Busy busy busy

Well, I just got a comment from a new visitor to my blog and decided that I had better put something up before no one ever came by to visit anymore.

I have not been doing much sewing lately. I have been really hooked on making ATC's for swaps on swap-bot.com. You have got to go see that site! There is so many different swaps you can join; sewing, writing, reading, scrapbooking... the list just keeps on going!

Well, while Dave was gone to the coast and I was spending so much time sewing, I managed to catch a real bad bug. So bad that my neighbor called the fire department (where I am a medic) and they ended up hauling me off to the hospital! I was so embarrassed that they saw me in a weakened position. I even cried in front of them! How humiliating! But they never said anything but sweet and comforting things to me and treated me so wonderfully. I love the guys I work with! I got to come home the next day and everyone was calling and coming by to check on me. The fire department is a huge and wonderfully loving family. Dave kept trying to come home and I told him to stay at the conference, goodness knows there were people watching out for me!!! It has been a few weeks now and I am all better, Dave is home, and people are STILL asking me if I am OK... wonderful

Christian is doing so well. He has hit 9 pounds! What a big boy! I have attached some pictures of him. Nicole is in one too. She is just such a good mama.

Anyway, I will work on posting some quilting pics soon. I HAVE to get the Jewels of Virginia quilt quilted before I go on the cruise April 27th! I need to get my hiney in gear!

Thanks for stopping by!

Baby quilt

I really love the Stash Basher club at The Stitchin' Post! I am using so much of my stash. Of course I have to suppliment sometimes with new purchases! I just finished my top for the next meet which is this afternoon. It is currently 2:30 in the morning for me and I have been a sewing fool for many hours now.






Hubby left this afternoon for a week at the coast. He has a conference to attend. I am left here at home with just one dog today and tomorrow I will have Kady back after a few days with my parents. I have trouble sleeping when I am alone, so it was the perfect time to do some sewing.

I fixed one of my favorite dishes for dinner. It is a recipe I got from one of the firefighters I work with. It is basically a fajita, but with a bit more "punch". Served with rice and Dr. Pepper you cannot go wrong! I was also able to watch an episode of HOUSE. I love that show! House is so obnoxious. He reminds me of, well, ME!




We are in the middle of a blizzard. We have had so many avalanches the past 2 weeks. Today the pass closed right after my hubby went through. But we have had some great sunrises and beautiful snow coming down. I really love winter.





Baby Christian is getting cuter and cuter every day! He finally hit 8 pounds yesterday! Big Boy! He will be 3 months old on the 13th. I am adding some pictures of him also. He sure does love his Pappy! Dave is so funny with him. And Christian is finally where he will smile at you when you talk to him. Just melts our hearts!








Ohhhhh, I got a new job. This is a paying job, too. I am the customer service associate for Collage Greetings. It is just 3 days a week. I still do daycare on Tuesdays and then my fire department job evenings and weekends and Thursdays. Just can never sit still!

Anyhow, need to get to bed. Thanks for stopping in!

Denise

I have a cruise to get ready for!

THE MACHINE FROM HELL!!!!


I am going on a cruise the end of April! I am getting a free cabin in exchange for making a raffle quilt (Jewels of Virginia) and also teaching 2 classes. One is how to make a fabric postcard and the other is making a mini scrapbook. Anyway, I went today and applied for my passport. That got me all excited and ready to work a bit harder on weight loss. So this evening I decided to walk on my new treadmill for the first time. Hmmmmmmm. It is a bit different from walking around shopping. I can do THAT for hours and hours and not feel it at all! So I decided to set up the mini DVD player on the book rest part of the treadmill. I was going to watch a movie while I was walking. Easy. The time will fly by and I will catch up on my movie watching. I made it through the previews and maybe 2 minutes of the movie. Not sure what happened there. But my legs were all noodley after just 15 minutes! I had only walked 1/2 mile! So I celebrated with some chips and salsa! Yippee. Tomorrow I begin with the weight loss shakes and some dancing aerobics along with the treadmill. Maybe I can celebrate that with some ice-cream! HAHA! Seriously though, I promise to be better tomorrow!

Wish me luck!

Picture of the grandson

What kind of grandma would I be if I did not post some pics of the baby? So we have one of him right after his first open heart surgery. Scary to look at, but I balanced it with a cutsie smiling one from last week. I also have a 5 generation photo. There is my grandpa, my dad, myself, Nicole, and baby Christian.

Christian is doing pretty good for now. He finally hit the 7 pound mark! And he is 8 weeks old now! He is all smiles when he is not fussing. He will have his next surgery in March and then his third one when he is 18 months old.

Thanks for popping in!

Denise aka Grandma Whee

My favorite thing to whip up quickly

I love to make these cute pillowcases for a quick little gift. The special thing about them is that there are no exposed seams! All the seams are french seams. People are often perplexed as to how to make these but it really is easy.

