Time to go to the Post

I finished it! Hurray! Now I can mail it off this morning. Niece is patiently waiting to receive her goody bag. I have added a couple of baby outfits to the diaper bag. They were all newborn size, hence the mailing them now, instead of waiting to hand them to her. I'm afraid that Parker will be too big for them by the time I can come visit.

I'm really happy with the way this quilt turned out. I love the colors and hope Mom and Dad love it also.
Just a close up of the quilting. I quilted the last verse of the "Teddy Bear Picnic" in the red border. I did a small stippling around each of the bears in the middle. Now they really puff up and out, making them more visible.

Remember the pinwheels? Here they are again, now with more quilting. I added his name on one side and birth date, weight and inches, on the other side.
Hopefully these quilts will be loved and used. I feel that all my quilts should be used. My BFF's grandmother (who taught me to quilt) felt that you shouldn't use her quilts. I guess they were just suppose to look pretty on the bed. Well I want mine on the bed and used. My quilts were made to throw on the floor and then in the wash. Nothing to frou-frou for a child.

Have a great weekend,

Take care, Brandie

Top finish

Yesterday I finished up Parker's quilt. I added my last border and his name. Today I will try to get all the quilting done so I can send it off in the mail ASAP. 13 days early, I wasn't ready, but he was. Mom says he has been a good baby. He hasn't cried a lot, just sleeps mostly. But on the first day, what more can you expect. Hopefully he will be good today, tomorrow, ect ....
It'll be a couple of weeks till I can go visit and spoil him. I haven't talked a lot about my bio-family. My Niece is my favorite family member from my family. I am the middle child, second daughter of a toxic Mother. None of us children were raised by her very long. I was lucky enough to be abandoned here in Paradise with my non-related Grandmother. This was one of only 3 thankful things my bio-mom has done for me. Unfortunately, my sister is exactly like my bio-mom and when my niece was a young teen, she forged a relationship with me. She is a lot alike me and we have shared too many unhappy times at our bio-mom's hands. I wish neither of us had to experience these times, but for myself, I can say, it has made me who I am today. And I like myself, as I have grown, and continue to grow, to be.
(This has been the hardest thing I have ever put on stone, please forgive me for being so emotional. I didn't ever mean for my blog to be anything but up beat. But I also know that facing my past will be a therapeutic and healing experience. All this has been brought up, cause I'm proud of my niece for forging through and being such a strong person. I admire her and just wish I was as strong.)
So enough with the tears and on with my newest Internet purchase. I bought handles to put on my diaper bag. My niece's bag had handles made of a suede upholster. I couldn't find any other strongish fabric to make handles with so I found these on-line. I will show the pink and yellow bag, after I finish that quilt top.

So good luck on all your projects and we'll talk tomorrow.

Take care, Brandie

Happy news

Last night, about 6 hours ago, my niece had her baby. Parker is now here and ready to be loved. And unfortunately, his quilts are with me. But he does have a name, so I can finish up his quilts. I'm so excited, but will have to wait a while to go visit. He was a few weeks early, but perfectly healthily. 7lbs 7oz and 20 1/2 inches long. He was ready.
Yesterday was a busy day, I was supervising my factory workers. Again, they accomplished a lot. We stared own color wheel, and from there we can arrange own stars.
We still have a couple of strips to finish our color wheel, but you get the picture.
4 more stars, in a different pattern. We now have 8 more 7 inch stars and 16 4 1/2 inch stars to complete before we start to assemble to quilt top.
These ladies have been a pleasure to work with. And they don't seem to mind when I go a little crazy. Great job ladies!
Take care, Brandie

"What?"

Just a quick post to say "Howdy". I'm off to work on the Opp. quilt. It will be an all day thing, so hopefully I'll have something to show you tomorrow. I'll leave you with a funny pic of PugsLee.

This is her "What?" face. Maybe I startled her out of a deep sleep. How silly she looks!

Take care, Brandie

Blue balls

This last week my MIL told me that they had cobalt garden stacks, at Costco. Of course I had to go look. So we all loaded up and went to take a look see. Here they are. Aren't they beautiful?

