Quilting, Quilting & More Quilting

Hi Everyone...I just wanted to update you on a few things I have been involved in since Christmas.

Last Saturday, March 1st, my friends and I went to Claremont to work on a charity quilt. My mom's boss, Laura, is chairing an American Cancer Society walk in May and wanted to raffle off a quilt. She had seen several of my quilts and asked if I would like to help construct the quilt. She also asked if I knew of anyone that would also like to help. I promptly asked my two quilting buddies, Joy & Yvette. I wanted to ask Teacher Extraordinnaire (Ms. Janet) as well but I knew she was probably way too busy with teaching her classes, quilting for people as well as herself, and getting ready for Saturday Sampler to start too !!! However, she was with us in spirit as we RAVED about her often.

Anyway, Laura had already purchased the material and one of her friends did all the cutting. All we needed to do was sit and sew !!!! My mom was there and even though she doesn't quilt she was a HUGE help. She ironed for us, did our "reverse sewing" (i.e. ripping out our mistakes), and even ran out and picked up lunch for us !!! It was truly a rewarding day. Here is the quilt top, minus the borders. We sewed from about 11:00 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. and just ran out of time....but we did finish the hard part of sewing all those squares and rectangles together.

However, before I went up to Claremont, Ms Enabler (my bestest buddy, Joy), talked me into joining Saturday Sampler with her, Karen, and Yvette; AT 8:00 A.M. ON SATURDAY MORNINGS...Yikes !!!! I didn't really want to make this quilt because I didn't particularly like the colors of the quilt. However, I thought it would be great just to LEARN different aspects of making different blocks. This is how it works....You join Saturday Sampler for a small fee and attend the first Saturday of every month for nine months. You are given the option after nine months to purchase the remaining three blocks for $5 each. You are given material and instructions and then have to go home and cut out and sew that month's block. If you come the following month with the finished block, you get the next month's block (including material) for FREE ! If you do that for the entire nine months, you basically can make the entire nine blocks for like $30, which doesn't even cover the cost of material for anyone who knows about quilting. Anyhow, Joy cut out her block during class on Sunday, but I was working on other things. I was bound and determined to get mine cut-out and not fall behind. Then on Monday, I decided I was tired of working all day, so about 10:00 p.m., I decided to sew the block together. It really went pretty smoothly and I'm very pleased with the results:

Here is my first block of Saturday sampler !!! I can hardly wait for April to get here so I can work on the next block.










Also, here is a baby quilt I made and quilted it using my new Bernina machine with the stitch regulator. I thought it turned out pretty nice. I wanted to make a baby quilt because it is much smaller and more managable than a lap, twin, or queen size. Also, I figured if it didn't turn out I could just give it away to Project Linus or whatever because they would be happy to have it and I just wanted to practice quilting by myself. This pattern is called Little Blessings. You can click on the picture to enlarge it. All of the bugs, flowers, frogs etc, had to be cut out separately or "fussy cut" as we quilters would say.
















I found a delightful multicolored batik for the backing. Look closely and you can see the quilting....I made curly-Q's or attempted to anyway !















Lastly, as you all know, I'm working on Craig's charity quilt as well. I designed this quilt myself and am appliquing most of the quilt. All of the stems, leaves, ribbon, and flowers have to be appliqued. Then, I'm going to be putting on a "piano key" border .....for anyone who doesn't know, Craig plays piano (or at least he used to) and loves piano jazz music. Anyway, I was feeling like I really cut off more than I could chew, but again, Ms Janet (teacher extraordinnaire) came through with the most simplest ideas......KITE STRING !!! After I laid out the string to help me visualize the stems, everything else just fell into place.


This is a picture of quilt just three weeks ago after I replaced the string with the green stems. Unfortunately the ribbon (symbolizing the brain cancer color - gray) was way too small for the rest of the flowers and I didn't have enough material. Luckily, I was able to order more material online so I could make it bigger. It also needed more leaves and stuff.

I am working on it little by little and I finally got the quilt the way I wanted it. Now I am doing a blanket stitch around all the stems, leaves, ribbon, center of the flowers, and the flowers.

