Fun Baby Quilt

Here is the cute quilt that I gave to my cute niece at her baby shower last night. She is having a little boy this summer. I love the big brown ric-rac on it, but my hubby thought it was awful -circa 1975 or something. I told him ric-rac is back, big time, but he is still dubious. It has soft, dark brown Minkey on the back.

The Bra Quilt

Well, I finished my "Alphabet" mini quilt. This is a challenge for our upcoming Quilt Festival. 26 of us got a 'letter' (a-z) that had to appear on the front of the quilt. It is supposed to measure 18" x 24", I'm a teeny bit short both ways, I should know better and should have made it bigger, then trimmed it down. (ahh, hindsight). I am glad I got it done, I was planning all sorts of "B" blocks -bows, birds, butterflies, etc. and trying to figure out how to design a (small) balanced quilt. I then realized that I was 'over-thinking' it and went easy-peasy with this great fabric that I bought online years ago. I am supposed to write a short bio to display with the quilt, including why I chose letter B - maybe because I have been wearing bras for a long time?
You can't see it, but I've quilted words like, "Lift and Separate", "Wonderbra", "Underwire", "Padded", "Shape", "Curves", etc.

That Time of the Month...

Well it's that PMS-y time again, joy of joys, etc. I am 46 years old, will it end soon? It seems everything Mr. Handsome does bugs me and since it is only this time of the month that I feel like this, I am beginning to see it might be me. (sigh). For instance, today, I came up from my basement quilt studio, having finished quilting a little quilt (watch for next post - gotta bind it) and he had gone for a chat with the neighbor and what do I find? Shoes in the hall, closet doors open, his bike in the living room, un-rinsed marinara sauce dish, pan (stuck on cheese), ice cream dish (the last of the chocolate ice cream, no less!!), and a few other various and sundry items lying around, etc. I was only down there for an hour or so!! I realize that for the past few years, he has been the total breadwinner and so it is 'my' job to keep the house, and all that that entails, but I think that sometimes he is inconsiderate to make such a mess and just leave. I may have to re-title my blog "The Bitchy Stitcher" - oh yeah, that's taken already.
(For revenge, I made brownies and put nuts in them (he hates nuts), but, since he ate the ice cream, he can't cry too hard - I'm off to eat brownies and watch "Castle" on the DVR and bind my little quilt...)

My Name in Lights!! (Okay, not lights, but it is in print!)

My very favorite Quilting Magazine came today (Quilter's Home) and one of the titles on the cover read: "55 Rad Blogs", well, I'm reading along and what do I see, but MY BLOG LISTED!!! Oh my goodness, so I figured I'd better post some quilting stuff!!! I've actually been quilting quite a bit, just no finished projects to show - so here's what's going on:

I started working on this last year (or maybe the year before??). I took a class at Utah Quilt Guild's Quilt Festival, here is where I am:I am tired of 'stripping', I tell ya'. I had the brilliant idea to use this as a 'leader and ender' for another quilt I am making and it is getting closer to getting finished. I love the design, but I'm ready for it to be done already!

I just bought these fabrics tonight (Gotta love a quilt shop that is open late - thanks, Fabric Mill!)

This is going to be for a class that we're doing tomorrow at our Bee's quilt retreat (tomorrow is our third and last day - quilting from 10-5ish for 3 days straight!!) I'm supposed to have it cut out, after having colored in the design, so I know what colors to cut where, but I am too tired, so I guess I will color & cut tomorrow. That may be a good thing, since my left shoulder is really sore, I think it's from sewing for hours at a time!!!! Can you imagine? I will dope up with ibuprofen tomorrow and head back to the 'sweatshop' - he he he.

Breakfast Cheesecake!

At the aforementioned Sister In Law Retreat, Denise made us a delicious and easy Breakfast Cheesecake, we ate it with fresh fruit - strawberries and bananas.

2 packages (8 oz.) refrigerated Crescent Roll dough
2 packages (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
1 large egg, separated
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup nuts, chopped, optional (she didn't put them in)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees
Spread 1 can of the dough on the bottom of 9 x 12 pan, pressing perforations to seal. Combine cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, egg yolk and vanilla and spread on the dough. Lay the second can of dough on top. Beat egg white and brush on top. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup sugar over the top. (Mix sugar with nuts if desired). Bake at 325 for 25 to 30 minutes. This is wonderful - hot or cold.

Sister in Law Retreat...

