Friday, December 31, 2010

Thankful For Small Things and HAPPY NEW YEAR

I am so thankful for small things!  For years we have had the world's worst popcorn popper - groan!  This year son #3 gave us a brand new pop corn popper and we are in popcorn heaven.  
My sweet daughter-in-heart has converted us to white popcorn, clarified butter and sea salt on our popcorn - yum!
DH gave me this small puzzle for Christmas and we put it together for Family Home Evening on Monday night.  
Today is the last day the Bearpaws and Hollyhocks Quilt Shop is open.  It has been a big thing for me!  With our family Christmas holiday week and then working night and day at the shop this week I have not blogged - sorry about that.  I will be back at it next week.
I am wishing you a wonderful beginning to 2011!  I wish you good health and good friends and may Heavenly Father bless you with peace and joy.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU MY BLOGLAND FRIEND!!!!

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Lindy's Bearpaws and Hollyhocks is Closing

My favourite quilt shop is closing. 
 Link to Bearpaws and Hollyhocks website.  Lindy, owner of the shop, has health concerns and she needs to spend some quality time looking after them.  I wish her wellness and good health.

This is typical of the spontaneous fun we had and a memory I will always chuckle at.  She had just gotten in a very funny children's book and just had to come share it with us after one of Kim's classes last September.
Bearpaws and Hollyhocks has been a wonderful gathering place where we all were nurtured by each other and watched each others talent grow.  The friends I have made and the wonderful fun things we all did together are the memories I will always carry in my heart when I think of Bearpaws and Hollyhocks.  
For all of my special embroidery friends - we are going to go on.  Never fear, have embroidery thread and needle, will travel.  All of the Knot-y Embroidery Ladies who meet once a month will be coming to my home to finish out the Knot-y Embroidery Ladies Year.  As the dust settles on BP&HH closing and the New Year comes to be, the thoughts I have for embroidery will crystallize.  Stay tuned ... 


Tootles



Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Christmas Party with "The Girls"

Some of us who have been taking a wool penny rug class all year have formed a sewing circle and we had our December meeting at my home last week.  These are a few photos of our happenings - mostly eating - and a lot of good chatting with our projects.

The cake was worth making just so I could eat the cream cheese icing ...

Pam is the queen of veggies and keeping us "healthy".

Mona made theses yummy red velvet cupcakes 
- her basket and towel are so cute!

Pam's birthday on the 3rd and Jackie's birthday on the 6th was all the excuse we needed to sing ...

My finish.
I guess I better go to bed.  
And to all I wish a "good night".

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Up At Sparrow's Fart

Chookyblue in Australia knocked my socks off with that phrase.  Up At Sparrow's Fart!  Yup, just after reading that yesterday in her blog, Chookyblue, what do you know, I had one of those restless nights and throw in the towel at about 4 am this morning.  I am sure you know exactly what I am talking about ... Sparrow fart.

Gotta have a picture - Winter Wishes stitchery I did.  Enjoy.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Thumbs Up

Thumb #1 goes to Dianne at  A Month of Sundays .  She had the most interesting event happen in her home recently.  I highly recommend that you visit her post.  In fact I highly recommend her blog, that is why you can always find her on my sidebar.  Thumbs up Dianne or I should say Auntia.

Thumb #2 goes to Kim for putting on Tamale Making 101.  
You can find her rendition of the event here -  
Kim's Tamale Sequel   Our Tamale making at Kim's home yesterday was a wonderful happening.

Thumb #3 - my hungry guys gave thumbs up this evening when they taste tested some of the  tamales for dinner.  I think we have a winner here and a new family tradition.  THANK YOU Kim and my gal pals.

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Sunday, December 5, 2010

Got My Tamale Filling Made

My beef tamale filling is made
and I am ready to go
It won't be long 
before the big show
I am leaving in my old car
Don't know if I will ever be the same ...
Sung to I am leaving on a jet plane - kind of

This is the before picture
of Tamale Making 101
At Kim's home today.

