Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!


WOW!! I can't believe it's been 3 weeks since my last post. It's been a busy 3 weeks. So what's been going on? Lots!

The house has been decorated for Christmas. The tree is up and trimmed. The baking was done. I even tried some new recipes and they turned out great, especially the Space Dust cookies. These are going to be a staple for my Christmas baking. Presents were bought and wrapped. I actually had all the gifts wrapped early this year. That left me time to get ready for family company on the 24th. It was great to see my brother, his wife and their son. Also my niece and her 2 kids. It was a fun evening with lots of food and games.

I received some really great news earlier this month. As I had posted in a previous post I was working towards sending in my application to Judy Neimeyer Quilting to become a Certified Instructor. Well I finally got the email that I'd been waiting for, I was accepted into their Instructors Program. I will go to Montana for my training the end of August 2012. It seems so far away, but I know that I will be busy making samples and teaching in the mean time.

What have I been doing in my studio, well lets see. I got the top for my friend done and now just have to get the back ready, then I'll take it to Diamond Girlz, my friendship group, next week to get it basted along with some other tops for customers that need to get quilted.


I've finished Parts 4-6 of the Bonnie Hunter's Orca Bay Mystery. When you get all the parts laid out that we've done so far you can tell it's going to be a great quilt. I can't wait to see what this quilt is going to look like.

I haven't done much beading since the last post, so I didn't give the little stars to my Diamond Girlz friends like I was going to. So instead I gave them each a skein of the new ruffle yarn and knitting needles and showed them how to make a fun scarf. Everyone enjoyed the gifts and were having fun learning something new. I made up a couple of scarves so that I could show them and each scarf only took about 1 1/2 hrs. to make while I was watching TV.

Was Santa good to you? He sure was good to me. For Christmas I got a Toshiba Thrive tablet. I'm having lots of fun learning how to use it. I haven't loaded that many apps on it yet, but just give me some time.

It's a quiet week this week. It's kinda nice that way, the week in between Christmas and New Year. Time to adjust getting back to some normalcy after all the hustle and bustle of Christmas. Time to think about the New Year and what will be coming in the year ahead.
Now it's time to go play with my new toy!

Happy New Year

Always stitchin',

Cindy

Monday, December 5, 2011

A quiet week here and Orca Bay Part 3.

It was kinda a quiet week here!

Last Monday I meet with my beading group and had a great day playing with my beads. I started a new kit from June Huber from Juniper Creek Designs. I love her designs, her directions are great, very easy to follow. I have taken a number of her classes at the Bead and Button show. This is her Peyote Starflower pendant.

I'm also making some of her Peyote Stars for gifts for Christmas. I'm using my own beads for these. My stash of beads is almost as large as my fabric stash.

For my quilt guild I in charge of making a special quilt for a friend. I finally decided on a design and got to work. I got all the parts cut out and the center of the top is almost together. Then I'll work on the borders. Can't show a picture right now. That will have to wait until it's presented to her. But I'm really happy with the way it's turning out.

Finally Friday came and with it came the next installment of the Orca Bay Mystery from Bonnie Hunter. I finished Part 3 on Sunday morning. Here are all the parts so far. I think they play nicely together. And just so the playing doesn't get out of hand, they stay in their own play pen when I'm not around.
I realized, I hadn't posted what my fabrics were going to be. I'm going with pink in place of Bonnie's red, then blue, black and white.

Friday was also a day of pure Bliss! My BFF, Lauretta, who is a massage therapist gave me a gift certificate for a massage for my birthday last Sept.. I made an appointment and turned it in on Friday for wonderful massage. It helped take care of the ropes that were between my shoulders. Now I feels so much better.

This coming week look a little busy, but I'll let you know how it goes.

Cindy

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Orca Bay Mystery Part 1 & 2!!

Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville fame has started a new mystery, Orca Bay and I've joined in the fun. I've finished parts 1&2. Part 1 are the black and white quarter square triangles and part 2 are the blue string blocks.
Now these blocks are playing nicely together waiting for their friends to come and join them. The new clues come out on Fridays and all of us that are doing the mystery wait all week with baited breath to see what the new clue will bring.

See you soon.

Cindy

Long Time No Post!

Wow! Has it been awhile since I've posted or what? Well, life has been a little busy around here. July and August were quiet, but then it was September and that did it. I was home only about 12 day in the month. First was a trip to the beach for a week with all my guys, my daughter and my BFF. We had a great time!! Lots of day trips for the guys and lots of sewing time for Lauretta my bestest friend and I.

Then it was come home and get ready for a trip to Montana for a week's retreat with Judy Neimeyer. I had a great time the food and accommodations were fantastic.
This is the view that I got to wake up to every morning. Beautiful!!! This was also the view from the sewing room! So inspiring.

This was the last class I needed with Judy for my certified instructors application to become one of Judy's instructors. Here's the quilt top that I got done while I was there. It's the Hawaiian/Prairie Star pattern. It was a lot of work, but so worth it. Now to figure out how I'm going to quilt it.

After getting back from Montana, I had 3 days to get the last of things ready for my quilt guild, Nite Owl Quilters, annual retreat, of which I am the chairperson. Luckily, I had pretty much everything ready before I left for Montana and just had to make a few phone calls to confirm a few things. The retreat was a hit as always and the ladies are asking when the next one will be.

Then we had to get ready for a big event for my family. My step-daughter was getting married the middle of October in Boise, ID. So I had 2 weeks to get things ready for that. The biggest task that I had was to find a dress. Luckily I was able to find one at the mall at Nordstroms, then I had to find shoes, which is not easy for this girl with size 11 feet. UGH!

The happy couple, Jenny and Brett.

Now things have settled down to what is so-called normal at my house. Thanksgiving was quiet and it's time to get ready for Christmas.

Cindy

Monday, July 4, 2011

Happy 4th of July!!!

Happy 4th of July! It's a quiet one here. We will make a little noise of our own tonight when we do the Party Poppers.

I have been busy today. I got the top put together for the President's Quilt. Sorry can't show a picture until after it is given to the former Pres. It went better that I expected. I have the fusible applique ready to take with me for Diamond Girlz tomorrow. The girlz are going to help me cut out the leaves, lots of leaves and flowers and fuse them to the quilt top. Then I'll be able to get the back made for it and get it quilted. Then it will be done and I can cross another job off my list of To Do's.

I also got the back made for my Sand Devils quilt and the batting put together. I'll also take it to Diamond Girlz to get it basted. Then it will be ready to hit the machine. Then I will have 4 quilts done for my Judy Neimeyer certified instructors application and only 1 more to do. The next to get done will be the Diamond Wedding Ring that I started at a class with Judy at Quiltque in Henderson, NV.

Getting ready to put the binding on my Gummi Dots quilt another JN Quiltworx pattern and number 3 for my application. Should get the hand sewing of the binding done while I watch TV tonight.
I'm off to do the binding.

That's all for today, we'll see what I get done tomorrow.

Cindy