Happy New Year

 

From our family to yours…… we wish you a very, very Happy New Year.

Holiday Happenings…….Wonderful Swap Goodies

Christmas has come and gone.  There were so many wonderful happenings around here and having The Dots around added to the excitement!!!  I first would like to give a big thank you to my Secret Santa Caro for the beautiful swap goodies.  Love the Angel 

hanging…she is sweet as can be!  A huge thank you to our Elf Chooky for all her hard work on this swap.  She coordinates parcels flying all around the world with some help from Santa of course. 

Like a lot of families we are one that has traditions that just have to happen each year.  One for sure is making gingerbread houses.  We first started this when are kids were little and my daughter continued on with her friends in junior high.  Now the girls are all grown up, but each year they come to our house to continue the tradition.  The Dots were over the top excited, and Papa put together their very own house made out of

graham crackers…..the perfect size for them…Papa and their dad there for some technical help as well as their Aunt KK!!

 

 

 

Going to the Nutcracker is another tradition that we love…..so my girl and I made a date. 

These two sweeties were handing out the programs.  There’s something about hearing that music that puts me in the holiday spirit!

Big Dot had some school festivities going on.  First was take your grandparent to school.  He

loves

school so much and has a wonderful teacher.  A very special day for this nana for sure.  That evening was his Christmas program…sweet!

 

 

Little Dot had his own things going on.  He has been in a sports ball program.  He LOVES, LOVES, LOVES it!!!!  The very last day they

 

all were given an award for a job well done. 

He was so proud, and we were very proud too!! Such a sweetie pie if I might say so. 

I had really gotten behind on customer bindings with the wedding and all.  Having the best customers in the world they were all very patient with me, and my final deliveries were on December 23…that was cutting it way closer than I had planned.  I did manage to get the house decorated.  OK, I whined a bit about doing it, but after all is said and done I sure do love it and plan on leaving it up till

 

 

 

 

New Years day!!   I know I’m crazy, but I sure do love all the sparkle, and when the boys are over here they are good about helping me get all the lights turned on.   I used the suitcase we had at our girls wedding for her wedding cards, for our Christmas cards!

 

 

 

 

Back in November when I went to quilt camp I worked on some jar wraps for our neighbors treats.  We filled them with homemade Caramel Corn……ok, quite a bit didn’t make it in the jars.  We had to do some sampling for quality control you know!

My plan for 2014 is to get back to blogging and reconnecting with the many bloggy friends I have made along the way.  Merry, merry to you all!!

SSCS Parcel and Some This and That

It's that time of year and Elf Chooky has been very busy coordinating all the swappers around the globe for the SSCS.  My wonderful parcel arrived from Caro who is from the Netherlands.  She was a bit sneaky and the return address was Seattle...she happened to be in the US visiting friends and mailed it from there.  Inside the cute bag is my giftie that will have to wait to be opened on Christmas day....hope I can hold out!!  But there in plain view is a cute note pad and pincushion.  We get to open our ornament

package however, and this cute guy was tucked inside......so sweet, and he is already hanging on my tree.  Thanks so much Caro, and a big thanks to Elf Donna for all her work on our swap.

Some other goings on......for Halloween there was a couple of super cute Angry Birds flying around.  Then there was a super fun Quilt Camp with the Quilt In A Day ladies....which meant hanging out with my buddies Annie and Nicole.   There was definitely some quilting going on.....but actually more laughing and talking!


Wedding pictures you ask???   Of course I will be happy to post a couple more.  I so love this picture........and my sweet family.  I am a lucky mom.  Happy December friends.

              
  

Wedding News

I am still in the wedding afterglow.  Such a fun year of planning and thinking about the big day, well it's kind of hard to have it over with. It was perfect, but that couldn't have happened without lots of support from family and friends.   And another big thing.....the weather!!!  We really were sweating that out.  The temps have been all over the place this year, from the 90's to 50's, and since our venue was outside, well we were hoping for temps at the higher end.  We totally lucked out and the day could not have been more perfect.

