Carvings

With only 2 days remaining, I'm still finishing up on my Halloween Decorations. Today was pumpkin carving day. They don't look like much in the first photos but turn off the lights and they just shine!





(Front and back of cat)



Okay, now I'm off to tweak my "regular" blog. There are some changes that I've been wanting to make and today seems like a good day to do it.


Until Next time...Happy Needling!!!

Checking In

I just don't know where time goes to lately. One day just seems to run in to the next. Too bad that I'm not getting anything substantial accomplished. Oh well......

I'm not doing any needlework lately. Partly because I just don't have the motivation, and partly because I have too many other irons in the fire. I would like to share some photos with you, though.

These are trees around our house and the at the neighbor's. It's been sooooo long since I've seen trees change with the season. Aren't they just beautiful?



Sadly, I didn't take any photos while DH and I were in Utah recently. I carried the camera with me everywhere but... Still and any rate, it was a nice relaxing trip. We had hoped to visit with our DS but...

Okay, on a lighter note. I have pretty much finished up with my Halloween decor outside. Every year I complain that I didn't get around to making a "crashing witch" and settle for next year. Well, this year I made my witch. She ended up being near life size but it was fun and easy.

I took an old sheet, a long sleeved shirt, some leggins, and a racket ball paddle and cut out the pattern. Next I sewed it up, stuffed it with some of the clean newsprint from our packing supplies and put it together. Finally, I cut out the nose and chin, stuffed and attached them, painted the face with model paints and dressed her with extra clothes and old costume pieces. I even let her have my favorite pair of shoes that I don't wear anymore. Her eyes are 2 halves of an eyeball tea light candle.









The other ghoul is made from bits and pieces of things around the house. Including a tall candle holder (neck), small basket ball (head), a table leaf box (body) and costume pieces. Aren't they a handsome family?

Tonight we carve pumpkins, get the rest of the decorations out, tweak the lighting and we are ready for trick or treaters.

I also had a birthday recently. I'm 48 now! Good grief. LOL. DH asked me what I wanted for my birthday and what I really wanted was to start our remodeling. So, this was the first step. We have a long, long way to go - but - it's a start!



I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can sand down the cabinets and restain them. Since we have a Mediterranean style home, we are naturally going with Mediterranean style decor, that's more on the Tuscan side. I'm sure it's going to be a long and drawn out process but I'll post photos as it progresses. I said I wanted an HGTV project and I certainly got it. LOL.

Well, Fritz is waiting to play and I need to finish the laundry. If I don't get back before then...........Happy Halloween to all.



Until Next time...Happy Needling!!!

Have You Halloween'd Yet?

I absolutely LOVE Halloween. It is my favorite holiday and always has been. Although I have to admit I'm running a little behind this year. Yeah - like that's news to anybody. LOL.

Anyway, please leave me a comment with a link to your blog if you've Halloween'd too. I'm going to have a give away and when I post the details and prize, I'll add your link.

I hope you will be-witch me on this!



Until Next time...Happy Needling!!!

Birthdays and Stuff

Today, I'm going to give it my best shot at getting caught up on all those little loose ends that I haven't been able to hold onto. With Fritz at Doggy Daycare and Gene at work, who knows when I'll get another opportunity like this. LOL.

First of all, today is my nephew, Dustin's 10th birthday. Happy Birthday, Dustin!!! Aunt Gerry loves you very, very much.

I'm still getting used to the Beast and I'm trying my best to play nice. When we bought her we got this bottle of wine and some key fobs. I got to thinking the other day that maybe they were a bribe to take her off their hands. LOL. Well, I'm not opening the wine until I decide if she's staying. And I should have that answer by late next week. We're about to be spending a lot of time together!



We're still getting settled in, and probably will be for some time to come. But I am still getting out and about (in the Beast) and learning my way around. I'm convinced that the best way to do that is to go shopping. This week I found Hobby Lobby and Hancock's Fabrics. And before I left, I also found these goodies. Notice that I ONLY bought 1/2 yard of the doggies, and 1/4 yard of the shoes. And I didn't even have to pay for therapy. LOL.



Since we have different rooms and angles in this house, we are shuffling furniture around a bit. And with new arrangements, comes the need for new accessories. So, awhile back I found a great bunch of antique stores. And even though I didn't find what I set out to find, I did find these little additions.



I really missing my craft shows this time of year. I cancelled last year because I thought we would have sold the house and moved - NOT! And this year it was too late to get a booth anywhere. So, in anticipation of next year, Lauri has pointed me in the direction of these great little 2 and 3 piece patterns. They were more difficult to come up with than I expected. Some are out of print all together. Anyway, I plan to make some crazy quilted animals for my next craft fair. I also thought that the Aunt Martha's nursery rhymes would make fun pillows. The dragon is a secret until I see if it works out.








In closing, but most importantly, I would like to wish my dear son, Mathew a very, very happy 18th birthday. (It's been 10 months since I've seen him. And about as long since I've spoken to him.) I will miss being with you to celebrate such a big event in your life but I want you to know that I love you as much (or more) now than I did the day you were born. Be well, be happy, be safe, and know that I am always here for you. Mom.


Until Next time...Happy Needling!!!

CQI Retreat 2008

I can hardly believe that it's been nearly a month since our Colorado Retreat for Crazy Quilters. Time just seems to get away from me lately. Anyway, I've got some photos to share with you all.

The retreat kicked off on Wednesday, September 10th. Some arrived earlier, some were still getting there. But we met up at Leslie's for a BBQ, meet and greet. (BTW, you'll notice a pattern here - we did a lot of eating. LOL.) The food was wonderful! The conversation fun and interesting. And before you know it, it was time to say good-night, at least it was for Lauri and me because we were driving in daily.