I made about 20 of these pillowcases for Christmas presents this year. Not all of them were pink with black skulls! Just this one was. It is for my niece who loves skulls and is still a girlie girl who loves pink. It is perfect for her. But most of mine this year were made with really pretty Christmas fabric.

I am busy reorganizing my sewing room. I had to fit a treadmill in here so some rearrangements have to be made. I will take a picture when I am all done.

I have the neighbor kids here this evening as there was an emergency. I have the kids all snuggled in for the night. We had pizza for dinner and then the teenage girl and I shared hot tea and watched a criminal forensic show. The little boy is snuggled down in one of my guest beds and the girl wanted to sleep on the couch. We had 2 more guest beds she could have slept in! But we do have a cozy couch.

Anyway, I plan on washing up some fabric and choosing my next fabrics for Stash Bashers. I am pretty excited to be diving into my stash again after so long.

Thanks for stopping in. I love company.

Denise

The holidays are finally over!

I love the holiday season but each year I am glad when it is finally over! I have some pictures of my recent sewing but cannot seem to find it on the computer. I will dig more on Monday and post some then. Until then, thank you for dropping in...

I am a grandma!

OK... here is the baby info in a nutshell...

Christian was born Nov. 13 at 4:56 in the evening. C-section after 36 hours of labor! Poor baby. Anyway... 6 lbs. 15 oz. and 19 3/4 inches long. Perfect little baby minus the whole heart thing! I have 10 pictures posted on Christian's blog! He is too cute to not look at!

www.babywithefe.blogspot.com

Check him out!

I am in Portland!

We are having a baby tomorrow! Nicole is absolutly HUGE!!!!! She got so big these last 3 weeks! I was so surprised.

I will update by Tuesday at the latest. I am sure I will be busy tomorrow!

Bye!

Still Waiting!

My car is packed with everything I am going to need for 2 weeks in Portland. Now all I need is for Nicole to call and say she is in labor! That girl is just not working with my schedule! LOL

I will have my computer with me so I will be able to update my blog with pictures and everything.

Keep your fingers crossed for us. This little guy is going to have a hard start.

Had to throw this in

 

Me with no makeup or hair fixed... Not seen to often! YIKES!!!!

My felted pumpkins

 

Aren't they cute????

Wool Needle Felting

Well, Wednesdays demo at The Stitchin Post was so cool! We learned how to needle felt. It was sure addicting. I went today and bought stuff to make a few projects while I am up in Portland.

For some reason I am unable to load pictures on the blog with this computer so I will try with my other laptop tomorrow.

We are still waiting for a baby. Nicole will be having it anyday now.

I will write more tomorrow when I load the pics...

Denise

Jewels of Virginia top is done!

Well, here is the first complete quilt top done on my new machine! One photo is while it was in process and on my design wall. One is a full shot but the border looks so dark, so the third one is a close up of the border to show it is not quite as dark as it seemed. I really love it a lot. The top and the machine! Now I just have to sandwich the quilt and then try my hand at machine quilting! I am excited. I think I am going to donate this quilt as the raffle quilt for my mom's 45th class reunion. It is going to be on a cruise and I have been asked to teach some classes on it. I am excited. I will be teaching fabric postcards and also a mini-scrapbooking class. There are some perks to teaching on a cruise line! One of the perks I am looking forward to is the Chocolate Bar! Everything chocolate 24 hours a day! What could be better???? Well, hubby coming would be a start. He cannot join me so I will be sailing so utterly alone! :(

Anyway... tomorrow has me jaunting to Portland to meet up with 3 of my sister-in-laws and 3 of my adult nieces for a day and night of fun fun fun. First we meet for shopping and lunch and more shopping. Then (Sit down for this part) we are all going to go and get tattoos! Can you believe it???? My mom is having a hard time with it. She is not an admirer of body art. But I will post a picture after it has all healed and is beautiful.

Need to go and fold some laundry for my trip. BYE!

A Change of Pace

Hopefully I will remember which order I put the photos on. All I get now is the long lines of numbers and letters!

I have attached a photo of my daughter, Nicole, and my mom, Sharon, when we went to a stamping party recently. We had a great time and I won over $100.00 in free stuff! Very cool. I also attached some pictures of some ATC cards Nicole and I made tonight for a swap at Swap-Bot.com. We had never made any before. I think they turned out wonderful. Nicoles had the butterfly wings and mine had tiny origami swans. They were a lot of fun to make. I also attached a pic of the goddess doll I made for another swap. I could not figure out hair for the goddess, who is Gaia (Mother Nature), so I glued moss on her head. Smells a bit funny, but looks cute I think. I also attached a picture of our new TV. Huge monstrosity. But it is high def and of course we had to upgrade our sat. TV. I am enjoying it a bit too much I think.

Anyway, I need to go to bed. I am so tired.

Thanks for popping in!

I am hostessing a swap!