I will don't expect an answer this time. I'm just stating the obvious.

So my MIL bought me 9 of these to decorate my yard. Blue is not my favorite color, at all. I don't often use blue in my quilts. I've never painted a room blue. And I have very few blue clothes, except for blue jeans. BUT, I love cobalt glass. My living room is full of glass. In the windows, on top of window valances, on the mantle, on the entertainment center. Really, I have cobalt glass everywhere. So these new balls will be right at home in and around my yard. Now I just need to find the perfect places for them. That's today's job, before the rain tomorrow.

Take care, Brandie

Do you remember..

Do you all remember these pages of decorator books? Friends Sue and Alicia brought a truck load home from a shop that was closing. Well I'm still coming up with ways to use the pieces of fabric. Remember the stockings at Christmas? They were made from this pile.

And yesterday I made this from that pile. How cute is this? It's a diaper bag! Made from 20 different plaids and a piece of upholstery fabric from the bottom of the bag and handles.
Any boy will love it. In fact, Mom and Dad love it. I sent a pic to my niece and she can't wait to receive it, along with goodies.

I was sooo impressed with myself, that I started another one. This one will be for my cousin.
This one is also made with about 20 pieces, but with a cotton bottom. I love the pinks and yellows together. You can even see my label. I wanted it to look professional and not homemade.
I'm still working on the inside. I want there to be a lot of pockets. I have to figure out what to use for handle on this one. I don't think that cotton will be strong enough. So today I will be shopping around. I'm having so much fun, that I cut out 4 of these bags. But not all will be diaper bags. I really can have a purse for every day, every outfit. And this is all Thanks to Gail. She gave me this great idea.

Take care and have a wonderful weekend, Brandie

All things baby

I was trying to prepare for all the babies that I'm going to meet this summer, and I realized that my stash is sadly inadequate for baby girls. For some reason. I don't have a lot of pink in my stash.

I did have these two main fabrics, but that's all the pink I have. With 4 girls coming this summer, I need to start thinking and getting more pinks. There are 3 yards of the yellow and about 4 of the flower girls. When I saw the flower girl fabric years ago, I couldn't have enough. Have I ever used any? No, I was waiting for a special occasion. Maybe now is that time. I love the antique look of the girls. Unfortunately, the colors are hard to match with. They are all muted tones and today's fabrics are crisp with color. But I'll figure something out, if I end up using this fabric.

Also I couldn't help myself. I went to Baby Gap and found a bunch of stuff.

It's hard to see, but I love the little one-sies. What could be cuter than a baby in a one-sie? A naked baby!
I'll need to curb myself from buying everything or I'll go poor. But every now and than I'll add to my baby stash and by the time the baby showers roll around, I'll be ready.
Having fun thinking up girl quilts.
Take care, Brandie

Teddy bears

I have done all I can on the teddy bear quilt. I plan on using this alphabet fabric to spell out the babies name. But I'm going to be smart about this and wait till that name is official. The parents have already changed the name 3 times.

At this moment, they are thinking of "Parker". Well what ever they decide to call their little boy, I'll be ready. I have 3 yards of this alphabet fabric. They could call him "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious " and I would have enough letters to spell it with. Would it fit around the pre existing middle? Doubtful, but I would come up with something.

I'm still working on the Bustle. It is at an ugly stage and I didn't want to take its picture yet. I'm waiting for it to pass the ugly and turn to a swan. Then I will show you.

It is raining here in Paradise, making it a glummy day. At least I wont have to water the yard after this storm. I'm just hoping I wont have to go outside and dig out the ditches by the road, yeah, it's raining hard. Today will be a good day to sit back and get some sewing done. Or curl up under a fuzzy blanket and read a book. Maybe I'll do both.

Take care, Brandie

Big news

This is the exciting news I eluded to on Friday. I'm going to an Aunt again! Twice!
I'm very excited, I only wished they lived closer. I would be there every day, hugging and kissing them.
Can you see them kicking?

Twin 1.

