Floods, parties, inchies, Linus and more

What a wild and crazy last few weeks it has been. We have had swaps, birthdays, huge Project Linus Day, and of course the flood.

We are always busy just before Quilt Market because we are finalizing new patterns, taking care of photography and stuffing patterns. That is usually enough to keep things mildly nuts but this time... About 2 weeks ago my husband Tony, who usually gets up earlier that I do, yells back to the bedroom "Sandy, grab some towels and come help mop up the kitchen." I jump out of bed and before I can get the towels and get there he yells again, "Never mind, just go back to sleep." As if that could happen. I walk in the kitchen and it is covered in water. A pipe under the sink had broken and apparently the water had been flowing for hours and hours. Every room in the house was covered in water and the den had 3" of standing water. Where do you begin? Well, it is 2 weeks later, the contractors have been out and it looks like we will be in the remodeling phase for a while. Below is a photo of the back door in the den, after we had gotten about 1"-2" of water out. We are SO lucky though, almost none of our personal possessions were damaged!

This is a photo of the kitchen with the fans. They are trying to dry out the cabinets. It didn't work so the lower cabinets will be replaced in the kitchen. If you want to see all of the photos you can check out my smugmug site http://sannton.smugmug.com/. The fans are so noisy and in every room so we were in a hotel for 4 nights. It is good to be back in the house with all our stuff!

INCHIE SWAP - Remember the inchies I told you about? Well, 11 of my friends and I had a quick little swap and it was so fun! We had about 2 weeks to sign up, get them done and turn them in. Some of us made 12 just a like and others made each one different. They are SO cool. I think I will put them on a bracelet, but I haven't done that yet. The photo below shows the 12 inchies that I received. I love them all and each one is so different.

This photo shows some of the swappers oooooing and ahhhhhing over each person's swap.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY - Last weekend was Krissy's birthday and Jesse wanted to give her a surprise party. It was fun and the cake was beautiful. I picked up some of the items for the party and did a really goofy thing. I went by and picked up the plates but forgot the napkins so when I went back to get them I totally forgot which plates I had gotten and the result was NOT pretty!

PROJECT LINUS - Last Wednesday was Project Linus day. One Wednesday a month is dedicated to making quilts for Project Linus. This past week the ladies were VERY prolific!!! The completed 14 quilt tops and have several more that are partially done. Amazing. You can come join the group at Quilt Country on May 21 and June 18. It us such a worthwhile project.

Very Hungry Caterpillar, Angelina and dollies

I can't believe how quickly time passes and that it has been so long. Time sure flies when life is zooming by! The Dallas quilt show, Freaky Friday and Easter just flew by. The show was really beautiful and the guild did a super job, as usual. There were some beautiful quilts and some interesting quilts too. We were busy in our booth demoing the yo-yo makers. I am working on a mini yo-yo quilt for the American Girl doll bed at the shop. It is looking really cute! The yo-yos are about the size of a nickle.

Last week we received the CUTEST fabric. The Very Hungry Caterpillar panel and coordinates arrived. They are just beautiful just like the photos in the book. It is going really quickly with several shoppers getting 2, 3 and more of the panel. Joan is working on a really cute model and we have already ordered more of the fabric.

We had a fun time making our embellished dolls last month and this coming Friday (just 2 days away!!! April 4) we are going to work with Angelina. Below are some of the interesting dolls that were made in our class last month. There seemed to be a slight fascination with cleavage. Some used the felted wool for the heads and others used photos from magazines. Unfortunately some of the photos were too blurry to use.

Juanita brought here absolutely precious fiber charm bracelet. I have to admit to being green with envy. I want one too! She was in an on line group that did the swap. Uh-oh, I think I feel another swap coming on!

March Madness

Last month we had a nice group for our Judy Day. We had about 13 or so and it was great because we were able to help each other with tips we had picked up in our class. It is a fun day to just get out of the house and sew with a nice group of quilters.

Janet was in for a machine quilting class this week and brought her finished Hawaiian Star. It is absolutely gorgeous!

I also took a close up of the center. The colors are scrumptious.

Our friend Juanita made this beautiful bracelet with charms she received in a swap last Oct. Isn't it great? You can see the felted wool pieces in the different charms. Next Friday we will be working with some of the felted wool at our Freaky Friday.

We have been busy working on several new patterns at Quilt Country. One is Free to Fly, a butterfly quilt, and the other is Sweet Hearts. The photo of the heart quilt is the smallest version. The hearts are raw edge applique.

