Some Thoughts From Nana.....and Happy New Year!!!

Hi everybody and a very Happy New Year to one and all. I know our friends in some parts of the world are already on to 2010, and some of us are fast approaching the celebrating. Hard to believe we are to 2010.

The Xmas holidays were wonderful for our family. Little Polka Dot is so much fun and so darn cute...sorry, again, can't help myself. A while back on his own he started calling Mr. Polka Dot ..Papa. How cute. His mom and dad thought we were teaching him that and we thought they were, but he just figured that out on his own. Now he has picked my name....Nana...I LOVE IT, and the fact that he choose it makes it even better. He could frankly call me anything, but Nana it is! Here he is at our family Xmas party on Aunt Jane's carousel horse with Papa helping. Such a happy guy!! We had lots of great family time this year and feel lucky to be close enough to have time with everyone. My daughter in laws family had their annual tamale making party....SO MUCH FUN, and in the words of her mom, what is talked about at the tamale making party stays at the tamale making party!!!! Because our girl had to work on Xmas day we decided to drive out and have dinner with her and her boyfriend and his family.....FUN, and a great Italian dinner. Christmas day was spent at our house with Mr. Polka Dots family joining us and then the BIG SURPISE.........our girl drove here after work anyway. She made us cry happy tears!!! The day was perfect!!! Tamales, taquittos, chile casserole, beans, fruit salad and my daughter in laws AMAZING Brownie Balls..... totally amazing!!!! My sister in laws helping me to pull it all together...so lucky to have them both!!!

Our girl came home for a gingerbread making party the week before Christmas with her high school friends, and Little Polka Dot and his mom...again FUN, and yummy all rolled together. Years ago we were given this wonderful gingerbread house mold from Williams Sanoma and it makes the perfect size house. Fun that the girls wanted to do it again this year...just like old times. They are such good friends, and so fun they included Little Dot and his mommy. The tradition lives on :-)!!!

Miss Geranium sent me the most wonderful box of Xmas goodies. I had decided to try one of the biscuits, but the tin was filled to the brim with more wonderful Xmas goodies. She spoiled me!! Then I got this wonderful "Random Act of Christmas Cheer" from Nanette. So sweet, and the fabrics are just amazing. I can't wait to find the perfect project to use them in.

On the quilt front.......well I did get all the rows together on my camp quilt, and one of the side borders added. As you can see by the fold marks it's been tucked away for a bit of time. I'm thinking I will work on the other borders tonight while I watch the New Years Eve celebrating on TV...yes I know it sounds like a wild old time, but I'll try really hard to control myself. Mr. Polka Dot will be at the blanket show long before midnight for sure!!!! Here's some mini quilts that I put the binding on yesterday for a friend. I LOVE THESE BABIES......think they need to go on the to do list...boy that list is long!

This seems to be the time of year to make resolutions. I am not doing it this year because I don't seem to follow through. I just am going to reflect on the great year we have had as a family and we are all looking forward to our new little guy due in about 4 weeks....so exciting!!! This has been a year of change, and one think I have learned for sure is that change is good...very, very, very good!!! Thanks for a wonderful year of blogging and bloggy friendships and my best wishes for a Happy New Year to all of you!!

Merry Christmas

The elves are busy around here getting packages wrapped, and goodies made.....a fun Xmas Eve dinner with our girl and then plenty of family here Friday for Christmas. Little Polka Dot is having so much fun...going to lots of parties, having his cousin Caroline and her mommy and daddy staying at his house, and presents, presents, presents to be opened. He only has about 5 more weeks and then poof, he magically turns in to a big brother!

I borrowed this wonderful Santa from my friend Annie..hope she doesn't mind. I just couldn't resist that polka dot hat!!

Time for me to get myself tucked in bed. Wishing all of you and your families the best Christmas ever!

Hellllllllo, It's This Thing Working???

I'm back and I have really missed all the happenings....BUT, lots of binding deadlines and then a little bug that came to visit took priority. So now for some catching up!

First Thanksgiving.....WONDERFUL!!! My sister in law hosted, and the food was so good and so much visiting and talking and eating, just a really fun day. Our girl was able to come by after work and arrived just in time for dinner...perfect!!! Here's Little Polka Dot enjoying the day....honestly isn't he just the cutest??? That was a very shameless grandma comment, but I just couldn't help myself! Our niece Beth took such great photos of him, and I could show you a trillion but I won't!!! Sixteen months old, so hard to believe and we are enjoying each and every moment we get to spend with him. What a character he is and such a big boy already.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving I sewed at an all day Quilt Till You Wilt event. So much fun and the food......yummmmmmy!!! There was a traveling cowboy chef that came and made the best ever beef sandwiches and again the best ever, ever, ever potato salad....oh yeah..and we quilted!!!! There were three of us that decided to use my friend Annie's pattern using a Happy Campers jelly roll.....those are the pieces to the one quilt I didn't finish, but here's the two I did! Picture in the middle is my friend Beth's quilt and mine. What a great pattern and whips up really fast.

