A promise fulfilled.....

My oldest grandson is visiting for a few days.

So far we have seen this....



eaten here....



and made these....



I have taught him to play "chickenfoot"...



and he is playing with our enormous set of Legos right now.... and watching ICarly.

He will go home soon and a promise will be fulfilled. A promise his Mom and I made him over 2 years ago...right after his sister came to stay for a few days.

Nancy

Merry Christmas

to you and yours



I'll be back in 2010.....

Nancy

Design wall Monday 12-21-09

I don't have anything on my design wall that I can show... I am finishing up the last of the Christmas presents and it MUST be done by Wednesday night. What can I say, I waited til the last minute...

Hubby however has a finished design wall project that I CAN show...




Isn't it gorgeous. This is the 4th piece of the bedroom set. We now have 2 side tables, a headboard and this dresser for me. Next is a tall chest of drawers for him and we will be done. He and the Rock Star carried the old furniture to the garage and brought up the new dresser. So I had to empty out the 12 dresser drawers and fit the stuff into 6 drawers. YIKES!! Of course that leads to cleaning out the drawers and that leads to cleaning out the closet and that leads to packing away summer clothes and that leads to cleaning out the storage room and....and...and...

Yesterday was my family Christmas. We generally get together with my family the Saturday before... there are too many grown grandchildren with in-laws to do anything on Christmas Eve and we reserve Christmas Day for just our immediate family. We decided this year to do all snack foods so we had lots and lots of good eats... shrimp and cheese and sausage and dips and hot wings and a veggie tray...and mini pumpkin pies and so much more.... It was so nice to just snack all day..LOL

At some point my kids posed in front of my sister's tree..




second daughter, rock star and first daughter.

And then of course we can't leave out the hubby's...



And every year I make a small gift for all the women in the family. This year I waited until the last minute and almost didn't make anything. Thursday night I was talking to my sister and I mentioned that maybe this year there wouldn't be a little gift from me.... uh oh...that was the wrong thing to say! She said she would be very disappointed... so all day Friday I sewed...and sewed...and sewed...and made these.....



And then wrapped them and I hope everyone liked them. They only take 1/2 yard of fabric and about 20 minutes to make...but when you make 10 of them it adds up to some serious sewing time.

Well, I am off to brave the grocery store... I would wait until tomorrow, but we would starve...

Nancy

A true Christmas story...

Please visit here ...

He's making a list and checking it twice....

As I get older age gracefully, I find it harder and harder to remember what I am supposed to do and when I am supposed to do it..

I print a calendar that has all of my "dates" on it and it hangs on the fridge... but I try not to stand in front of the fridge for very long, because I will find myself opening it up and nibbling...even though I am not much of a nibbler...

What I do is sit at the computer.. so I found the perfect list maker...

I joined up and really it's the easiest thing. They ask very few questions and poof you can make your own list...for each day. You just type in the box under the date and it adds it to the list. I added it as a bookmark on my tool bar and now I can just click on the link and see what I am supposed to be doing...you know...instead of sitting here blogging...

Today on my list -

make meatballs for Saturday Christmas
order veggie tray for Saturday
wrap presents
do laundry

Meatballs-DONE
laundry-DONE

Off to call the deli and order the veggie tray and then start wrapping Christmas... Have to be sneaky as the Rock Star is on Christmas vacation already. He has perfect attendance so he doesn't have to take finals and gets off 2 days earlier than most.

Nancy

PS-Funny Abbie story...(Abbie won't be 2 until February!)
Mom and Abbie driving to daycare at Yeesa's (lisa's)

Mom-Abbie, what do you want for Christmas?
Abbie - presents
Mom- what do you want in the present?
Abbie - um. milk
Mom - MILK?
Abbie - a sippy cup
Mom- a sippy cup?
Abbie - Gamma N'cie present (grandma nancy)

Abbie -Mommy, mommy,mommy,mommy what's that? (pointing out her window)
Mom-It's a big truck. What do you think is in the truck?
Abbie-fish sticks..

Isn't she the cutest??!!!

Santa Baby....

Santa baby, just slip OZ charms under the tree, for me
Been an awful good girl
Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight

Santa baby, some Boutique FQ's too, light blue
I'll wait up for you dear Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight

Think of all the fun I've missed
Think of all the fellas that I haven't kissed
Next year I could be just as good
If you'd check off my Christmas list
Boo doo bee doo

Santa baby, I wanna Baby Brown Bird Quilt kit ,
It's not a lot
Been an angel all year
Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight

Santa honey, one thing I really would like is PEACE
for all my peeps
Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight

Santa cutie and fill my stocking with some dots, and checks
Sign your 'X' on the line
Santa cutie, and hurry down the chimney tonight

Come and trim my Christmas tree top,
With some goodies bought at the Fat Quarter Shop
I really do believe in you
Let's see if you believe in me
Boo doo bee doo

Cookies will be waiting for you with carrots for the reindeer...


MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Nancy

Happy Birthday

Grace

Have a wonderful day!!!

Grandma will call you tonight....

Winner....winner....chicken dinner...