This is what it currently looks like and the stitching is very time consuming. I'm taking my time because I really want people interested in buying raffle tickets. I will post more pictures of the quilt as I get futher along on it with the borders and everything. I'm pretty proud of this quilt and it really is like painting with material.

Love to all my family and friends,

Karene

Learning Embroidery !!!

Hi Everyone ! Well, I finally finished my new owner classes on how to play with Bernie. What an exciting time I had. The third and final class was learning how to embroider. I have to tell you that there is so much information on how to embroider that by lunch time my head was spinning!!! It was amazing what steps you need to go through, but when you do, it's fantastic. The class started at 10:00 a.m. and went until 4:00 p.m. It was a really long day, but full of excitement and anticipation. We just learned about everything from thread, to stabilizer, how to hoop the fabric, temporary adhesives, etc.....It was crazy. We finally got to embroider around 2:30 p.m. With only an hour & a half before class was over, I picked out a simple design with only four color changes. This simple rose and my name was the first thing I have ever embroidered with a machine. I did hand embroidery many, many years ago, but I just can't do that anymore. My hands just can't handle that type of continuous motion.





Anyway, it turned out pretty good, except for one teensy-weensy mistake, which I learned very quickly!!! Unfortunately, I started with the wrong color so the rose doesn't look exactly right. I may attempt to redo it to see what it really should look like, but all-in-all, I'm proud of how it turned out.


Not wanting to forget what I learned....and it's amazing how quickly you can forget.....I attempted to embroider a label for a baby quilt I made, ALL ON MY OWN !!!. This was my first attempt at doing everything by myself and trying to remember all the steps. I used some of the backing material from the baby quilt and decided on pink thread.





The pink thread does not really stand out that much and since this was "practice", I might go back and make another label with white thread or green to see if you can read it any better. However, just having made the label and have it stitch just the way I wanted it to, I think it turned out well.






I can't wait to try different things with embroidery!!! I'm sure my mom can't wait either !!! She has lots of projects in mind for me....just kidding ! Now, that the baby quilt is made, I'm working on the charity quilt to be auctioned off for Craig's charity function. It's coming along well, but I think I bit off more than I can chew. We'll see how that goes !!!

Love to all my family and friends !!!

Playing with Bernie

Hi Everyone,

Well, it's been very eventful with the holidays and everything. I've been sew busy that I haven't even had time to take down my Christmas tree. Thank goodness it's fake....ha,ha,ha !!! Craig is doing well after his setback and has numerous doctor appointments, tests, etc. However, he is starting to get his appetite and taste back. He is eating much better now. In fact, he has regained four pounds....YAY !!!

Anyway, most everyone knows that in November I purchased Bernie (my Christmas, birthday, anniversary, and next Christmas present). I fooled around with him for a while until the new owner's classes that began this month. Wow, what a treat learning everything he can do!!! I have included a slide show below of all the things I learned in my class last Saturday. I can't wait until this Saturday when I learn how to EMBROIDER with him !!! I hope you can see all the details. The pictures aren't that great but hopefully you can see some of the details.





Thanks to my good friends, Joy & Yvette, I had to update my blog before they started to inundate me with IM's about my blog being outdated !!! So, I'll keep it short and sweet.....will post more after I get to play with the embroidery. I can hardly stand the waiting.

Love to all my family and friends......Hugs !!!
Karene

Playing with Bernie

Christmas,Quilts & More

Hi Everyone....well, Christmas blew in and out as fast as usual. The entire month is one big blur with the usual hussle and bussel of shopping, parties, visiting family & friends, etc.

Craig's company had their annual Christmas party and last year we had a ball with dinner, the raffle, drinks & dancing. This year, of course, was a bit different with everything going on with him. But, Craig wanted to go and at least make an appearance at the party, even if it was just for the dinner & raffle. We left immediately after the raffle, and he promptly fell asleep the minute he got home and changed his clothes. But, all in all, we had a nice time. He never left the chair. All kinds of people came up to Craig & I wishing us a better 2008, saying so many nice things to me about Craig and how much he is well-respected and well-liked in the company; from the head guys, down to the people under him. I almost cried from all the wonderful things being said about Craig to me. Someone at the party snapped this picture of us.....