Great mail came!!! My SSCS parcel arrived from Jo Jo in Australia....love the wool snowman
ornament and how am I ever going to resist opening this gift till Xmas day???!!! hmmmm, don't think I can do it, I am so tempted........Jo Jo came to my rescue and said I should go ahead and open it so I can use it this Christmas.....YIPEEEEEEE, love this Santa. She did such a beautiful job making him. Thanks JoJo and BIG THANKS for giving me the OK to open my parcel!

Then there's the binding deadlines....amazing so many beautiful quilts, lots of pieced quilts this year. There will be some happy people on Xmas
morning...just sayin'! Here's a few Xmas ones that I wanted to share. The trees on the left are my friend Carol's. She got the pattern when we went to Houston a few years ago and did a fine job collecting greens, black and whites...someday I'll do this one!!! Then a wonderful snowman sampler and a Lover's Knot toopper ......so beautiful!!!!

Between the Thanksgiving celebrating and the binding deadline thingie, there was this 24 hour bug that came to visit and knocked me on my keester...wow!!! Then it knocked Mr. Polka Dot on his keester except for him, a cold came right along with it. Me feeling very smug that I didn't get the cold part....MISTAKE, then the cold part knocked me on my keester again!!! Finally turning the corner just in the nick of time.....I just get these things this time of year you would think I would be use to it by now!!

Xmas decorating is happening......FINALLLLLY!!! Word has it there's a wild Gingerbread decorating party happening next week, so things better be looking festive! Nice to be back amongst the blog world......15 more days till the the big guy comes!!! Happy Friday (and Saturday in some parts) everyone!!

A very Happy Thanksgiving to all my bloggy friends in the States!!!

Be back next week for lots of catching up....happy rest of the week everybody!!!

Back From Camp!!!!

We are back from quilt camp at Cedar Glen, hosted by Eleanor Burns and her girls. So much fun, so much quilting, so much laughing and so much eating!!! The colors of Fall were everywhere, along with the cooler temps, which was appreciated by all of us. The picture on the right was our sewing hide out!!!

Apparently my mojo had been waiting up there for me because finally I was productive!! For those of you that have put up with my whining about not getting things done...much appreciation and thanks for your support!!! I am very happy to report that I got Katie's quilt top done, the little quilty hangie things all buttonholed, and I made a lot of progress on the I Spy quilt. I still have a bit to go on that, but the end is in sight. Being the confessed serial starter than I am, I just couldn't help myself and had to get another project going. This is Quick Trip published by our host, and so fast and easy to make. After piecing the rest of the strips an inner border will go on, and scrappy squares around the outer edge. A great Spring quilt for someone special!!!

I was fortunate to sew with the best group of friends, so when the quilting wasn't happening talking was!!! And catching up with friends made at past camps is another bonus. Annie and Luann were our helpers and cheerleaders, and always available for consult on our projects!! We love them :-) !!!! Our camp host is always there to encourage us, as well as entertain us up in the dinner hall. Here Eleanor is dressed as a turkey to introduce us to her new pattern, Autumn Leaves. With a few little changes you can turn a leaf in to a turkey. When she first came out the bottom half of the turkey costume was on backwards...OMW, hysterical is all I can say! The next evening my friend Annie introduced us to her new pattern, Twice As Nice......Plus More. With one jelly roll you make the blocks for all three quilts, and then with the addition of background, borders and bindings, you have three really quick and cute projects.

We all were invited up to our hosts beautiful log cabin for appetizers and feeding the neighbors donkeys. They came running when they heard Eleanor calling "donkeys, donkeys". Such a beautiful home decorated to perfection with quilts. Each and every room had quilts that you just want to make, and her sewing studio, perfect!!
Here's a peek at some of the
beauties being created at camp. There were around 50 people
.... guess I was talking so much I forgot to take more pictures!!

I am still on a bit of a quilt camp high. Being around all that creativeness really gets a person inspired!!! So for me it's back to the sewing machine! Wishing you all a happy week!!!!

Charming Girls Quilt Club

Here's my hopeful finishes for the Charming Girls Club.....I have been a no show sewer for a couple months and hope to get back on track. Monday I leave for quilt camp, so I think I have a chance at meeting my goals. On the left my girls quilt and on the right an eye spy quilt that is half done for Little Dot. Also I plan on getting the buttonholing done on these sweet little hangie quilts!!!