(L-R: Janet, Gerry K., Leslie)


(L-R: Cathy, Debbie, Lauri)


I did enjoy having the company even though it was a fairly short drive. And Lauri was the perfect house guest! I only wish that I had been a bit more organized and then maybe we could have gotten some stitching in at my house. Oh well........

Thursday we had a beading class at this Windsor fabric shop, which Leslie taught. She did a terrific job of setting up classes, shopping trips, you name it for us. Anyway, this was my first time actually "Beading" and I had a ball.



Friday we were off to the Denver Art Museum. Leslie, (and I believe) Mary-Frances set up a private showing of crazy quilts for us. And here we are!




Not only were the quilts unbelievably beautiful in person, it was so very cool to get to ask questions, take photos, and learn how they are cared for. Now I better understand how they manage to last for more than 100 years. Anyway, here are some of my favorite photos.











When the caretakers at the museum started to unwrap this quilt a roar of Oooohhhhs and Aaaahhhhs erupted from our little group. There was so much whimsy in the stitching of this quilt.










Although the quilts have been wonderfully preserved, there is still some damage to be found. This photo shows one example of that.



So it should come as no surprise that these quilts are meticulously cared for. We were cautioned a number of times NOT TO TOUCH. And we tried really hard not too. Debbie had the most difficult time with that, though. LOL.



Okay....back to quilts....
Obviously this quilt was made around or for Christmas, 1900.











Well, with a huge THANK YOU to the Denver Art Museum, the quilts go back to storage and we are off to lunch. (Here are just a few sights outside the museum)
Check out the horse on the giant chair in the second photo and the gigantic statues of the cow and calf. Fun stuff............



We had lunch at the Macaroni Grille before we headed off to do some shopping. Gerry K. and Cathy were busy designing our table covering with new and interesting seam treatments - in crayon - of course! It was really fun to just sit and gab with everyone. I especially liked THIS Macaroni Grille because when I ordered Chianti with lunch, they brought the whole bottle and said, "ENJOY!" Too bad I had to drive, I could have enjoyed much more. LOL.



Shopping was a blast, we wrapped it up in Niwot at the Berry Patch. That worked out really nice for me because I was about 5 miles from home!

Saturday, we were hosted by the RMCQ (Rocky Mountain Crazy Quilters) for a seminar and lunch. They are just a wonderful bunch of ladies. I'm looking forward to attending a meeting, and hopefully becoming a regular part of the group. Thanks Again!!!!



After lunch with the RMCQ's we walked across the street and attended a Brazilian Embroidery class. Way too cool. I love it! Now all I have to do is talk DH into buying me ALL the threads I need. LOL.

The class was taught by Christine Hause, and she did a great job. It was so easy....even for a lefty.



This is what I did :-) And of course I had to buy a book.





Next we were off to Jill's house for a button painting class (courtesy of Gerry K.) and a BBQ. Jill has the most wonderful yard, complete with a private little sanctuary.

I got a chance to meet Lauri's son, too. She opted for a quick dinner with him and his girlfriend since she doesn't get to see him too often.



(L-R: Gerry K., Debbie, Jill, Cathy)


My how time flew by. Here we are at Sunday already! The long drive finally got to Connie and she didn't make it in for the Chinese Auction/Gifty Swap. Jill wasn't able to make it either. But they weren't left out....we will let them take their turns and later Leslie mailed out their goodies to them. In fact, that's how each event went. If you couldn't be there, you were still included in what ever took place. That was really cool. Especially since I had to leave early one day and thought I had missed out on the Stash Dash. Low and behold, Lauri pulled up with a huge bag of goodies. We even got goodies from people who couldn't be there.

Anyway.....here's what happened. We pulled numbers to determine who would start. I can't remember exactly what order everyone went in or exactly what everyone got. But here's what I do remember. I was 4th and Gerry K. was last. Somewhere from beginning to end this happened:

Cathy got a beautiful handcrafted pincushion from Gerry K. Lauri got a lovely assortment of goodies in a pretty covered jar. Debbie's got a lovely collection of fabrics, silkies, laces, etc. I got the most gorgeous crazy quilted teddy bear (from Lauri). Leslie got a beautiful box with a CQ inlay (from Janet). Leslie tried to take Gerry K's chatelaine but that didn't fly. LOL.

Okay, back to the story......everyone was playing nice, taking an unwrapped gift and not taking anything away from anyone - until that is - when it was Gerry K's turn. She said that we just weren't being mean enough (LOL) and that she was going to do 'this' right. Sooooooooooooooooo, she took Debbie's gift. Then the SH**T was on and gifts started getting swapped all over the place. Luckily, I ended up with my teddy bear but Cathy lost the pincushion.

In the end we all had a good laugh and there were NO HURT FEELINGS. It was fun. And Gerry K. graciously made another pincushion for Cathy. But you have to love Cathy's expression when she had to give up her prize (see last photo). Is that priceless or what?!?!?!?









Well, we all settled in for lunch (go figure, we're eating again!) And afterward did some swapping of stash items, stitching, and gabbing. I think it was Cathy who brought the Embellisher and some of us had a try at it. It's really a cool little machine.



Later that day, and the last thing I did at the retreat was lace dying. This is the result of my first attempt. Not too bad, huh???? But I do see some room for improvement.



I really hated to see things draw to a close. It was so fun getting to know everyone, learning to talk like Debbie (from Maine), having Show and Tell, etc.

A special thank you to Leslie for all of her hard work and attention to detail. And a big, big, thank you to everyone attending for being so generous with your time and your stash!!! And also for the lovely gifts that were brought in greeting and introduction. I will miss all of you BUT I loook forward to the next time.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to read my post and drool over the photos.


And..................Until Next time...Happy Needling!!!