Happy Easter

      Happy Easter!

Stone Soup Challenge

Our guild chapter (Foothills Quilters) is doing a quilting challenge this year called the Stone Soup Challenge.  Each participant is to  put together a quilt using the ingredients provided in a block packet I put together, adding their own fabric ingredients, and making a "delicious" quilt for all to see and enjoy.  The theme is based on the traditional story of how starving villagers put their meager stores together to make a big pot of delicious soup for everyone to share:  A carrot here, an old potato there, etc.  Likewise, a pinch of this fabric and a dash of that fabric could turn into a creative and wonderful quilt.  The theme I selected was antique toys using bright fabric that could be used as a donation for our charity, Arrowhead Hospital and it's Neonatal Unit.  We make them both preemie quilts and isolette covers.  In exchange they let us use their meeting room for our sewing meeting each month.

Below is a picture of the packets the ladies had to choose from.  Each packet contains one applique block, one 9-patch, a fat eighth, a nickel square, and a piece of rick rack.

The whole chapter will vote on their favorite in several categories and some nice prizes will be awarded.

Elmo

Haven't posted in such a long time.  I hope to get caught up a little bit today.  This should have been posted January8th when we got a new little dog.  Meet Elmo..............

Elmo is the little dog we recued – a furry Birthday present.  He’s a 3 year old shih tzu.  He’s a sweet little dog and really needed a home because he’s blind.  It just about broke my heart when I realized that he couldn’t see.  I didn’t really think I’d feel like getting another dog after Gizmo passed away.  It took about a year to finally decide I wanted to have another little fur baby to snuggle.  We're so glad we made the decision and have fallen completely in love with Elmo.

Home Sweet Home Wallhanging & Throw Pillow Gifts

In our applique group we drew names for Christmas this year.  I made this Home Sweet Home Wallhanging for my friend Joy in the colors of her house.  I found the free pattern for the blocks at   http://pacificpatchwork.typepad.com/ .  The patterns are only available until the end of the year, so hurry if you want to get them.

I got the nicest thank you note from Joy so it sounds like she liked her gift.

Our holiday party was so enjoyable.  Louise made a yummy homemade chicken pot pie for lunch and spoiled us with cream puffs topped with carmel sauce and pecans for dessert.  She'd homemade this too.  It was delicious. 

After lunch we had the exchange of our gifts.  I got the most wonderful throw pillow from my friend Patty.  The message on it is so precious to me.

Isn't it great!  I just love it!!!

Letter to Santa

Oh boy do I agree with this letter to Santa from Sweet Home Quilt Company Blog :

Hi - I'm back

I've been away toooooo long.  After we moved into our house in October it seems like it's taken an age for me to get everything settled and to get back into my sewing room.  I'm very slow, aren't I?  I actually got the boxes unpacked and the furniture placed in pretty short order.  Then I collapsed for several months.  I finally got with the program, got quilts and pictures hung on the walls, and got my sewing room organized.  I'm glad I had a deadline of getting the finishing stuff done or there probably still wouldn't be a thing hanging on the walls.  I had my Lunch Bunch group here in March, and then was part of a sewing room tour this month, so I was motivated to get stuff finished for both of them.  Here are a few pictures of some of the quilts on the walls............

 

More pictures of our "new" house

I mentioned that I'd post pictures of the last two areas I needed to settle.  The dining room looks much, much different with all those boxes out of there, doesn't it!  I still need to do the touch-up painting so that I can hang my quilts and pictures.  This room will have my Baltimore Album Quilt on the wall. 

Here's my sewing room.  I unpacked in there on Tuesday and got a lot done.  Not all, but a lot.  I took the pictures in such a way that the remaining boxes don't show too much........it was a trickie picture to take but you can barely see the boxes that are still in there.  The first view is of the end where I have my sewing machine, big board ironong boad, cutting table, and stash.

This second shot is of the other end of the room where my longarm is located.  I still need to do some organizing, but I'm started, and that makes me happy.

Here's a picture of Rick's office/guest room.  I couldn't get a very good shot in there but here's what I could fit into the frame....

