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 :-)!

OH BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and some quilting!!!

Oh boy, oh boy.....Baby Polk Dot is going to have a little brother!! We are so, so, so, so excited and can hardly wait till January to meet the new little guy. I need to get busy with some new baby quilts!

I have forgotten how wonderful one year olds are. Baby Polka Dot is so much fun and such a little character. He is such great entertainment for grandma and grandpa!! Here's a sweet photo of him and his auntie when she was visiting last week.

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I have had a productive few days. Mr. Polka Dot was off fishing in them there hills, so I really dug in and got some things done. Finished my notions caddy.........

.....worked some more on a top secret Xmas project........then

I almost finished an Xmas quilt for a friend. I just need to add the outer borders and it will be off to be quilted. The colors are way out of my comfort zone, but oh so perfect for my special friend. Then I just had to make this sweet Turkey wall hanging. His button eyes will be added after the quilting....Sandy Gervais strikes again!!!! I just can't resist her patterns !!

This week we have a big adventure ahead of us...a getaway to Colorado, and you know some quilt shops will be included in this grand adventure and golfing for Mr. P. I have some handwork all set to go and another Janet Evanovich novel. Looking forward to some beautiful scenery along the way!!!! Happy week to everyone!

Relaxation!!!

We are back from a great six day stay at the beach, vacationing in the can of course. We were very lucky again to get one of our favorite spots with a great view out the window. (lousy picture...but great view honest!) Despite being a bit humid, the weather was definitely cooler than at home, and we really enjoyed the break from the heat. Our girl spent a couple days with us and we got in some rousing games of Mexican Train...she totally beat us!!

........Got some bindings done


some secret Xmas sewing
done ...........................






Some oh so good reading done . My quilt group talked me in to reading this book and they said once you start reading it you won't be able to put it down. Boy were they right and there are 14 more novels to catch up on!!!



Then I stumbled upon this when I was grocery shopping. How have I missed this one. There's Mary E. right on the cover and choked full of wonderful work spaces of "extraordinary women", one of which is Joanna Figueroa of Fig Tree fabrics. Don't know what it is, but I just love to get a peek at others work/sewing spaces and this magazine is AMAZING!!!!!! Right at the beginning the editor writes the most beautiful article about friendship and made me realize how very lucky I am to have such wonderful friends in my life. Friends that put up with me no matter what...and there has been a lot of no matter whats!!!!!

Tons of blogging to catch up on and also time to pick my finishes for the Charming Girls Quilt Club...hmmmmm, I'll have to dive in to the closet of unfinished projects and see what I can come up with. Happy Labor Day everybodyeee!!!!

Charming Girls Quilt Club...Plan For September Finishes

Here's my entries for my September Charming Girls Quilt Club finishes. One easy smeasy and one that will push me a bit, but I really want to get er' done!!!

......this is on it's way to being a cute caddy for all my quilting notions. Not much left to do, but incentive to get it done!


This next one has a bit more work, actually a lot of piecing and pinning.It's an eye spy quilt I started a looooooong time ago and now I want to finish it for baby Polka Dot. Just the inside to finish this month though. My borders are sent out to a friend who is machine embroidering all kinds of cute words on the outer border. Wish me luck!!!!