The morning of, my good friends, Chris, Karen and Carol were there bright and early ready for set up and more importantly tweaking what we had planned.  They were amazing!!!!  Both my sister in laws were there jumping in wherever they could and putting up with my mother of the bride craziness. The bridal attendants such big help too and have been such a good support team for our girl.  The grooms family....an army of workers, jumping in everywhere they could.  Very heartwarming to be surrounded by all this love and support.  The painted banners hanging here and there are by Nicole at Raggedy Old Annie's...love them.  They were the perfect addition to our setting
.

Now with set up done, it was time to get the show on the road!!  This was the very first dress she tried on.  I cried on that day, and I cried once again when I saw her in it!  She looked so beautiful, it took my breath away   My little girl. It's so hard to believe this day has come.  She's the best daughter and I am so lucky to have her as my very best friend.  


The day was amazing......the weather behaved!!!  That was a HUGE relief.  We had lots of family and friends there taking pictures and sharing with us until the photographer's come.


This venue couldn't have been more perfect for our two.  They both love the outdoors and from the moment they showed us this spot we knew it was right for them...

And then they were married!!!!!  Woohoo!!! 


Both my son and his wife were attendants and The Dots were sign carriers.  Fingers crossed the photographers got some good picture of that.  Here they are sharing a special moment with their cousins.  They were so good at their job!!!  The best sign carriers ever.....and those little bow ties were stinkin' cute on them, not to mention their suspenders!!!!    I am pleased to introduce to you the new Mr. and Mrs. and we are very happy to welcome our new son in to the family.  We feel so lucky to have him....and we couldn't ask for a better guy for our girl.  Life is very good indeed!!!


This is just a small sampling of the day, and I am quite sure I will be driving you all crazy with pictures as soon as they come in!!!  For now, we are slowly getting back to life which means me getting back to some quilting and blogging.  Our new laptop is still giving me fits with posting, possibly it's that I'm a bit rusty!!  Happy Friday everyone.

Checking Back In!

June 25 was my last post????.......SERIOUSLY?!  Wow, but busy times with all the wedding preparations and now less than a month to go.  Last weekend was my girls bridal shower....her girls did an amazing job with the whole thing....I enjoyed helping too!!!   They set up a wonderful

 Mimosa bar, and I found a great Peach Tea recipe on Pinterest.
We have been having extremely hot and humid weather and we did our best to prepare the backyard with some extra shade, and fans for everyone to have at the ready.....BUT, we didn't expect a HUGE thunder shower!!  We at least got to enjoy an hour outside and quickly moved the party inside.  It was a perfect even so,
with tons of laughing and great time spent with family and friends.  Here's my girl looking so sweet in her polka dot dress with her attendants for the wedding.  Each one mean so much to her and I love them all.....my two favorite girls, my daughter in law and my girl.


There is definitely tons to catch up on.  The Dots both started school.  Here's our big guy stylin' in a super cool hat with his very best buddy, and out Little

Dot ready for the first day.....how did they get so big, so fast?!  We greatly enjoy our couple days a week with them and feel so lucky to be so close by.  Another first, Big Dot started soccer....his dad started about the same age.

Notice the action shot for the camera...never mind the game is going on
behind him!  He knows Nana needs a good picture for her blog.

Our old faithful laptop crashed and now we are adjusting to a new one.  This one isn't quite as user friendly (or maybe it's the operator)...that's probably more like it!

I have tons, and tons more to write about, but that will wait for another day.  Today we are off to celebrate another upcoming wedding in the family, my niece!

Hope all is well in blogland, and boy I have  missed you all.  BIG HUGS!!!

 

Quilt Camp……sort of!

We were off camping again…….fun and pretty!   My long time quilting buddy, Lani, lives down the road a bit from camp, so we had ourselves a Quilt Camp day at camp……..FUNNNNN!!!!   There’s my buddy ….oh look at our messy sewing table.  Oh well, we had the best time and I actually used my sewing machine…..SHOCK!!!!   I decided to work on a couple of  Kim Schaefer’s Calendar quilts.  I have had all the months cut out for a few years…. (I am so bad).  July is pieced and fused, buttonholing to happen.  August is partially done.