We're Moved!

We finally got possession of our "new" house on Thursday, Sept. 30th at around 3pm.  I had time to run in and quickly vacuum some of the the carpet before the movers came to unload.  It was so frustrating that we were not allowed to do all the cleaning in the house before our stuff was brought in.  The seller absolutely refused to let us get in in advance and the house had been vacant for 9 months.  Boy was/is it dusty dirty!   I'm still working at getting it cleaned up since now I'm working around furniture and boxes.

Actually the unpacking is going fairly well.  We were able to sleep in our bed the first night.  Since the movers were here unloading and placing furniture until about 10:30pm, that sure was great because we were pooped.

Friday my wonderful mover, Mark, from Mark's Quality Moving, came back and set-up my longarm first thing in the morning. I was also able to finish settling the family room and master bedroom that day.

Saturday, I started unpacking the kitchen and got snagged into helping Rick with the garage in the morning before it got too hot.  I couldn't believe I actually got persuaded to work on the garage before finishing the kitchen.  I guess it needed to be that way though, because I was having Rick take furnishing we thought were going to fit in this house and didn't and stuffing all that around the boxes sitting in the garage.  He said he couldn't fit one more thing out there until we got stuff onto shelves.  So there you go - it made sense.  At least in the afternoon I was able to get back to unpacking the kitchen and pantry.

Sunday morning I couldn't sleep so started upacking the laundry room and breakfast room at about 3am.  The breakfast room was no easy task because I had all the boxes unloaded into only 4 locations, one was the breakfast room, and it was stacked floor to ceiling with boxes.  You'd never know it now though...............

After finishing that I started placing my good dishes and glasses in the built-in cupboards just before lunch.  Then we had our first visitors to our new home, my granddaughter Lacey who was here from CA for her birthday.  We had lunch here for her and her friend and visited the afternoon away.  Her friend brought his guitar and seranaded us in our new home.  Cool!

Somewhere along the way I got the screen porch organized and also the patio and back yard fountain area.  I'm beginning to loose track of when because I find myself starting something in one area and then jumping over to something else.  Short attention span, I guess, especially with so much that needs to be done and I wish it could all be done at once.

Today I've been working in the dining room, one of the other 4 areas where I had the majority of boxes placed.  I hope to make good progress in there because the handyman comes tomorrow and one of the things on his list is to hang the chandelier. 

After that the last major area of boxes will be my sewing room.

Rick has made his office in the second bedroom/guest room.  It's quite a large room and looks like it's going to work out well with both his office stuff and the king-sized guest bed in there.  He's been teasing that he can work for awhile and then lay down and nap for awhile and no one will even know it - so he seems to like the set-up.  He's been working on settling his office and trying to keep his business going at the same time.  I've not had to do too much in there.  Yeah!

So two out of the four areas where we had boxes placed are unpacked - the garage and the breakfast room.  We still have two more to go - the dining room and sewing room.  But we're getting there and it's starting to feel like home.

Pictures of our houses

Several people have asked if I'd post pictures of the house we're selling and the house we're moving into.  If I'm going to do that, I guess I better before they pull the pictures off Realtor.com (since they're both going under contract). 

Oops - they've been pulled off now.  Sorry.

We've loved our current house but our knees are beginning to rebell at climbing the stairs.  
Here's a quick snap of the view from our balcony at sunset and during the day.  Gonna miss that view!

Appraisal Finished - Inspection Next

Good news!  The house appraised for the contract price.  What a relief!  We did all kinds of touch-up painting, polishing, and just generally spiffing things up.  It looks like all our effort and elbow grease may have helped some.  The appraiser said he was also impressed that we went to a website that listed what paperwork should be ready to give to an appraiser.  We had it all copied and ready for him.  He said that waiting for the homeowner to gather up all that information is what usually takes him the longest on an appraisal.  So now that step is finished and we're on to the next step.

The next step is the inspection and that's scheduled for tomorrow.  Since this is not new construction there are a few things that aren't perfect but as far as we know they are all cosmetic.  We've already corrected all that we could and things are looking pretty good.  Please keep those good thoughts and prayers coming. 