STITCHED IN PRAYER
You are the
WINNER

Stitched With Prayer said...

First of all, thank you for this thoughtful giveaway. Now, the reason I would love to have it is to give my niece as a gift. She is in her mid 20's and started quilting just a year ago, she is already immersed in the joy of quilting and finds so much comfort in it after working full time as a social worker in a shelter, then coming home and going to school to get her Masters so she can go into teaching. However, like most young married couples she has to pinch pennies and magazines are a luxury she has to pass up if she wants to buy quilting supplies. She would be so delighted to be getting her own magazine and not having to return them to us, LOL. Plus, it would be a wonderful surprise that would remain forever secret between us. Not even her mother would know where it came from. Now, before I go...GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!!

Hubby picked your number so send me your nieces address and let's surprise her!!!

Nancy

Tis the Season....

To give...

I have a free year of American Patchwork and Quilting to give away...


Want it?

Tell me why and tell me fast...I will draw someone Sunday night so I can mail it off on Monday am...

Nancy

Baby, it's cold outside...

Which is why I am inside...all nice and warm...having some hot tea and working on a couple of surprises...

It is 23 degrees here and we have 40 mile an hour winds....

Tomorrow is the last shopping/lunch day that Nancy and I will have with Anne. Anne and her family have been in the states for 3 years while her hubby is stationed here with the Australian Air Force... The 3 of us met each other in a local redwork club and Anne was the one to ask her to her house to sew. We started meeting once a month and had such a good time. Most of the time we didn't get a lot of sewing done because I we tend to talk too much. I hope to remember to take the camera...

ah...lunch time... homemade veggie soup just like Mom used to make...

Nancy

GAH!!!

That button was pushed at my house this morning...I went into my online bank account to find us OVERDRAWN!!

PUSH BUTTON....PUSH BUTTON.....PUSH BUTTON....PUSH BUTTON...PUSH BUTTON

It started Friday when I headed into town to make a deposit. I didn't have a preprinted deposit ticket so I swiped my debit card and the clerk pulled up the account. She hand wrote the ticket and I got my deposit receipt. Sounds good so far doesn't it?

Then Sunday...hubby and I balanced the checkbook and pitched all the paperwork...

So far so good...

Yesterday I check my online balance and we are OVERDRAWN!! No way... panic sets in and I transfer money from saving to checking and cross my fingers that this morning it will have all balanced itself out and I can transfer that money back in to my savings...

NO!! The deposit is gone..

So I searched here...



and then here...



and could not find my deposit receipt...

So I got into this...(top up people...it's 32 here)



and drove here...



After a little tough talk with the lady behind the desk...it's fine now. No one knows what happened. She said she would be able to tell me Thursday after the deposit was posted and she can read the notes. I don't care how it happened, but it has taught me one thing....

save my deposit tickets...

Live and learn...

Nancy

be back tomorrow....

December 7
Debug Windows 7.


Today was my quilt guild Christmas Party.... we ate and played rob your neighbor and everyone had a wonderful time...
I won two FQ's and one of those thread catchers with a pincushion and magnet.. It was the only wrapped package and there was some fierce fighting for it...

Nancy

To my sister.....

HAPPY 61st BIRTHDAY TO MY "older" SISTER!!!!

woops, almost forgot...

December 6
Fax family Christmas newsletter to Pulitzer committee for consideration.

a night out....

Continuing with the Martha Stewart list.....

December 5
Get new eyeglasses. Grind lenses myself.

Yesterday hubby and I celebrated 38 years of marriage... We did what we normally do on our anniversary... which is go out to eat and then Christmas shop...

He surprised me by getting home early. And believe me, I was surprised. Dishes were still in the sink, bed unmade, bathroom a mess...

We hung around a bit and then took off to do some Christmas shopping. I would love to share what we got, but there are members of my family that occasionally pop in here and it would ruin it for me...
Then off to O'Charley's for dinner. Hubby had BBQ ribs, fries and this wicked caramel pie which he said was SWEET!!! It looked like they had just poured caramel sauce into a pie shell and covered it in whipped cream...lol I had talapia and steamed broccoli and a cup of coffee while he ate that piece of pie...

I have some sewing to do today ... back tomorrow..

Nancy

Welcome home...did you bring me anything?

No? Not even a t-shirt or a cheesy key chain? Oh... well... vacation is over, you start back to work immediately...


December 4
Repaint Sistine Chapel ceiling ecru, with mocha trim.

Nancy

head down....

December 3
Using candlewick and hand gilded miniature pine cones, fashion cat-o-nine-tails. Flog Gardener.

I have my head down sewing, sewing, sewing... I have a quilt that needs to be delivered today to Two-border Pat. It's a Christmas present and I hate giving it to her this late.

Back tomorrow

Nancy

do you miss me?

December 2
Have Mormon Tabernacle Choir record outgoing Christmas message for answering machine.

Sunday. I got the call early, around 9am. . and I am so sad.

Hubby left Sunday am to drive to Oklahoma for 4 days. I had borrowed his truck on Friday to go shopping and it happened.

