Happy New Year!

Stacy and I decided we would rather be sleeping at midnight (can you say 'party-poopers'?) - but we didn't want to be totally boring - odd maybe, but not boring. We decided to make our first-ever snowman. We have seen a few around the neighborhood and thought, it couldn't be THAT hard. Also, we have a nice, shady front yard, so he would last a long time.Here he is, "Jabba-The-Snowman".

It is harder than I thought to make a snow-person. Hope you all enjoy him, he may be here until spring!

P.S. It is now 7:45 p.m. and I'm in my jammies for the night! Happy New Year!

Playing with my Christmas Presents...

Already playing with some of the fun fabrics I got for Christmas!

Yummy.

I think if you aren't a quilter you can't know the delicious feeling I get in my tummy when I walk by this baby up on the design wall. Satisfying. Fulfilling. Okay - I'm weird.

Christmas Tamales, etc.

Last Christmas Stacy and Brooke made tamales. They recruited more help and did it again this year:

Here's Stacy, preparing (watching Youtube)Helpers:

Helper or taster?

Non-helper:
Trouble:
Merry Christmas!!

He's Back...

Shane moved back in this week, until his wedding on January 9:
Enough said.

Christmas Quilting...

Here are some quilts I've stitched up for Christmas gifts this year:

For Jeff and Deanna:

For Doug Bug:

For my new daughter, Becca:

For my dear friend, Megan:

(To become a "dear friend", you just need to get up with me before 7 a.m. for many years and listen to my life story, over and over again on our walks)

This one, Stacy actually made for his Mom:

A pretty quilt-y Christmas for sure!

BUNCO!!

We had a fun, holiday, BUNCO party last night. We always have a big family Christmas party with Stacy's family and there are lots of people and lots going on, some even call it Crazy! So, we had an adults only family party the night before, so we could have a better chance for visiting and seeing each other with a bit of a smaller crowd.

Here are Brady, Jessica and Jen:

Here is Steve, he's HOT tonight:

Here's Randy, holding Austin and Autumn's sweet baby girl:

Grandma brought yummy cookies:

Desirae, the grand prize winner!

I made some delicious snacks:

You get those "Lil' Smokies" (Costco), wrap each one in 1/3 of a piece of bacon, put a toothpick in to secure and put them on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle liberally with brown sugar and bake for about 1 hour at 275 degrees. If the bacon is not getting done, turn up the heat to 350 for the last 10-15 minutes. Delicious!!!

Snow...

We finally got a goodly amount of beautiful snow!!! I just love the snow! I have been here 6 years now and I wonder if I will ever get tired of it. I have a "good" car for the snow. I don't have little children that I have to bundle up every time I go out. I don't have a job that I have to drive to early every morning. I get to park in the carport, so I don't have to "scrape" every time I go somewhere. Nope, I don't think I'll ever get tired of it.
I love how softly it falls. Most weather, you can hear it, the wind, the rain, hail, thunder and lightning. Even if you're warm and secure in your house you know it's storming outside. The snow is like a magical visit from Santa on Christmas morning. I get up, peek out the blinds to see if it has come in the night and I am so delighted when it has! I even enjoy a little shoveling. I am going to enjoy this beautiful weather all winter long!

Obsession...

So, I have been obsessed over the last couple of days with a show on A & E called: "Hoarders". It is about people with the obsessive compulsive disorder of hoarding. I had seen a few of these types of people on Oprah over the years and I am hooked! As I was watching it the other day, I kept wanting to get up and go throw something away! I am such a non-hoarder, it is amazing to me when people hoard stuff - like CATS, trash, even "good stuff". It is also a sad show, these people are really suffering and it is very hard on their families. It seems to get worse as people get older, yikes! There is a house around the corner from me with tons of stuff piled up and in rubbermaid totes all stacked up in the living room and you can see it through the window. I wonder if they are having a hard time? Well, I gotta go catch another episode on Hulu.com...

Thanksgiving Happenings...