Sewing machine here I come. Happy rest of the weekend everyone!

I'm On A Mission

This pile of bindings done and ready to ship out....whewww. The reason I have been sequestered in the sewing tower....QUILT CAMP, QUILT CAMP, QUILT CAMP!!!!! Five more sleeps and off to camp we go. Finally I will get back to quilting. On the list, my girls quilt, Baby Polka Dots Eye Spy quilt, and a Quick Trip quilt that I took to camp in May and never got to. I know, those first two have been on my posts the last two months, but now I really will have no excuse not to get them done!!!!!! Four days of quilting, YIPPPPPPEEEEEEE, and of course lots of laughing and chatting. Pictures to follow the end of next week.

Other happenings around here....Halloween and the cutest Kermit The Frog I have ever seen. My picture taking is just pitiful. Little Polka Dot had quite a haul of candy and had fun taking it out and putting it back in his sack. Of course the rest of us did the eating. Good thing Kermit came by....that was our only Treater this year!!! Very weird. Little Dot and his parents got all moved in to their new house. We are so excited for them. It such a wonderful house, and only two traffic lights and one stop sign away!! A visit and dinner Tuesday evening with our girl...so fun. She took us to this wonderful rib place for dinner.....yummmmmy, and a nice visit with her..just too short! What a lucky girl to live in such a great town. Tonight a fun sewing night with my friendship group and of course lots of golfing for Mr. Polka Dot!!!

So there you have it....all up to date here...now what have you been up to???!!! Off to check things out. Happy mid week everyone.

Excuse Me Ma'am...Is That an Otter On Your Head?

Our girl has the best time...and yep, that's an otter on her head.Tooooooo cute!!!

Tis the season for BINDINGS !!! Three done on top and two waiting to get done on the bottom. That's my friend Carol's wonderful candy quilt on top. I'll see her tomorrow and get a full view picture. It's so sweet and yummy looking too. There is another stack waiting in my sewing room, so any thought of quilting will have to wait for a while.

Today I went and bought a bag of crushed walnut shells to have on hand for some pincushions I want to get done. Here is what I found when I opened up my trunk .......opppppps!! I knew that was a bad idea when I put it in there!

Last week was a fun one. An evening spent with a friendship group (way too much laughing and carrying on), and Saturday sewing with the Quilts of Valor group. Pat who has organized this group has done such an amazing job, and each and everyone of us has gotten way more out of being part of this group than she could ever imagine.

Chookyblue has made my blogging so much easier. Don't know how I missed the memo about having comments sent to email, but it is so much faster to email people this way! Now she has a trick about emailing your pictures to yourself to make it easier to post....hmmmmm!! I don't know, this one might be over my head but I'll give it a whirl. Thanks Donna!!!!! And our bloggy friend Miss Sharon has been a bit under the weather. Hope you are up and about soon Sharon. I know those kiddos are missing you like crazy!
Happy week everyone!

Just Like Riding A Bike!!!

I did remember how to do some piecing...thank goodness. It's not much, but at least it's forward movement. I was behind two months on my basket blocks so now I am at least caught up with them, and now on to two months of the Fat Quarter Shop BOM's. Both these programs are so wonderful with great patterns and extremely economical...so yipee for BOM's!!!

Tuesday night we were lucky enough to have tickets to the Angel/Yankee playoff game...not so lucky was the result of the game, a loss of 10 to 1......wooooooooooozers, that was a BIG downer. We went through 3 sets of thunder sticks slapping them so hard. Mr. Polka Dot, our girl, my sister in law and nephew are going tonight....GO ANGELS!!!!!!!!!!!! We only need 3 wins in a row and then we move on. No snickering please.....this is my optimistic fan talk going on!

GAME UPDATE...............WOOOOHOOOO!!!!!!

Little Polka Dot and his mommy and daddy are waiting for escrow to close on a house they are buying. Like so many others this process is proving to be frustrating. We are hopeful for a close tomorrow, since they have a renter moving in to the house they have now on Sunday. Nothing like a bit of pressure for them, but we are so happy to have time to be around to help them out and so exctied for them. Their new place is so perfect with some amazing views, and the bonus, more room for baby rick rack due in January!!!

My October quilt goals are slowly slipping away from me, but I guess there is always next month......have I told you I LOVE RETIREMENT!!!! Happy crafting everyone.

The Quilt Police Are Coming!!

That's the word on the street.....no quilting happening, my quilting card is going to be revoked!! YIKES, this could be trouble. Let's start with the excuses.....not home much, playing tons with little Polka Dot, and that mojo thing. My posts lately have all had the same tone...but I really want to be productive, I just need more hours in the day!

I have managed to get bindings done for some peeps and got this quilt back from the quilting sisters and will get the binding on it way in time for an Xmas gift. Beautiful quilting!

