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