Twin 2. Or vice-versa. By the time I took the pics, I couldn't remember who was who. Two girls, what could be cuter. I'm going to be surrounded by babies and I couldn't be happier, unless they were my own. I have a friend also due about the same time as my Sister-in-law. My niece, a cousin. I'm jealous and am suffering from baby envy. I'm seriously contemplating starting over and having more children. Am I crazy? I'm just shy of my 40th B-day. I can't wait for grandchildren. Both grown kids are not at the place in their lives to provide me with the little babies I adore. Am I crazy?

This last Tuesday was my daughter's birthday. She was out of town and we had to wait till the Sunday to have a b-day dinner. She is 20! My baby is 20! I don't feel any different, but she sure has changed. She was so little we worried about her, now she's 20. She is mostly all grown up. Has a great job. Lives on her own. Bought her own car. She doesn't need me any more (except for money, occasionally).

I'm obviously going though a mid life crisis or something. Empty nest syndrome?

My beautiful redhead. How did I produce this? Luck?

I miss her, specially if she was having a good day. Those redheads can turn in a snap! Bad days, I don't miss at all!

If any one you are ever in Chico and have never been to La Hacienda, Go! We love this place. Our family could go there for every occasion. I almost always get the Acapulco salad. I love it! fresh greens and chicken. Whole beans, avocado, tomatoes and purple onions. Yum!

Doesn't it look beautiful on that green plate? Talk about fresh! Oh it does come with cheese, but my tummy doesn't like cheese, so I get it without.

So if you can't tell, I had a great weekend. How was your weekend?

Take care, Brandie

Another good book

We have beening Internet problems all morning. Hopefully this will post. Today I have a very special appointment to go to. Monday I will tell you all about it. I'm very excited!
Did you know that April is autism awareness month? I just learned this myself. After reading, Jodi Picoult's new book, I know a little more about autism. I personally don't know anyone with autism. But after reading this book, which I highly recommend, I feel for the entire family. Autism doesn't affect just one person, it affects the whole family.

House Rules: A Novel

I did get a little quilting done. My niece called me yesterday after her Dr. appointment. She is now in her 36th week. 4 weeks to go! So I thought I better get busy on her other quilt. This one is to match all the teddy bear decor that they are decorating with. I had an odd left over piece that I'm cutting and making up a pattern as I go. (I didn't want to cut up the bears into small pieces and lose the look of the fabric.) So far I like it. It has a very scrappy look. Earlier I decided that I would add another border of the half square triangles. After doing Lori's CC&C, I've really like the look of small pieces. How do you like my design wall?

Have a wonderful weekend.

Take care, Brandie

Opp. progress

I'm back. I've cleared a little space on the hard disk, so I should be able to take about 100 pics till I need to buy a new one. I don't have pics download from the wedding, but I don have a pic of the Opportunity quilt we are working on for Annie Star Quilt Guild. This is a preview. We are making a star quilt. There will be a huge Costa Rica star in the middle, 8 , 15", stars shown below, 4, 12", stars and about 20, 4 1/2", stars.

The pic, or the camera, doesn't quite pick up the color. This pic looks a little garish and that's not true to life. So for we have had no problem getting help from the guild members helping make our opportunity quilt. It has been a pleasant experience. But I will be glad when the duty is over and I can relax a little.

Take care , Brandie

more bad news

This weekend I learned some more bad news.
We had gone to a family wedding, which of course you take pictures at. Well not only am I without a camera, now it seems as if my hard disk is full. So I can't download any more pics!
Which also means I can't show you any pics from the wedding. My Hubby says I need to buy another hard disk, a larger one I guess. Can you believe this! I currently use an external hard disk for my pics. This was to keep me from filling up the computer's internal one. I honestly never expected to full it up. I thought these things were huge and would last me a life time. Oh well.

So let me show you some of the last pics I took, with my Hubby's camera.

One of the bleeding hearts that lives at my house. They are so delicate and odd looking. My Grandmother used to call them "Dutchman's breeches". They do kind of look like bloomers.
My favorite trees are the Japanese maples. I have several varieties and I love them all. This one has very long leaves, which gives it a lacy appearance.
A Japanese maple in green, common variety. But I still love it.
And look, the dogwood is starting to grow leaves. Little tiny ones. I stuck my finger in there for reference.