Yesterday I met my friend Lani for one of our annual quilt shopping/lunching expeditions. Wow, the quilt shops were a big let down. Not even a pattern to entice us. Now that's kind of scary, but Lani brought three of her beauties to share, so we did another car quilt show! I always enjoy seeing what she is making because I know I am going to want to make them too, and she didn't disappoint!! I was very lucky to receive some wonderful Fall goodies from her. She definitely knows what I like! We had a good laugh, because I had given her a turkey wall hanging out of the same line as the wonderful bag she made me....Gobble, Gobble by Moda.....great minds we decided! The pumpkin sign is just so perfect as well as the Moda Home coasters! Such a fun day but way too short. We are planning a quilt weekend get together, or may be even a quilt retreat.....hmmmmm, some planning needs to begin.

"Mom could you make me this quilt?" Words a quilter/mother loves to here. I have been hunting down this fabric after my girl saw it in a magazine and now have all the pieces...oh yeah, there's that time thing. But once again I am determined. Ok, so I have some monthly challenges I still want to try to meet, but my girl comes first!!!

I haven't visited many blogs lately and that just has to change. This time of year it is so wonderful to see all the goodies being made, so a definite priority has to be some much needed blogging time. I leave you with a picture of a one of my new favorite finds...these stinkin cute battery operated scented luminaries from Febreze. LOVE THEM, and there's a cute snowman coming out for Xmas!!

By the way, if the quilting police are out and about asking about me.....you haven't seen or heard from me! PS....thanks for the nice birthday wishes!

Now Where Was I ?.....

A little bloggy break, possibly due to bloggy writer block, or possibly due to lots of other things going on.....hmmm, me thinks all of the above! Good to be back and now let's see what I can bore you with :-)!!

Arches National Park in Utah was the last leg of our vacation adventure. The drive in was spectacular..... and inside the park..wowie!

We hadn't planned on visiting Arches, but since we had those snow days in Colorado and left a day early, it was the perfect place to visit on the way home. Our last night we spent in St. George, Utah.....I LOVE THAT CITY. Mr. Polka Dot found the most beautiful golf course to play a round on, and I found a wonderful quilt shop right across the way from the hotel, Scrap Apple.....life is good!

Miss Sharon keeps track of me even when I'm not blogging, and coming home from vacation I had this wonderful box of Fall goodies waiting .....ahhhhhhhh, can't you just smell the wonderful smells! The pumpkin in front is wax with a flicker tea light on the top....love him. I was whining about owning one of her Halloween purses---yipeee, whining does pay off. Thanks Sharon!!!
No quilty stuff happening sad to say, but I did get these two sweet things back from the quilters. My plan for this week is to get current on my BOM'S and get the bindings on these guys. Sadly I didn't finish the Schnibbles challenge, but I did get some of the blocks made on vacation. Confession time, I didn't meet any of the challenges that I gave myself for the month. Being gone for 14 days just did me in!!! I know, excuses, excuses!!! October is almost half over and setting a goal for this month probably isn't a good idea, but I am really going to try to finish the Schnibble quilt for September and the I Spy quilt for Baby Polka Dot.

Baby Polka Dot....that name is just not going to work any more. His baby brother will be here in January, and he's a big boy now, with all the walking that is going on. So now he is little Polka Dot!!! Peek a boo papa....so sweet that's what he calls grandpa!

We feel so lucky to be able to spend so much time with him and we hope he feels the same . Smoochy smooches to you little one, we love you

And I have to mention baseball playoffs. We are HUGE Angel fans and I am happy to report we have had representatives at both playoff games. Game one, Mr. Polka Dot and nephew John..game two, Mr. Polka Dot with our girl. Going to Boston was out of the question, so there will be some big cheering from the couch going on tomorrow. GO RED!!!

Happy Fall everyone!!

2,5000 Miles Of Fun

We are back from our Colorado vacation and what a great time we had....now back to reality and laundry!!! We saw so many great sights along the way, beautiful blue sky, Fall starting to show it's colors and SNOW!!!!! Here's a sampling of our great trip.

Mesa Verde National Park........such an amazing place to visit and hike around

On our way to Independence Summit.....natures lesson in contrast. We were probably a week too early for the full show, but nonetheless, the colors were spectacular!

Oh don't even think about throwing that thing!!!!! BRRRRRRR it was cold, even these motorcycle riders were trying to get some shelter from the sleet and snow

So this is part one of our adventure. Either me or blogger are having trouble downloading pictures...most likely me. Think I am rusty after being gone for two weeks. Nice to be back home and now off to the blogs!!! Missed you people!!!!!!!!! See you later gators :-)!