Thanksgiving Weekend

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  We had a great Turkey Day and a fun long weekend! Lots got accomplished.

Friday we celebrated son Bill's birthday with a surprise Murder Mystery Dinner at the Cock 'n Bull restaurant at Peddler's Village.  My daughter-in-law got a group of 12 of us together  for the show and he was really surprised and had a great time.  The show was a take-off on Cheers.  The premise was that Norm died in the bar and you had to guess which of the Cheers characters did it.  It's a little hokey, but was fun and the actors really did a great job.  Also, I was pleasantly surprised that the food was really good!  Bill always tries to be the center of attention (gets that from his Dad!) and was picked to play a part - Norm's sister....at least he did have to wear a dress - LOL!

We always use the long holiday weekend to get a head start on decorating the house for Christmas and that was Saturday's task...some shots from around the house...

 Our Dickens' A Christmas Carol Byers Choice carolers on the TV stand

 More Byers Choice Caroler's on the piano and above

 Christmas Angel

 The dining room hutch all decked out

 My dining room table with my Kona Solids challenge piece from last year

 Kitchen cabinets festooned with bows

 My Christmas card holder awaiting the first card and our Piper Santa

Shelf above my kitchen sink with some Mickey holiday salt & pepper shakers and my favorite Snowman teapot

I actually did get a little quilting in....quilting snowflakes on DILs Winter Quilt...

We rounded out the weekend with Sunday dinner...Bill cooked his famous Chicken with Sage, Proscuitto and Fontina Cheese - it was incredible!

I just love long weekends!

And a good time was had by all....

I meant to post this Monday after I returned from my guild retreat...now it's Saturday.  Well, this week sure flew by!

To say I had a fantastic time at the retreat would be an understatement.  It sure seemed like everyone enjoyed themselves thoroughly and LOTS of quilting got done!

The hotel was so comfortable.  Our rooms were clean and spacious, our sewing space was great, a hot breakfast was included every morning, we had a place to go and eat our lunch and dinner away from the sewing machines and the hotel staff couldn't have been more accommodating.  Sure hope we go here again next year!

Before the fun started though, I realized shortly after we arrived I forgot the cord to my sewing machine
 - DO-OH!  I so upset with myself!  I was so worried about packing the foot pedal, I left the cord on the floor of my sewing room.  Of course, my friends immediately came to my aid...the fallback plan was to have hubby take my cord to a Bobbi's house who was going home for the night and lived close and she'd bring it back the next day.  Meanwhile, Anna was going to lend me her cord for the day since she was cutting.  Yeah, my guild friends are awesome.  Someone else suggested I call the Quilter's Corner - located about a mile from the hotel - to see if they sold cords.  They don't but they were more than happy to lend me one for the weekend!  So, Cathy (I felt terrible dragging her out again after we had just gotten there, but she drove - I felt terrible again when I knocked her breakfast all over her the next morning - but I think she still likes me anyway o:) ) and I went on over to the quilt shop to pick up the cord - and it fit!  So - shout out to the Quilter's Corner - they rock!

Some shots of the weekend...

How much stuff do two gals need for a quilt retreat weekend?  This much....

This is a good shot of the whole room - we were very comfortable - plenty of room for everyone!  I felt sorry for the clean-up crew - they may not have known what they were getting into with a bunch of quilters - you could barely see the carpet for the threads by the time we left!

Thanks for the photos, Cathy

The first top finished - Bobbi's jelly roll race charity quilt - I love the black and white squares she put in!

Cathy working away...

Anna worked on about 100 projects this weekend - well, maybe not that many, but it was a lot!  I love everything she makes!

Andrew and Jessica choosing fabric....

Bobbi went home at night to take care of her pooch...but she left this behind...she was lucky it was all still there the next day - LOL!

 One of Anna's many projects...

 My table - working on the Helix quilt...

I was happy with my accomplishments.  I finished piecing the "winter" quilt by Saturday morning and had my 3 green "panels" made for the Helix quilt made by the time we left Sunday afternoon.

We had a couple of crashers on Saturday night....

These gentlemen from New York were looking for the bar...they wandered into our room...it was a hoot!  They wanted to hear all about who we were and why we were there.  They sat down and "pretended" to be sewing...they knew their wives would eventually find them - and they did - we all had a good laugh!

And, yes, a good time was had by all (particularly Saturday night - LOL!)

Retreat Prep

So, I'm off for a weekend retreat with the Philly Modern Quilt Guild.  YAY!!!!!  Yes, I'm beyond excited to spend a weekend with 15 of my guild buddies (and I will sure miss the ones who won't be with us this time).  We're going about an hour away to the Brandywine Valley Suites Hotel in Glen Mills, PA for three days of sewing, eating, and maybe a little tipple of wine.  I'm sure much hilarity will ensue.

Although I will probably chat more than sew, I have very high hopes for a productive weekend.  The two priority quilts are ones I'd like to give as Christmas gifts (yes, THIS year)....

Winter Quilt for daughter-in-law, Raqhel

Quilt for son Bill

And, once I get these two quilts done (yes, I'm laughing too), I can work on this...

Finish up the borders on Short Story

And a little handwork, just in case...