After the party it was the usual shopping spree and decorating to get ready for Christmas. I actually made some time to go over to Joy's house and help her decorate her 1,568,477 cookies (kidding on the amount but not by much...ha, ha, ha) that she and Michael delivered to all of our doctors, his clients, family, and friends. We had so much fun and they were so good. Thanks to my bestest buddy for letting me share this with her !


Finally Christmas and Christmas Eve were upon us...We had a nice few days visiting with family and friends. Craig was able to make it for a few hours on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day.


Christmas Eve we went to my brother's house for our traditional "pizza". Matt & Junior were there along with Melissa and Adam (my niece and nephew) in addition to my mom, aka Grandma Dorie. The only ones missing were Tricia, Aaron, Andrew, Benjamin, Scott and Audrey (my brother's kids / grand kids). Tricia & her family (Aaron, Andrew & Ben) moved to North Carolina this summer, and they were just here for her baby shower at the beginning of November so they couldn't make it out again. She's very pregnant and is due in three weeks with baby Kate. You will remember I made Tricia the Bambi quilt, and she finally sent me pictures of it in baby Kate's nursery...



Here is a picture of it in the crib. Look closely at the bumper pad and then at the quilt. I inadvertently matched the bumper pad material PERFECTLY !!! I found the fabric on E-bay and had never seen Tricia's nursery before this. WEIRD, huh!!!



Anyway, the nursery turned out really, really cute and I'm so happy that the quilt matched so well too.


Christmas Day we went to Uncle Dave & Aunt Cheryl's for Christmas dinner. Bob made our traditional "prime rib", done to perfection!!! I brought my usual 7-layer salad (recipe given to me years ago by Craig's mom, thanks mom). Cheryl made practically everything else: ham, green bean casserole, and a delicious peppermint and brownie dessert!!!

After dinner we finally opened presents, and I was just busting at the seams to give Taylor & Lexie their "memory" quilts. Their daddy passed away this past June. Anyway, I told Nicole (who has the same name as my niece) that I had brought them. She said....."Their here! You finished them!" She knew I was making the quilts for the girls but had never seen them. Nicole's sister, Angela, provided me with the greatest digital pictures, which I was able to print on fabric and turn into quilts. Anyway, I told Nicole I really wanted to give them to the girls because this was the first year without their daddy for Christmas, and it was important for me not to take too long in getting them done. God just had a way of making it possible for me to get these done in time for Christmas. I think they turned out really nice; thanks to teacher extraordinaire, Ms. Janet!

Here are Taylor & Lexie opening up the bags with the quilts.













Here is Lexie with her quilt, after finally getting it out of the bag and opened...













Here is Taylor looking at the picture of her with her daddy....













and here is a picture of Nicole sitting next to Taylor (in the white shirt) telling everyone sitting around what was happening when the pictures were taken. It was SO SPECIAL !!! (sorry I only got the back of her head).





Little Lexie came up to me, hugging the quilt, with a big smile on her face and then said to me, "I cried for my daddy last night." I fought back tears and told her that whenever she wants to "hug" her daddy that she can hug the quilt. I hope she hugs it to pieces !!!


Anyway, it was one of the most special evenings in my life. Looking at those little girls' faces and listening to the stories Nicole told about the pictures.....I just got that warm fuzzy feeling inside....you know !!! Here are a few more pictures from Uncle Dave's house at Christmas dinner...

Amie and Angela....














Nicole (my niece) with the "traditional" Boyd's Bear from Auntie, which by the way is appropriately named Amy Quiltberry!!!

















Lastly, here are a couple more pictures of Christmas morning at home!!!


Craig wearing his beanie from Matt & Junior















Grandma Dorie & Matt















And Junior !!!




Love to all our family and friends !
Karene

Miss Priss !!

