Southwestern Quilt

This California King sized quilt top has been finished for quite a few years...I finally sent it to a long arm quilter for quilting. All I had to do to finish it was sew on the binding. I'm old school and prefer to hand sew the binding on my quilts and so it took quite a bit of time to get that done. Overall I'm pleased with how it turned out. This is a closeup shot of the quilt.
Here's a picture of it on the bed. It is a nice change from the old quilt I had on the bed. It was pretty but sure didn't match the new color scheme of sage green on the walls.
It is always nice to get a quilt done, especially one that has been sitting in a box for many years. It gives you a real sense of satisfaction.

Table runner and placemats -- wedding gift

I have a wedding to go to this weekend for a former student. What to get as a gift? Well, I decided to make a set of placemats and a table runner for her. I often hesitate to make gifts like this for young people since I know not everyone treasures a handmade gift, but I think this bride will appreciate that I took the time to make this special for her and her groom. Below is a closeup of the table runner. I just love that background fabric with it's mix of blues, beige, and brown coupled with delicate circles. It's one of those fabric pieces I picked up on a whim thinking that something would come to me down the line...well, it did. :)
Of course, a post wouldn't be complete without a picture of the new grandson. He's sure a sweet little guy. Grandma is actually babysitting big brother today to give Mommy a chance to get caught up around the house and he's taking a nice snooze himself right now. Why, I even managed to sew together some quilt blocks for another project during the nap, but wouldn't ya know it, I need to cut some more pieces of the block and the fabric is lying on a table in the room where he's sleeping...I don't think I'll take the chance of waking him up early from his nap.

More Cuteness

Here's the new addition to our family...grandson #2. He's adorable and has the trademark lips of his father, his big brother, his grandpa (you get the idea). I do think he has his mother's nose though. So far things have gone well at home for Mommy and Baby and Big Brother has been hanging with Grandma and Grandpa for a few days.
Here's proud Daddy and Big Brother. Can you tell they are father and son? We're all feeling pretty blessed that the baby arrived safe and sound.

SB#3

Cuteness

This is my little 2 y.o. grandson...he's about to become a big brother in the next few weeks. He is so much like his father at this age that I feel like I'm experiencing deja vu anytime I'm around him. He got to stay overnight last night and will spend most of the day with us until Mommy and Daddy get back from their Saturday routine of selling fruit at the Farmer's Market. He loves to play with little cars, ride his four wheeler, and color. He talks constantly and carries on a pretty solid conversation for a little guy. He is all boy and we love him to pieces.

Here we are!

It isn't the best picture, but here we are down in Ephrata! We had a great time, just as SB 'D' said we did in her first ever blog post! I'm still reeling over that...one of the other Bitches posted!!!!!!!! And yes, I spent more money than all of us. That's the usual routine at a quilt shop for me...total lack of restraint is my middle name.

I'm still amazed at how fast the trip went. 'D' was right when she said it passed by so quickly. I think we all had a good time.

Since we went to Ephrata I've been making myself finish up some projects. I had two baby quilts and a wall hanging that were sandwiched and ready to go so I sat down yesterday and had a marathon quilting session. I even cleaned up and organized my sewing/spare room today.

Road Trip to Ephrata

We made it to Ephrata and back, had a great dinner and "J" Stitchin' Bitch introduced us to geocaching. Of course we all spent a little money at the fabric store too. One of us spent a lot of money. It was a great afternoon/evening. Well worth taking a half day off work. We spent 4 hours in the car driving to and from, but it seemed like no time at all. There was a lot of visiting, catching up, gossiping, kidding one another and laughing. Poor "J" Stitchin' Bitch was on the short end of the stick in regards to the kidding. She was introducing the three of us to geocaching. It all sounded very interesting until we were looking at this sea of sage brush in Bridgeport that she was going to walk through in order to find this little hidden box. (Our local sage brush harbors rattle snakes and other little critters that bite.) So, the brave soles that we are, we all stood at the side of the road and watched until she found it. Then when we saw that we were not too far in to the sage brush we gathered around and all learned up close and personal about the contents of this hidden cache. It was a great fun adventure for "J', "D" & "M" Bitch, and it was even more fun having an old friend from High School along with us.



PS...the other challange "J" has given us is to join her in the content of this Blog. Today is my first day to ever write in a blog.

Road Trip!

Ok, Ok, so we aren't going anywhere overnight, but the Stitchin' Bitches (+1) are hitting the road tomorrow to go visit the quilt shop in Ephrata. We've been talking about going down together for more than a few months and we were finally able to all settle on a date that worked for all of us. Even nicer another H.S. friend who is town is joining us. She's not a quilter, but the chance to ride along with all of us and visit is good enough reason to come along. I'm sure we'll manage to eat a leisurely dinner out too. I expect the road trip will be lots of fun...pictures to follow!

I'm dragging them to a Geocache on the way back too. I have a TravelBug that I picked up today that needs to get out of this county so this is a good opportunity to do that.

As for quilting, I've finished up my new grandbaby's quilt top and sandwiched it. One good afternoon of quilting would get it done and I just need to sit down and get to work on it. My first week of freedom from work is always sweet and I don't do anything but what I want to do (usually nothing), but after that I make myself get to work on projects that need to be done around here like painting.