Rock Paper Scissors

My Christmas prestent from Scott, Topaz.

These are some of the things I made of a swap I am in. My partner said she would like an altered clipboard. The rest is a post it note holder, purse calendar and a mini photo album. I have a few more things to finish for her and mail on friday.

This is my first E-bay bid purchase. I won it sunday night. It is the new Gingher Rotary Cutter.

Road to California - Finally!

We had a great time on the bus trip to Ontario, CA for the quilt show. There were 30 of us on bus. We got to Ontario around 4:30pm on Friday night and the first stop was the quilt show. Me and mom decided to look at quilts first on Friday night so we didn't have to fight the crowd on Saturday morning. There is some amazing work at this show. If you are a quilter and have notbeen you are missing out and NEED to go! Here are just a few photos

This one was pieced by Penelope Tucker and quilted by Ronda Beyer. I was very excited to see a first place ribbon next to Ronda's quilt. This one won for Traditional Wall Applique. I went to call my friend Gina to tell her and my cell was dead. I started yelling for my mom to come see. I had to wait to get into our room first to call G.
This quilt was made by Jan Clarke and Renae Haddadin and was quilted by Renae. It won Excellence in Long Arm Quilting. The back is more amazing than the front!

This quilt was made by Gloria McKeehan and was quilted by Lynette Harlan. It won Best Large Quilt.

This one is very cool. It is a whole cloth quilt, quilted on a long arm machine. It was made by Jodi Robinson. The little dots of white you see are crystals. A BIG thing this year was whole cloth quilts done on a long arm. Some had piecing on the front but was reversible with the back being a whole cloth quilt. Here is an up close of this quilt.


I really like this quilt. The maker is Eyelyn Brown and friends. She found a picture she liked and cut it up into 10 pieces. She then gave a piece to each member of her friendship quilting group. They made a block based on the picture. She then got her blocks back and made her quilt. I really want to do this. All I need is 10 friends to give the pieces to! Any takers?
This quilt is called North Pole. The pattern is designed by Piece O Cake and this quilt was made by Jane Zappia. I bought this pattern years ago, 3-ish. I have always wanted to make it. Maybe one day.
I think New York Beauty quilts are amazing. This one is made by Mea Anderson and quilted by Nancy Letchworth. I love the border on this one, it is curvy. I would love to do that but I don't want to do the binding.

Now for some shopping!
This is me paying Justin for 5 yards of Ricky Tims dyed cotton. I am in Ricky's booth. We did go to the Ricky Tims concert on Saturday night. We had a blast! If you ever get the chance to hear him speak GO!!!
This one is of me, Barbara and Nikki shopping for fat quarters. Most of mine are for Poop's quilt.

The see all of the winning quilts jump on over to the Road to California site. Who's ready to go next year?

Help Me Out Here

I need your help. Please send good thoughts to my friend Nathan today. At 4:30pm today, California time, Nathan will start teaching college for the first time! He is teaching a Macro Economics class at the Community College in Austin, TX. I wish I could be their.

This is one more step of many for him. He is currently going to UT, GO LONGHORNS!, working towards his Ph D in Economics. When he finishes he is hoping to be able to teach at a University level. I am so excited for him. Good Luck Nathan!

Then & Now

Driving to work this morning I realized that 3:30am looks very different in my 30's than it did in my 20's.

In my 30's 3:30am looks very dark and cold having to leave my warm bed to pull on my work uniform. Quickly brush my hair and teeth to go sit in a cold truck, praying for no fog. All of this so I can be to work by 4am.

When I was in my 20's 3:30am was about the time we would be around Elk Grove on I-5 after a night a drinking, dancing, closing a club and having Denny's. More often than not it would also include someone passed out in the back seat and another with their head out the window puking or trying not to puke.

Ahhh the Good Ol'days! I miss you guys!

So Much To Do, So Little Time!

As I get ready this week to head to Ontario, CA for Road to California Quilt Show I have much to do. I have sewing, papercrafting, cooking and cleaning to get done. All that is after working and before getting ready for my trip!

I have been working on the Bordello Quilt. It is ready to have borders put on it Tuesday night. I also have to piece the the back before I start quilting it.

I have also finished an altered journal for my papercrafting pen pal. I mail her a craft and a note, based on a weekly theme, every other Monday for the next few months.

I am hoping to get a few more papercraft swaps and binding on a quilt before I leave on Friday. Wish me luck!

New Year Goals

So the year has started and I am working on the list of things to get done this year. I am trying to be practical and realistic. So here we go!

Complete 15 UFOs - I will keep a list to the left.
Cook at home 3 nights a week
Clean out the garage
Work on cleaning out cupboards and closets
Post more picture on my blog - one a week
Start Scrapbooking again

Okay that seems like enough to keep me busy most of the year. What are you all working on this year?

Home From NOLA

Greetings! We, me and Scott, are home form New Orleans! We had a wonderful time and can't wait to go back. We did the French Quarter, took the ferry across the river to Algiers, ate tons of wonderful food, road on the cable cars and saw the Garden District.

We met up with my friend Nathan, who was down their for a conference, and we all stayed in our timeshare. The timeshare just reopened a year ago the 5th. They did not have Katerina damage but had aftermath damage. All the computers and TV's were stolen and the basement flooded when the sump pumps didn't work. The street cars picked up and dropped off right at our hotel, we used them 3 of the days we were their. We shouldn't have rented a car.

Sunday night was the first "parade" of Carnival, which started last Sunday. One of the krews does their parade on a cable car. We waited 2 hours for it to go by, not really worth the wait. I also go to meet Blaine Kern, Mr. Marti Gras, his company makes 80% of the floats use in the parades for Marti Gras.

For those of you that don't follow college football the BCS Championship game was Monday night in the Superdome, LSU was playing Ohio State. It was crazy. You could barely move on Bourbon Street because of all the football freaks in town. New Orleans also had special "game pricing," the parking went from $14 all day on Thursday to $40 all day on Friday, and a daiquiri was $12 on Thursday and $20 on Friday.

We did not see to much Katrina damage. You could pay $90 and go on a tour of the damage. There were empty lots where they have torn down buildings. They have cleaned up the damage but haven't finished rebuilding. The street cars have only been back running a few weeks and not all of the power has been restored. We did see people living under the freeway. We asked locals about it and were told that most of those people were homeless before and are trying to milk the system now.

We got to eat at John Besh's Steak House, Emeril's NOLA, Cafe du Monde and Jonny's Po-Boy's. I already miss Crawfish Po-Boy's, a mid day Daiquiri, and of course my Diet Coke and Beignets. If you hven't made it to New Orleans you should. Gina add it to your bucket list!