I have decided to take the plunge and host a swap on Swap-Bot! Nothing to do with sewing or quilting, but a postcard swap. Take a look at the following link:

http://www.swap-bot.com/swap/show/8002

Sign up! It's free (and addictive!)

Look forward to having a top swap pretty soon!

Denise

Another Project

Well just for a change I decided to make this bundle to honor Mabon, the celebration of the second harvest. I am in another swap on Swap-Bot.com for these bundles. I thought they were pretty.

Today at Wednesday demo we made some yo-yo's with Clover's new yo-yo makers. We made the traditional round and then a heart. They were very cool! I think I may get the heart shape but feel like I can do the round ones faster without the tool. Anyway, there is a flower shaped one also but did not get to see as they were all sold out:(

We are in the middle of a cold spell and I have had the heaters on all day. YIKES! I am not sure I am ready for winter yet. I had to bring my tomato plant in as we were getting frost every morning. I have it in my dining room.

Thanks for dropping in!

Jewels of Virginia

So, once again Stitchin' Post has begun another season of Stash Bashers! YIPPEE!!!! Sunday we got the new pattern assignment. It is called Queen of Tarts, but I renamed mine to Jewels of Virginia. Why, you may ask? Well, mom and dad went to Virginia on vacation and they brought me back a bundle of fat quarters that were all jewel tones. I have had them FOREVER and finally decided to use them in this new quilt. So today my wonderful friend Teresa came over for our regular sewing Monday and I cut out the pieces and then proceeded to sew 72 little hourglass blocks that will make up the stars. My back is cramping and my butt hurts. Trust me when I tell you that that is a lot of flesh to be hurtin'! But I am excited about this quilt and think it will be just beautiful when I finish it later this week.

I finished the binding on the snowman wall hanging. I am pleased that I finally finished something!!!!!!

Anyway, that's about it for now. I will post as the jewel quilt progresses...

Ready for Something New?

I have become addicted to swapping. Take a look at swap-bot.com and see if there is anything there for you. I have just joined a fabric swap


I swap with Swap-bot!

I did a search of the site under fabric and there it was!

I have been busy working on some little things with my new sewing machine. I machine quilted a wall hanging and just sewed the binding to it. I still have to turn it and sew it down on the back.

I also attached a photo I took of a storm coming in. I thought it was pretty neat looking. Well this beautiful storm gave us a wildfire that forced the evacuation of 1,200 homes! Crazy. So I was busy working the ambulance while our crews worked the fire. It is almost out now and no homes were lost.

Anyway, that's about it for now. I am working hard on getting some new things for you to look at on this blog. Stick with me, OK?

Denise

Look what I am getting!

Original IDTTM (Integrated Dual Feed) – absolutely even fabric feed from both the top and bottom. Fine fabrics, several layers – no slipping! Only Pfaff has the original IDTTM built into the machine.

• Only from Pfaff: German engineering and innovative design!

• Extra value! Purchase the ClassicStyle home 1529 and receive two extra presser feet that are must-haves for everyone who loves to sew for their home: the Welting Foot and the Twin Welting Foot.

• High presser foot clearance to make room for heavy fabrics or several layers of fabric!

• Free-motion sewing position! Use the special free-motion sewing position for the presser foot to get the highest clearance for your free-motion sewing.

• Constant needle piercing power even when you sew slowly, with thick fabrics or through several layers of fabric.


I decided not to go with the machines that have tons of built-in embroidery stitches and all kinds of computer stuff. Too much to go wrong! So I told the lady I am looking for a basic machine that goes forward, backward, zig-zag, and absolutly MUST HAVE a dual feed so I can do some machine quilting. She had just the machine for me! Pfaff 1529. I am ordering it today and it should be here within the week unless I decide to go to Salem and get it myself. It is just a 2 hour drive. Maybe I will do that...

Anyway, things are going pretty good here. We went to San Francisco where we learned that only 3 of the special surgeries that my unborn grandson needed had been done and not even one had lived through the surgery. So we were on the plane home the next morning. The baby will be born in October and have his first open-heart surgery within 10 days of birth. The second open heart surgery at 3 months old and the third one at 18 months to 3 or 4 years old. Then he will need a heart transplant sometime after that.

We had a fund raiser yesterday and made just over $2,000.00. We were stunned that we could make that much. We are very grateful! The kids can now pay some outstanding medical bills.

Anyway, that is all my news for now. Be expecting to see some real cool pictures soon of the things I am going to make with my new machine!!!!

Hugs!
Denise

Great News!

Nicole and Bryan got the call today that San Francisco wanted to do the in utero surgery. We will know tomorrow what day, but they wanted her there the end of this week or the beginning of next week. We are so excited! Now I am needing to make a bunch of casseroles to freeze and catch up on laundry. I still do not know if we are going to fly or drive yet. But either way I am done with daycare on Friday. So I do not need to worry about that while I am gone.

Anyway, thats all for now. I will post as things transpire. Also, I will be posting to Christians blog while we are in San Francisco. www.babywithefe.blogspot.com