Reason for my absence

I know, you are probably tired of seeing dog pics, but this one is too cute. Little Maximus in PugsLee's bed, actually looking well behaved. He is a little rocket. He runs from here to there and then he is suddenly in your face licking up your nose-holes! And poor PugsLee can't take a nap without fear that this little rascal will jump on her and pull her tail. For a 11 year old dog, she is doing quite well to keep up with Max. They run around and around the coffee table, till she start coughing too much and then we have to put Max in a timeout. Then he's back for more and it starts all over again. He is learning from PugsLee though. He has learned to follow her to the door to be let out and he always goes potty at the same time, because he has learned that there is a treat after going! So less accidents at grandma's.

And speaking of accidents, I had to take a break for this reason. I was too emotional and wasn't looking for sympathy, just time to deal with the after math.

On the 13 of November, my Daughter had an accident coming to meet us for her Brother's birthday dinner. She was just leaving the twins after spending the weekend babysitting. She had just called to tell us she was leaving. Then 15 minutes later she called again and I could hear it in her voice that something was wrong.
The car in front of her had stop suddenly to look at an accident beside them and she stomped on her brakes, the brakes locked and she slid right into the rear bumper of the car in front of her. Because that car was a bigger car, they were able to drive away. She had to be towed and rescued. She was alright, except for a sprained wrist, which we had to get a splint for.

My entire drive to rescue her was a prayer of Thanksgiving...Well, you know. Sorry, getting emotional again.

I'm ever so Thankful that I still have her and that no one was hurt, her wrist will heal with time.

So she begged rides from co-workers for a couple of weeks, then regained her courage to drive again and borrowed my car. She left after spending another weekend with us and drove my car home, then drove to work. Then went out to drive to lunch.

She called me crying that she broke my car. Apparently, my clunker, which she has driven many times, decided that it was time for the steering column to go out. So my boys had to mickey mouse with it to get it home and here I still sit! I couldn't leave unless someone pushes me and the car out of the driveway! Hey but the key is still in it, so I hoping someone will steal it!

So on Black Friday, we all drove about 3 hours away for my Daughter to purchase a newer car.
And here she is. Isn't this a beauty? Wait...there's more to the story.

So after driving this pretty little car home, at least another 3 hours, we all stopped in at the house for left-overs. 2 hours later, Hubby and Daughter went back out to drive around ... and... the check engine light came on...and they could only drive 4 miles pre-hour.

Soooo, we parked the thing, called the Honda dealership and asked what to do. They said "sometimes when they detail the car, they blow water in the spark-plugs and that will cause these problems". Hubby went out to check them and to dry them off, nothing changed. Good thing she has a certified warranty! So she spend another night and we thought we'd try agin in the morning.

Nothing changed. Here was her beautiful new car, just sitting there unable to keep the engine turned on. Long story short, it spent the weekend doing nothing.

Monday morning we had it towed to the localish dealership. Guess what they said? "You have a latch on your air filter and it wasn't attached, so we latched it up and you're good to go".

I'm hoping this is the end, as I'm sure you are!

Cross your fingers that I'm next in the car lottery!

Take care, Brandie

Turkey report

Hello again! I'm back. I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving. Has everyone had enough turkey and pie? I sure have! It's really hard to maintain a good diet through the Holidays. They only come around once a year and I usually make these goodies, once a year. So the temptation is avoided till now.

Our family had a wonderful meal and the best part was the time spent together. Bridgette and Maximus came to spend the weekend. Yes she only lives 30 minutes away, but that's another story. William and his girlfriend spent most of Wednesday and Thursday with us. In fact, those two helped with the pies. It was a first for Amanda, she had never made a pie crust or even a pie. I made a batch of Cook's Illustrated " vodka pie crust". I think it is one of the best and easiest crusts out there. (Google it, since I can't seem to make my link work.)

I did manage to get my hexy table runner done, just in time to set up before the fixin's got to the table. I had so much fun with these, that I bought another package, this time smaller ones at 1/2 inch. Maybe I'll make a Christmas pillow or again, something small. It's a great way to use up scraps.
I'm going to leave you now, but I'll be back tomorrow.

