It was a quilt show weekend

We had two quilt shows close to us last weekend. One in Titusville which is just north of us, and one in Vero Beach which is just south of us. I wanted to go to both shows so Friday I went to the one in Titusville. I have to say, I was a bit underwhelmed by it. Not too many vendors and the ones that were that didn't have much in the way of fabrics or patterns. Certainly nothing new and exciting. Even the quilts themselves were the same ol same ol. There were one or two exceptions. This sea horse was pretty cool As was this zebra butt I guess the good thing would be that I didn't spend much in the way of money.
I did find a guy that is going to be making some acrylic templates for me. I'll tell you more about those in another post ~ but it's gonna be cool!

The Vero Beach show on Saturday was the exact opposite. Tons of vendors, including the people from Flamingo Island Designs
I've seen them at a couple of shows and they always have the best booth
I could have spent a fortune in their booth alone. I got a couple of patterns (including the Sea Grape Beach pattern on their home page) and a bit of fabric (all flamingo, of course). Plus they are really nice people. Definitely check them out.

This was another of my favorites from the show And this bag was amazing
This one is for my bloggy friend Regina. They were sold out of the pattern but I think I could probably replicate it without one. The whole show had a very beachy feel to it and I loved it.
Wish you all could have been there with me!

She's up to double digits

Can you believe my little baby turned 10 last weekend? Where did the time go? She was so tiny when we first got her, under 5 lbs. She's still a very tiny, or should I say petite little thing. But not quite little enough to still fit in to this kiddie stroller. Check out the back of the stroller What prompted them to put this warning on the mesh bag? Did someone actually put their child in there? And how little would that child have to be? Amazing!
For Julianne's birthday she opted to get a Nintendo DS instead of having a big birthday party. Rather Jen and Jeremy came down and Richard's mom came up. We went out for a nice breakfast and then over to the mall so she could spend some of her gift cards on new games for the DS. She also got High School Musical 3 DVD from her brother and some new clothes from the Ginkster. Instead of a cake, she opted for a giant creme filled cookie from the mall. I'm liking these low key birthdays.

Finally finished

I've had a baby quilt in the works for a while now. It's a custom job I got through Angie's mom, Judy. The woman sent me pics of the nursery in her house for her granddaughter and asked if I could make a throw to go over her rocking chair. The room was all done in browns and pinks and the walls have hand painted murals with little bunnies.
I think I scoured every quilt shop in the area for just the right fabric. Just as I was leaving the last one, I popped on over to the fat quarter section and low and behold found IT! They had 4 fq's left and I snapped them up hoping it would be enough. From there it was easy to pick a couple of complimentary pieces and then the border fabrics just reached out and grabbed me.
I had the top finished in no time and then took it over to the shop to quilt it on the HQ16 ~ long arm quilting machine. Got it all done and as I was taking it off the frame I realized the tension was off ~ I mean really badly and I knew I was going to have to take the entire thing apart! That took a while and now I needed to come up with a plan B. I decided to try quilting it (well part of it) with the embroidery unit of my machine. I used a simple heart design in the middle of the blocks and it turned out really cute. Doncha love the little bunnies in there? The only pain in the butt was having to rehoop the quilt 24 times! The rest of it, I stitched in the ditch ~ got the hand sewing done on the binding last night and today I am putting it in the mail. Sure hope she likes it.

It's a new season

Baseball season, that is. Nate started baseball practice last week. It's the first time he's ever actually played on a team. He's practiced a bit with J&J ~ but his dad and I are old fuddy duddy's and not really into sports much so he's starting a bit late. He has some very natural talent and he seemed to have fun.
I am going out today to get him some new gear ~ proper sliding pants, a baseball themed tee shirt and cap, so he can look the part as well. Richard got him the shoes, bat, ball, cup, etc... but it's up to me to make him look the part! As you can see, the sliding pants he has are too short and all the rest of the guys have long gray ones so that is what I'll look for. It'll be interesting to see how he does.
Julianne entertains herself when it comes to "hanging out" at the ball field...

Oh, and I met Richard at a new (for us) restaurant the other day for lunch. Meg O'Malley's. Man ~ that was some GREAT food. This is a part of their "menu" with lots of fun Irish sayings, blessings, etc. I had the corned beef and cabbage which was wonderful. Richard had the pot pie which was also great. As an appetizer we had potato balls ~ basically mashed potatoes with bits of corned beef in them, rolled into a ball and fried. I'm sure they are terrible for you but they tasted yummy.
Ya'll will have to come for a visit so I can take you there too!

Did I ever tell you about the time...