Ok, ok....I know it's way, way too early for me to update my blog again, but I just had to !!! Due to the enormous amount of transcription I have had over the last several weeks and everything with Craig, I knew it was going to be tough to get any decorations up this year. Also, knowing that Craig would not be feeling up to decorating for the holidays, I wanted to make it nice for Matt & Junior....so I, (AKA: Miss Priss), decided to do a few things around the yard to decorate for Christmas. Anyone who knows me, knows that being a born-and-raised Southern California girl, I have always relied on my dad, my brother, or Craig to do stuff like this for me. But, my bestest buddy likes to play with power tools and always teases me that I should be doing some of this stuff myself, so I took on the task of putting up Christmas lights.....ALL BY MYSELF!!! However, Matt did offer to help (when I was practically all done) but he did offer a couple of times.

As you know, I used to paint (before I quilted), and I made this snowman and Santa. They have been collecting dust in the garage for years. However, I found them and cleaned them up to put along the path to the front porch.





Last Saturday, I had managed to get the reindeer up and put on the yard but wanted more.





Going on a mission, I went out and found the kind of lights that go over bushes....well, they were too small to go over the big bushes in the front, so I put them over the two small trees and the bush by the front door instead. It actually worked out well. But, I miss the colored lights that my dad used to put up every year. So, I managed to find them in the garage in opened boxes. Being the Priss that I am, I was very cautious about black widow or brown recluse spiders being inside those boxes and I pulled the top wire out until all the lights came out one by one so I could see if anything was going to "jump" out at me.....thank goodness nothing did!!! Anyway, I got two strands of lights out and decided that I was not about to climb a ladder and try to get the lights under the eves. I had already done that a couple of times to get the power cords to the outlet, and let me tell you.....I don't like heights, (again Miss Priss) !!! However, I put them around the front window in the yard.....It's just enough to make it festive and it was the best I could do all by myself.





So, here is the final outcome of Miss Priss and her decorating skills.....




Also, my good friends, Joy & Yvette, thought I was out playing with "Bernie" (my new sewing machine) instead of working today. I was even "LAUGHED" at and told I "was not a true quilter" because I didn't have a quilting project to work on !!! ...I politely mentioned I have TWO QUILTING projects in the PLANNING stages...not all of us have three-day weekends or a sewing room to retreat too (just teasing you, my friends, you know I love ya) !!! However, after another 2000 line day, I took breaks to try to decorate and rest my hands. So, now I've blogged it too and have to finish the rest of my 2,148,7999 line day.....ha,ha,ha !

Love, Karene

New Things

Hi Everyone, it's been several weeks since I last updated my blog as I been very, very busy. However, someone (who shall remain nameless, but you know who you are!!!) was giving me grief that I have not posted anything recently.....ah, I love you anyway !!! Well, I have been busy making baby quilts, attending a baby shower, doing Thanksgiving, taking care of Craig, and of course the most fun thing of all to do.....going to QUILT CLASS!!!!!

Here is one of the baby quilts I made since my last post. This one was made for Tina's newest granddaughter, Ava. Ava is a gorgeous little girl with dark brown hair. Tina's daughter, Tiffany, told me she wanted something in pinks and browns. So, of course I went on a mission. I found this really sweet pink fabric with little hearts on it. Then I found this brown material with pink roses.....I think they went together beautifully.








Because of the tendinitis in my hands, I have to do my binding by machine. As you can see, I put little pink hearts all around the binding !!!!














I made another baby quilt for Tricia's new baby out of Bambi material to match her nursery. She came out the first week in November for her baby shower. I just barely finished the quilt in time and forgot to take a picture. She moved to North Carolina now and am waiting for a picture of the nursery and the quilt so I can post a picture of it.


After finishing the baby quilts, I made two memory quilts; one for Taylor & one for Lexie. These are Craig's cousin's daughters. The quilts have pictures of the girls with their dad printed on material and sewn into each quilt. Their dad passed away this summer, about six weeks before Craig was diagnosed. Anyway, this is the first Christmas without their dad and I wanted to get them done in time. I had my teacher, Ms. Janet, (teacher extraordinnaire) quilt them and they are absolutely gorgeous. Since their mom, grandma, and aunt read this blog I will not be posting pictures of these quilts until after I give them to the girls on Christmas Day....I want everyone to be surprised when they finally see them.