One of the things I do love about Hubby's camera is, the bokeh. I like how the background blurs and things kind of disappear.

I may that a blogging break till this hard disk situation is taken care of, so if you don't hear from me, that is why.

Take care, Brandie

Memorial service at 2

There will be a memorial service today to say goodbye to a great friend. This friend was always with me and always ready to point and shoot. She will be greatly missed. We've been through many trials together. From the family store closing, daughter's graduation and several weddings. Not all her work was the best, but some was very entertaining. She went before her time, and I will miss her everyday. Goodbye good friend.
You didn't expect her to take such good pics, did you? you all are probably judging her by her age. Shame on you! This girl took some great pics. Age has nothing to do with. She had an eye for detail .

This is her sister. Too bad she can't be up graded to digital. Now this camera has taken many great pics and she has even traveled to far away places. She took wonderful fish-eye views in Sydney. Many family portraits, and some great camping trips. But nobody will miss her weight. Just her versatility.

Unfortunately, this baby doesn't look as cute and sexy as her sisters but she will be missed. And in case you didn't realize it, this is her last photo. Think of this as her death mask.

Goodbye........

Tears.......

I am crying real tears of sadness. Yesterday my camera failed to turn on. I charged it all night and to no avail. My camera is broken. Tears......
I have been beating around the idea of a new camera, since before Christmas. At that time, my son bought, in my opinion, a wonderful pocket camera for his girlfriend. But I was being frugal and said "I don't need it". Now I've shot myself in the foot. I can start using my Hubby's, I'll just have to be taught some new tricks. Am I still teachable? We will find out.
Fortunately, his camera will use my card, so I don't have to relearn that. Still sad.

Last night Gail, my Daughter and I went to a wonderful tea cafe, for dinner. If I had my camera, I could have shown you all the beautiful salad greens we ate and their huge list of teas. Of course the down side to going there for dinner, was I had to visit the restroom 3 times last night. My Hubby already thinks my bladder is the size of a walnut, my bathroom breaks at night kind of confirm his belief.
So since I didn't have my camera last night, I show you the burrito I had last week after my dentist appointment.


Sorry Blogger decided to rotate the pic.
This is from one of my favorite restaurants here in Paradise, Casa De Paradiso. Hubby and I go there at least once a month, specially at lunch time. They have the food on your table so fast the you can maybe eat 2 chips. I had never ordered this burrito before. Our waitress asked if I knew how big it was, and I said "that 's OK, I'll have leftovers". Well did I ever have leftovers! I had to take a pic. Our waitress even stuck her arm in there so we could have some prospective. Huge!

Well I'm going to go conduct some funeral words and send my camera off the camera heaven. I'll have a little cry and talk to you all Monday.
Have a Great weekend.
Take care, Brandie

I'm a bibliophile

I'm going to try something new today. One of my passions are books. I love to get so caught up in a book that I can imagine being part of it. Now not all books, there are some that don't interest me at all. My favorites being mysteries and biographies. Between my Hubby and I, our house is full of books. Each room has books, from the bathroom to hallway.
Also I had an email from Amazon about linking from my blog to their site and making money off it. Now I don't expect to make any money, but I did think it was a good idea. I can tell you about the books I have read and if you are interested in the book, you are suppose it to able to click the link and it will take you to Amazon. If you happen to buy that book, even the used ones, I am suppose to profit from it. Again, I don't expect to make money and you should not feel obligated to buy through me. But if you want to read the book, don't ask me, I'm very picky about loaning them out. They never could back. Hey Melanie, if your reading this, bring back my book!

So this last weekend I sent reading. I have had a couple of books awaiting my attention. So the first was this book, Saving Cece Honeycutt.

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt: A Novel

It was a sweet story about a 12 year old girl who loses her Mother. She is rescued by an Aunt she has never meet till the week after her Mother's death.

I think I said it all with "Sweet Story". I found it very predicable. But if you're looking for something that you can put down, this is your book. Or maybe this would be good for a young teen girl.