Did I ever tell you that I once worked for the Dade County Criminal Courts? This was way back in the late 70's ~ about the time of my first marriage. It was probably one of the craziest jobs I have ever had. I was the court clerk which meant I was the keeper of the files and the evidence, etc. I sat in court every day directly in front and below the judge. Some days it was a good job, and usually pretty interesting. Some days it was uncomfortable when I'd see someone I knew from school show up ~ as a defendant. Some days it was downright scary ~ being in a room with really really bad, truly evil people. Then there were the absolute dangerous days. The day I got knocked over by a criminal trying to escape, or the day one of the prison guards body checked me to keep me from being grabbed by yet another prisoner wanting to escape (yeah, that happens a lot!). Then there was the day I found myself alone in the courtroom with a man who had kidnapped and tortured a young girl for almost a week before she escaped ~ he was out on bond and came in early ~ I promptly left the room until a few more people decided to show up. The worst though, was the time I was bringing my cart (which held my files and evidence, etc back up to my office when the guy who was on trial (yeah, another evil nutjob out on bail) decided he didn't like me having "his" evidence and took his rifle off my cart and pointed it at me! He had killed his common law wife and shot his two best friends. At the time he was riding in a car in which his common law wife was the driver ~ and they were doing 70 mph down I-95. Who shoots and kills the driver of a car you are in while going 70 mph? A crazy person ~ that's who! Anyway...knowing this guy is absolutely nuts, I'm terrified even though I know that the bullets for the rifle are in my pocket (to keep them from rolling around the tray) but hey, this guy is nuts and there are a lot more ways to use a rifle than just shooting it. End of the story is that his attorneys and guards calm him down, give me the rifle back and they get in the elevator that I'm getting in. I decline and tell them I'll take the next elevator ~ thanks very much!
I only lasted at that job for about 6 months. It wasn't fun knowing all the evil that is out there and seeing too many of them going free. Some of the judges were great ~ some probably deserved to be in front of the courts instead of ruling them ~ but it was all too much for me. It did get me a lot of face time on TV but that's another story for another day. Oh ~ the pic of me and my mom was taken during this fun time!


Oh and go check out B over at her blog "Simply B, Simply Me" She's having a terrific give away!

My son, the artist

So yesterday I just happen to walk past the fridge (I do that sometimes) and notice this...
You see I keep both of the kids current school pics in those clear magnet things on the fridge and I guess my son decided his sister NEEDED a mustache. I honestly wanted to be mad, but I just had to crack up! He is, at least considerate enough to do it in dry erase markers so it wipes right off.
Rather than yelling at him I decided I'd pay him back with this.. You can't see the horns too well ~ but they are definitely there.
I did erase Julianne's mustache before she noticed it. She's been in a bit of a mood lately and I don't think she would have found it as amusing as I did.

Speaking of Julianne, she wanted to help with dinner last night. Since I had decided on cobb salads ~ I chopped and she decorated.. I think she did a pretty good job and we both had fun doing it. Nathaniel was so excited (and hungry) we caught him sneaking a bite before we could all sit down. My MIL loves it when I make salads so I called and invited her over. Imagine the nerve of her NOT wanting to drive 2 1/2 hrs for some salad! hee hee

And The Winners Are...

ALL OF YOU!.... well, all of you that submitted your best/worst Valentines stories so,

Sandra
Colleen
Dani
Queenie Jeannie
Rhonda P She's got a give away of her own going on ~ check it out!
Michelle
Ma Bunny
Carol VR

If you will email me your snail mail address off line, I'll get these in the mail to you asap... and thanks so much for playing along.

Trying something new

I've been dabbling lately at making some of my own designs ~ partially to see if I can and partially so there are no copyright issues to deal with. I came up with this bag. I think it would work nicely for someone in the tweens/teens and yes, we are back to the whole skull thing ~ but I'm still seeing them everywhere. If you have a young girl out there I'd love to hear what she thinks of it. It'll probably end up in my Etsy shop in the near future.
I'd like to try a more "grown up" design so I'm throwing out a question for you all... What size purse works best for you and what features do you like a purse to have? Lots of pockets (outside or inside) ~ what type of handle (long or short) ~ What type of closure works best for you (velcro ~ zipper ~ snap or button). Do you like the fabrics fun and funky or something more sensible that goes with more?
Just trying to get some ideas for my next design attempt and of course, you all will be the first to see it ~ good or bad.

