Back to the real world

Hubby and I;


spent 4 days at;

celebrating;

25 years to be exact!

The parks were decorated for Halloween and Fall;





The weather was ABSOLUTELY perfect! The week before the temperatures had been near 100. This week they are expecting lots of rain. While we were in southern California the temperatures were in the low to mid 70's. Sunshine and blue skies every day that we were in the parks.
We could see some of the rides in CA Adventure from our hotel room window and we could even watch the Disneyland fireworks from our room. We did watch the fireworks show in the park twice and it was SPECTACULAR! All Halloween themed and choreographed so well. Hubby made reservations for dinner in the Blue Bayou Restaurant for our Anniversary and that was so fun to be eating there (the food was good too!). We had such a great time together!

Saturday we woke to a heavy overcast sky and we headed off to spend time with some of hubby's family and see college girl! We all went to lunch together in Seal Beach and then got changed for the evening wedding of a niece. All of the attendants, and most of the guests were wearing a combination of black, red and white. The bride wore an all red gown - different for sure but it was beautiful. The cake was even red and black!
Sunday we went to brunch with family and friends that had come into town for the wedding and then we were off to the airport for the long trip home. A three hour layover in SLC and then a two hour drive home from the airport. We were beat when we got home after 12:30 a.m. We said hello and good-night to our son and went right to bed. It is always good to be home again and now I need to start to work on my October projects!

Praise - Safe travels for all of us! A wonderful time of fellowship with family and friends. God also kept my son safe and warm when the temperatures at home dropped below freezing. The man from church had his back surgery today (instead of tomorrow) and it was called a success!

Prayers - For a little boy at church that will be having endoscopy surgery first thing Tuesday morning. That God will be guiding the surgeon's hands and that the little boy will be brave and his parents would rest in God's hands.

Where does the time go?

I have no idea how it has been over a week since my last post. I have been doing a few things in that time but I'm sure I could have posted. Time just flies faster and faster the older I get.
Finally the raspberries are ripe! I buy my raspberries from a lady that grows them in her backyard. She picks them and puts them in pint baskets and calls me when they are ready. Aren't they beautiful?

I took all she had from her first picking. 35 pints.

I made 7 pints of Raspberry Jam and froze a LOT of the berries. I couldn't find anymore of my canning jars. Hubby says they are out in the shop so I will venture out there to see if I can find them. It is too hot to can anymore right now anyway so I will pull them out of the freezer on a cool fall day and make some more jam. The kids and I ate some of them fresh as well and I also made a simple syrup and froze them in ice cube trays to drop into our iced tea or lemonade!

Very early on Friday morning we left for the airport. It was so early in fact that I never went to bed! So by Friday night, when it was time for bed, I had been up since 8 a.m. Thursday morning. Let's just say I was TIRED! A quick trip to southern California to see these two be wed on Saturday.

The groom is the oldest nephew on my hubby's side of the family. It was a lovely ceremony, and since it was near water it was not unbearably hot. We stayed with a nephew on my side of the family, in Rancho Cucamonga. HOT! It did cool off to 80 degrees by midnight though. CRAZY!! We were back at the airport before noon on Sunday.

We're having some hot temperatures here and I'm so happy that the coolest room in the house is my sewing room. Or shall I call it a studio? Good excuse to sew right?

Praise - that all of our travels went smoothly and safely. That our time with family was peaceful and fun.

Prayers - for the newlyweds. That their honeymoon would be safe but more importantly that their marriage would be long and honoring to God.

One project done!

I procrastinated as usual and didn't even start the tote until late morning on Saturday. WHY do I do this over and over?? I don't know either but it really irritates me. This was the tote to be given to the gal at church on Sunday. I wrapped it and it was presented to her in a basket along with other gifts and cards. I didn't get to see her open it


Mark one off of the list. The quilt that I was going to give to the newlyweds this coming weekend is on hold. Last Wednesday when I went to the BSR class, hubby went to JoAnn's for me to get Warm & White. I told him exactly where it was in the store, how much I needed and I gave him my coupon. They didn't have any. WHAT???!! How can that be? That is like the grocery store being out of bread and milk. Was there some quilting emergency that I didn't know about that would clear the shelves of Warm & White? When he came to pick me up from the BSR class he told me the sad news. I gritted my teeth and decided I would just buy some at full price in the quilt store where I was taking the class. They only had Warm & Natural. Okay then. Project on hold. I can still finish the top (and I am almost there) but then I can't sandwich it and quilt it until I can get some Warm & White. Hmph.

