Happy Halloween

Kind of a random blog. While I am not fond of Halloween per se, it does signify the beginning of the grand holiday season. Hopefully after Tuesday, we will not have to deal with any more political ads and generalized mud slinging. In Georgia, we seem to have a poor choice but just which one is the lesser of two evils?
At any rate, Homeward Bound is finished and ready to be quilted. Wild Willie inspected and gave his paw of approval.

Not the most dignified of cats!

And speaking of being undignified AND humiliated..Lilly dressed up in her costume. It took Laurie and Rich to put it on her. (Just what kind of a hot dog is white?)

Laurie went to Napa last weekend and brought back some treats. These will not be shared tonight-especially #2 on the left! I hope she hides this one from Lilly!

And just one more thing...I need to defend my cooking skills. One of my children has made it known in Facebook land that my chocolate chip cookies are like hockey pucks. This was reported after her cousin mentioned them in his column today (Idyll Banter in the Burlington VT paper). I have to admit, I have lost my touch with cookies BUT I can really make a fabo pot roast and the Sweidsh coffee bread at Christmas is long gone before it is stale! So there!!!!!!

Preparing for Halloween..

..at least some of us are! I am not fond of Halloween as it is today. I remember the good old days when it was just an innocent time-no safety issues and you stopped going out when you hit age 12. When we lived in NY we lived in a contained development and people would literally drop their kids off to trick or treat. I didn't mind handing out candy to neighbors, it was the others that made me nuts. Now I just turn off all the lights and watch TV in the back of the house.

On the other hand, Moda Man is preparing for his night out. I told him he had to make his own darn costume, so this is what he created. I wonder what Fat Quarter is going to be??


So glad it is the weekend...even if it is Halloween!

Can't say I never win anything anymore

I used to say that..then I won the grand prize at quilt camp in September. I won a gift card at a drawing at work and then about a week ago, I won on line. Yesterday my prize came. Six pretty fat quarters from Honey Fork Fabrics.. Thank you Ellen Edwards for my treat!

Gotta keep Bad Melisa happy..

I was out early yesterday morning to be at Sweet Home when it opened. Bad Melisa's having a sale. Word was out in Thimble land so I was not surprised to see lots of Thimbles ready-checkbooks in hand! I got a great deal on a piece of fabric that will someday be a backing-five yards of Glace! Also bought a sample quilt. Wonder if I can claim it as my own? Not to worry-I won't. A kit (with dare I say some applique in it) and a little fabric book that ended up in Alice's birthday bag. I did not buy Moda Man's tree although several of my friends said I should! And I visited with Becky, Kristie, Gretch-the birthday girl and Sarah no blog. They all had cameras with them and hopefully there will be a picture of the event on someones blog. Then a stop at Stbx for a little more socializing. I heart my Thimble friends!

Now for a relaxing Sunday!

Celebrating Alice's first birthday

two handed eating going on....

Checking out the loot..

Kris and Tyler showing the birthday girl a present while her cousin Emma looks on. she was assisting in the whole process..

Alice is liking birthdays...

Sue and Rob..

Missing is Laurie..out in Napa with her friends from France and also Matt.

Busy day today. Left home early to get to Sweet Home. more about that later..now I must go rest for awhile!

Schnibbling...

All my quilting buds have been Schnibbling lately and I needed to jump on the bandwagon. The pattern is from Schnibbles Times Two by Carrie Nelson and the pattern is called Imagine. It is made with my new fav..Maison de Garance....gotta luv that French General who ever he is and of course, Moda!
I won a giveaway from Nancy of Blogging Near Philadelphia fame and I have incorporated some of the pieces she sent me. If you see Nancy, thank her again for me.

I feel the need to make a run to Sweet Home tomorrow. Bad Melisa is having a sale. Gotta check out what is happening. Hope to be there at the same time as some of my Thimble buddies but I need to be there early. Big plans for the afternoon. Birthday party for Sweet Alice. I can't believe she will be a year old on Monday.

Relieved to have made it thru another week of MDS assessment insanity..but it does seem to be getting a little smoother.