Quilter's Home Magazine

Not sure if you all have heard of Mark Lipinski or Quilter's Home Magazine. Mark is a quilter/ designer/ magazine editor. He's definitely the "bad boy" of quilting ~ a rebel if you will. In his previous life he was a producer /program director of such little shows as "The View" and "Oprah" to name a few.
He now has his own line of patterns and fabrics and a great blog called "The Blog From Pickle Road."
The reason I mention all this is, Jo-Ann fabric & craft is refusing to shelf the latest addition of his magazine. I personally couldn't wait to get my hands on it. Actually it's the only magazine subscription I currently have. It's not just quilt patterns. There are great articles, humorous editorials and even yummy recipes. It's not just your ordinary quilters magazine.
So, I'm sure you are wondering why Jo-Ann's (who usually carries this magazine) is boycotting this issue. It's his article on controversial quilts ~ quilts that have been banned from shows or were at least controversial in the shows.
Having read the article and seen the quilts, I honestly don't see what the problem is. One has a nude male figure, from the back ~ and very tastefully done. Some of the quilts deal with homosexuality (oh no!) or gun control, pain and suffering.
I personally think it's the most interesting magazine I've read in a while.
I'm not asking you to boycott Jo-Ann's and neither is Mark, but you should definitely check out this magazine. It's really really good.

I'm ready for Valentine's day, are you?

Don't forget to get in on my "Give Away" so you can have your own mug mat (tea included). I have sent the kids candy grams at school but other than that I don't really do much for Valentine's day. I do, only because the kids make me, make a special meal on Valentines day. Usually meatloaf, sometimes something else but ALWAYS pink mashed potatoes. Yes, they look gross but the kids love them ~ go figure.

I did get one very valentine thing for myself It was made by my bloggy pal Julie. You should really check out her stash of custom book marks. She sells them at a really great price and they make great gifts, even if its just for yourself. Oh, and she has much more than just valentines day.

What a week

So far this week has proven to be busy as usual. The 6th grade class is selling Candy Grams as a fundraiser for their end of the year field trip to Disney's Epcot Center. Guess which parent has been at the school at 7:15 every morning supervising this production? Me, of course. I'm not on my own. There are about 3 or 4 other parents who have shown up each morning to help but it seems to me it's always the same small group of parents helping out. I realize a lot of parents have to work but out of the 150 6th grade students, you'd think there would be more than the same 5 or so... and I know, in our neighborhood we have a butt load of stay-at-home-moms.

Secondly, I've been or will be at the quilt shop just about every day this week and then some. I taught on Saturday, worked the Super Bowl sale on Sunday, worked Monday, Staff meeting on Tuesday that was supposed to be over at 11:00 but didn't get out until 2:00. I was supposed to go in today (Wed) but canceled the class I was supposed to teach today. Tomorrow I'll be there for training. Friday I'm going in to quilt on the HQ16 for a customer and then working again on Saturday. I don't have the work schedule for the following week but hopefully it'll be a bit lighter.

In addition to that, we went over to middle school last night for a tour and talk about the upcoming year. How in the world did my little man get old enough for middle school? Now, I realize we got an extra year because our county is one of the few that doesn't start middle school until the 7th grade and I'm actually grateful for that. Next year looks like it's going to be an "interesting" year though. It's a magnet middle school ~ meaning they have programs most middle schools don't. They have one of the best "gifted" programs in the county and Nate is already slotted to be in that. The other thing this school is known for is performing arts. Lots of Drama, Dance, Chorus, Band etc. Nate is hoping to learn/play the base guitar. He's also looking forward to taking Spanish and we haven't decided on his 3rd elective yet. The only sports teams the school has is basketball and track which is fine, cause those are the two he is most interested in. Tomorrow he will actually "shadow" another student already at the middle school, just to see what it's like for the day. I can't wait to hear how it goes.

And, oh yeah, we are still selling Girl Scout Cookies ~ any buyers out there?
Lastly since I don't like posts without pics... Here's one from Abbigale's visit ~ along with Jen & Oscar.

I got carried away

The other day I came across this quick and cute little project and thought it would make a cute Valentines giftee for Nate's teachers. It's a little mug mat that comes with tea, sweetener and a spoon. Well I started pulling out some valentines type fabrics and then couldn't make up my mind which combinations I liked best ~ so I made a whole batch! I think I ended up with about 15 of these little tea mats. So, what does one do with so many Valentine's mug mats?
I say it's time for another GIVE AWAY!!!
Leave me a comment between now and Sunday night ~ give me your best, or worst Valentines day story and I'll pick a bunch of my favorites and send you out a Tea mug mat. Can't wait to hear from you and don't forget to tell all your friends!