SEW (pun intended).....ha, ha, ha.....Craig and I talked about it and I got an early Christmas, birthday, and anniversary present.....for the next several years!!! Enter "Bernie"....my new Bernina 640E embroidery / quilting machine. Bernie and I are getting to know each other and so far he's doing everything I want him to!!! I still have to take the new owners classes as well as the embroidery classes but I'll tell you I love him. He is SEW much fun !






I wanted to try something simple on him at first so I decided to make the Magic Corner placemats for my mother-in-law. Well, the first time I used Bernie on a "project", things did not turn out so well. Enter one of my good quilting buddies, Yvette, who also owns a Bernina (not the same one as mine, but she's gearing up to buy one too). She happened to come to the free sew day and saved me from tearing my hair out. She told me that I needed to adjust the tension when I was stippling, and it was smooth sailing after that. Since the placemats weren't exactly what I wanted for my mother-in-law, I was telling my mom that I'd probably just keep them. She promptly wanted them for herself....ha,ha,ha!!! Well, now my mom will probably get these for a gift, as they just so happen to match the decor in her kitchen.





Again, here is one of the decorative stitches (over 500 to choose from) that Bernie has to offer. I did the binding on each placemat with a leaf motif. It really did turn out great!





Ok, SEW, back to work for me !!! I promise to update again when more projects are done or when Bernie does something new for me !!! Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

All my love, Karene

Amie's Quilt

Well, it's that time again to update the blog. With everything that is going on at my house, I was not sure I was going to be able to finish my niece Amie's quilt in time for her birthday but thanks to Missy (my sister-in-law) and my mother-in-law running Craig around for me, I was able to finish it just in time. Amie's birthday party was held on Saturday with about 50 people there. Matt & Junior came with their friend, Seth, who drove them for me, which really made it extra special for Craig. The rest of the family were surprised as well.

Anyway, since I had given Nicole (Amie's sister) the Boyd's Bear quilt for her birthday in May, Amie kind of EXPECTED a quilt for her birthday. She had asked her mom for sunglasses and Missy said, "I'll tell Auntie (me) that you want sunglasses." Apparently, Amie said to her, "I better be getting a quilt!" However, given that Auntie was planning on making her a quilt all along, I didn't want to give her the satisfaction of knowing she was GETTING one until the last minute. So, when we arrived at the party the only thing I had in my hand was my purse and a "birthday card". Amie came running out to greet us and gave me a huge hug saying "Hi, Auntie & Uncle Craig. I'm so glad you came." I saw her notice the card but she never said anything.....ha, ha, ha...her quilt was hidden in the trunk of my car. So, after some time had passed and everyone arrived, it was time to eat dinner. Amie was the first one to be served, being her birthday and all. I told Missy, "Let me know if Amie comes out of the back yard, which was where everyone was eating. I'm going to get the quilt and hide it in your bedroom." She agreed and I was able to sneak the quilt into the house.

More time passed and the party was really rolling. Everyone sang happy birthday and then it was time to open presents. Craig had a card signed by the ladies at his work (Amie worked the summer for Craig) and brought it with him to the party as well. I told her mom that I wanted Amie to open my card last....so, I placed my card with his card with the rest of the gifts; but hiding them behind some other gift bags. Amie was ripping presents open left and right. Cards with money in them, gift bags, etc. She had two bags left to open when she noticed the cards behind them. She decided to grab the cards instead of finishing with the rest of the gift bags. She opened the one Craig brought from work, which shocked Amie. She and one of the ladies she worked with didn't really get along that well. Amie said, "wow, even Susan signed the card !" It was pretty funny. Then Amie, grabbed my card and opened it....however, no money fell out. I said, Amie I need to tell you something about that and her mom said, "Amie you're not supposed to open that yet." She said okay put the card down and preceded to open her remaining two gift bags. After that was done, she picked up the card and read it. I said to her....."Honey, you know with everything that is happening at my house right now, I really wanted to do something special for your birthday but you know....I DID!!!!" I grabbed the bag with the quilt, pillowcase, and pillow inside and pushed it up to her. She yelled....."IT'S MY QUILT !!!" I just laughed. She ripped into that gift with paper flying. She pulled out the pillow first, completely bypassing the pillowcase. But she only saw the back side of the pillow, which is the way I planned it.


Then, Amie turned the pillow over and saw the HEART! She said, Oh my gosh !!! How pretty!!

