How About A Trip To Death Valley......

......is what Mr. Polka Dot said a few weeks ago. Ugh.........I said, (well I actually kept that in my head)! Neither of us had ever been. So off we went early Wednesday morning for our adventure to Death Valley......The sights...... well, truly amazing....... and I was won over immediately. Such great spots to hike and wonderful views to see. It was a fun filled three day trip. We had a visit to Scotty's Castle, such stories to be told there. Our guide was in costume and character for the entire tour which added to the fun. It's a good thing someone in this house has a sensible head and plans these wonderful trips!!!

Before leaving, I finished the binding on my Faded Memories quilt and the whirly thingie topper for
one of my Pay It Forward people (before the deadline)!! Finishes are good!

.....and isn't this soooooo cute for the car or a chair?!!! Karen over at Sew Many Ways has Tool Time Tuesdays where she comes up with the greatest ideas for things. This started out a cup holder and look what she turned it in to. She will be posting a tutorial on how to make one. There are so many, many great ideas there plus ideas from fellow bloggers. I always look forward to Tuesdays to see what Karen has been up to!!

Ok, that's it for me. Wishing you all a fun weekend with some sewing stuck in here and there!!!
See you later cow pokes!!!!!!!

Online Quilt Festival-April 17 to 24

Morning everyone and good evening in some cases!!!! Amy of Park City Girl has organized the most wonderful online Quilt Festival, complete with sponsors and prizes! Her idea is for us to share a favorite quilt and give the story behind it and then link to Mr. Linky on her blog. When I last checked there was well over 370 quilts listed and it is so much fun to see and read about the quilts. Here is my very favorite quilt that I have made, a pink and brown log cabin. A friend of mine had made one and I just fell in love with it. I didn't really have much in the way of pinks and browns in my stash and set about searching for just the right colors. My group of friends at work started digging through their stashes and before I knew it I had an amazing pile of pinks and browns. My friend Deb gave me the perfect red for the center squares. I used the creams & lights from my stash and bought the border. Not only do I just love the quilt, but it is such a wonderful reminder of those precious friendships. Thanks to Amy for this wonderful and fun idea!!

I have made a little progress on the Stars and Strips quilt with some of the bits done! That ME fabric is so happy to sew on!!
Looser Monday report.......I gained :-( !!!! I figured if I wrote it small it wouldn't hurt so much.

Happy week to you all and hope to see you in the online Quilt Festival!

Lots To Share

Happy weekend bloggy people!! I have lots of this and that to report on. Earlier in the week I finally got my signature blocks shipped off. The blocks had been done for a long time. The signing and stamping seemed to be the hold up, but hopefully they have arrived by now.

I finished the top for my cute Bow Tie quilt kit that Sharon gave me. Gotta love a Bow Tie quilt. Also I wanted to show the cute charm that was included in my goodie bag from her and also this great little tin for holding a measuring tape. SWEET ♥ Now I have to confess!! I thought I had lost the charm, or worse yet thought I had left it at the restaurant where we went. I searched high and low, well apparently not low enough...it had fallen on the floor under my sewing table. Whewww, close call!

My Faded Memories quilt is back from the quilter girls and they did a beautiful job on the quilting and bringing my quilt to life. I was less then thrilled with my piecing and almost decided

to stick it in the closet and forget about it. Thank goodness for the girls, because they truly brought it to life. Tonight I planned on getting the binding on it and start the handwork. That was until I got the bright idea to stream (hey two years ago I was putting my pictures upside down on my blog, now I'm streammmmmmming) the Coachella Music Festival because Paul McCartney was playing tonight. So instead of binding I watched Paul!!!

Earlier in the week I got blocks done on two of the BOM's I have going. One more month to go on the Fat Quarter Shop Designer Block Of The Month. My friend Jan has this wonderful system for keeping track of her BOM....a big old binder! Very clever girl. No more hunting around for where in the world is that missing block number 3!!!

Spring has definitely sprung around here. The rose bushes are just full of beautiful green leaves, the vine on the swing has all it's pretty flowers popping open and the kumquats are kumquating (my sister in laws beautiful tree)! I am planning a full two days of hiding out in my sewing room....how about you guys??? Later gators :-)!

Happy Easter From Our Bunny To Yours!

Our little bunny really enjoyed his first Easter, complete with ears from Sharon. This was taken at a visit to Aunties new house on Saturday. A friend of Nanette's had given her a book about things to do with PEEPS, and I just had to make this arrangement to take to my sister in law's house for Easter day. Talk about easy...and you know, I had never tried a PEEP before (there were a few left overs)....BIG MISTAKE, I love em'!!!!! I have decided I am not a very good pictureographer, but I did manage to snap a few pictures of our Easter day festivities.....Baby Bunny hangin out in the yard so happy, checking out an Easter egg with cousin Beth, and me snapping a picture of my nephew John through the screen....love you guys!
Oh and the HAM...wowie. My sister in law made THE BEST HAM EVER! The glaze was just amazing. She is such an incredible cook. Now don't be thinking we just had ham. Oh no, we had scalloped potatoes, macaroni and cheese, asparagus, monkey bread and strawberry shortcake...but no pictures :-(!!! All equally as delicious and all will be my downfall at my Thursday weigh in, but oh so very, very good! And not to forget the best ever deviled eggs made by my mother in law!