 Daisy Chain Sampler

 2nd Hexie Fall Table Mat

So, I'm all packed and just waiting for Cathy to come and pick me up!

You'd think I was going away for a week - not a weekend!

If I can get my the Blogger App on my iPad to work, I'll post from the retreat!  

Fall Frenzy Shop Hop

This weekend was the Fall Frenzy Shop Hop here near Philadelphia.  After surviving Hurricane Sandy earlier this week, I was sure if the hop was still a go, but it was.  We needed it after last week.  Luckily, none of the shops had any damage and we were able to hit 7 of them on Saturday.  Three friends and fellow-guild-members and I hit the road early at 9am yesterday and returned after 6pm.  A long day, but we had a blast!  The shopping was fun, but spending the days with my friends was really the best part.

Today, hubby took me to two of the remaining shops near where we live and tomorrow I'll hit the last one which is right up the street from my office.

I went armed with a list and pretty much got what I went for and then some!

I was able to get all of the fabrics to make a quilt for son Bill.  I'm using a pattern from the Geared for Guys book.  I'm hoping to get it done for Christmas, but I'm not promising!  I got the brown background fabric and apple greens at Generations.  I scored the 5 yards of backing (the fabric in the very back) at Byrne Sewing today for half price!

I've been eyeing this Witches' Boot pattern from Crabapple Hill for a few years now and found it at one of the shops with a stack of the fabrics for the borders and all the Cosmo floss needed.  I'm so glad I found this as my bloggy-friend Lynn from the Alamosa Quilter has been showing her version on her blog lately and it's really made me want to get started on this pattern!

I was able to satisfy my craving for some Mama Said Sew at a couple of the shops...

I've been eyeing Parson Gray's Curious Nature for a while now.  Cloth & Bobbin had a bunch of it and when Andrew decided he wanted it too (and helped carry all of those bolts to the cutting table), we each got 1/4 yards of all C&B had!

Cloth & Bobbin was also giving these cute sewing repair kits with your purchase...

Oops, sorry, turn your head.

I picked up a couple of charm packs of Vintage Modern at one shop - can't leave empty-handed!

Another very successful hop!  I can't wait for next year.

Just because I made her dress up, I'll show you Lilly in her Halloween costume.  She didn't get to go to her Halloween "party" at camp because of the hurricane, but she made a very cute Ladybug....

The Philly Modern Quilt Guild retreat is next weekend - I can't wait!!!

October Schnibbles - Hubble

While we survived hurricane Sandy with just some roof damage our Internet, cable and phone service is still out. Luckily, I thought to buy some 3G for the iPad on Monday so I'm not totally out of contact. I'm posting from the Blogger app so I'm sure at least one of the photos will be out of place, but at least I won't miss the deadline! It will be another day of sewing for me since the office is still closed.
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Again, this month we aren't actually doing a "Schnibble" in Sinta and Sherri's Another Year of Schnibbles. Last month we went little with "Little Bites" and this month we go big! We had a choice of designer Carrie Nelson's Hubble or Bounce. While I do love Bounce, I'm already planning on making a similar quilt, so chose Hubble.

Carrie's Hubble actually measures 70"x 70" (for the smallest version!) My Hubble's quite a bit smaller at 37"x37".

When I saw this pattern, I remember the box full of half-square triangles leftover from my Swoon quilt. I had one block left to go, and to get the most color choices for my Hubble, I quickly made the flying geese for that last block so I could use those leftover HSTs too! And, as a bonus, I'm that much farther on my last Swoon block!

I just had to make a few two-fabric HSTs to go diagonally in the middle, but this quilt was half made already when I started!

I still have a few HSTs in my box....

So, we're coming into the homestretch on this year of Schnibbles. I'm excited to see what our last two months' patterns will be!

Hop on over to Sherri & Sinta's blogs on November 1st, to see the parades of Hubbles and Bounces!

The Quilting Before the Storm

We're getting ready for Frankenstorm around here - or the Snowicane - or just plain old Sandy - whatever they're calling it at the moment..  We've dismantled Halloween from the front yard, brought everything inside, gotten our bread, milk and eggs, flashlights and candles.  Now, I'm racing to finish quilting my co-worker's quilt in case we lose power!

A colleague made this cute Super Hero quilt for her sister's baby shower and was trying to quilt it herself when her machine broke.  Right before the shower!  She asked me if I'd do the quilting for her.  I was more than happy to do so.

She chose the Bubbles pantograph for the design and it's coming out quite nicely!

She used a small wale courduroy for the backing and some of the squares...

I've sewn on the binding and I'm ready to snuggle in and stitch it down tonight while the storm comes in.

In other news, I'm still on my winning streak!  I won the new book from the It's Sew Emma girls at the Fat Quarter Shop courtesy of Sherri at A Quilting Life! This is a really nice book - featuring, obviously, fat quarters.  Each pattern contains instructions to make the quilt in four different sizes.  I'll be making at least a few from this book!  Thanks Sherri and FQS!

On Tuesdays, I always comment to enter the fat eighth bundle giveaways on Randi's
"I Have to Say" blog and the other week I won!  I got this great Fall bundle...

Randi's shop, Fresh Squeezed Fabrics has great fabrics and she even has custom bundles!  Thanks, Randi!

To all my friends in the storm's path - stay safe and dry!