I had seen an article online about grilled pizza and I was intrigued by the idea. I did some searching, read various recipes and methods and decided to give it a try. I used my new 'normal' pizza dough recipe and after the rising I split the dough in half and made two pizzas because my normal sized pizza was NOT going to fit on the grill. I know this because I measured the grill ahead of time. Well then came the tough part of doing this all on my own because I do not even know how to start the gas grill. I am not a fan of open flames, bottles of propane and lighters. I had to ask for help. Well my son said he knew how to start it so he got it going and we let it heat up. Then I chickened out and decided to get my hubby involved. I called him to the deck and explained what we were going to do. He was less than thrilled. When he found out that we were not going to use a pan or stone he lost all interest. He wanted to see someone else do this first. He was sure the dough was just going to more or less drip through the grill and make a huge mess. I told him to be adventurous! Go with the flow. This just made him a little less excited to be a part of this. He was getting close to ruining the 'event' and the dinner. College girl stepped in at that point and gave him a little talking to. She will be the first to admit that she is normally the one to 'lose it' when facing the unknown so I guess she recognized the signs and took it upon herself to talk him down. Now maybe for you grilling pizza is no big deal and you are finding it hard to believe that this sort of drama was being played out. I know.

We proceeded. Hubby sprayed some Pam onto a paper towel and wiped down the grill and then I sort of tossed the dough onto the rack. It didn't land exactly like I wanted it to so some rearranging was in order. We let the top bubble up and hubby peeked at the underside a few times. When it was browned nicely but not burned he flipped it over and we worked quickly to cover it in pesto;

Then I arranged the chicken pieces and red onion;

Hubby sprinkled the cheese on top and then shut the lid. It really doesn't take very long and it is time to remove it from the grill. Hubby used a big spatula and moved it to the pizza stone so that he could cut it.


It was soooooo good!We all really liked it. The kids started eating this one right away while hubby and I got the second one cooking. Hubby did have to agree that this was a great way to cook pizza, especially when the house is hot. I was trying to talk him into the idea of barbecuing the pizza in the winter. I would be in the house of course cheering him on. ;)

Praise - to our God for His wonderful creation. We watched a magnificent lightning storm last night, accompanied by some very loud thunder. The storms always make me think of the many wonders of God's creation.

Prayers - for the young missionary family that spoke at our church on Sunday. Their desire is to be God's servants in any way He sees fit in a very foreign land.

I've joined a club

Kelly at Charming Chatter has started a Quilt Club and I've signed up. I have lots of projects to do anyway and this is some extra motivation to get 'er done!



These won't necessarily be done in this order, just aiming to have them done by the end of July.

First up make the binding and apply it to the Old Red Barn Quilt Along Quilt.


This tote is going to be for a wonderful lady at our church who was so faithful to organize and lead the women's shelter that has now been closed. The print is by Blank Quilting and has some of the names of God on it. The colors are wonderful on this piece! The lining fabric is Moda Marbles,the pattern is by Tanya Whelan's Grand Revival (same tote pattern that I used for my sister's birthday tote). This project MUST be done by July 12th for the presentation.


Using my scraps from the Old Red Barn Quilt Along Quilt, some white cotton yardage that I found in my stash and some white Minkee that I bought for a project that it ended up not working out for, I am going to make my very first stacked coins quilt! I think it will just be a throw size and I would LOVE to give it to my hubby's nephew and his bride when they get married on the 18th of this month. DEADLINES! Of course it helps that my 'scraps' are already sewed together in strips of six! I'm pretty excited that I had everything on hand. I'm even thinking that I have some Warm & White stashed in my fabric closet too but it 'might' be Warm & Natural which will NOT work. If all I need is to get is some Warm & White that will be a pretty sweet deal.


I have never used Minkee on the back of a quilt before but I got advice from Rebecca at Our Busy Little Girls on how she did hers.You have GOT to go look at the quilt she made using the blues and greens of Ginger Blossom and the scalloped border and the Minkee back. CUTE! She said the spray adhesive would not hold the Minkee and that she did use LOTS of pins.

