Fun times with family and friends even during the bad weather....See what's happening with my friendship group the Sew What's

Last Friday, I took off work to go to the doctor. After the doctor, I went and picked up a friend and we went for a small shop hop. We drove up to McKinney, TX, which is about 35 miles north of us and went to three quilt shops that my friend had never been to. She had bought from the shops at the quilt show but never had been to two of the three shops. The third shop she had been to but it had been years ago and they had moved locations. This was her first time for the new location.  She was looking for some fabric for a project. It didn't have to be the same fabric just in the same family.  She found something at the last shop we went to....We also stopped by to see my sister and took her to lunch.  Saturday was her birthday and I wasn't going to be back up there for that so Suzette got to meet my sweet sister and shop too.  It was a great day.  On the way back home, we stopped at the Antique Mall in Allen, TX and walked around there.  We found a few items that we liked but only a few things went home with me.  It was a fun day with a sweet friend and family too.

We went to Happiness is Quilting, the Quilt Asylum and Stitched with Love. All three shops are excellent shops and the staff are all wonderful.  If you get a chance to go to McKinney, try to visit these shops...

Friday night, I was going to go sew at the church but my kids scheduled a last minute birthday party.  I went to watch my granddaughter and 12 other kids celebrate her 10th birthday.  They had her birthday party at Urban Air.  It is an indoor trampoline place.  Great place for parties for kids.  It was a lot of fun....I might have to go back and try that place out when my foot gets better.

I went and sewed with friends on Saturday and had a great time there as well. My husband and son went to a car swap meet up in Decatur, TX so I had to go somewhere!  Anyway, they had fun and so did I...

I also got to stay home Monday and Tuesday due to icy weather in my area. It was too scary to drive. I stayed in and stayed warm and sewed both days.  I was not bored at all!  Kind of like a retreat but I had to do my own cooking.....anyway, I got my 48 blocks ready for swapping with one group, my 30 blocks ready for another group and one quilt top ready in strips. Now I just have to sew the strips together.  When the top is together, I'll take a pic and show you what I did.

I don't know if you know it but I also do another blog. This one is for my friendship group.  I publish it once a month after our meeting.  We are called the Sew What's.  There's a button on the right side of my blog or here's a link. http://sewwhats-mesquite.blogspot.com/
Check out the heart pillows we did for breast cancer last Thursday night.  I brought them all home to package up and get ready to take to the two places.  (There is a sheet underneath them but you can't see it. ) We did 130 pillows!

Gotta go for now and get busy, have a great week and stay safe and warm. 
Happy stitching!

Dinner with friends, beaded balls and a crocheted wrap.

Wednesday night , I was invited to dinner with  friends. I and a few of my Tatting friends went over to Elaine and Ivy's lovely home for chinese food.  Elaine and Ivy are from Singapore and they pulled a Sandra Lee on us.  They made part of the food and bought part of the food...The food and companionship was great.  I tried several things I have never eaten before and they really weren't bad.  Unfortunately, Ivy is the cook in the group and Elaine tried to fix brownies from scratch and she put too much cocoa in the recipe...Elaine, better luck next time...We all had a great time and a lovely visit. Elaine made some beaded balls to decorate their tree and she gifted us each with one or two of them.  I loved the little balls and she will be teaching us how to do these at our next tatting meeting. 



Elaine and Ivy by their pretty tree



Extra beaded balls for the tree



Their tree with the beaded balls



A close up of the ball



Some of the beaded balls



Nancy showing off Elaine's wrap



Now, what't the trick to this?




Ok, we want to get it right.  You make a rectangle for the back and two skinner rectangles for the front and you can use any pattern you want?  Hm, I think I can do this....



Judy and her surgery

I went over and saw my friend, Judy, Sunday afternoon. She just had surgery on her thumb and she has a cast on and has to hold her hand up to prevent swelling. She likes to embroider and applique and she's already going crazy cause she wants to sew. She had surgery last Monday and she already wants to use her hand. I told her to just let it rest so she wouldn't hurt it. This is just a bump in the road but I think she's pretty hard headed and is going to do whatever she wants. I cut some 2" strips for her on her Go Cutter. Hmm, I'm still not convinced about the Go. I can cut just as fast without it. She has trouble cutting because she has bad hands so this will help her. I guess if I was cutting certain shapes it would be faster. Anyway, I cut her strips for her and she's ready to do her next project. We then ran to Joann's and this was her first official outing since her surgery. I think she was just going stir crazy so it was good for her to get out. Time will heal her hand and she'll be back to her embroidery work soon.

Jefferson, Tx Quilt Show

I went with two of my friends for the weekend down to Jefferson, Texas. We stayed at her lake house on Caddo Lake. I have never seen the spanish moss in the trees like that. It was beautiful...










We sewed, visited some shops and went to the quilt show. Very nice show. They have been having the show for 7 years now and is worth seeing. I think it's always in January and I hope my friend asks me back next year. I had a ball. I didn't get alot done but I did finish sewing up my Nostalgic Garden quilt. Very relaxing weekend...Now, here's some eye candy.

