Sue & Sam

Hi everyone,


Well, it's been a long, long, long time since I actually had an ENTIRE weekend to do what I wanted to do. There wasn't any work for me Friday afternoon so all I had to do Saturday morning was go to Saturday Sampler and pick up Block 8 and then finish my x-rays. Then, my mom and I had lunch and I was able to sew the rest of the day. On Sept 29th, my bestest buddy, Joy, and I took a class at Cozy Cottage in Brea where our exceptional teacher, Ms. Janet, thought she could get away from us and teach a Sunbonnet Sue class....but WE FOUND HER. Anyway, Joy and I had the best time "playing with our dolls". This is the one I actually made in class....my first one.









Joy brought the lace and I ran with it. I wish we would have had more time to play, but the class was only three hours. But it took three hours just to make one...so keep that in mind.



Anyway, I wanted to embellish mine even further than just with lace and ribbon. I wanted to try a mixture of applique and embroidery. Here was my first attempt at an embroidered and appliqued Sue. I made the butterfly first and I was upset at the way it looked so I thought I was just going to have to toss this piece of fabric into the trash, but then I thought why not embroider some other designs just for size and placement.









so I tried a flower. After the flower was embroidered, I thought the size was great and I placed my Sue pieces around.....hmmmmmm, not as bad as I originally thought, so I ironed them in place. Then I "did the dance"....the applique dance all around Sue.







Wanting to make all my Sues different and this was so much fun I then decided not to put lace on her bonnet but use a decorative stitch on my sewing machine. Pretty cute !!! I just had to take this to class with me today and show Ms. Janet. She, Judy, Ellen, and Jenny (poor Jenny who was miserable having her wisdom teeth out and all bruised).....all loved her. I was pleased and oh so motivated. I had the BUG.....the APPLIQUE BUG ....so I came home after quilt class and played with "Sam".







Again, using decorative stitches on my machine and applique, I made Sam flying a kite. He turned out just adorable....so now I have a total of two Sues and one Sam. The quilt is supposed to only be 12 but I may have to make the twin size, because I just can't get enough of "playing with these dolls."
















Stay tuned !!!

Ya Gotta Believe We Can Strike'em Out for a Cure

Hi Everyone, Wow, what can I possibly say !!! The first annual Strike'em Out for a Cure held on Saturday, September 27, 2008, was a tremendous success !!


Missy (Craig's sister) did a fantastic job in addition to her husband, Bob, who kept everything on track for the silent auction. We had donations from all over. Three golfing events, one valued at over $700, which everyone was vying for, at my last look was bid at $185 dollars. We had a two-night stay at the Anaheim Sheraton Hotel, Anaheim Sparks tickets to a game, Clipper tickets, Universal Studio tickets, Silpada bracelet and necklace set, three oil paintings by Craig's mom, hand painted ceramic angel baby and bears made by my mom and her friend Sharon, hand painted Christmas ornaments, gift baskets of every kind, candles, a CD player with CDs, portrait gift certificates valued a $3000.00, etc, and of course the quilt raffle.
(Look at the slideshow at the bottom of this post for a peak at all the donation items)

















It was just amazing!!! About 50 people showed up with open hearts and opened their wallets to support the Tug McGraw Foundation for brain cancer research in honor of Craig.



There was a magician there, the same one from Bob's 50th birthday party, who entertained us all with his mystifying tricks....the best one being the disappearing ring trick.

















Missy made an announcement during the silent auction stating the purpose of the event and the Tug McGraw Foundation's motto..."Ya Gotta Believe", which Missy turned into our motto..."Ya Gotta Believe We Can Strike'em Out for a Cure." It was so poignant when Craig got up to speak to the crowd to thank his sister and Bob for all their hard work organizing this event as well as all the people who attended and gave so much for him. I don't think there was a dry eye in the house.

















There are just way too many people to possibly thank all of them, but I personally cannot thank my quilt instructor, Janet Salcido, enough for all her love and encouragement as well as everyone at Leah's Quilt Shop in Orange, all of the wonderful terrific friends in my quilt class (Ellen, Jenny, Ann, Nancy, Judy) and my bestest buddies, Joy & Yvette. You are my strength and hold me together every day ! I love you one and all, and of course my sister-in-law, Missy who is one terrific, generous lady.



and now for what you all have been waiting for....due to the generosity of everyone we raised over $4,232.00, yes, that is FOUR THOUSAND, TWO HUNDRED, THIRTY-TWO dollars!! In addition, Sharon Lamp won the quilt raffle. She had not seen the quilt until last night and purchased her tickets the day of the event. It was so amazing and everyone got goose bumps when Craig pulled her name. Sharon had already left the event and was not there when her name was read. Sharon's mother and grandmother both passed away due to cancer and even though all of these generous donations are going to the Tug McGraw Foundation, they are for everyone who has been touched by cancer. Here is Sharon (in glasses) with daughter Janette, and her granddaughter. Congrats!!!

















