Quilt Show is coming up!

Well, it is that time of year where most who live in Sisters head out of town! It is quilt show time and the highway gets shut down and driving through town is impossible. It is time for The Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show! The largest outdoor quilt show in the world! Visit the web site for The Stitchin' Post and get the calendar for all the events for the week leading up to the quilt show. That address is www.stitchinpost.com.

I got a call today from a lady in California who discovered me through this blog. She was wanting to get more information on another quilt show that was in the area. The Pineneedlers Quilt Show. This is a show that is being held on July 11th from 10:00 am until 4:00 pm-ish. The show displays products of fantastic workmanship displayed in an environment that reminds you of days gone by. Some of the quilts are for sale. There also has been a "fabric salad" area where you can buy a bag of scraps for $1.00. I am not sure if it is going to be there this year or not. But there is always the ever-popular potholders for sale! The monies made from the show go to fund scholarships for kids who attended Black Butte School.

I was going to post some photos but realized that my camera is at my parents house! So we have a photoless post, but hopefully it was full of enough information to get you interested in attending this years festivities!

Thanks for popping in!

Denise
P.S. I am working the ambulance that will be posted in the middle of town. We will have free water and first aid supplies. Pop in and say HI. I would love to meet you...

Baabaara's Wild and Wooly

I took a trip to one of my favorite stores today. Baabaara's Wild and Wooly. The owner, Pam, is as sweet as they come. She is always interested in what's going on with the family. She is excited to show off some new items and raves about all of the talent that shops at her store. So go visit her website. The address is www.sheep2shawl.net/ or visit in person. Her soon to be **NEW** store is going to be located in the Town Square here in Sisters. Across from Allies Deli and in the old Silli Chilli's location. They will open the doors July 2nd.

Anyway, when I shopped today I just needed some wool for the core of a doll I am going to start tomorrow. It is just plain undyed wool. But I have all these wonderful other colors to "dress" the doll with. Arn't they beautiful?

I have not done very much quilting lately. It is WAY too hot to be covered with fabric.

I did finish the Jewels of Virginia quilting that was in my last post. Can you believe that my mom won the quilt in the raffle???? I was so excited. Now we just have to work out visitation for it! HAHA

So, that is about it for now. I have been so busy working that I did not have time for hardly anything. But now, I am unemployed except for some daycare here and there until Fall when I will be doing daycare 7 days a week. Yikes! Hopefully I will find time now and again to do some sewing!

Thanks for dropping in to check on me! I know some of you were thinking I had fallen off of the face of the Earth!

Something New

Well, I have finally got the nerve up to try my hand, actually machine, at machine quilting. I was a bit nervous, but with the help of a few great friends I have started.

I have attached 2 pictures of my work in progress. This is the quilt I made for the raffle on the cruise. I had so many colors in it that I was directed to use varigated thread to prevent me from changing thread every 4 inches! Wise choice I think! AND I have not totally screwed up the top! I think it is coming out nicely.

I am going to Portland Monday after I get off of work. Christian is having his second open-heart surgery Tuesday morning. He is having his pre-surgery heart cath tomorrow morning (Friday). I will have my computer with me and updating his blog as we need to. That address is www.babywithefe.blogspot.com

Anyway... need to get back to the quilt and my movie. I am watching one of my favorites: Practical Magic. I have quite the set up here. My machine and a portable DVD player so I can be entertained while I am working. Ahhhhhhhh... what a life!

Take care!

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...