Everyone take care,

Brandie

Short Break

Sorry Girls, I need to take a little break. Hopefully I'll be back by the end of the week. If not, I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Take care, Brandie

More Pumpkins

Yesterday I had a lovely time in downtown Chico. My sewing buddy Gail had some gift certificates to spend and she invited me along. We spent most of the afternoon roaming the streets and checking out stores. We had lunch at a local bakery, Tin Roof. In my humble opinion, they have some of the best bread. I wish my bread was as tasty, but then again maybe not, I'd be eating it all day.

We had turkey sandwiches on rosemary focaccia, yummy! Then after walking around a bit, and had a scoop of ice cream at another local shop, Shubert's . They have been in business since 1938 and have always made their own ice cream, again, yummy!

While wandering around, Gail bought me these salt and pepper shakers. They are the orangy ones, front and center. She is feeding my addiction!
She knows how much I love pumpkins and when she saw these shakers, she insisted on buying them for me. Thank you Gail! They fit in perfectly. Now they have a family.
I figured while I was taking a picture of the shakers, I might as well take a picture of the whole mantle. Especially since I never did get around to sewing! Too much shopping and having fun with Gail, makes a girl not want to sew.

Have a great weekend and I'll see you all back here on Monday.

Take care, Brandie

A Few Stitches

I've been doing very little sewing. No , I mean a little sewing on little things. I need to complete my "Brown Bag Challenge". It would be pretty bad to have the head of the project not complete her own quilt. I would be very embarrassed! The biggest problem is getting what's in my head, down on the fabric.

For the last two weeks, my machine has been sitting here doing nothing, till I sewed up this teeny-tiny apron. Appliquéing doesn't seem to hurt my hands as much as hand quilting, so the table runner is on the back burner. This little quilt still needs embellishment and quilting before it is entirely complete and I only have a couple of weeks till it's due. Shame on me for procrastinating!

I also worked on this part. I had left it laying on my sewing table this weekend. When Bridgette showed up, she happened to see this and she screamed and yelled " What Are You Doing?!". We all jumped and tried to get her to settle down, asking her what she was talking about (she ever scared her little puppy).
She held up this block and demanded to know (redheads have quite the attitude!) "How old are you? What's next? A quilted outfit? I didn't expect a CAT quilt till you were at least 60. This is too much!" Of course we were all laughing. Thank goodness Hubby intervened and told her it was just one block and that I haven't made and quilted clothes and that the closest I got was her "Red Queen" costume. Hehehehe, that shut her up!

So I'm not sure if my DD has something against cats or if she is embarrassed of me and my quilting or if she just has high standards of me. I'll go with the latter. So no more cats quilts and I'm going to shy away from the quilted vests for a couple of years.

Take care, Brandie

Honey Run Covered Bridge

This weekend we went to a craft fair in a small neighboring town. This is a very rural area that I live in and I couldn't be happier to share some of our historical spots with you all. This wooden bridge, being one of them. In the background of the bridge, you can see the bluffs above it. This bridge is no longer used for traffic but some of it's new uses are even better.
They held the craft fair inside the bridge. I think it looks amazing as a store. I also think that the atmosphere helped to make everything look better and hopefully made people buy more.
I did my share! I went with $60 and I spent it all! I was greedy and spent it all on me. I know, I know, I should have been thinking about Christmas but I was selfish.
The only thing I'd change, those ugly orange plastic fences. I know they put them out there for peoples safety, but they sure are ugly!
One of my quilt guild friend made this cobalt ornament. We all know how much I love glass cobalt. So I had to add this to my collection.
I also HAD to come home with this faucet soup dish. How cute it that!? And I had to buy the licorice soap, it smelled soooo good!
And who couldn't use another mixing bowl? I guess me. I loved the red glaze and the workman ship is excellent. The lady who made this bowl, really knows her stuff.