Now I am backtracking to Friday. I had a celebrity breakfast date with none other than Ms. Red Geranium. We met at our very favorite breakfast eating spot!!! But what I didn't expect was the haul of goodies she brought me ...you can click the picture to enlarge, but man oh man are there wonderful things. That cute friend hanging that I had admired at her house a while back and so many, many other fantastic goodies. A really cute zippered pouch that she has a tutorial on her blog how to make (I think that's my bag in the tutorial!), a sweet bracelet with my letter C and a bowl to hold my bracelet nice and safe. The bag it's sitting on is for putting my shoes in when we travel. Ms. Geranium just thinks of everything. Does this woman sleep?!!!! She even included one of her kits to make a bow tie quilt, which I plan on making tomorrow!!! Such a fun breakfast and I got to hear all about her new house. I know the move is bittersweet because of leaving all her friends, but being near her family is something that she has wanted for a very long time. And her one sister only 25 minutes away....how great is that, and closer to her two boys, I mean men!!!

LOOOOOOOOSER MONDAY REPORT-----once again same old same, but honestly with all the above going on I will be gaining this week...just thought that I would put it out there!!! One thing to spur a girl on to getting back on the diet bandwagon is the word REUNION!!!! Yep, got the invitation to my (gulp, gulp) 40th high school reunion in August............................. I can not believe that I am even going to post this picture, but oh well..here's my senior picture!!! Glad it's in black and white because the white lipstick I was wearing doesn't look quite as white as it actually was!!! Hey by August I can definitely loose some poundage, that is if I stop celebrating all the time!!!

Now if you want to see some amazing photos, head on over to Carla's blog. Wonderful pictures of the birth of a butterfly. Great job Carla!!!

Wishing you all a great week and ladies step away from any left over PEEPS!!!!!!!

We're Back....Oh No----Looser Monday Check In!

We are back from seven fun days in Morro Bay. Whenever the weather is good here on a particular day my husband use to say it was a Chamber of Commerce Day...well we had a Chamber of Commerce week worth of weather. Sunny days with beautiful blue skies, a bit coolish, but so nice to have light jackets on and a warm camp fire every night. We spent the week with John's golf buddy Tim and his wife Nettie and alternated cooking, and of course eating out a couple time, one night with our longtime friends from San Luis Obispo, Ken and Suzie. We visited the elephant seals up the coast and went to Cambria...another favorite spot of ours. Morro Bay holds so many memories for us. As a child going there with my parents, us taking our own children there and so many, many trips with family and friends over the years. I remember visiting the Salt Water Taffy stand with my dad..warm fuzzy wonderful memories! We watched as other grandparents camped with their grand kids and got excited about the prospect of having our little guy with us down the road a bit!!

Of course a trip wouldn't be complete without a visit to a quilt shop, or two!! The surprise was when I went in to the Cotton Ball in Morro Bay and I heard this voice yell my name. There stood

4 customers from the shop where I use to work, with bags full of goodies. Being about 350 miles away from home, I just didn't expect that!!! They were on a quilt binge adventure, already having shopped 5 shops since leaving home, with two more to go that day ending in a four day quilt retreat.....WOOHOO!! These ladies were having a GRAND time but wouldn't let me photograph them for my blog. They said "no evidence please"!!!! Nice catching up on old times with them and ladies, my lips are sealed :-)!! A trip up the coast would not be complete without a visit to Quiltin Cousins in Pismo Beach.

I did manage to do some of my own bindings and pieced some charm squares together. We played lots of Mexican Train, and I continue to be on my loosing streak.. and a lot of time relaxing and be lazy......WONDERFUL!!!

Yikes.......Looser Monday check in.....well let's just say I really, really, really, really enjoyed my vacation Smores and all and I do mean all. When we got home I spent one whole day avoiding the scale. I got brave this morning and jumped on (with one eye covered) and to my surprise I only gained 1 pound. It's a miracle and I don't get it. The last two weigh ins I had very good weeks of eating and staying on track only to loose nothing. This last week I went hog crazy and only gained 1 pound ... it just defies logic, but I am very happy and will start the new week very grateful!

I have missed the blogs and all the happenings, and probably will need at least a day to catch up. We did notice that the campground that we stay at now has WiFi....oh please Santa may I have a lap top??? Wishing you all a great week and I can't wait to poke around and see what you all have been up to!