Busy, Busy, Busy

It has been a crazy January. Mom left on the third, very sad. I always cry when she leaves. We talk about twice a day most days and I really enjoy that. We are very close. I am thinking of going to see her in the Spring sometime but not sure when.

After mom left I got some crazy crud and was home sick for almost a week! YUCK, didn't even feel like sewing, beading on knitting. Hopefully all of you will avoid that and all of the other things going around this year.

Just as I was getting over the crud we had a "going away party" for our friend Lorna. She is Eileen's mom and had decided to move back to Nebraska. We will miss her but know she will enjoy living there where she also has lots of friends and family. All of the Supergirls got together and made her this lovely lavender rag quilt. Lavender is her favorite color and the size is just perfect for her lap. The quilt was a group effort and when we were discussing the label someone said that Nikki had an embroidery machine so Nikki embroidered Lorna's name on the quilt, in purple of course, and it turned out great!

Next Judy Neimeyer arrived. She is a great quilter, teacher and such a wonderfully pleasant person to be around. She is truly amazing in her classes. There were 20 students in our classes doing 4+ different quilt patterns and she would glide easily from one to another even though they were making different quilts. Amazing! She really is sweet and I enjoyed her visit very much. She was here from Wed. - Friday the next week. The first photo is Judy demonstrating a Wedding Ring technique.

This is a funny photo of everyone crowded around the cutting table for the demo on cutting techniques, and Judy has some GREAT tips!

Our dear friend Kara, who lives in CO, came for a visit too. She took one of Judy's classes with me and it was so nice to have a long visit with her. She stayed at our house, in the Mickey room, so we were able to visit even more. Then on Friday we went to a retreat together. I was so amazed when she took out the center sections she had made in Judy's class and started creating this gorgeous quilt. She just invented it right before our eyes!

Of course the photo doesn't do it justice and the colors are off a bit but you certainly "get the picture". Isn't she amazing? We really miss her but know she is happy in CO with lots of friends and family.

Well, I am pooped from all of the happenings and signing off. This week we are going to get busy learning more about the Paintsticks for our Freaky Friday. It is going to be fun! I will post photos of the creations.

A Time to Bead

Sorry I haven't posted lately, been a bit under the weather.

Last Friday we had a really fun day at the shop. It was the first of our Freaky Friday events. The first Friday of every month we are having a little demo/class/make & take. This one was a beading make & take and lots of students came to learn a bit about beading. I forgot my camera and also forgot to ask Micki to snap a photo in the 10:30 class but here is a photo of part of the second, 1:00 class.

They learned some basic info about beading and how to create about 6 different stitches. We had the cutest little kits made up for each of them. They practiced all of the stitches and left with the little kits to finish or use to embellish something else. A student from the first class sent me this photo of her "practice piece". She made this really cool design with part of her bead kit. The hot pink square sequins were a part of the kit.

Below is a photo of Carol Mc's beaded vessel she started from Larkin Van Horn's Beaded Vessel class. Her vessel is almost finished. Isn't it beautiful?

We also discussed the Journal Quilts we are going to make this year. I know you will believe this, Connie has already finished her first one! Her beautiful beaded blue journal quilt is really stunning. The other two photos are of Tonya's Journal quilts. She made twelve of them and when she was finished she sewed them together to form one large piece. They ae really stunning. This is going to be a fun progect and I hope lots of people join us.

The next Freaky Friday on Feb. 1 is going to be fun! We are going to learn all about Paintsticks with a hands on class again. I know a lot of you have been interested in these so come on down and try them yourself! The Paintsticks are very cool.

New Year Tradition

Yesterday we finished taking inventory at Quilt Country. What fun!! I am kidding of course but it isn't all that bad. I get to spend the day with lots of people I care about and get something done must be done in the process. Of course there is always pizza for lunch!

This is a photo of the group who worked on inventory yesterday. The husbands and one mom aren't in the photo though. It is so good to have that job over and done with!

I don't understand how it is that we always find items that are not priced when we take inventory. Carol Mc decided, and rightly so, that the pricing gun needed a new ink roller. The photo below gives her thoughts on the instructions.

We had a great Christmas. Jesse, Krissy and Joshua came over for breakfast and then we opened presents. It was a lot of fun and Joashua was a big help passing out the presents. He could even tell who most of them were for because he could read and sound out the letters in the tags. (Grandaddy helped.)

We got Joshua a bicycle with training wheels and he loved it. He spent a great deal of the day outside riding. We have to get him a helmet because we forgot that part! He also loved the organ Granny Hazel got him and the new cars. It seems like all little boys love matchbox cars!

Mom loved her jacket and can't wait to get photos loaded on her digital frame.

Felton and Kelli arrived earlier than we thought they would and had a great surprise. They both quit smoking! That is a great gift.

Kyle and Michael are coming this weekend for Christmas with us. That will be fun.

This is weird! A REAL piece of ivy is growing out of our fake ivy. The front porch gets zero light and we have tried to grow several things there but finally attached a piece of iron to the wall and put some fake ivy there. Now a piece of real ivy is growing there. How did this happen? You can see the roots of the real ivy mixed in with the fake ivy.

When we moved into this house we knew the yard was big but... it is HUGE and way over our heads. We have had a few things done and also done some ourselves. The front beds have been a mess and we needed help with them. Eileen gave me the name of someone who helps her in her yard and he did a great job. You can see Joshua walking through the little path in the middle of the bed. It just looks so much better!

We are still wrapping gifts for Christmas and getting ready. It will be a strange Christmas this year. For the first time in several years the kids won't be joining us for Christmas breakfast. They will be here for Christmas dinner in the evening. Maybe mom, Tony and I will go to a movie during the day. It will be a great evening when they all get here because we will have been waiting all day to visit and open presents!

Parties & Statue of Liberty

The last two nights we have had our annual Quilt Country Supergirl and Quiltingfriends party here at our home. They were great fun and of course the food was yummy. My mom is visiting from Georgia and Krissy snapped this photo of me and mom at dinner on Friday.

Martha brought some beautiful sarongs back from Thailand. She was there visiting her new granddaughter who, by the way, is beautiful. Here we are pouncing on the sarongs in the basket. Martha also had some fascinating photos of Thailand. What a great adventure she had.

I really scored at the Quiltingfriends party on Saturday when my friend Debbie gave me a purse I had been admiring for some time. She has carried it in the summer for several years and every time I see her I would mention it. The purse has the Statue of Liberty on it and is VERY cool. You see, I NEEDED it for the restroom at Quilt Country which is full of Statue of Liberty memorabilia. We love collecting it and trying to find a new place for all of the cool things. I picture this purse with a nice silk fern placed inside. What a great planter it will make! Below are photos of the purse and the main part of the bathroom at Quilt Country.

We have been busy decorating for Christmas AND shopping since we returned from FL. It has been a busy time. Joshua, my 3 year old grandson, has helped with the decorating and today we got into the last box of goodies. Inside there was a Nativity set that I tole painted about 20 years ago. It is very cute and Joshua played with it while Tony and I struggled with the lights for a table display. He knew who the pieces were and was having a really good time with them and talking to them for about 10 minutes. Then I heard him say something like "OK, baby Jesus, do the limbo". As he said this he had the baby Jesus moving horizontally under the piece of wood on the side of the stable. It was all so cute I asked him to show me again and snapped the photo. Later we watched the Mickey Mouse version of The Three Muskateers. Maybe that is spelled Mouskateers?