With that in mind I put QUILT BASTING PINS at the top of my shopping list and headed out this morning to get groceries for the weekend. I went to Wal-Mart and headed straight for the drastically reduced in size fabric department. I had already gotten one package of the pins there so I KNEW that they carried them. No pins. I could not find the pins. I saw very small curved quilting pins and wondered when Barbie and her friends started quilting. I asked one of my favorite Wal-Mart employees, the gal that runs the drastically reduced in size fabric department, where the pins might be. She said 'oh we had to get rid of those, we cleared them out'. WHAT!???? How insane is that? I joke with her all the time and asked where I could file a complaint. We lamented over the drastically reduced size of the fabric department yet again, wondered which big wig in Arkansas was deciding we didn't need regular sized curved quilting pins and then she was off to help some cheerleaders with a ribbon purchase. Phooey. I lingered. Then said Wal-Mart employee says 'oh let's look at this end cap' and lo and behold on a hook were about 10 packages of the pins!! Along with scissors and beads and some clear thread that some big wig in Arkansas decided we didn't need in north Idaho. I told said Wal-Mart employee that I loved her. :D She said she was just being a HERO today. I bought SIX packages of 40 pins. I'm pretty sure that will be enough. I hope so. I could get the other 4 packages next week if someone else doesn't need them beforehand.

I do have some other things I would love to make this month and since two of these items MUST be done by the 17th it is feasible that I could do something else. I will give it some thought and possibly post a couple more projects before the 7th. I'd better get busy!

Praise - that I am on the mend from the cold I came down with on Tuesday. I'm just fighting a ticklish cough.

Prayers - that the rest of my family would stay healthy this summer. They all have to leave the house everyday to work!

Pictures - you asked for 'em

Okay, buckle your seat belts and settle in for the ride. All the pictures that I haven't been able to post are here now, in one place.
Lakeside Charm is home from the quilters. The stitch pattern is called popcorn. I just LOVE IT! Oh yeah...see that flappy stuff there along the edges...binding. Uh yeah. I am supposed to hand sew that around the back, right?? They got the quilt done early for me so I would have plenty of time to hand sew that. Uhhhhh, have I started? No. Hanging my head in shame. It is on my to do list to start it tomorrow. I WILL start on it tomorrow. I have NO IDEA how far I will get and how long the entire thing will take. I can't put it off any longer though. So when it is time to wash and dry this should I take it to a laundromat? I am not sure it will fit too well in my washing machine.

The next is the first checkbook cover that I made using some scraps of Marcus Metro Blue. You can find the directions here. Amandajean is posting quite a few tutorials for Christmas gift inspiration. You'll wanna check them out.

Then look at this lovely fabric. Mmmmmmmmm Moda Cotton Blossoms. It just hit me the other day, although I have drooled over this fabric since first eyeing it in a Quilt Market photo that it is a combination of the two companies! DUH! So I'm slow. Camille's company is Thimble BLOSSOMS and her mother Bonnie's company is COTTON Way. Put those two creative minds together and we get Cotton Blossoms. Below is a mix of the 'daughter' layer cake and yardage for the border and binding of the A PIECE OF CAKE quilt. It is even prettier in real life. This is not normally a color combination that I would be drawn to but this time I was.

I couldn't wait to get those blocks sewn together! Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I have so many other things I SHOULD be doing (like that binding???). They went together so easily though I could not resist. So now they will wait, in a stack until some other things are done. I have to trim all the blocks to a uniform size but here is a rough layout of how my quilt top will look (without the binding).

When I was in the LQS recently I noticed about 4 or 5 little tote bags all around the store, all the same design. I commented on them to the sales clerk and she said that she had made them using the pattern from the latest issue of Quilts and More. I liked being able to see the tote in person and decided that I could make a few of these. I found this fabric at WM. A nice line of about 6 coordinating prints and inexpensive enough to not feel too guilty about getting a bit to make the tote. ;) Especially for a first run through. I got it all cut out and the straps ironed but then realized that I had NO dark brown thread. The new machine is a little pickier about thread types than my old machine was so....this was put on hold.

October 4th is a popular wedding date this year. We know of 4 weddings on that day and we were invited to two of them. In two different states. It breaks my heart to not go to the one in Washington. We have known the young man since he was maybe 9 or 10. We need to be here in Idaho though as we were asked to take the photos at that wedding. So for the fiance' of our longtime friend I made this apron. Her bridal shower was today. My daughter and I attended the bridal shower of the gal being married here in Idaho and I did make an apron for her as well (made it yesterday in fact) but I don't have the picture of that one yet.

Last but certainly NOT least - a layer cake of Cotton Blossoms in the 'mother' colorway. I love the other quilt top so much that I was sure I would love it even better in this colorway. It is more to my tastes with the reds and chocolates. I can't wait to get this one made up too (yeah, yeah, AFTER the binding). I am thinking now of gifting the one I have started already and then keeping this one for myself. :D


So there you have it. An update on my projects WITH photos. Sorry but I can't show you a picture of my sewing room. My mess is not anywhere near as neat as Nanette's mess. ;)

Prayers being said for all those affected by Hurricane Ike and the lingering effects that seem to be up into the mid west now.