Amie couldn't get the quilt out of the bag fast enough and of course, not wanting to make it easy for her...the quilt was folded so that she could only see the back side of it with the quilt label on top!...she opened the quilt and was so surprised!!! She ran over to me and hugged me saying, "I LOVE IT AUNTIE, I LOVE IT!!!"


Everyone commented on the quilt, some even asked if I sold them, which anyone who does crafts knows that you can never get the same money out of it that you put into it. But, I told her that if you ever get rid of it, it comes back to me....ha,ha. I was teasing her, of course!



All in all it was a great birthday party ! Craig was able to stay but I could tell he was starting to get tired so we decided to leave after the USC football game ended. He came home and immediately fell asleep. It was a special day and one I will always cherish ! I love making quilts for people and seeing their faces when I give it to them.

Happy Birthday, Amie!!!

Love to all my family and friends,
Karene

Hi Everyone....well most of you know that I never made it on the second day of the Quilter's run and why I haven't been able to update my blog for the last few months so there is no need to go into it all here! I want this to be my "happy" place ! Anyway, I finished Amie's quilt and will be posting pictures here in a couple of weeks after I give it to her for her birthday. I had a lighter week with work last week and was able to actually get most of the weekend off. I have already finished one baby quilt and will be starting another one today for a friend I work with at school who's daughter just had a baby girl. Hopefully, I'll get that one done today so I can start on the two memory quilts for two special little girls as well as the Charity Quilt for Craig (more on that to follow)! Anyway, just wanted to send my love to everyone and thanks to everyone for all their support ! Live life to the fullest every day !

Love to all, Karene

Quilter's Run Day 1

Here are some pictures of Day 1 !!!

Now, on to Day 2 tomorrow !!! The Three Quilting Amigos run once more !!

Quilter's Run - 2007

Well, here is OUR Day 1 of the Quilter's Run !!! The QR actually started on Thursday last week, but since we all had to work we had to wait until Saturday to get started. The day started at 9:00 a.m. when Joy & Yvette met at my house. I had previously mapped out our entire route and got directions from store-to-store the day before. We all jumped in the car and couldn't wait to get started. As we headed out, we were deciding how we would go.....knowing that we would be at Leah's Fabric Gallery in Orange on Sunday, we bypassed them and went to our first stop Leah's in Mission Viejo. We made it there in about 30 minutes, even though traffic was bad....obviously from all the quilters having the same idea as us going to the southern stores....ha, ha, ha!!! We should have known how the day was going to go as Leah's was already sold out of the "quilter's pins" by the time we got there and only had the "2007 bar", but we were not to be discouraged and were told we could get them at the next stop. We received our first "charm", a little kitty because Miss Leah loves cats, as well as our first set of 4 "charm" squares of fabric !!! Each store was giving away these little charm fabric squares and charms. The QR was "movie themed" at each place, or were supposed to be. The ladies at the Mission Viejo store were wearing "white veil's" and I was trying to figure out what movie they were supposed to be from but it really did not matter. They were really nice and helpful. Anyway, we browsed around Leah's for a bit and decided to move on, anxious to get to the next place.

Next, stop was Sowing Sisters Quilt Shop in Carlsbad....luckily Leah's had NEW directions to their shop because they had MOVED after the flyer had been printed and sent out !!! But what a beautiful and quaint little town Carlsbad was. I had never been to Carlsbad before and we loved it. We decided to park on the main drag and walk to the quilt shop !!! The shop was cute in the middle of downtown and the people there were so nice and friendly. We were able to buy our Quilter's Run 2007 pin and got our next charm. They had lots of brochures on Janome's so I picked up quite a few. Each of us picked up something there (can't really remember what Joy & Yvette bought, but I got a pattern), we decided to move on once again.