My Friday night - Quilting on a Long Arm

I went over to a friend's house last night and she let me quilt on her long arm. This is the first time I've ever quilted on one and it was kind of intimidating. I took a small community service quilt and quilted it. I used an edge-to-edge pantograph and it went pretty quickly. Wow, what an experience. This is not as easy as it looks. My friend, Judy, makes it look so easy and effortless. Boy, was I wrong. I had to remember to breathe and follow the little lines on the pantograph, wow! I think I should have had a few glasses of wine to relax first. Maybe, I wouldn't have cared whether I was on the lines...anyway, I did one little quilt and she said I could come over and do more. I will be going over there to learn more. We had a ball last night together and it was alot of fun, even though it was very intimidating. Thanks so much, Judy, I loved it...Here's the little quilt I quilted. I know you can't see the quilting but I did take a pic of the back too. She said it wasn't bad for my first time.




Here's the back:

Ahhh, I loved the Houston Quilt Show.

Yes, I went to Houston and saw all the quilts. Wow, what an experience. My first time to the Houston Quilt Show, but it won't be my last...The quilts were so lovely. I was amazed with the wonderful quilts. OMG, I have never seen such wonderful work before. And all the vendors, OMG, I have never seen so many vendors in one place. Wow! I almost got whiplash! Running from one vendor to another and looking this way and that. I just had to ooh and ahh at so many things... It was alot of fun but boy, was I tired. My feet and legs still hurt from walking so much. I bought my share of goodies and had to really stop myself from buying more. I could have spent alot more money but I would have been in alot of trouble when I got back home. I laid awake Saturday night thinking I should have bought this or should have bought that. But, I'm going to have trouble doing what I bought now and I can always go back and get more from the internet or locally...I got onto myself for being so greedy!

I sure had a good time with the ladies I went with. We had show and tell when we got back to our hotel and each one of us said: "I didn't see that. Where was that? I want that, or I wish I had bought that." It was so much fun. I'm ready to go back.
I saw Ricky Tims, Alex Anderson, Sandy Jenkins,and Eleanor Burns. I looked for Marti Michell but never saw her. I saw two of her quilts and liked them but couldn't find her anywhere. I saw her booth but didn't see her little white head anywhere...I ran into two ladies from Dallas and Austin that I knew too. I took alot of pictures and I'll post some of those later. Ah, good times. I'm going to guild tonight and see what ghostly things are in store for us. We're having a Halloween Trunk Show. That sounds like fun too, doesn't it? I'll take some pics of that too and post later. More to follow....

Happy New Year- Welcome 2009!

Happy New Year!!!
Out with the old and in with the New! Welcome 2oo9! Good-bye 2008! I look forward to the new year.
I have alot of things to be thankful for:

I have a new grandchild to play with along with my other two sweet grandbabies.... My kids are all here in Texas now and I am very thankful for that. My family and I are all healthy and we are working on the happy part....I have made alot of new friends this year through quilting and my renewed interest in Tatting. I also have alot of web friends and it is alot of fun to chat with them.

Here's wishing everyone out there reading this a happy and healthy new year. I hope you get all your UFO's finished and you enjoy the journey of learning new projects and getting to know new friends....HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Intermediate Quilts with Scalloped Border

Ok, here it is...The borders are finished but I have not finished quilting it as much as I want. That's why the pins are still in it. I did want to get a picture posted though so you could see that I was able to sew Friday night like I wanted. I got my hair cut then came home and started sewing. I sewed the binding on the machine, watched some TV and started the hand work of sewing the binding down. I thoroughly enjoyed doing this binding. It went together so easily and I definitely recommend the Easy Scallop Border tool by Darlene Zimmerman. It really is one of the easiest things to use and made the scallops perfectly. (I hate to use that word cause nothing is perfect but this was great!) You have got to try it for a scalloped border. I am no longer hesitant about doing scalloped borders. As soon as I finish quilting this quilt, I plan on working on the Red and White Quilt top I did some time ago. It also has a scalloped border. I want to finish this one so I can reinforce what I learned...









Yesterday, I went with some of my friends to our annual ASG (American Sewing Guild) luncheon... I had a great time visiting with all my sewing friends. We got there and had two sewing projects to do. One was to make fabric flowers and the other was to make a fabric rose to wear. Here's the pictures of those. Fun projects. No thinking, just doing. These were easy make it and take it projects. I finished mine at home as we didn't have enough time to finish at the luncheon. On the way home - I hate not having anything to do with my hands. Kathy had a Linus blanket in the console she was finishing up by putting crochet around the outside. I crocheted while she drove and finished up her blanket....She said that was great as now she can move onto something else. It was a fun time with good friends, food and sewing. What more could you ask for? (Except maybe some money thrown in!)
Here's the fabric Flower





Here's the Fabric Rose Pin




Last night, hubby and I went to another quilt friend's annual Halloween party. Another fun time. Good food and fun with friends. Thanks, Ann and Glen for the party. I had a great time....looking forward to next year.


I forgot to show you last week what a friend of mine made for me. Shirley knows I love pincushions and that I had been looking for the directions to this pincushion...she made me one some time ago too but she made these three sewing items for me and gave them to me for my birthday...The top one is the pincushion, the other item is a pin and needle caddy with Wool in the middle for your pins. Most people make it with felt but Shirley said I was special, so I got wool....

and the other sewing caddy is just a bigger version with some machine embroidery stitches and other fabric besides cotton. Also wool in the middle for the needles. She said I could put one in my sewing and one in my embroidery box...Isn't Shirley sweet for thinking of me. I have some of the nicest friends and I've met most of them through quilting. Thanks Shirley, love ya girl.






Today, I get to vege out and watch the Cowboys, hopefully they'll win today. We'll see. Til next time....