Still Here

Yep, I am still around despite the fact that my good intentions to be a better blogger seemed to have flown away as quickly as February.   

The weather has been so nice and that tends to take me outside more than staying inside and stitching.  It has been the calm before the storm as I hear we are in for another big series of storms starting tomorrow.  What is it that they say, "Make hay while the sun shines"???

I managed to finally get my Allietare quilt finished.  I put the binding on and them remembered that it was suppose to have a scalloped edge.  Dang!  I may eventually take the binding off and redo it with the scallops as I love the look of scallops on quilt edgings.  Of course, that means that I will need to redo the binding with a biased binding too. 

Before I do that I need to get Scrap Dance Waltz and En Provence quilted.

As those of you who have followed my blog for awhile, it is the time of the year for the grandchildren's school auction.  That means it is time to get my 18" doll uniform made.  Have I ever told you how much I love sewing doll clothing????  ;-)

See those perfectly matched plaids?  TOTAL accident, but don't you love it when that happens?

As I mentioned, we've had some really nice temperatures lately and my Temperature Quilt is "heating up" nicely. 

I'm part of a couple of bees/swaps this year.  The first is our Gridster Bee.  The block this month was a pineapple block for Sherri.  I really enjoyed this block and can see a pineapple quilt at some point in my future. 

Using the same design I made a little garden flag for Jeanna. 

The second bit of fun was a mug rug swap with a group of gals who have sewn together for several years.  This is the block that I made for my partner's request for a Halloween mug rug. 

Ida made me this darling Valentine's mug rug.  I really like the scrappiness of it.  I love swapping out my mug rugs throughout the year and keep a little quilted box of them on my table.

We went to our eldest son's for their Super Bowl party.  What a game!  Taco Man came again this year.  I am fascinated by how this is done.  It is thinly slicked meat skewered with pineapple.  It is then cooked from the back while rotating.  As it cooks, they continually slice off the cooked part into nice little shreds for the tacos.  Can I tell you that it is delicious?

Several of my orchids have started blooming with lots more to follow.  They must know spring is quickly approaching.

As well, the Christmas cactus is finishing up with its blooming.  They stay outside all year so their bloom depends on the weather each year.  This is a special plant as it is an offspring of one that belonged to my grandmother.  I have started so many new ones from the initial piece she gave me. 

I'll see if I can do a better job of blogging.  No promises!

Quilting Retreat

Can I just say that a quilting retreat is a blast?   We had four spectacular days of sewing, shopping, cooking, eating, watching sunsets on the beach, laughing and visiting.  It's amazing how much can be accomplished when you have no interruptions.

These are the three gals who joined me - Elizabeth, Lisa and Leisa (with Elizabeth's and Leisa's finished quilt tops).

Elizabeth was our "official" photographer for the retreat so you can check out her BLOG to see our fun documented.  She did an incredible post on it and I won't even try to compete with it.  She also posted on IG at #beachsidequiltingretreat while we were there.

There were wonderful gifts exchanged.  Look at all of the great new items I was showered with on my first retreat.

So....what did I accomplish?

My tree skirt is finished.  Thank you, Connie, for the help in finding her old post where she made the beautiful tree skirt that I duplicated.

I managed to piece my Allietare quilt from Bonnie Hunter's QAL last winter.  I love, love, love the colors in this.  I'll get my borders on and get it quilted, hopefully, before the next QAL this winter.

I thought this Grinch paper pieced design was so cute and had so much fun stitching this one up.  It is a free Kristi Lehame design from Peachblossom Patterns.

We made red X blocks for the #70273 Project Brigade.  You can read all about it HERE.  Be sure to check it out as I am sure you will want to join in on this project.  If you as as touched as I was,you will want to make many more red x blocks because of their significance.

Are any of you familiar with Peppa Pig?  The grandkids here love the show and I found some great flannel for a nightgown for an upcoming birthday gift.

There were several other finishes, but those are secret for the moment.  I will show them later.

We contributed a bit to the economy on our outings (as you will see on Elizabeth's posts) but in one antique shop there WERE two of these gorgeous Le Crueset pumpkin pans. We scored big time on these.  They worked really well on making bread for dinner when we got home.  They also look beautiful sitting on the stove for fall!