Riding with Joshua

Today Joshua and i were in the car and saw a big fire truck. He was talking about it and I asked if he had ever been on a fire truck before. He said no, he wasn't a fireman. I told him you didn't have to be a fireman to go on a fire truck. He said he wasn't a fireman because he had always just been a kid. I snapped this one with my phone at the red light.

The other day Joshua and I were on the way home from school and we were singing along with Raffi, there's a bug on the floor, on the floor. I tried to snap a photo of us being scared while we were singing. Of course we were already home and just waiting for the song to be over. The photos are blurred because he is moving around to the music a lot. His favorite Raffi song is Willoby Wallaby Woo. (not sure about that spelling.)

Freaky Friday, Tony & Tina and The Caucus

It is almost time for the March Freaky Friday! It seems impossible that it has been a month! We are having a great time with this class and I think the students and customers are too. Below is a photo of Tonya's paintstick piece. She is so good about taking her project home and making it into something wonderful! She is one talented lady.

Since I last wrote we also went to see Tony and Tina's Wedding. It is a very funny musical about a couple from NY and NJ and their families and friends. It was really funny and you are a part of the wedding, not sitting in seats in the audience but part of the group. We laughed a lot and you just never knew what they were going to do. There was a "cheesy" wedding singer who had a great voice. He actually sang through the complete reception. Below is a photo of my husband, Tony, with the daughter of the caterer. She was very "goth" and never smiled once! She just came up and put her foot on the table next to Tony and waited to see his reaction. It was SO funny! The second photo is of Krissy, my daughter in law and the wedding singer. I think you get the idea. The third photo is Tony with one of the bridesmaids. She was having boyfriend trouble and came around often. All of the ladies seemed to like Tony. I think he was an easy target. Go see it if you get a chance but it is not for kids.

Well the primary/caucus is over. It has been an amazing year, one that I think will be remembered for some time. Tony and I decided to go check out the caucus at the Lewisville Town Hall. There must have been about 200 or more standing in line to vote in the caucus. I snapped a few photos with my phone. The quality isn't that great.

Valentines Week and Christian fabric

Valentines week is special for my husband and me. Tony and I were married on the 13th. Lots of people ask us why didn't we wait one day and get married on Valentines Day. Well, when you get married on a 3 day pass from the Air Force you don't have time to wait a day. Tomorrow will be our 37th anniversary. February 13th is also the date of our first date when we were in the 9th grade. We went to his church's Sweetheart banquet and he brought me a corsage of pink sweetheart roses. My boquet at our wedding was pink sweetheart roses. Seems like we have had 3 lifetimes during this 37 years. We have done a lot of fun things and lived many interesting places during our life together. One of our favorite places to go together is Disney World and my favorite ride is the Rockin' Roller Coaster. It is SO fun, 0-60 in less than 4 seconds. Oh yeah, Aerosmith is blasting in your ears and it is dark with lots of neon.

Today after I picked Joshua up at school we decorated Valentines Day Cookies. I baked the cookies yesterday so they would be ready. He was very excited. I had bought a variety pack of cookie decorations and one of the colors was hot pink. I said lets do a hot pink one. He says he doesn't like hot. After I explained it to him he called the red and purple hot too. I decided to lay a clean towel on the counter so it would collect all of the "extra" sprinkles. You can tell by the expression on his face that it took a lot of concentration.
Of course we had to sample a few. I think we both like them best with no icing.
This is an icing recipe that I have had for years. It works great on any cookies and gets hard so you can stack the cookies. You can add flavoring and also dye it for the occasion.

COOKIE ICING
1 cup conf. sugar
1-2 tsp. Milk
1-2 tsp light corn syrup
Place sugar and milk in bowl and mix well. Add corn syrup and mix. Add coloring and or flavoring. Spread on cookies; add sprinkles if desired and leave to dry for about an hour. The length of drying time depends on how thick you spread the icing. Stack them up and you are ready to take them anywhere with no mess.

We just received the new fabric with the religious symbols, prayers and Bible verses. It is very nice and the colors are pretty.

Follow the Yellow Brick Road

Isn't this fabric great??? The Wizard of Oz is so much fun. I know it has terrorized children for years but I think we all have a place in our hearts for this movie. There are many more prints at the shop, this is just a sampling. This past year Tony and I went to see Wicked and loved it. If you ever get a chance go see it because it will give you a totally new outlook on the Wizard of Oz. Now, what to do with this fun stuff??? Any ideas?



This new Kaffe Fasset fabric also arrived this week. It is always so fresh and interesting.


I am excited about our "Judy Day" coming up every month in the next few months. Maybe some of us can make progress on our "Judy" quilts!