Gingerbread Boyz...Check! Chocolate Topped Acorns...Check!

The cookie plates are ready! Michael baked, and baked, and I am really grateful for his expertise and willingness to do it! The youngest daughter, Laurie, is hired for the day as my personal courier :) She will deliver them all for me as she's not yet started her new job, so its perfect for both of us....she drives and I keep typing, to pay her for it.... ;)

These go to all my medical transcription clients (surgicenter, ortho clinics, private offices, etc). Thank you Karen for helping me bag them up!
















And now that the plates and loaves of bread are bagged, labeled and maps printed and charted for Laurie....I have my dining room table back (except for a few more plates of cookies for neighbors!)....

So I am able to use the beautiful table runner my dear friend Karene made for me...

















I love it!! Thank you Karene!! :)

And now.....I am again....Le Tired!! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Yay! Another FO

Finished Object Alert! Dancing is taking place in the kitchen because I have finished the "quilt that whipped my arse".......teehee!! This one was hard for me, but in a good way. It was challenging and I am really happy with the outcome!

I spent the afternoon handstitching the last six feet of binding and then burying all my little threads and basically tidying it up...















Here is the full view pic that will go in my quilt book....

















My teacher Janet really showed me a neat trick with this one. I used 1-3/8 inch masking tape to mark my outer border quilting lines - this really appealled to me - its kind of "Home Depot meets Quilting Grannie" and it works!! The borders are well quilted, and the stitching lines overlap and create a woven look to each corner. I was really liking that!!

















I also loved what happened on the back of the quilt with my quilting of the individual blocks. By starting in the center, and following sort of a cross pattern, I could quilt the whole square without stopping, and it gave the back a nice finish at the same time. So the back is plain muslin, but has the border quilting design and the individual block quilting design.

I could not have done this without the input of my extraordinary teacher, Janet Salcido. I just love her and it is a treat and privilege to be in her class! She is a walking wealth of quilting knowlege, and she shares it with a warmth and sense of humor that is just plain inspiring. I'm all ready full of ideas and possibilities for next year!

Next up..... Finishing Laurie's butterfly quilt!! And Karen's quilt, which she has not seen yet....but I blurted out that I was making, by mistake! Oops!

Presenting The Freighter!

It was a forgone conclusion, as I stated here.
















And after protesting that I would never drive it.....Karen and I took our first run in it Friday night last week, after she pointed out that if I took the old VW van which we haven't sold yet, that she'd feel compelled to follow me in her car; the VW van is THAT unreliable!! The most memorial breakdown we have had with it was on her graduation day.....but the van was thoughtful enough to overheat after the ceremony - not on the way to the ceremony.

Karen navigated for me and all I did was concentrate on puttering along in the right lane slowly, as it is still in the break-in period....has about 140 miles on it. We went to visit our favorite furniture store, IKEA (which I translate as I. K.an E.ven A.fford it!) For Christmas this year, the girls are trading bedrooms and getting new paint and new items for their rooms, etc.
















We hauled all this home ourselves and I didn't wreck the new Freighter. Successful night!!

And one final picture.....Michael's taste in stickers has improved.....He dragged me outside to see what he had put on his new "freighter" and I came hesitantly, expecting a political statement of some sort....Like the Bush/Cheney sticker he kept on the Acura for four years......

















Way Better!!! I love "smilies"!

Houston, we have lift off!

All those classes, books, studying and working have paid off! Karen applied for a position with Mercury Insurance (for this position, a bachelor's degree was a must!) and she got the job! Training session starts today!

A few last minute checks of appearance (business casual with dress down Fridays!), papers, keys and purse....















"Mom, I sure hope this works - I just QUIT TWO OTHER JOBS!!"
















And she's off!
















She's so excited about this job - good people, great pay and lots of opportunity for advancement, and tremendous benefits.... :)

Yay!

It smells pretty yummy around here....

cookies, cookies, and more cookies.......
















Michael has been banging out the spritz, and the little chocolate topped acorns, and I made snowballs (Mexican wedding cookies) and fudge and peanut/chocolate candies.... And he made my FAVORITES.....gingerbread boyz!! They are made from Grandma's recipe, perfectly executed, perfectly seasoned, not too sweet, bursting with ginger and spices....
















So Good!!

Here's a plate, ready for me to take to my quilting class to share.....
















And there are (sing with me now....) "24 loaves of bread on the shelves, 24 loaves of bread, take one down and pass it along, 23 loaves of bread on the shelves!!"

Actually three are already "passed along" and the rest are distributed tomorrow by my personal courier, Laurie! She's taking cookies and breads to all my accounts to say "thank you" for their business in 2006.....and the rest go to friends/neighbors/teachers, etc....

I am SO close, on my current quilt. Must finish the binding, take pix, and get it on the FedEx truck.....

Off to thread another needle and get busy!