We're in process of moving

I haven't posted to my blog for a few weeks.  I've temorarily been sidetracked.  We've decided to downsize and have been preparing to move. We finished staging the house, felt like we priced it right, and put it on the market. We were kind of amazed when we received an offer on the 3rd day after listing. Next is the appraisal process. We're hoping and praying that the appraisal price will support the contract price. If you're a praying person, please say a few for us. Due to the state of the economy, we're a little bit concerned in this market because our realtor told us that the new regulations now require appraisers to factor in foreclosures, short sales, and bank owned properties when determining the appraisal price. We've found that those are all quite a bit lower than regular sales (and there are so many of them compared to regular sales). There are a few things we'll be working on before the appraiser gets here on Monday and then within a week or so there'll be the inspection. 

We've been shopping for a house in Sun City and think we've found a place that will suit us.  Again, prayers and good thoughts requested that all goes smoothly on the purchasing end.  Rick & I are both pretty tuckered out already.  Can't wait to get settled and back to calm days and stitching.

Civil War Re-enactment

I decided to stay in Payson after the ladies left our mini-retreat on Friday.  My husband came up and joined me and we went to a really cool civil war re-enactment on Saturday morning.  Here are some pictures we snapped.

Happy Easter

I want to wish all my blog friends and followers a Happy Easter!

I'm back

Hope you had a happy Valentines Day and cupid got you with his arrow.

I can't believe it's been a whole month since I posted to my blog.  It really couldn't have been that long, could it? I had a little surgery (skin cancer) that was a bit more extensive than I had imagined.  But I'm healing up now and should be able to get back in the swing of things.

What a Birthday!

I recently had a Birthday and it was one of the best ever.  First thing in the morning my husband, Rick,  greeted me with a couple of gifts I really like - he must have been paying attention to my chatter for the past couple of months.  One was a bee-proof hummingbird feeder.  I really enjoy feeding and watching the antics of the hummingbirds in our yard.  About 2 months ago, the bees found the feeder and swarmed it.  There were about 100 bees all around the feeder - yikes!  I went on the internet to find out what could be done and it gave me several ideas.  It said to dilute the sugar solution with more water than usual, which the bees wouldn't like, but the hummers wouldn't mind.  It also said that if I'd move the feeder even just a couple of feet, the hummers are curious and would find it, but the bees wouldn't.  Well I moved it to four different locations over the last couple of months and they've found it every time.  My last resort was a bee-poof hummingbird feeder, which I resisted getting because during an internet seach, it looked like it was going to be about $30-$40.  Rick found a bee-proof one at Home Depot for $10 and got it for me for my Birthday - what a guy.

He also heard me mention that I don't have a large enough set of dishes to have matching plates when my lunch bunch group comes over.  There are 10 of us and I have a set of 8 dishes.  He figured out what the name of the set was and got me a box with 4 additional place settings - what a nice surprise.

The day got off to such a good start and it just kept going in that direction all day.  I went to my Baltimore Album class so got to get lots of encouragement from fellow quilters, stopped and got an Italian Beef sandwich at my favorite Italian deli, got home and received calls and/or cards from some CO and AZ family and friends.  I'd just started working on my current Baltimore block when the doorbell rang and it was my granddaughter and daughter-in-law with yet another present - a family photo we took at Christmas time in a beautiful frame.

The Birthday celebration is still going on - love it when they keep going like this - today my good friend, Laura, took me out to lunch (Corner Bakery Cafe - yum!).  Then we came back to my house and played with the Wii Fit.  We had so much fun she wants to get one too.

Speaking of the Wii Fit - my Santa got me a Wii and Wii Fit for Christmas. I'm having a ball with it. So many fun games to do and get some exercise at the same time. My grandkids (son & his wife too) came over on Christmas day and we all played it together. Talk about laugh. I laughed so hard, tears were streaming down my face - especially watching my grandson doing the one where you flap your arms like wings to fly to a target. Oh my gosh, what a hoot.

I Won Another Blog Drawing! Wow!