It was a beautiful day before our rain storm and I got to connect to some local artists. Now if I only had more money...

I'm going to try to get some sewing done today, but my hands! Oh I'm so frustrated! If I only knew what to do to keep them from hurting, without giving up hand sewing. My hands seem to be aging before their time. The rest of me is OK, just my hands are complaining. Oh well.

Take care, Brandie

A New Love

I'm going to tell you a secret, please don't hold it against and all of you out there with the same problem, please don't ridicule me.

It all started last Wednesday. I went into my local quilt shop (hurray for Morning Star) to look around, that was my first mistake. While there, Marsha threaten to do bodily harm to my backside if I missed another Applique night. I made some excuse about not have anything to do, or anything prepped or something to that effect. On that note, she lured me into her office to show me a potential item she was thinking about carrying (in retrospect, I should have known it was a trap!).

Can anyone guess what I was tricked into buying?
These cute little paper hezy cardboards. So that night at Appliqué club, I made all these hezies and was hooked. I Loved doing them! Marsha later said "You were an easy sell". Sheesh, this is why you shouldn't have personally relationships with quilt shop owners!

Over the weekend I had a lot of fun with those little pieces of paper and fabric. Every night I made up about 30 before bed. It was great fun and so easy to do in front of the TV.
Last night, this is what I had. A 125 pieced table runner just for the fall season. I also layered it and plan to hand quilt it. I will fit quite well in my purse and will be a great take along project.

So the moral to this story is, never to follow a quilt shop owner into their inner sanctum, there are things in there we shouldn't see!

Take care, Brandie

Drum Roll...

I'm so glad to be back! I've missed you all! I've visited some of you, but it's just not the same as running my own mouth. And another thing, I've made good use of my time and have some things to show you, throughout the week.

So enough about that, let's get on to the name-picken and give-away. Drum roll...
We have a winner! Thelma, fromhttp://cupcakesndaisies.blogspot.com/! If you haven't been to her blog, you must go! She has an amazing start quilt she just finished, that I'm trying to figure out how to get her to send it to me. I've come up with a devious plan, but she saw right through it.
Thelma, Congratulations! Trade you the gift for your quilt?

In other news, I have a grand...puppy! I'm so happy...ish! He is a 12 week old, almost 3 pounds of cuteness. His name is Maximus and he came to visit me last night. We had already meet, but he hadn't meet his big Aunt PugsLee.
In this pic it looks as if he has an enormous head, but it's just a funny angle. He loves his Mommy! He watches her every move. Every time she left the room, he stood up to follow her with his eyes ( that's because I was holding him).
Right now he's all legs. He walks and runs like a baby colt. Chasing his tail seems to be his favorite thing, that and sleeping in Moms bed, under all the blankets.

Today I feel old. I guess that happens when your older child, gets older. He is officially 23, in about 15 minutes. What a day, what a boy!

I think I'll start a new tradition of calling him at his exact time of birth and tell him all the gory details, like I wouldn't have had any stitches if he wouldn't have tried to get out on his own!

Too much? Sorry to leave you with that story, but I need to go make a call, wake that boy up and tell him.

Take care and I'll see you tomorrow, Brandie

Blog-aversary

Last week I had my blog-aversary. I made it a complete year. I wasn't sure I could do it, but I did and I even have followers. The followers was just a fringe benefit to my motor mouth. I started this journey to vent, meet new people and have an outlet to share my quilts and love of sewing. I have thoroughly enjoyed this last year. I have meet many new people and I have learned so many things from the blogging community. And best of all, the inspiration around each corner. I was sadly suffering from lack of inspiration. I felt like I had seen it all and read every book and that was it. Then I was introduced to a plethora of patterns, ideas and even Kaffes. And all you out there, Thank you! You have enriched my life with laughter, joy, ideas and fun. You are the best part!

So to show my Thanks, I do have a gift, but first I'd like to show you a simple idea that just came to me.