Wish me luck getting that hot vat of filling 
across town without spilling it -
Ohhh, Right
I can hear you laughing now -
I'll be one Hot Tamale ...
Tootles


Saturday, December 4, 2010

"My Soul Is Fed By Needle And Thread"

Below are some pictures from High Hand Nursery last February - 
can not have a blog w/o pictures :o) 

Today's Stash Manicure  Stash Manicure  is featuring Molly of Molly's Place.  Perhaps you read the post too, if not, the links are here for you to check it out.  Molly is brand new to me and I think she looks like fun and is going to have the cutest FREE BOM next year called Boot Boogie, and has a sneak peek in her post.  My gosh it is so cute.  I want to do it.   
She wrote, "And yes my soul is fed by needle and thread, and I am sure that is for most of you here today!~  Hi, I'm Molly from  Molly's Place.   I'm here, once again, to try to help you Manicure your stash.  I come here regularly to get inspiration from all of you and this is just a little "pay back".   It just so happens that I have had a little FREE Block of the Month going on over at my place the past year called "TREE TIME".  I started it not only to bring interest to my blog, but to challenge myself.  My goal was to learn new hand embroidery stitches and to make sure that the blocks were simple enough for everyone to do--even beginners.  In the beginning, I did not plan to use wool, but as my blocks evolved, I decided to do just that."
 Over and Out for tonight - 

been making my beef filling for Tamale making at Kim's tomorrow.
Tootles

Friday, December 3, 2010

It All Started With ...

It all started with a cup (two fists together size) of hot chocolate, that had whipped cream piled high on top.
lunch11x17p1
Our server did not bat an eyelash at our choice to start with hot chocolate, and gave us time to sip and enjoy the delicious, sweet and warm drink.  In between all the chatting and sipping we decided that our next course should be (drum roll please) the Hand Made Potato Chips with Artichoke    and Lemon Dip - we got the "large" order ...  Kim had a hand crafted sandwich and I had a seasonal salad.  Oh, the conservatory is set in a beautiful nursery  that was all primped and primed for their big event tomorrow evening - a celebration of light that starts at 6 PM by flipping a switch.  We sat by the windows (a whole wall of windows that open out the the nursery when the weather is warm.) We were without our cameras - so sorry.


However, our "entertainment" was interesting.  A big man dressed as a pirate (Captain Hook style minus the hook) arrived about half way through our lunch.  He was eating alone but did manage to attract attention as people leaving keep stopping by his table to chat on their way out.  So, after going to the ladies room I stopped by the  front desk and asked about him and the lady said, "He is just a customer."  We had a little fun imagining who, what and why he was there eating and while it was funny then, you just had to be there.  


Our girl was as stiff and sore as she has reported and she was moving slow, but she was able to get out, have a nice long lunch, but when I dropped her off at home, she was already going over her list of things she had left to do.  What a girl!!!


Tootles


PS  When I got up this morning after posting last night ... 
I just read Kim's recount of out luncheon - she is so good with word crafting - if you have the time pop on over to her blog - she gives you the rest of the story ...    Kim's Blog

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Something

Something I am having fun with is a Thanksgiving piece.
See, I really did take my embroidery on the cruise.  
 I found a quiet nook one early morning and enjoyed my embroidery heaven while sea bound.
The fabric is a beautiful toile called "Plymouth" from the Alexander Henry collection.  It has been out for year or two and has been calling my name.   Boy was I in luck to find just enough for an idea ...  Knowing me I had to figure embroidery into it, eh!  It will eventually be a table topper.  I am using Cosmo's Seasons to embroider the turkey's, corn, apples, pumpkins.   Someday when I finish it ... you will see the most wonderful border fabrics that compliment the subtle shades of the embroidery floss. 
Thanks for stopping by - Tootles.
PS - Thelma and Louise head to High Hand Conservatory tomorrow.  
Stay tuned.


Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Happy December

Just noticed the time and yup, it is December, the first to be exact.

So, where have I been for two months, eh!?  
Well, around.  Went on my first cruise!  And no, I was not on the cruise ship stranded at sea.  We were on the same cruise line and the same route, just a couple of days ahead of the sister ship. 
Our experience was just the best!
And yes, I did take my embroidery with me.  
My tan is fading, 
and I am having a hard time not reading all the ads for cruises now ...
December is looking like a fun filled month.  We are home for the holidays and gatherings.  This Friday evening is  the Quilting Books Club December Pot Luck and gift exchange.  It will be extra fun this year because three of our ladies are bringing their award winning quilts from the River City Quilt Guild Show a couple of weeks ago.  Saturday is our "Circle of Friends" and we are meeting at Kim's home - and she is teaching us how to make tamales.  
I want to be the first to wish you a peaceful holiday season.  
It is my hope that it is a time filled with the joy of being with family and friends and reflecting on the Light of the World.

Tootles

Friday, October 1, 2010

I am Joining the Layer Cake Quilt Along

Last year I let the Jelly Roll Quilt Along pass me by, you know one of those times when I picked out several jelly rolls, kinda had it in my mind and not on the calendar and then and then and then ...
I would watch as Kim posted her blocks and loved her interpretation of each designers block.  She added embroidery and made her blocks come alive (even if she embroidered "dead" people).  I got to she her finished quilt top at the Schnibbles class on Saturday and it was wonderful.  

Treats and the luncheon that Kim put on for us students at class.  
I have to take a picture of the other goodies she gave us 
when I finish my quilt to this weekend.
Okay, back to the ranch.  I am excited to do the Layer Cake Quilt Along and have chosen Claremont Farms for my layer cake.  If you are interested in checking it out and how it all works, click on the button on my side bar.  I hope you join me.  We have a month to get ready!  It's do able, come on join me ... :o)  Let me know if you join and we can kibitz with each other and keep each other motivated.    Tootles

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Peek a Boo

It's been a nice week here - and I hope it has been for you too.  Monday and Tuesday I was with the wonderful Knot-y Embroidery Ladies.  We do have a good time and they take turns bringing the most delicious desserts and treats to share.  It is exciting to see what they have been working on during the month and to hear about where they have been since we last met.  It is even exciting to teach them new stitches ...  but some of them are very Knot-y and you know how that goes.


Here is a little peek at what I have been working on this week as a shop sample.





Bareroots - Halloween wraps and candle mats.
They were fun to do and got me into the Halloween spirit.  Well, going on a pumpkin adventure with Kim on Wednesday at lunch time really got me in the Halloween spirit.  Here is a link to her blog about our adventure - I left my camera at home ... Kim's Blog Post


It was a great day at the shop today.  So many new things kept coming in, students excited about their classes, and wonderful customers.  Joe the UPS man is a hoot and we make sure he walks out with a plate of treats.  I am looking forward to my Time for Tea and Embroidery tomorrow.  If you are wanting to join in, please do.  I will save you a spot - a spot tea that is.


Grey's Anatomy's season opener just came on - Tootles!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

One For The Squirrel

Yesterday morning while checking into blogland and having my morning cup of tea, what should I see out side my kitchen window - 
I grabbed my camera.
Is he smiling?
I did not bother him one bit.
See how he pushes the top down, eh!?
After the "Photo Shoot" and he was through eating ... I checked out the feeder   He had eaten right through the top of the bird feeder by pushing down the top   (It was supposed to be squirrel proof and slide down and cover the holes where the birds eat if one should try to eat the seed.  Everything has worked just fine all this time - who knew that this little guy this year would chew away the top of the feeder on one side and around the corner.  His weight does move the outer cage down and sits there happily reaching into the top of the feeder.)
All these years the squirrels have "respected" the routine - the birds always dropped enough sunflower seeds for them ...