Thanksgiving was great, we had all of the kiddies, but Jeff, who was well fed in California.
One of the nice things about the holidays, is that lots of people come up here to see their kids and we get to visit them too! We went to lunch with the Paxmans this week and to breakfast with the Thompsons on Saturday. We also got to see lots of family over the weekend, as Uncle Bill passed away, and while it is always wonderful to see all of the cousins, he will be missed.

Doug came over on Friday and helped Stacy put up the Christmas Lights - all the way around the whole house. It is helpful that there is no snow yet, much less slippery on the ol' roof.

We've been eating lots of yummy leftovers - lunch is served...and served...and served...
The only thing that would make things even better is if it would snow already!! It is plenty cold, but no snow! Well, I guess I have to say goodbye to the "endless weekend" and get back to reality and work tomorrow...

Empty Nesters...Again!

Shane moved out a week and a half ago and we are living alone! It doesn't really feel like living alone, since most of our kids pop by often. It is kind of fun, though, to lock up the house early and snuggle in for the evening together. If Shane is staying out until 3 in the morning, we don't even know it, so we don't have to wonder and worry! Good Times...

Oh My Goodness!!

Tonight was family "quilt night" with Brooke and Tricia. Brooke had a fun night planned to go and see "New Moon" with friends (at midnight), so she opted out of QN to spend the whole evening with her gal pals. At 7:30, Tricia's brother-in-law called and said his company had rented out a theatre for a special showing of New Moon at 7:45 and he had tickets for her and Doug. I shamelessly called out "Does he have one extra one for me?" He Did!!!! So we zipped down there and bypassed all of the people waiting in line for the midnight showing and got to see it! It was fab, I need to go and re-read all of the books again - I did that after seeing Twilight too! I do love a good book!

Update...

As you may recall, in September I posted about Stacy's new jacket that has pockets to conceal firearms. He actually has no cause to haul weapons around in my opinion (to dinner, shopping, movies, etc.) -BUT - he found a fabulous use for those big pockets - smuggling movie snacks! We went to see 2012 the other day - pretty good, but we were in the second row and are planning on seeing it again from another angle! Anyway, he stuck 2 cans of diet coke in those pockets and they fit right in and I didn't have to stuff them in my purse - where they don't fit!Love this new idea - it will probably get way more use in this manner than for the original purpose!

Growing Old Gracefully?

Every time I get my hair colored it just cracks me up when I look in the mirror - so today I brought my camera. Aren't you lucky?

Back from Retreat...

Well, I had a fabulous time at the quilt retreat! I bound these two quilts:

1.) A baby quilt for my nephew's baby:

2.) A Christmas Gift for "someone special":I also completed two quilt tops for additional gifts and worked on a "hard" quilt -a New York Beauty - argh! Maybe still too advanced for me!!! - Okay, so it IS too advanced for me - can you say tucks and puckers out the wazoo????

My friends and I had a wonderful time being pampered and spoiled, we were just so excited every morning when we woke up and all we had to do was go and quilt some more! No cooking, cleaning, etc. People made us wonderful food 5 times a day! (Yes, 5!!) I got to sleep in the top bunk, since I was the youngest (ha ha, I can't say too often that I am the "youngest" of any group!). It was fine sleeping up there, but making up the bed was a trick best left for much younger gals than me.

We were spoiled with chocolate truffles and the makings and directions for this cute pincushion:

Today, as I was doing laundry, dishes and the usual chores, I longingly recalled last week, when I didn't have to worry about any of that - but - I am so happy to be home with my family and I appreciate them even more; which is part of the reason I go in the first place.

Off to another Quilt Retreat...

Can you say "lucky duck"? That's sure how I feel, I'm headed up the canyon tomorrow morning for a 4 day retreat in the beautiful mountains! I have all of my projects packed (way more than I'll EVER finish! I'll be back with pictures of my progress!! For now, here's a hint of a Christmas present:

Natti-Bear is getting so big...

Onward with the Educational Opportunities...