Thanks again one and all for making this first event so successful !!!

Hugs,

Karene and Craig

First Annual Strike Em Out for a Cure

Bits & Pieces of Everything !

Hi Everyone....well I've been getting a lot of flak from my good friends because I have not updated my blog is quite some time. As you know, I took a huge loss to my income when we had to fire an account for nonpayment, but Joy has been wonderful to try to make up some of what I lost. The only problem is it's all straight typing and takes me much longer to get my work done. But enough of that, this is my happy place like my Sunday quilt class with Teacher Extraordinnaire, Ms. Janet. I love her and the wonderful friends I have made in that class (namely: Ellen, Jenny, Ann, Nancy, & Judy). They keep me laughing and allow me to keep my sanity. (LOVE YOU GUYS !)

Here are a few things I have been working on lately and one secret one to be revealed at a later date. The first one is a quilt I'm making for Craig. I got a charm piece of the jazz material when Joy, Yvette, and I went on our first Quilter's Run last year and Joy was able to fine the exact material on E-bay for me so I bought several yards of it. Then I found this great pattern that really shows off focus fabrics called BQ2, and I new that it was the right pattern for that particular fabric. This is such an easy pattern, a snap to cut out and piece with hardly any seams to match...no borders either, although I think a border would have looked nice on it. Anyway, I'm making this for Christmas for Craig as it's going to be a bit tight for us this year.



Speaking of Christmas, can you believe it's only a couple of months away...YIKES !!! I made the next two quilts for my niece Tricia's boys, Andrew and Benjamin. They are four years old now and Tricia is redoing their bedroom in a sports theme so I picked up several different sports fabrics and made two "identical" quilts, the only difference is Andrew's is the blue one and Benjamin's is red. They turned out really, really cute and I quilted them entirely by myself. Since I made the Bambi quilt for their baby sister, Kate, for her baby shower, which also matched her room, I just had to make quilts for the boys too. I wanted these to be a surprise for Tricia to see, but grandma kept begging me to post pictures so others could see them.

















Speaking of Grandma.....here is my mom. She took a jacket class at Ginger's Quilt Shop in Claremont last Saturday and made this jacket. We went to M&L's in Anaheim and found the material for only $12.00. This jacket has all the seams on the outside and then you cut them into fringe. Apparently it was so easy that my mom made another jacket in blue material last Friday...ALL BY HERSELF !! It was great, but not quite finished yet. She's thinking of making these for Christmas gifts for people....Although I would love a jacket....I don't even wear the one I made because I'm so HOT ALL THE TIME from hot flashes.....LOL !!!















Finally, Craig's charity event, Strike'Em Out for a Cure is rapidly approaching.....this Saturday, Sept 27th. We are all so excited and thankful for the love and support we have received from all our family, friends, coworkers, Leah's Quilt Shop in Orange who let me hang the quilt there for three weeks, all of Leah's employees and manager Charlene, Ginger's Quilt Shop who also allowed the quilt to be hung, Ms. Janet Salcido for all her wonderful efforts in promoting this charity event, all the people who provided silent auction donations, food donations, and bought quilt raffle tickets. But most of all Erin, my sister-in-law, who managed to put all this together and is really the reason this event is even happening....love you "Sis". So, next week, we will announce the winner of the quilt and I'll post pictures of the night of the event on my blog after that.

So, take care for now to all my family and friends ....We love you so much !
Karene

A Little of This, a little of that

Hi Everyone, Well, here is the latest block for my Saturday sampler quilt. This is block 5 and I was lucky enough to get it made before this coming Saturday where I get block 6 for free. I really love working with these templates and Joy, Yvette, and myself (the three amigos) get a kick out of comparing what we have done !!!




















The three amigos, plus Joy's daughter Karen, (guess we are now the four muskeeters) had the pleasure of attending the International Quilt Show at the Long Beach Convention Center last Saturday. It was so overwhelming !!! SENSORY OVERLOAD is more like it. There was SEW much to see !!! We all want to make this an annual event.
















We were fortunate to meet and get a picture with Ms. Eleanor Burns of Quilt-in-a-Day fame and Joy even got her autograph!!! Ms. Burns also gave each of us purple boas....ha, ha, ha !!!

Another favorite of mine is Ms. Marty Michelle. She designed the wonderful templates we are using to make our Saturday Sampler blocks with. These are great and it was so much fun to finally put a face with a name.














While at the quilt show, we also ran into Jenny & Ellen, as well as Ann from our Sunday quilt class. We all enjoyed lunch together and met a few other quilt-a-holics....All in all it was a wonderful time spending the day with wonderful friends.