Now, we have two, well maybe three choices.  
1. Get a new and "improved" anti squirrel, bird feeder.
2.  Fill the feeder only half full - well below his reach. Wait and watch when the "fat, full and roundly packed tummy squirrel sits on top of the feeder and the bottom falls off.  
(I have visions of him being catapulted into the tree ... )
3.  Find the big plastic dome somewhere in the garage ...  we bought it a long time ago to deter squirrels ...  it did not then.  I could dream it might work to keep this guy out of the bird seed.

What should I do?
What would you do?

Giveaway - not mine ... But Shelley has Good Stuff!

Shelley is celebrating her 100th post and it is a celebration worth checking out.      Shelley's Red Quilts Blog    Congratulations Shelley!



Tuesday, September 14, 2010

I Have Not Tried This Either and DS's Don't You Even Think About It ...



GOOOOOD MORRRRRRNING!

While reading Carrie Nelson's blog this morning she had something so interesting to share I checked it out. 
She writes that she has not tried it ...  
I am mostly thinking of my dear sons for this post, 
yet, trust me you will find it pretty amazing to watch.  
Carrie suggested that we turn up the volume on our sound and enlarge the picture to full view before viewing.  I have to admit that I did not follow her instructions the first time because I was so intrigued by what she thought was so cool (impatient I know ... ) 
but then I went back and replayed the video three times after following her instructions before 
I felt like I saw it all ... 
Thank you Carrie!
What do you think of the video?

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Some Days Are Just Better Then Other Days

Yup, some days are just better then other days.


While I was away in Colorado a surprise package and a card came for me.  DH tucked it away and I found it yesterday morning while I was unpacking my suitcases - and it was like Christmas.  
She had a secret giveaway and I was her secret winner!
  She wrote, "The idea for the secret giveaway was from Heidi at All My Scattering Moments, where I was a secret winner!  Both the needle case and pin cushion were made from my recently finished quilt scraps.  
Can't seem to throw away even the smallest of scraps."
Thank you Dawn.  
You will never know how much your thoughtful
 surprise gift has lifted me.  It made me laugh out loud and snap out of being so down about the trip to Colorado.
Life is good and now that I am back home I celebrate my many blessings 
and feel like your secret gift was a sign of how blessed I am.
Tootles 

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Growing Pains

Learning the Judith Baker Montano Crazy Quilting method has been a blood, sweat and tears experience.
The learning curve has been so outside of my box I have had to stretch and pull from places in me that I did not know existed, just to be able to place my first piece of fabric down.

I only show this tiny snippet because I have not had time to blog in and I wanted you to see I really was learning crazy quilting and not just on holiday.....
I have lots to share - 
we were hand dying lace today - loved it.
Well, off to bed we are going on a photo shoot very early 
tomorrow morning.

Thinking of you. 

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Our First Full Day of Class

It was fun, full of sunshine and learning.
What was a big surprise to me and the others -
this is not just in the studio workshop.  
We are out and about as you will see.
And we have many other field trips and events
that we will be attending.  
We might get around to crazy quilting!

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Please forgive that there are not captions.  
I am happy that I had time this evening to make up a slideshow of todays events, well most of them.
We are having a ball.


Tootles

Friday, September 3, 2010

The Inn at Spanish Peaks

Looking at the back of the Inn.
Breakfast being served by Frank - Inn Keeper.
He is a hoot and very nice.
Tracy making final touches to the breakfast. She is a bright, kind and charming lady.  
She and Frank have been Inn-Keepers here for 13 years.
I am going to get this recipe!  It was delicious.
I needed a nap this afternoon and what should I see out in the back yard - an apple tree.  Yup, you guessed it!
I sitting there in the afternoon sun studying for my class and heard the tree calling - "Nap Time, it's Nap Time!"
Grabbed a couple of pillows off my bed and a spare sheet, gathered my books and a timer.  It was a heavenly time.  Quiet, not much reading happened and I don't remember any apples dropping on me.  You can see them in the grass.
The gang is all here.  Two Australians, two from New Hampshire and two from California.  We had a great introduction with Judith and then she was off to an appointment and we all went out to dinner to really get acquainted.  Lots of good times are going to be had 
by this lovely bunch of coconuts!)
It was a great beginning!