I have one shelf that I devote all my quilting books (OK, that's a lie, but I try to keep them all on one shelf). Said shelf gets a little stuffed at time, like now. I do go through my books occasionally, but I have a hard time getting rid of any as I am a Bibliophile: Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. Accordingly a bibliophile is an individual who loves books. More commonly referred to as a bookworm, the individual loves books for their content, or otherwise loves reading. The -ia-suffixed form "bibliophilia" is sometimes considered^{[by whom?]} to be an incorrect usage; the older "bibliophilism" is considered^{[by whom?]} more correct. The adjective form of the term is bibliophilic. A bibliophile may be, but is not necessarily, a book collector.
I had an old yard stick sitting around and I put Velcro on both ends and used it to keep those book in oder. If I had a bunch of yard sticks, I'd make a frame around my bulletin board and maybe even these bookshelves. The ideas are endless. Just thought I should share, incase you also have an unruly shelf. (there I was just being punning, twice)

Lets get on to the good stuff. The gifts. I have here a Fig Tree book with some beautiful quilts, and some even have pumpkins and gourds in them. Which I think is perfect for this time of year.

Also there are 6 fat-quarters in yummy warm tones. And just because I went a little crazy with the coasters, there are a pack of 4 to grace your table.
So if you are interested, please leave a message for me here on this post And I want to hear what makes you Thankful. This isn't a contest to see who is the most Thankful, I just want to spread the joy and make those Negative Nellies out there see how good they have it. And because this is the season to be Thankful. I'll start, I'm Thankful to be living in a town that is surrounded in beauty. Every day I gives Thanks for the color green.

I will pick a name on Monday morning and announce the lucky person then. I will also be taking a break till Monday, to let everyone have a chance to enter, so goodbye till then.

Take care, Brandie

After Math

If I wasn't so embarrassed of the mess, I'd show you all the pics, but I'm not going to. I want you all to believe that my house is never messy and that I would never have a dirty dish in my sink. And I'm not going to tell you that all the Halloween decorations are still up.

In reality the after math of a party isn't pretty. Just like you don't instantly gain weight or even lose the weight. It all takes time. All these decorations didn't get put up in one day and they aren't going down in one day.

And some of the decorations are just too cute to take down, specially because they just arrived. I need time to admire them. Like these super adorable ghost cookies. Cousin Nikki brought these over Halloween night. Yeah you heard me, she bought treats to my house. How sweet is that. Of course she didn't take any away, so I'm still dealing with the leftovers.
She brought them over to share with my party, but I selfishly keep most of them. I think they will make some great decorations for next year. So when I start actually packing things up, I'll move these cute little guys into the freezer for next year.

Oh the perils of house work! And if you're still overly tired, it isn't fun. The way I'm feeling now, I might not have the Halloween decorations put away till Christmas! Oh woe is me!

Take care, Brandie

The Pumpkin Party

As you all probably have figured out by now, we like Halloween. And because my Neice and little Parker were coming to visit, we had to welcome the Great Pumpkin and celebrate with a big shindig. We all had a blast and I'll say it again, it was utter Chaos!
The little pumpkin checking out PugsLee. Ain't he cute!
A portion of the goodies. BTW, those are brain matter cupcakes. We had to strongly encourage the children to try the cupcakes. I think the gray frosting is a little gross looking to them.
I uploaded this pic to show you the sign that my Hubby made. But lets not overlook this adorable Strawberry Shortcake.

One of the kids asked Witchy Poo what it meant "fatten the children". She just handed him a candy bar and pinched his fingers for doneness.
This was the drink table. There were a few brave souls. Most seemed to prefer the "Zombie Virus".
Oh No, Witchy Poo caught a little helpless child!
Looks like that Zombie juice is already working! Someone should tell the Red Queen to look out.
At the last minute, a 49er and his squaw showed up. He was afraid to live his trap outside. He thought this end of town was a little iffy.
This little zombie was after PugsLee and any adult legs walking by. Ewww, scary!
This years fireplace display. It was used by Witchy Poo to stir up a few potions and Lots of trouble!

It was a great night, but the best part? It only comes once a year!

Take care, Brandie