I can hardly believe it, I won Hilda's Blog drawing!  She sent me an adorable bib apron made out of jeans.  I just love it!  Thank you Hilda!  I really enjoy cooking so this is something I will definitely use.  I'm looking forward to wearing it to keep the spatters off my clothes while I cook - well, after I just look at it for awhile.  Isn't it adorable..............

Hilda also sent along a little tin with some beautiful beads and buttons in it.  I have a crazy quilt started so these will be perfect to use on it.  What a nice little bonus - thanks Hilda.

Another Christmas Party

I belong to a neighborhood quilting group too.  We get together at each others homes and do handwork, chat, and enjoy each others company once a month.  The hostess for the month makes lunch for us, so we call ourselves the Lunch Bunch.  We had our Christmas Party this week at Louise's house.  It was such an enjoyable day.  But........I forgot to snap pictures at the party this year.  When I got home I did snap pictures of the gifts I received though.  Aren't they great! 

You can tell this group enjoys food, there are a number of food related gifts (home-made candy & chocolates, home-made carmel corn, home-made bread & fudge, etc.), plus some flavored honey, and also a wonderful cookbook.  Did you see the cute oven fingertip mits?  I can't wait to try the Best Press - I've been wanting some of that for my ironing. The cute calendar is a 2-year one for my purse - that will come in very handy.  And did you notice the item in the center back? It's a framed poem about our Lunch Bunch that one of the ladies made for us.  I've already tried most of the goodies - yum!  I don't think I'm going to have to do too much holiday baking this year since this is such a nice sampling to enjoy.

For lunch Louise made a delicious Raspberry Cheese Blintz Casserole for us.  It was great!  All in all, it was a very nice day, with good food, gifts from the heart, and especially wonderful and supportive friends.  What could be better!

Christmas Party

Our applique group had it's Christmas Party last week.  It was at my house this year.  I enjoyed every minute of getting ready for it - from decorating the house and trimming the tree, to getting the house cleaned and polished, to cooking my part of the meal.

I really enjoyed making holiday poppers for table favors.  I filled them with various chocolates and a rolled up paper with guessing game clues written on it.  Each one had clues to an old time movie and then a question that related to the movie on the bottom where the person could tell about some personal memories - such as a memory of their favorite Christmas, for the movie, "It's a Wonderful Life".  The ladies enjoyed the game so much they said they hope to make it an annual thing.

The table turned out festive and nice.  Here's a shot of a few of the ladies around the table.

Of course there was plenty of good food.  Everyone brought a dish to share which always makes it more fun and interesting................and delicious. 

I made the main dish - Autumn Roasted Chicken & Sausages.  It's a Rachael Ray recipe, if you want to look it up on her site.  I included various vegetables that are good for roasting (peppers, onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and asparagas).  The recipe calls for black grapes too - I couldn't believe how delicious grapes are when they're roasted.

Oh, and we had presents - wonderful presents.

These are gifts I will use and enjoy and these are friendships I treasure.  It's so nice to get together with ladies who enjoy applique as much as I do and to get to know each other better.  I don't think there's a one of them I couldn't call day or night if I needed help or just an ear to listen or a shoulder to lean on........or cry on.

I forgot to have someone snap a picture of me at the party so asked my husband to do that when he got home.  It was such a fun day and you can tell it made me happy from looking at my big grin.

I won! I can hardly believe it but I won a blog give-away!

I've just recently started blogging and already I'm loving it.  I even won a blog give-away.  How fun is that!  My friend, Kim, had a drawing for her first year blogging anniversery.  I was one of the two winners.  Look at the wonderful goodies I won:

The Candle Beads will look great on my holiday table.  The pretty fat quarter will be perfect for the Baltimore Album applique I'm working on.  And the beautiful multi-colored bracelet is one she made herself.  I just love it.  I wore it already - last night when my husband and I went out to dinner to celebrate our 22nd wedding anniversery. 

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! 

The weather here is supposed to be beautiful today, our son and his family are coming to share a meal with us, the house is all cleaned and polished, the turkey is already smelling gooooood; what could be better. I'm very thankful.  Wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving and much to be thankful for also.