I am Flying in an Jet Plane

Top of the Mornin' to yaw!

Heading out to Colorado to have fun with Judith Baker Montano.  I am going to spend 5 full days with her and 5 other ladies who, like me, have waited a long time to study with her.  What is the class you ask?  It is basic crazy quilting.  

You should see the huge bag I have with her supply list needs.  I thought that I wrote through supply lists, well she wins.  At lunch yesterday with Kim, I was showing her some of the lists and she then of course had to tease me about my lists....  that Kim.


Yup, I needed a Kim fix before I left town and she suggested that we meet at the corner.....
No, we did not sit in the bar, we were in the respectable restaurant part and we laughed when we ordered the same thing.  It was a great sandwich and girl talk!
Speaking of Kim, she looks wonderful, still has her gorgeous new hair do and I think that her gentle life style change to eat healthy is starting to show in her face with a little weight loss.  Yea, Kim.  We of course had too short a time to be together before it was time to get her back to work.  Speaking of her work, she works in a very luxurious, large ground floor sprawling, high ceilings, nature type office.  What a wonderful environment to have to work in.  And I have heard that they are VERY happy to have her back.

On the way down to La Veta from Denver, I enjoyed shopping at the outlets in Castle Rock and a quilt shop in Colorado Springs called Ruth's Stitchery.
They boast a 7000 bolt of fabric shop and I thought hm-m-m I have to check it out.  Well, it was worth the stop (escaped with only spending $67.00) and managed to cause only a "mild" fiasco...

This is Beth, who works a Ruth's, and who just happens to have known Lindy for years and her mother lives near Marconi and Eastern in my city.  She and her mother know Bear Paws well and love it too.
So what is she doing on the floor with all those buttons?
Read on -
See up in the left hand corner of the picture... There was a little plastic case with tiny pull our plastic drawers.  No, I did not drop the case, but, I found the most precious brass acorn button and was thinking of Lindy and her love for all things acorn.  I turned the button over to check out the back and I dropped it.  It happened so fast (officer) I heard it drop into a bucket of buttons on the floor.  You know the sound of a button hitting other buttons from a distance.  (Come on - I know I am not the only one who plays with buttons and I know you know the sound...) Phew, I thought that was a close call, it has got to be right there in the bucket....

I looked immediately, didn't touch a thing, and could not see it.  Groan!  Well, Beth happened to come by and asked if I need help.  Hm-m-m that would be a yes (visualize me staring into the bucket, caboose in the air and not moving, not breathing either.

So, Beth comes up with lets just scoop some of the buttons in the bucket out onto the floor and look for the button that way.  By then I knew I was not going to find it by staring.  We went through the whole bucket that way and nada.  Other customers and staff happened by and offer to search (play) with the buttons, and pretty soon we had a bunch of women on the floor "looking" for the brass acorn button.  

We did however, find many very interesting buttons and even ones that "were not supposed to be in the buckets" because they were something or others and more expensive then the buttons in the buckets."  See there is a silver lining to my little adventure - I guess.

Needless to say they have my name and number it they should ever find the acorn button and I promised to stop there on my way back to Denver, just in case they find it.  I have never seen so many happy people wanting to "help", even to the point of taking off their shoes, and stretching out on the floor making themselves comfortable for the "job" at hand...

Button, Button who has the Acorn Button, eh!?

Tootles from La Veta 
Yes, I have been "chatty Kathy" because I am so ready to go meet the group and Judith and thought this sharing  I would settle my nerves a bit.  And it did  - thanks for listening.