  

   

Returning home I had a lovely package in the mail from Wendy of Ivory Spring.  I had won these beautiful Rosewater FQ by Windham.  Thanks, Wendy.  I will enjoy these beautiful prints.

Now to finish unpacking and getting the sewing room back together!

Bits and Pieces

Sewing time here has been in bits and pieces as have the results.  We've had so many sick little ones around us with high fevers, strep throats, nasty coughs and all else.  I feel like germs are hiding on everything I touch.  I think my sewing space is the only "germ free" zone around here - only because the little ones seldom venture in there.  lol

Having completed all of the blocks needed for Allietare, I was able to find a space big enough to lay them out.

I always like to photograph them before sewing as the pictures seem to pick up any errors made.  Sure enough, right in the top row I had stitched a little four patch in upside down.  It is now fixed and ready to sew together.

See that little oops???

I must say that I am not really a "blue" type of person.  This month the Block Lotto was Birds in the Air using blues and purples.  I made some to donate, but I have been looking at them on my design wall for the last few weeks, liking the way they looked and decided to make a few more to enter into the draw.

Then.....there were the cute little reindeer in Quilt Doodles BOM for 2016.  I don't think I want to make the whole quilt, but I thought a nice long sofa pillow would be fun with these blocks.

He'll be much cuter with eyes and nose.

Lastly, I managed to get my mini top quilted and bound.  I quilted it with a pantograph in a very pale pink.  This is for our monthly Minis and More projects.

 

So.....that is what I have been up to this past week.  How about you?

New Year's Journey

After the hectic holidays we decided to slip away for a few days of quiet and relaxation.  DH booked a winter trip to Chicago via Amtrak.  I must admit that I was a bit concerned about a snow disaster heading into Chicago in January, but it was a delightful trip.  

We flew up to Oakland to take the California Zephyr out of Emeryville.  We've done that trip several times as it passes through both the Sierras and the Rockies.  The scenery was spectacular with all of the snow this year.

View of San Francisco on departure.

Icy Mississippi

Frozen waterfalls.

Tracks in the snow everywhere.  We saw several large herds of elk and antelope.

I always love the sight of the train around the curves.

Majestic sunsets.

Destination.....Chicago.

Nightlights of the city.

The beautiful lobby of the Palmer House in Chicago.

The Peacock doors in the entrance of the hotel.

We flew home on Friday and I enjoyed some fun sewing over the weekend in between laundry loads.  I have completed the block assembly for Allietare.

Beth's Neighborhood Block Party continues with Irene and Ida picking it up this year.  It has always been such a fun event and I knew that I wanted to participate again this year.  This is my block for the party.

There is still time to sign up to join.  Just go here and join the fun.

Now.....I am off to see what button I clicked on my camera to get the date stamp added.....hmmm.

Farewell to 2015

Wow....is it really the end of the year?  It's time for all of those New Years resolutions.....NOT!  I learned long ago to not do those.

The last few weeks have quickly slipped away, but not before leaving us with a lot of fabulous memories.  It was a great Christmas here.  Everyone was well and able to be here for Christmas eve.  There was lots of laughter, food and chaos with such a large crowd, but it was grand.

The days leading up to Christmas are always so busy, but we were able to take an evening and drive to San Simeon to visit the Hearst Castle all decorated for Christmas.  It was a great evening with period participants strolling about.  The photos are a wee bit dark due to the museum lighting, but I hope you can imagine some of the beauty.

This is the size of dining room table that I need!

Indoor pool

Gold tiles around the pool

With company and entertaining happening here I haven't had much time to slip away for sewing.  In between cleaning up this week I was able to work a bit on the Allietare Mystery quilt.  I really love the colors of this project so I am looking forward to seeing it come together.

While everyplace else seems to be having exceptionally warm winter weather, we have had some really chilly temperatures.  I would hate to count the number of times I have had to go out and cover my tropical plants this month.  Brr.  I'm just glad that I don't have to be marching in the Rose Parade Friday morning!!  ;-)

One last photo.....of the newest member to our daughter's family.....Lady.

As I sign off I want to wish everyone a beautiful 2016.  Thank you so much for following me throughout the year, leaving comments and keeping in touch.