HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

 

I have GOT to make this kid a quilt!! haha

 

I’d like to take this opportunity to wish EVERYONE a Very HAPPY NEW YEAR and the very best in 2012!

I hope 2012 is filled with love and happiness, lots of laughter and good health…AND of course some great quilting!!

Thank you for taking the time to pop in for a visit…nothing like having a coffee with a friend…and I always love hearing from you so keep those comments coming!!

I enjoyed my week off from blogging to concentrate on family and fun…but now it’s time to get back into the ol’blogging routine!!  Yup…I’m back in the saddle again! 

See you tomorrow…the coffee pot will be on… SEW let’s talk about something quilty!!

Have a Super Saturday and Happy NEW YEAR!!~P

WOOL SALE happening NOW!!

Just a QUICK posting!!  I will be back to blogging soon…but I NEEDED to tell you about a WOOL SALE happening NOW!!  Dorr Mills Wool is having their annual sale…their prices are great anyway…BUT take off a discount and…well all I can say is…SCORE!!

I have ordered their wool before and LOVE it…the black wool that is on sale for only $12.80 right NOW is the lovely soft wool that I used in my Settler’s Pride Quilt…so soft and washes up to be even softer!!

Head on over and take a look…and remember the beige wools dye up wonderfully.  Oh…and Dorrs sells the dyes…HURRY and check it out!! 

Hope everyone is having a great holiday…Now that WE (four out of the five of us got that NASTY flu) are on the mends we have been having tons of fun…sightseeing and shopping, going to shows and we have even started to EAT!!  Ahhh life is sweet and so is good health!! I sure hope YOU don’t get it!! Go get a Flu Shot QUICK!!

Here I am with my baby!  She leaves tomorrow with her sister :( and the last daughter leaves on Sunday :( so I will be getting back into the Blogging swing on the weekend!!  Enjoy the sale!!

Have a thrifty Thursday and Happy Quilting!!~P

Christmas in the Clubhouse…

If there’s one thing quilters know how to do…besides quilt…it’s eat!!  Wednesday was our Christmas Pot Luck Luncheon…no one signed up for anything…and yet we didn’t have one duplicate…

..Just feast your eyes on this spread!!  Three different kinds of salads, quiche, a pizza style yummy dish, devilled eggs, veggie rolls and peanut sauce…and everything was SEW delicious!!  And we finished off with Karen’s famous shortbread and maple squares…to almost die for!!

Phyllis abandon us for ‘other’ activities but she left us a platter of chocolate fudge so all was forgiven.. AND didn’t she look pretty?!

We had such a fun day…even played a Christmas game, thanks to Gwen and Anne!  I will show pictures tomorrow of the little sewing that got done!

Today my daughter, Hayley arrives at LAX!!  I’m so excited…BUT there is only one ‘slight’ glitch…hubby has the FLU!  (Nothing like being in a trailer with someone who is hurling from both ends..I know, I know…TMI!!) The LA Airport is 2 hours away and I don’t ‘DO’ FREEWAYS!! Anyways I have been waiting on him hand and foot..you know…running to the store for ginger ale, Imodium, TUMS, juice…what more blankets?  Too hot??   Have you seen that commercial where the man is sick in bed and he asks his wife in that ‘little boy voice’ “Can you call my mom?” well that’s dead on!!  I’m hoping for a miraculous recovery!!  Fingers are crossed that today will be a better day…and that Hayley won’t be spending her Christmas at LAX!! :(

I’ll keep you posted!!

Have a Feeling Better Friday and Happy Quilting!~P

I GOT MAIL!!

Geeze…there are no secrets around here!!  Whenever the UPS lady pulls up the dogs go into a barking frenzy…they are even more excited than I am! 

Yesterday the lady came TWICE!!  The first parcel was a WIN…a VERY sharp win…from Havel’s…I won a Give Away in Sew Cal Gal’s Christmas Quilt Show and Havel’s was one of the GENEROUS sponsors!! 

Let me show you what I received…

The loot came in this red mesh bag…very festive!

The first thing I was OHHHHing and AHHHHing about was a pair of little Dura-Snip scissors!  Look they fold out and you can wear them around your neck!!  I stitch every night and while we travel and I am FOREVER losing my scissors…well NEVER again…AND look at how they fold down..SAFE…I can even sleep with these babies and I’m not going to kill myself in the process!!  Man, are they ever SHARP!

OMGosh…just look at the Seam Ripper…when I’m not using it to rip seams I can perform a lobotomy!!  And they are stainless steel…so I can do it cleanly, safely and precisely!  Wow!!

Next to come out of the little red bag were these sweet little 5 1/2” scissors…and look they have a little sleeve that the blades slip into!  My hubby can now sit on the couch without the fear of getting scissors stuck up…well…we won’t go there…but let’s just say that they are nice, safe scissors…and very SHARP!!

