think I want to make one for me! LOL Don't know if the family will let me NOT use the old skirt I made years and years ago from one of those preprinted pre-quilted panels. Hummmm Maybe I should take a picture of it and "pass it on"! LOL

Carol Doak BOM update

Loving these blocks as they are quick and easy along with fun do pick out fabrics and little accents.
I wasn't going to do any whimsical embellishing but decided they were looking a bit plain on their own.

Here you see Dec and Nov's blocks. Using my batiks and Fossil Ferns fabrics and a bit of fun from the scrap stash.

Enjoy

It's Beginning To Look a lot Like Christmas

While I was shopping at Lowes (for something completely different I might add) I saw this lovely Poinsettia plant and just couldn't resist bringing it home with me. I have it in the kitchen window hoping that it will stay lovely the whole season long. Just for fun I stuck in some glittered branches but I am not sure I will keep them in. LOL

Thanks Carol...Christmas Ornaments

Carol Doak has shared a free ornament pattern exclusively with her Yahoo group.
Isn't it cute? These are the four I made for my family...my parents, my sister and my daughter. DD B likes more traditional colors so hers is the red polka dots but the others were made from a charm pack from 2007 Moda line. I loved the retro happy colors and prints. They were quick and easy and fun to get something done really quickly for a change LOL

Just finished Easter!

LOL...a scrapbook page not the holiday!
This was sitting on my scrapbook table before I left for Texas and after moving stuff out of the room and new piece of furniture in and a whole bunch of rearranging...this showed up on the bottom of the pile. I had it half done, so while watching Top Chef I finished it up. I played with colorizing the pictures just for fun and I took me forever to pick the background I wanted to use. I probably tried out 10 different papers and ended up with this bright watermelon pink...now for the coloring eggs and hunting eggs pages LOL I am hoping to go with something a bit less bright but who knows how it will turn out.

Supplies used
Storytellers kit, DCWV cardstock, Making Memories letter sticker, ink

More Picture from the Party

Our lovely friend R was in charge of the party and made these beautiful Ribbon Salads and the Apple Sauce Cake Treats. Our President P made us all these darling cactus pincushions to take home as her gift and if you look carefully you can see our make and take project the yo-yo Christmas trees.

More friends just finishing dinner and Santa's visit and waiting to open our gifts!

This was my contribution to the Pot Luck. They are my own experimental (My SIL loves when I say that!) treat. I am looking for the appropriate name...Puff Pastry "cups" and a Pumpkin Fluffy Mouse like filling. What ever I end up calling they were pretty easy and yummy if you like pumpkin and a hint of cream cheese

New Friends Christmas Party

The end of 2008 has come and my quilting group held our yearly Christmas Party with both the Day and Night groups.
Of course we had the BEST foods with many of the ladies trying out new recipes like me or bringing an old favorite or if they are just too busy too cook bringing something tasty from the store. I can't even decide which was best and I ate more than my fair share! LOL

Here are a few of the members at the make and take table making darling yo-yo Christmas trees...

This is our fund raising quilt for the year and I was SO sure it was going to be mine but alas someone who lives not to far from me was the winner. I sure hope she enjoys it as much as I would had I won.
more in the next post with some other pictures