 

Finally some progress in the sewing department!  Lani always comes with goodies.  Yummy Chocolate Crispy Bars that were really delic and very low in calories.  There were a few more, but we were snacking a bit.  She just got a pile of quilts back from her quilter and  brought some of them along for a trunk show at camp.  The Trip Around The World holds special memories.  When we started quilting together way back in the 80’s there were 4 of us that met every week.  We each selected two fabrics and that’s what’s in that quilt.   Great quilts Lani.

Another favorite day was catching up with our friends Peggy and Rodger who we hadn’t seen in 20 years.  Our daughters met in preschool and were best friends….our families shared lots of fun times.  When the girls were in 4th grade we moved away, and as life goes, life gets busy.  It is so amazing to be back in touch.  It felt like yesterday that we were hanging out!   So funny to think 20 years ago we didn’t even have cell phones. 

I brought along some of my own quilts to bind ….again aging nicely in my sewing closet for the past couple years.  Hey wait a minute look at that cute little trailer in the background!  Hold the phone….it’s stinkin’ cute and you know what I’m thinking?   I am really expecting Pam Kitty, or Lori Holt or Nanette to pop out of that thing.   Darn. No. such luck! But that is one cute trailer!  We never did get invited over for a look see…but I bet it’s super cute in there!

Now back home and settled in for time with The Dots….missed them like crazy.  We will have lots of playing to get to.    It was very nice to get back to a bit of quilting and to have four bindings checked off my to do list! 

So what’s everyone else been up to?

Directionally Challenged!

Yesterday I took a purse class with a friend…..so fun to hang out with her and make a cute purse!

There’s my directionally challenged thing…. my bunting flags are flying sideways.   Even so,  I love this purse, and it was so fun to make. The outside bottom part is pockets all around and here’s a peek at  the inside….MORE POCKETS!!!!   I have fabric cut to do another now that I know what I’m doing!!!

Even though it’s not officially summer here, it sure feels like it.  We have had temps in the high 80’s and The Dots have started swimming lessons…..there’s Big Dot getting arm instructions!!!!  Such a weird glare in my picture.  On the days the boys are here, I cheer on our big guy and papa and Little Dot do the lesson together.  We love our time with the boys so much.

One of these days I will surprise you all and actually get back to quilting, but for now we are enjoying lots of family time, and of course getting ready for the upcoming wedding.  Hugs to you all!

A Bit Of Something!

We are recently back from a week camping at Santee Lakes.  They call it the best backyard in San Diego. The trip started out with us taking a bug along, so there was a few days of laying low and trying to kick the thing, which thankfully we did!!  The Lakes are so pretty, with tons of flat walking trails that I took advantage of.  Golfing close by for Mr. P, and he took advantage of that.  The best part, our girl and her guy were very close by, so there was time spent with them and lots of wedding planning going on.  The biggest woohoo of the trip, my girl and I found my dress for the wedding.  Her guy’s family hosted a wonderful dinner for us so we could meet his whole family.  A great day for sure, and once again more wedding planning!!!!

Of course we had to visit the Zoo, and especially since the new Koala exhibit just opened.  It’s so wonderful and look who we spotted when we were out and about…….the perfect day to visit all the animals. 

Since we were practically camping right on their doorstep I just had to take some time out to visit one of my favorite quilt shops .

 

It’s one of those shops you go in and you feel like you are going home.  The ladies are always so welcoming and full of quilty enthusiasm.

My last post talking about Mother’s Day I realized I forgot to show this sweet gift from my daughter in law.  I love it so much it made me cry!!!   We hit the daughter in law jackpot with her for sure.

So here’s my “bit of something”.   Remember the Charming Girls quilt along??  A couple weeks back I saw on another blog a picture of a quilt from that group that a blogger had completed.  It started me thinking, where was my quilt?!!  Digging through my quilt closet, there it set all done and beautifully quilted by my friends Chris

and Karen…..needing binding of course!!  So I took it on vacation and got that job done.  Yesterday I took a bag class and made this super cute ticking bag.   It has outside pockets on each side, and two giant pocket sections on the inside.

 

 

Complete with a snap closure which I have never used before…..easy peasey to put in, and fast too!!!!!!!

Hope you all have some wonderful plans for the weekend.