The girl who chased the moon, was a new book from an author I had read before. So I picked it up. I was not disappointed! I loved it. Why? It wasn't the same old story. It was new and unpredictable. Definitely keep it up if you can.

The Girl Who Chased the Moon: A Novel

And this book is Highly recommended. This was Sarah Allen's first book and nobody was expecting this story.

Garden Spells (Bantam Discovery)



Now this book was also a first from the author. She created something that I had never before experienced. And I loved it. It was new and exciting.
The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel
So if you're looking for a new book to read this weekend, look one of these up.
Take care, Brandie

A wasted day

Yesterday was kind of a bust. I really didn't get anything done. My plan for the "Bustle" didn't work out. So I have to come up with something new.
Remember that I had all those fabrics to iron?

This is just a small pile of them. They were twisted and knotted together. It was a mess. I think a rough estimate of fabrics, is over 60. Some of these fabrics are 1/2 yard pieces, some 1/3 yards and some quarters. That's not counting the 18 yards of background and backing. So I wasn't lying when I told you that I hate to iron. So what did I do instead? I found a new blog, to me. She is hilarious! She kept me highly amused all day. And I do mean ALL day. I feel that a blog is like a book, so I started back at her beginning. That was in mid 2007. I have only read about half way. I had to go to bed and try to gain some beauty sleep. I highly recommend Kim's blog. She has stories that would make even Stephanie Plum laugh.

I did finally get around to ironing all that fabric, taking reading breaks to ease the boredom. Today some of us Opportunity gals will be getting together to make packets of fabrics for all the sewers next week. Maybe then I will have something to show you. So time for me to get dressed in my supervisor clothes and go be the boss. I really have no idea what I'm doing. I just stand around and let these seasoned girls do all the work. So I'm just there to bounce anyone if they misbehave. Teasing! So far everyone has gotten along and they all are working like a well oiled machine. Some of them have done this many times before.

So enjoy your day!

Take care, Brandie

Bustle in my hedgerow

Can you tell what I've been working on?

I've finished putting all the berries in the basket. My Husband thinks my basket looks like a corset, so he has started called this my "bustle in my hedgerow" quilt. I could live with that for the name of this quilt. I am a fan of Led Zeppelin. (Even though a bustle is in the back and a corset is on the top).

Today's plan is to finish ironing all those fabrics for our Opportunity quilt. Bluhhh, I hate to iron. Also I will try to get some orange peel shape done on the "Bustle". I think I may have to change the pattern to suit me, surprised aren't you.

We are experiencing sunny sky's today, I hope the same is true for you.

Take care, Brandie

A field of cupcakes

I hope you all had a good day yesterday. Did you over eat? Make a mess? Wish you hadn't eaten as much chocolate? Well I did all the above. So much for dieting.
I made the usual feast, ham, potatoes and green beans. But the fun started at desert. Sunflower cup cakes.

Sorry for the blurry pic. I think I was suffering for sugar over load and couldn't hold the camera still. I also made little egg shaped cakes. I found this muffin pan shaped like eggs and bought 2. So this Easter I made the cakes, frosted 2 ends and stuck them together. It wasn't till I tried to frost them that I ran into trouble. How do you frost something round? I had frosting all over my hands, The cakes were all lumpy from frosting or naked were my fingers touched. I even frosted one side then laid them down on coconut grass to frost the other side. (If you have any ideas, let me know for next year) So needless to say, they were ugly things and I did not photograph them (don't want them going down in history with my name attached).

Have a wonderful Monday.

Take care, Brandie

Greetings.....

....from the "Keester Bunny". I received this card a couple of years ago form my BFF, and I still get a kick out of it. So I'm sharing the funny with you. Enjoy!

Being the head of our opportunity quilt is becoming exhausting. It seems like I have a meeting every other day. So I'm sorry I have neglected you all.

So to make up for yesterdays absence, I have a bit of fabric to show you. These are just a few of the fabrics that are going into our quilt. Today I must wash and iron all these pieces.
I want to wish you all a very Happy Easter. What ever you do , enjoy the day!

Would you like a chocolate bud? They're very tasty! They make are your blues go away.

Have a great weekend!

Take care, Brandie