Next stop the infamous Eleanor Burns Quilt-in-a-Day shop in San Marcos !!! It was only supposed to be like a 10-minute ride from the Carlsbad shop, but there was this teeny-tiny street sign that none of us saw, probably because we were having way too much fun giggling and laughing in the car. This was the first time we got lost along the way, snicker ! Anyway, I don't have a picture of the store but you can see it on Joy's blog at http://joy-denise.blogspot.com/ , and be sure to check out the slide-show pictures Joy took. The pictures posted here were sent to me from Yvette. Obviously, Eleanor Burns has her own parking space but it cracked us up what it said.....Eleanor Burns "The Stripper".....violators will be "stitched in the ditch"...I'm sure only quilters got a kick out of this.

Yvette and Joy especially wanted to see this place. We found some really great deals there too. Joy & Yvette each want to make the Eleanor Burns' Magic Vine quilt, but neither of them wanted to buy the book at it's retail price. We were browsing using around and one of the ladies that works there told us that there were some "damaged" books in the classroom for 50% off...low and behold, there were brand new Magic Vine books with like bent corners or whatever in there for half off !!!! Yvette & Joy each snatched one up. I have always wanted to make the double wedding ring quilt and there is a pattern in her Egg Money Quilt which has reproduction 1930's quilt blocks in it. This book was also 50% off...well, how could I possibly pass that up. They also had an entire room of material on sale for $4 a yard, and I just had to buy some.

Of course, we couldn't leave the store without Joy posing with Eleanor for a picture.

Wanting to make a getaway before I totally went overboard, we pressed on to the next stop to Quilter's Paradise in Escondido. I totally loved this store !!! We were browsing around and everyone was looking at everything and what to my surprise...I found some more burgundy material that I'm using in Amie's quilt there. I had previously purchased everything they had a Leah's in Orange when I started Amie's quilt and I fell in love with this material. I just had to buy some more so I picked up three yards. I only bought three more yards and I am KICKING myself now that I did not buy the end of the bolt because it was only a little over six yards. However, I wanted to pace myself and save some money for the other stores. I may just have to call them and ask them to send me the rest of this material because it's gorgeous. Oh, yeah, we got a "free" pattern there as well and since I spent $50 there, I'm automatically in the drawing to win a quilt !!! I loved their charm too......a martini glass !!! Although I don't drink martinis, it does remind me of a margarita so to me that's what it is !!!! Anxious to get going to the next place, we left Quilter's Paradise around 12:30 pm and were trying to find a place to eat on our way to Quilter's Cottage in Fallbrook. We stopped at a Subway (I don't even remember where) and oh my goodness what a nightmare that was....It was like 100 degrees inside this place. There were like 15 people in there who all looked miserable. I think the employees wanted to make sure NO ONE wanted to stay and eat there so they could go home...but this place literally had no air conditioning. Yvette, Joy and I were miserable until we went outside to eat, which was actually COOLER than inside !!! But, oh well, we just laughed and giggled about it.

After lunch, we went to Fallbrook or attempted to !!! This was the second time we got lost along the way. This place was unbelievably hard to find. Yvette & I get car sick and we had to go through all these winding roads. We eventually found the place, but it was SOOOO small and tiny that you had to walk the isles single file. I said to Yvette, "You know, I feel dizzy" and she said, "yeah, I thought it was the car ride, but maybe not...I feel claustrophobic !" Well, we all couldn't wait to beat it out of there. By this time we were heading back to Orange County....moving on, we hit the next place, Quilter's Coop in Temecula. What a great place that was. They apparently had some jazz festival or street festival going on and there were hundred's of people there. Jazz music coming from everywhere....Craig would have been in 7th heaven !!! This was one of the nicest quilt shops we had seen so far. Yvette even said she'd drive from her home in Cerritos back to this store if they were having a 30% off sale. Apparently, she loves wool fabric and they had tons of it. Well, we couldn't stay there forever and we headed out to our final destination, Calico Cottage in Murrieta. As far as the movie themes go, this place WINS hands down. They had Pirates of the Caribbean music playing and a cut-out life size Captain Jack. All the employees were dressed up as pirates and the store was like 65 degrees !!! We were in an island paradise. We just laughed and laughed listening to these wonderful ladies greet all the quilters with "yar, ye mate-ies !!! To the back with ye !!!" This was where we had to check in and the smell of fresh popcorn permeated throughout the shop. It was great !!! This was about 4:30 or so. We had been so hot throughout the day that we decided to stop for some frozen yogurt ! I got a smoothie, Joy got a low-carb mocha, and Yvette just got a dish of frozen yogurt ! It was the best way to end the day.