And finally the Big Daddy of the Scissors…Yowzers…these Fabric Scissors are NICE and they slice through fabric like a knife through butter!! 

These scissors are for FABRIC ONLY…and if I see anyone using them for anything else…well let’s just say we will see how sharp these scissors REALLY are! haha  Just kidding…Sweet P would never hurt anyone…well not that much…

Thanks you Havel…just LOVE my new tools!!  I feel a little like Dexter now…think I’ll make a little carrying case for them…:)

The SECOND UPS lady brought me THIS!!  It’s an OttLite that I ordered from JoAnn’s Online Shop back on Black Friday…for ONLY $19.99!!  How could I say NO to a deal like that!

Eureka!  Let there be light!  And look..it’s green…my favourite colour!!

Now I can SEE what I am cutting…which is always a GOOD THING!~

Have a THRILLING Thursday and Happy Quilting!~P

Getting that Christmas Spirit…

Delores, from HOME, has plenty of Christmas Spirit and she thought she would pass some along to the rest of us...as indicated by  this wonderful wall hanging that she just completed!  This gorgeous Wool mat is all hand appliqued…and is dang cute!!

I think this pattern is from Primitive Gatherings..called ‘We are Family’…and could easily hang on Delores’ wall all Winter long… Very sweet, Delores!!

And my friend, Claire, put her hubby to work.  He cut out all the wooden shapes and Claire painted them and glued on the special effects!  Dang cute…and don’t you love the wool mat that Claire stitched last year..it’s underneath this project!

Yup…I have got to borrow this pattern from Claire!  The tree usually stands up on this mat but Claire wanted a good shot of it. They REALLY DO belong together!  Yup, if I make this mat…I’m going to need one of these cute trees too..just sayin’..

And isn’t this garland wonderful!  Claire’s husband retires in January…and Claire retires in July…I think they should have a booth at next year’s Christmas Craft Fair!  They could clean up!  I would be FIRST in line!

Only FOUR days left till Christmas!!  My youngest daughter arrives on Friday and then two more daughters arrive on Christmas morning!!  CAN’T WAIT!! 

BUT first I’m off to join the Clubhouse Quilters, do a little stitchin’ and then indulge in a Potluck Christmas Luncheon!  It really is the Best Time of The Year…or has all that Christmas music brainwashed me??  nahhhh….??

Have a wickedly wild Wednesday and Happy Quilting!~P

WHAT…NO Christmas…?

As you know we are Snowbirding this year…spending Christmas away from home…for the FIRST TIME! 

Back in October, I was kicking up my heels…in giddy glee as I  vowed that there would be NO Christmas Baking…YAHOO!!  NO Christmas Shopping…YIPPEE!!  NO Christmas Decorating…WOWZERS!!  NO CHRISTMAS…WHAT??!! 

And I truly BELIEVED this…until Dec.1st rolled around…and our neighbours parked their huge motor home in the site beside us.  Jack and Jill (YES that’s their names) were here last year.  Nice couple but apparently they didn’t know about my Christmas VOW…because they weren’t here a week before the Christmas lights were out in FULL force, stockings decked the front of their trailer and we were FORCED to look out at their fully lit Christmas Tree…bah humbug!

Yup…they were here maybe a week before I was off to Wal-Mart in search of our own Christmas Lights…just a few I told Hubby…

Now does this look like a place where there is NO CHRISTMAS?

Yes, you can even see us from the back wash…and way up to the main road…Yes, Christmas is definitely at this camper!!

Little did anyone know that inside this camper…there was NO CHRISTMAS happening…until YESTERDAY!!

I whipped into Marshalls for some Christmas Wrapping Paper (YES…I broke ANOTHER VOW!!)…and lookie what I found…Wooden Snowmen Garland…SEW dang cute…and three packages followed me home…Guess they heard that Christmas wasn’t happening at my house…

Look at how the bags are fastened…with wooden signs!!  SEW DANG CUTE!!

B

Before they knew what hit them, they were strung across each window…

What do you think…Christmas or clutter…?

Throw a few Christmas Quilts here and there…

And we have Christmas…

Yup…Christmas has definitely arrived at The Sands…

ALL the presents need to be wrapped…:) and the cookies are in our wee freezer!!  And did I mention that I found a radio station that plays Christmas MUSIC…all day long!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS from our house (on wheels) to YOURS!!

Have a terrific Tuesday and Happy Quilting!~P

Who Wannabe a Winner??

Who Wannabe a winner?…Why it’s WannabeQuilter!!  Congratulations! You just won a few of my favourite things…

Please send me your snail’s mail address and I will happily pop this into the mail!

Look what we had for dinner last night!!

Tamales! 