Love to all
Karene

Strike 'em Out for a Cure

Hi Everyone, well I finally finished the quilt to be raffled off for Craig's Charity Event, which will be held on Sept. 27th. Erin came up with a slogan and logo, taking into account Craig's love of baseball and Tug McGraw being a major league relief pitcher...(see below)

We will be sending out invitations shortly for the event with all the details. The quilt will be raffled at that time. The proceeds will go to the Tug McGraw Foundation, http://www.tugmcgraw.org/home.asp , and a link to our event should be on the event page within the next few days. This is really exciting !!! Right now, raffle tickets are available through me but you can get them at the event as well. You do not have to be present to win. We have approval from the Tug McGraw Foundation to use their name and tax ID number so now checks can be made out directly to the Tug McGraw Foundation instead of to Erin. Anyway, there will be more information to follow on this. I'll keep everyone posted as we get closer to it. If you have any questions, just call me or e-mail me.

Love to all my family and friends,
Karene

Charity Quilt - Almost Done

Well, today was a free sew day at Leah's and Joy snagged the room. A little while after I got to the shop, Ms. Janet, teacher extraordinnaire, opened the door and handed me Craig's Charity Quilt. OH MY GOODNESS !!! She did the most gorgeous job quilting it, which is exactly why I wanted her to do it for me.....SHE'S TOTALLY AWESOME !!!




















When I gave Janet the quilt she asked me how I wanted it quilted and I told her it was totally up to her. If she just wanted to stipple it that would be fine. Thank goodness I left it in her capable hands. She told me she made an "executive decision" when quilting it, and I love what she did !


She did a tiny stipple (meander) around all of the flowers and ribbon of the center piece and around the flowers on the corner squares. Then she "stitched in the ditch" along the inner border and piano key border. So, BEAUTIFUL !!








Here is the center part of the quilt.














Here is a close up of the quilting.

and here is the back of the quilt....



















All that's left now is the binding and the quilt will be completely finished and ready to sell raffle tickets. These pictures really don't even do justice to the quilt. You must see it in person to appreciate all of Janet's hard work. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Janet !!! You are truly AMAZING!!!


All my love,
Karene

Charity Quilt

my 50th

50 & More !!!

Hi Everyone,

Well, it's been very, very hectic here as usual at my house. Between working, quilting classes and birthdays, I haven't had a chance to update my blog....to which my good friend, Ms. Yvette, has reprimanded me for.....just kidding !


Anyway, my mom's birthday just happens to be exactly two weeks before my birthday (April to May) and I wanted to make my mom something for her birthday.



She's very picky about her purses, but I saw this material and pattern to make her this quilted tote bag. It really was very easy to make (not like the first one I attempted to make and didn't like so I made her another one with an easier pattern) !!!














It has a pocket on the front and two pockets inside.














Then, two weeks later, it was my BIG 50 !!! I knew Craig was not up to planning anything and I told everyone I did not want a party, but my wonderful sister-in-law, Missy, said that she just could not let my 50th go by without doing at least dinner. It was supposed to just be family and her good friends, Gayle & Bill, from across the street. Well, when Craig, Matt, Ruby (Matt's girlfriend), Junior & I were walking up the driveway to the house, the garage door flew open and EVERYONE yelled SURPRISE !!! There were people there I had not seen in a very long time, particularly, my good friend Elena and her husband, Neil. My other good friend, Linda, was there as well. I never would have expected those two to be there. Also, some of Craig's friends, Randy & Diana and Steve & Cathy, also were at the party to celebrate. Randy & Diana live in the San Diego area and Steve & Cathy in San Bernadino area. Anyway, it was so nice of them to drive all that way and I know Craig was very glad to see them....(for more check out the slideshow above).

I especially want to thank my bestest buddy, Joy, for all the great pictures she took to mark the event !!! I LOVE YOU, MY FRIEND !!!
















AND A HUGE THANK YOU TO MISSY AND BOBBY !!! You guys are the best !!!

Now, that all the birthdays are over, I finally was able to complete the charity quilt for Craig's charity event. Again, this is being planned by my wonderful sister-in-law, Missy. More info on that to follow but we will be selling raffle tickets for someone to win the quilt in addition to other items for a possible silent auction. I'm leaving all of this up to Missy because I have no idea how to even attempt to do anything like this. For a preview of what the quilt looks like, check out the slideshow at the top of my blog. I designed the quilt myself and picked out the colors. Everything on the quilt has a meaning....again more on that to follow. However, it is was KITE STRING that actually made the entire quilt come together (thanks to Ms Janet) and it is being quilted by my wonderful teacher, Ms. Janet Salceido. I wanted it professionally quilted and I think she's the best !!! We raised over $300 from the sale of the wristbands and pins. All proceeds from Craig' charity event will be added to what we have so far and sent to the the Tug McGraw Foundation to aid in brain cancer research . Tug McGraw, an ex-baseball player, lost his battle years ago to the same type of cancer Craig has and Craig wanted to support this charity.

So, those are just a few of the things I've been up to....

Love to all my family and friends

Karene

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