Heading back home, we hit tons of traffic on the 91 Freeway. We just continued like we had throughout the day, laughing and enjoying each other's company. Then we decided to hit Joy's house before coming all the way home so Yvette could see Joy's sewing set up ! By this time, it was now 6:00 p.m. We were all pooped and ready to call it quits. We ended up at my house around 6:20 p.m. We all said good-bye knowing we would all talk about our day in class on Sunday !!! Well, what a great day ....mishaps and all....it was a perfect day with wonderful friends !!! On to next weekend for Day 2 !

Love to all, Karene

Babies, Babies, and More Babies

Ok, dear friends....you are not going to believe this !!! Four of Matt and Junior's friends are having babies, and pretty much all within two months of each other as well. I guess you could call me crazy, but I wanted to make them baby blankets in order for me to practice my "stippling" technique. Three of these kids are having boy babies and one is having a girl. The first quilt is for the baby girl and was my very first attempt at actually "stippling" it myself. I tried to do this on my Singer sewing machine but was having a bit of trouble because I could not get the darning foot to work with the feed dog cover plate, but I tried anyway.


I took the quilt to the teacher extraordinaire, Ms Janet, for critiquing and was quite embarrassed to show it to her. She said I did "okay" and I'm sure she didn't want me to be discouraged. Anyway, she told me how I could do some things better. One thing she suggested was that I could use the darning foot WITH the feed dogs and low and behold, IT WORKED!!!


Here is the close-up of this quilt. It was a panel piece and I just added borders and quilted it. I actually bought two of the same panel because I was under the impression that two babies were supposed to be girls. These kids are all related and the babies are all going to be "cousins" so I thought how cute to have similar quilts. Anyway, once I had the pink quilts made I found out that one of the girls was actually now a boy so I had to come up with something quick.

Junior's best friend, Anthony, loves the Dallas Cowboys football team and he said, "hey, Mom, do you think you could make a Cowboys quilt for his baby." Well, how could I say no. I found this material from an online fabric store and bought a couple of yards of it.


This pattern was quick and easy and since Anthony's cousin's baby turned out to be a boy instead of a girl (as mentioned above), I thought great I can make the boy cousins the same baby blanket but with different backings. Anthony's has a white backing and the other one has this blue backing that was used for the inner border and binding too!!! These were my second and third attempts at "stippling", which I think I did pretty good considering. I finally got my darning foot to work (per Janet's expert advice) and tried stippling again.

I was determined to get this down. I thought if Yvette, a friend from class, can do it, I can do it !!! So, I tried and tried. I did Anthony's quilt and then his cousin's. Here is a close up of MY third stippling attempt, which is not too bad.

I had one more quilt to make and that one was for the oldest of the babies, which was born a few months ago. I couldn't possible give three of the cousins a blanket and not his baby one.

So I found this cute Winnie the Pooh material and again just added borders & backing! This was my fourth attempt at stippling and I was very happy with this one !!! It really turned out cute. The stippling design is not the best, but it will get better with practice.




According to some of the quilting web sites that Joy and I look at it takes 200-400 hours to learn how to work a long arm machine and I'm sure it takes at least a few hundred hours on how to stipple to get to be as good as the magical Janet. But, I endeavor to persevere !!! I brought these to class last Sunday and Janet again critiqued them. She was so supportive and proud that I'm just jumping in and doing it.

Yvette did great on hers and Joy is even meandering on Patricia's quilt (a lady we work with that has cancer). We are all going to get this down !!! We are all having so much fun with it too after pulling our hair out!!! Oh yeah, the other pink quilt I made (like the first one above), my mom bought it to give as a baby shower gift on Saturday!!! Does this make me a "professional" quilter ????.....just kidding !!!

Anyway, Joy, Yvette and myself are heading out for the 2007 Quilter's Run and will be hitting quilt shops all day looking for deals (details to follow since Joy & Yvette will be snapping pictures all along the way) !!! Check out Joy's blog too for some great info.

http://joy-denise.blogspot.com/

Love to all, Karene