Delish!!  Would you believe our new friends, Allan and Lolita couldn’t believe that we had NEVER eaten a Tamale!!  So Lolita cooked us up a batch...and then delivered them to our trailer…how thoughtful and generous was that!!

Holy Tamale – they were so good!!  I tried a sample of each and I really couldn’t choose a favourite as they were all so tasty.  Ok…I was leaning towards the Cheese one…with the meat ones being a VERY close second.  So, now I’m a Tamale convert – or, at least I’m a convert to Lolita’s Tamales as they were just excellent!  Thank you, again, Lolita and Allan, we had a great dinner and really appreciate your thoughtfulness!

Our Morning Hike~

Man, I am stiff today…Yesterday morning we went on the Mother of all hikes…I felt like a Mountain Goat!!  Steep, narrow trails cut into the sides of the mountain…yikes…I felt dizzy looking down!  But it felt good to get moving…

The narrow trail was cut into the sides of the mountains and traversed back and forth…yup, we just walked on those trails way down there in the distance!

Can you see the man in blue on the hill (bottom pic)?…about 15 minutes earlier he had jogged by us!  That was where we were headed, albeit a little slower…OK a lot slower…

Loved this trail and can’t wait to do it again…only next time we are taking a lunch with us!!

So there you have it…our Sunday Adventure…no sewing but it still managed to be a fun day!

Have a magical Monday and Happy Quilting!~P

Quiltmania’s BOM is DONE!!

Quiltmania has finally finished their Free BOM quilt called Marie and Her Country Quilt…and just in time for Christmas!!  Merry Christmas to US!!

I love the pinwheel border and the lambs positioned in each corner…

All the blocks are still available to download, along with the instructions for borders and ‘finish up’ work! Hurry over to Quiltmania to download your set..

Don’t you love it when a big company like Quiltmania offers quilters something  like this for FREE!  Thanks so much, Quiltmania!

AND…today is the last day for my SEW CAL GAL’s Christmas Theme Accuquilt Blog Hop Give Away.  A winner will be randomly picked tomorrow morning!  If you haven’t entered then please GO! HERE!

So much to see, so much to do…but remember to slow down and smell the roses..or pine…or the flowering cactus…in other words~ take time to enjoy the Season!

Have a Sunny Sunday and Happy Quilting!~P

A Beehive of Activity…

As you can see, things were humming in the Club House this week~

We are SEW lucky to have this wonderful light and airy space to work in every week…and did I mention that it’s Air Conditioned!

Gwen has been working diligently on her little runner…sew cute!

Moving in for a close-up…very sweet! Her stitching is wonderful!

Anne made a yo-yo tree using up Gwen’s left overs…Very festive!

And check out what Anne used as the base for her wee tree…an inverted crystal vase that she found in the local Thrift Shop!  SCORE!  Very clever!

Kim finish gifts for her nieces..three smokin’ hot pillowcases…

I can hear the sirens in the background~Put out my fire anytime!!

Can you smell…the..errrr…pine? Timber!

Giddy up little dawgy…time to get out the Lasso!

And for the man in her life…he must be into the great outdoors!

Anne is here prepping her quilt for quilting and it’s SEW nice to be able to use two tables pushed together…oh, I didn’t notice that the animals have eyes…darn…I should have taken a few close-ups!  Next time…

Anne was prepping this for machine applique…cute isn’t it!

This is the pattern Anne is using…

Karen is starting a cozy rag quilt for another grand–daughter…and she is using her DGD’s favourite colours…lucky girl!

Kim fired up the GO! and cut up a Charm Pack of Panier de Fleurs by Moda for the Bountiful Baskets and the brown print for the back ground…can’t wait to see this one finished!!

Kim is also working on this sweet little quilt…

Vesta is also working with these very colourful batiks…I’ll keep you posted.

Anne was also prepping her WOOL MAT for hand stitching…Yup…she ended up buying a kit at the Wool Lady’s Shop!

Sorry this is a bit blurry but you should be able to see that it’s one of Cathi’s patterns..and it’s on my To Do List!

Looking good, Anne…

Meet the New Girl in Class..Siena! What a nice addition to our happy little group! She is cutting up batiks to make..

…this little number called Split Decisions…

Siena brought in her dies…YES, SHE IS A GO! MAMA!!  The good news is she has a lot of the dies that I don’t have…like Winding Way, the Pomegranate die, tons of flowers and the Little Critters Die.  Yahoo…what to cut out first?!

Have you seen this one, the Pomegranate?  It’s one of the new dies just released from AccuQuilt GO!  I really like it!!  

Well that’s it for another week…of Club House Quilting!  (start music here) Such is the Days of Our Lives…

If you haven’t already done so..make sure you enter yesterday’s Give Away…GO! HERE!

Have a Super Saturday and Happy Quilting!~P