Happy Halloween!

Karen has been baking cupcakes to take to work to share with her coworkers. They do that often, sometimes a potluck, sometimes just a "let's see if we can attain a sugar high before 11AM!" type of thing.

I have to show you her decorating short cut for the cupcakes. Enjoy!

Happy Halloween!

Yay for the weekend!

Its been a long week. And a busy one. So busy that I have not had a chance to blog, or get in my quilting room at all!

Well, I can amend that statement, actually. The new walking foot for my Janome came in the mail and I attached it and sewed about 12 inches to make sure it was the correct foot....

Then I went back to work!

I was lucky enough to snag the classroom at Leah's Fabric Gallery last weekend, when a class was cancelled....

Karene,

Ellen,














and daughter Karen



















and I sewed to our hearts' content for four lovely hours!
Bliss!















Karen is working on a secret quilt too! She is doing such a great job!!
















I got the cutest pattern this week that has "MEESES" on it (more than one moose, according to my dad!!) I will be making my first appliqued wall hanging with it. I will attempt to take a picture and post it. It is SEW CUTE!

(As usual, click to enlarge for detail...)

(I'm pondering whether these two handsome meeses and their ladyfriend need some embellishment.....perhaps a tie for one moose, a vest for one, some earrings and lace for the lady moose.....Hmmmmm!)

Second Friday - October!

We missed Mr. Patrick this time - he was busy opening a new Chipotle Restaurant in Irvine. Billy and Laurie joined us and we had a really nice dinner together at home. It was Italian night, sort of. Lasagna (beef/sausage) and stuffed shells (three cheeses, no meat), steamed broccoli, garlic bread, fruit plate and then my homemade cheesecake for dessert. Lots of leftovers - Yum!

Here's my girls sharing a moment in the kitchen....Laurie was sitting on the counter, her favorite spot!
















And here's Mr. Billy joining them.















And here's The Party Animal herself - Sadie! - and Mr. B. (sporting the haircut I just gave him - I'm getting better at that! Now if I could just figure out how to keep Sadie's eyes from "whiting out" in the pix......)
















Back to work for me....I'm trying to get all caught up on my work so I can quilt for FOUR OR FIVE HOURS tomorrow. Bliss!

(No, I'm not making the one below. I just think its pretty!)

Inebriated butterflies and wonky hearts

I escaped to my room tonight and tried some more free motion quilting OFF my HandiQuilter frame.














I took the frame down partially (the railings) which left me the large table to manipulate the quilt around on - and I used my Janome 1600 PBX to put a design on the outer border of Laurie's quilt.















I'm such a newbie at all of this, but I'm having so much fun! (click on pix to enlarge and please overlook some knots and threads which need to be trimmed!)

My first row looks like a party of stoned drunken tipsy butterflies and hearts, but as they say, I just need P3!! (Practice, Practice, Practice!!) Someday, if my Janome grows up and turns into a real long arm machine, I'm thinking a stitch regulator is an option I will also seriously consider.)
















I also need to go work out with a personal trainer! This takes a surprising amount of upper arm strength and I definitely am in need of more of that. I did one side of the quilt, and will try again tomorrow. With any luck at all, by the time it gets nice and chilly here, I'll have the four sides done and have the quilt bound and ready to give Laurie!!

An Open Letter to the Enabler

An open letter to The Enabler,
(a.k.a. the Fabric Snob)

Dear Enabler,
(yes, that would be you, Yvette!)

I truly appreciate the coupon you shared with me for Tall Mouse. I had not been to Tall Mouse in about ten years.....not since a disasterous History Project requiring items for a model of a battle.....when Laurie was in 9th grade. Or maybe it was an Art Project for Karen....not sure. Anyway, I knew it was a dangerous place for me. I have been very good about staying out of that store, until now.

Still, a 30% coupon calls me.....loudly! In an effort to mitigate possible financial damages, I asked Mr. B. to accompany me to Tall Mouse, so that I would stand a good chance of escaping with my credit card only slightly warm.....not blazing hot (verging on melted) from over use.

It was a good plan.

Until Mr. B. got in the store. When he wasn't "oohing" and "aahing" over the wide color range of sprinkles and dyes for his Christmas Cookie Marathon 2007 (launch date for that endeavor is right around the corner), he was eyeing the paintbrushes and casting longing glances in the direction of the model trains. When he wasn't drooling over the model airplanes, he was debating with himself about whether to use his 40% coupon on a new picture frame, or the aforementioned cookie decorations.

That's when he wasn't playing with the puppets on Aisle 13.

Mind you, I managed to stay focused until I got into the fabric/yarn/thread department. I might have had a slight accident beside a pattern rack that they had sitting prominently in my way.....but I recovered and put that pattern carefully back where it belonged in the rack.

I nearly caused myself a neck strain snapping my head around when Mr. B. said "Look, alpaca yarn!".....but again, I turned from the superior collection of yarns and resolutely located a nice barely off-white fabric for the Top Secret quilt, with the faintest of white designs of scissors and threads scattered over it (divinely inspired for my purposes!) and got the last three yards on the bolt. With the 30% coupon you gave me, it was like getting a yard free, almost!

I managed to get out of the store WITHOUT grabbing the cute flag I fell in love with for the flag pole at my front door. I was tempted to go back and get in line again for that one.




















I tell you, I barely escaped. Michael got his sprinkles, I got my fabric.

So, dear Enabler, your work here is done. We both came home and signed up for email ads/coupons from Tall Mouse.

(Oh, and they had cute birdhouses I wanted to decorate too...... teehee!)

Quilting Class tomorrow....

The next session of Quilting Classes with my friends and Teacher Extraordinaire, a.k.a. Janet Salcido, begins tomorrow. I can't wait!

I'm starting a new project, using these (after I do about 4,592 calculations concerning altering the pattern). What pattern? That's a secret!
















As Janet says, "Sew many quilts! Sew little time!"