Stacy made an appointment for us to tour the Midway Fish Hatchery. We had taken our kids to a hatchery in California when they were little, so we thought we'd take the grandbabies. Babygirl got sick, so we only took The Boy:
It was pretty interesting to see the gazillions of eggs, barely hatched fish, teeny tiny fish and 2" fish up to about 8" fish. We learned how they stocked the lakes - by air and by truck. We took Doug and Tricia too - they are always good company.


15-20,000 barely hatched fish:The tanks for the teeny tiny fish:
Part of the big spillway-type things holding LOTS of little fish:It didn't take long and The Boy didn't fall in (thank goodness!). It was interesting and totally free. If you're interested, the number to call for an appointment is: (435) 654-0282.

The Zoo...

Shane took me to the Hogle Zoo today. We took Austin and Shaun too. It was a nice cool day and there were lots of fun baby animals - a giraffe, an elephant and a baby snow leopard. There was a picture of the baby tigers, but they weren't where we could see them.
The merry-go-round was also very popular with our crowd.

Austin loved this egg at the playground:Since we were the "fun uncle" and the grandma, we got them an ice cream at McDonald's on the way home - no lunch- Oops!

I had never been to this zoo, Brooke warned me about the smell in the reptile house - she was right! I went in for a couple of minutes, then I left and waited outside - stinky!

Sweet...

My sweetie bought me this fabulous sewing machine at a garage sale for $10 last month!!!! It's a 1941 Singer. It is beautiful.It came with this great cabinet, that my wonderful daughter, Brooke, refinished for me:
I am so excited to have it in my sewing room as a second sewing machine. Yes - it now works after spending $100 at the sewing machine repair shop! It only sews straight, but that's practically all I do anyway in piecing my quilt tops! Life is good...

California Dreamin'...

We took a quick trip to California to visit Jeff, who turned 28(!) on Tuesday. (I cannot possibly be old enough to have a son that age). He was very happy to see us and we were so excited to see him. We got to see his great place, which is always important to me - I always want to picture where my kids are when I think about them or talk to them on the phone.

We also got to visit my parents and sisters and their families. This is another thing I love to do. Shane, Amanda and babygirl went with us. We drove all day Monday and all day back on Thursday.

It was a long...

Long trip...

(That's Amanda's 'etcha-sketch' art - she is amazing - just like "Elf"!)

Here are Shane and Amanda throwing rocks at a gas station ash tray - we didn't really want to get back into the car.

It was a wonderful visit and it is wonderful to be back home! I believe Babygirl was the most well behaved on the car trip - you can draw whatever conclusions you would like from that remark...

Sewing Room Makeover!

Stacy and I took a trip to IKEA between conference sessions on Saturday and purchased some lovely items for my sewing room:

1st, this fabulous base for my ironing board cover:

I have had this fab cover for a while, which is great to iron yardage on, but it was sitting on my wobbly, no-storage, regular ironing board. This is a "kitchen shelf" that works perfectly (at least it does now that my handy husband sawed an inch off the top)! All of my current projects are in the clear boxes, with my 'tops to quilt' and 'table toppers' stored on the lower shelf. I had to steal a lamp from upstairs to make it perfect - now, lots of light!

Here is my superb new cutting table:

This was a "kitchen island" at IKEA. Now I have plenty of room to cut my fabric (so I can sew it all together again). I can sit and make labels or draft blocks too.

On the other side:

Fabric storage! Fat quarters on the bottom and larger cuts above. My old cutting table was a small banquet table propped up on blocks to make it the right height. It worked fine, but again, no storage. My sewing room is the whole downstairs family room, which is great, but no closets.
In case you're wondering about scraps, etc. I have two "under bed" storage bins that I store under my big quilting machine - one for scraps and the other for backing fabrics.

My wonderful studio (doesn't that sound so fabulous??) I have a place to sit comfortably and do handwork or have someone sit and visit me while I sew. Plus- I can fit another quilter at the table at the bottom of the stairs for company. I have been teaching Brooke how to quilt and Tricia is learning too! It's a regular 'sweat shop' down here!
Now, the three-day quilt marathon begins with 28 of my closest quilting buddies coming over in the morning to sew!