Heinous applique?

All of my friends know how I feel about applique! There will NEVER be a Baltimore Album quilt in this house. So this month's Groovy Girls included a demo on machine applique. Nope-not gona' do it.....I sat and rolled my eyes. BUT..

If I bring a project back to the next meeting, I get my card punched.....

Yesterday was Thimbles. I decided with my "support group" close at hand, I would try. And I did it. I thought Pat was going to hyperventilate when I showed her what I had done. The placement was incorrect on the bag and I was not happy with how it looked. But Pat gave me some tips and when I got home I tried again.

I will be sending this one up to Kathy in NY. Hope she finds a use for it. First I will take it to Sweet Home and get my card punched!

(But I hope there is no applique involved in the next month's project.)

Finally a finish..

The September block from the Quilt Room BOM gave me a bit of trouble. I kept putting it down because I could not figure out the colors. I finally decided to start at the center and work outward. I finally got it done before the November block is published! (Notice the toes in the right hand corner-they are in need of a pedi!) Maybe this weekend after THIMBLES!!!!!!!!

3 more work days...I can make it, yes I can. But I sure would like to talk to the powers that be at the medicare./medicaid branch of govt. and ask them, WHAT WERE THEY THINKING????? But that is another story for another day

A little productive..

Maybe getting up early to get to Honda was the reason.

When I got back home, I tackled some of the projects on the list that I made while I was sitting at Honda!

I finished the owl bag for Alice. Her first birthday is in a couple of weeks. How did that happen already?

Also finished the little Halloween bags for the Daisy troop. And I worked on the little quilt top. It just needs it's border on it. I have no plans for this little quilt but I loved the fabrics!

I have some more things on the "to do" list and we'll see what gets done today.

The boys enjoyed the open back door yesterday..good bird watching!

MIA??

Houston, I think we have a problem. Pat, Most Exalted Head Thimble noted on a previous blog that she hoped that Moda Man and Fat Quarter would behave this weekend so that I could rest. As you can see, when I checked the love nest, they were no where to be found! OMG..what next?? I blame it all on Fat Quarter. She is a very bad influence on him! Maybe they are out "camping" again.

I will be sewing this weekend-recovering from the week that was. Am I glad it is over. Lots of stuff that needs to be finished. So no new projects. I am working on my project for Alice's first birthday. Also have a few more Halloween bags to finish for Emma's daisy troop.

First thing tomorrow morning is an appointment at Honda for a recall. Hope it doesn't take too long!

This blog interrupted by..work

I was hoping to be able to play in the evening this week but I don't think it is going to happen. Today was a 10 hour day and it will probably be the same for the rest of the week. The government, in it's infinite wisdom, has begun the new assessment process. This upgrade has been in the works for literally years but Oct. 1 it went live. As a result, we have to complete 66 assessments this week. 66 assessments divided by 3 people divided by 5 days. It doesn't sound like a lot until you look at the volume of each assessment. I was able to completely finish one today. By the time I got home, ate something and sat down to relax...asleep on the couch

Ergo..probably won't get anything done until next weekend.

Blurry week-no sewing

A whole week and no blogging-work got in the way!!
But today was a good day. Groovy Girls out at Sweet Home. This month's assignment includes the "A" word. AHHHHHHHHHH
Gretchen and Melisa say I can do it. I have a whole month.
I did finish the binding on Scrappy scrappy nines last evening. Today I finished sewing the gaggle of geese for Homeward Bound. I think this month's Thimbles is a project I have elected not to do (applique)-so I can work on finishing this up then.
I am behind on the Quilt Room BOM. so this afternoon, I tackled that project. I finished the Oct. block but still have to figure out September-ergo the pile o' strips above.
I made a list of my UFOs....it makes me want to escape to the couch!

Gretch had a great bag that she made after last month's Groovy Girls. I picked up the pattern and the cardboard on a roll (Cindi's description). I want to make one of those bags. Gretchen is calling it the new Bad Melisa bag. It holds more!!!!


I am just worn out from my busy day.