Our 11th annual Sister in Law Retreat was held this past weekend at my house. My husband is one of 7 children, 6 of them are boys. So we are all 'sister-in-laws'. My wonderful mother-in-law comes too. We meet from Thursday to Sunday at one of our homes - no kids or husbands allowed. We take turns cooking fabulous meals and go out for one dinner. We work on projects, like scrap booking, card making, quilting, cross-stitching, or just hanging out, reading and visiting. This is the first year that I had it at my house. (All of the kids are now gone, so I have room!) Mr. Handsome went and stayed at his mom's house in the next town over. We enjoyed the jacuzzi and were out there for an hour or so each night. When all 7 of us girls were in it, it overflowed some. (It's built for 5.)Both Denise and Jen got a quilt quilted and bound.We thought Denise looked funny with both her glasses AND a magnifying glass, doing her counted cross-stitch.After driving to the restaurant for dinner, my car wouldn't start! (This had happened a couple of months ago, so we bought a battery and I then drove around with the battery and the jumper thing-y in the back seat for a month. We finally took the battery back two weeks ago, since the car was working fine.) Luckily, Ben came and rescued us, along with the cute waitress with the jumper cables.Did I mention that mostly we ATE. Everyone made such delicious food, with Rose on the desserts. (That's Michele taking credit) Afterwards I felt like I'd been on a cruise, I'd eaten so much, so often and I enjoyed it immensely!! I am now exhausted, but satisfied. We stayed up until all hours, even me, I was up until 4 a.m. on Saturday! I am usually quite the party-pooper! Lucky for me, Michele forgot her book, so I am going to read it quick, before I have to return it to her next week!

Weekend Festivities...

With two birthdays this month, we had a big family dinner yesterday. On Saturday, the grandchildren were overjoyed to help make the cakes (with a few extra cupcakes for eating that day too). Babygirl did a super job, cracking the eggs and they both loved pouring in ingredients.Frosting and eating them with grandpa was great too!

Stacy had bought a fancy dragon kite the other day, and after failing to put it together himself (sans glasses), he got the kids to do it. The boy was overjoyed! (He was also pretty happy to wearing grandma's boots - they're his favorites.)There wasn't ANY wind, but Doug runs pretty fast and they got it up, only to hit one of the many power lines in our neighborhood:

Mr. Handsome got the pole, but we ended up needing the ladder plus, Amanda's very tall boyfriend (6'7") to get it down. Luckily no one was electrocuted and we all enjoyed cake and ice cream after a delicious 'make your own pizza' dinner.

In quilting news, I've completed a really cute quilt (needs binding) for my niece, Kira's baby shower. I put some big rick-rack on it, so my hubby thinks it's ugly, but I love it! I will post a picture after the shower, (so Kira will be surprised).

We're Back...

Well, the condo is furnished!Okay, just kidding. However, when we went Hurricane this past weekend, we found a killer deal on a table and chairs on clearance at the local Walmart:

And, our wonderful son, Jeff, gave us a washer and dryer!
So, it will eventually get there. We had a fun trip and took the babygirl with us. We went on a little hike on Monday. Austin was the only one who brought any backpacks, so we used hers.

Go, Dora!!

Jabba-the-Snowman?

I know that while the East Coast and other areas of the country are still under a blanket of snow, here is what we have here in the West:He may be the last snow-person in the county, at least in the valley.

Meanwhile, here is how my Block of the Month is coming along in my Bee:

It's really sort of a "section of the month", because this is two months' worth.I am quite happy that you can't really see my applique, since it's not too fabulous - I am learning though, while watching American Idol on the DVR.

The Baby is 21 today! Am I fired?

Shane is 21 today! He's all grown up and married, living on his own, supporting himself, etc.

He arranged his own birthday breakfast this morning, at Mimi's. He invited his siblings and we had a great time. Even Amanda came down. (We did miss Doug, Tricia, Jeff, Ben & Jeremy - can you believe how big our family is getting??)

Apparently I've done such a smashing job as a mother, that I've worked myself right out of a job! Being a mother is terribly tiring, messy, frustrating, embarrassing, gross, there is a lot of yelling, sometimes swearing, lots of tears (on both of our parts) and, well, I could go on, as all of you mothers know. I must admit though, that every hard, sweaty, humiliating moment was worth it! Every day I thank my Heavenly Father for my beautiful children and their families. I have not done nearly enough to deserve the rich blessing that they are in my life. It is indescribable, the deep love I have for my family, including Mr. Handsome, who has been through it all with me - I'm so glad he is on my team! Happy Birthday, Shane and thank you to my whole family, you have all taught me so much and hopefully, I'll keep learning from you!