I left my cell phone in the truck. I don't have my cell phone. It's in Oklahoma and I won't get it back until late Wednesday night. I feel as if I can't leave the house now. I am afraid to venture out and shop, which I really need to do since I only have two items bought for the rock star and nothing for hubby. (grandkids are done thanks to Cyber Monday!)

What did we do before cell phones? I remember having flat tires, getting lost and wanting to verify the shopping list and not being able to reach into my pocket and call someone. I remember changing flat tires, finding my way eventually and just winging it if I missed an ingredient. Now we are an instant society. If I am at Target and forget why, I can reach into my pocket, flip open my phone and call someone and ask.

I am lost.... and a prisoner in my own house... until Thursday.. then I can go out again.

Nancy

The list....

Last year I wrote this post.... Pat left a comment that we should all do it this year. So starting today, I will head up a post with the daily idea...let's see how many of you can keep up...

Today, December 1st
Blanch carcass from Thanksgiving turkey. Spray paint gold, turn upside down and use as a sleigh to hold Christmas Cards.

Now if you didn't have turkey for Thanksgiving (or you are not in the USA and don't even celebrate Thanksgiving) I will allow you to make another card holder. Maybe using the netting from the rolled pork loin? Stiffen with some glue and spray it gold? Or did you have ham? Maybe you can make something in the shape of a pig? If desperate, maybe you could use, oh, I don't know....FABRIC??? How about fabric...?

Would love for you to post a photo on your blog?? Can't wait to see what you come up with..

Nancy

yes, I did....

I was at Walmart at 5am on Friday.... how crazy was that? It was ridiculous.. #2D and the rock star went with me....

Then because we could, we went to Target...

I already have one Christmas present to take back.

I just finished cyberMonday shopping... it was much more comfortable...

Want to see something funny? Click here

Go HERE and you can do one for your pet or grandchild or anyone... check out the whole page...lots of news....

And because we can't be pictureless here are two of my grandkids that came to eat Thanksgiving dinner with us...



Nancy

Happy Thanksgiving
from
My Family
to
Yours

Happy Cleaning/Cooking Day....

Cause really, isn't that what everyone is doing today? If you are hosting Thanksgiving you are running around stuffing shit into drawers, mopping the floors and trying to figure out how to get the dog to stop barking at every leaf that blows by the back door. If you are going to be a guest, you are probably cooking or baking items to take with you...then Friday you will have to clean your kitchen...right after you get home from shopping...

I think I like hosting better. I have leftovers to serve on Friday and Saturday and Sunday if I can disguise them enough...and my shit is already shoved into drawers so the house looks clean.

Today my list contains -
Make fried corn
make hot rolls (really...cause no one really cares if the rolls are hot, they just want to soak up the gravy or slather butter on them)
vacuum
shove shit into drawers (or sewing room if it won't fit into the drawers)
wash windows
wash big roaster (which stays in the garage) to put potatoes in to bake
set table (I printed some Thanksgiving place cards for the grandkids to color)


I know my list will get longer as the day goes on.

Have a great day!! Mine starts NOW!!!!

Nancy

ps to Margi -The recipe for the fried corn is at the bottom of this post. It is a staple at all family dinners...

design wall monday 11-23-09

My design wall this morning shows my current BOM from a local quilt shop, the center panel for a quilt from this book. I know it doesn't look much different, but all the blanket stitching is now finished. Then there is my quilt guilds BOM (which I am so not finishing out the year so I guess these will be orphan blocks now) and a hand stitchery that just needs some more stitching....




This will be a busy week. Here in the states Thursday is Thanksgiving. Like many of you, I have company coming so I have today to clean, tomorrow to get my haircut, grocery shopping and start cooking on Wednesday..

Our menu -

Turkey Breast
Prime Rib
Baked Potatoes (sweet potato for me)
fried corn
some kind of green veggie (any ideas?)
Rolls
and dessert is coming with company...

And here is an updated photo of hubby's design wall. He is finishing up the drawers, he made the mirror frame yesterday and we bought all the hardware.



Nancy

cow....truck....rain.... The End

Remember this???

Today we visited here....




To pick up this....




Here I am following hubby to take the rental truck back...



Now all is right in hubbys world..

Hey, there's my town! It starts at Walgreen's and goes all the way up the hill to Walmart..

Nancy

3 machines, 2 friends and 1 weekend.....

Last Thursday afternoon, 2 friends and I drove out to a not-to-far-away resort for a weekend of sewing....

We got lots done, but sadly I only have one photo of a finished project and it's not even my project and really it's not even done... lol

Here's a little peak at our weekend...

our view....


not our condo, but one just like it....



Veronica at the ironing table. Yes we took a 6ft table with us for ironing and cutting....



the almost finished quilt...



Beverly at the table....



Now to finish 4 projects that I got started...

Nancy

out with the old....

ah....routine...for the past three years I have had the same table runner in my dining room. It was a gift from a friend that owned a quilt store. When I found out she was closing the store, I asked if I could buy it. "No" she said...."you can have it".... It was the buggy barn basket pattern from homespuns...I really liked it.

Yesterday was a day of sewing at Anne's. I had some hand stitching to do on a Christmas present, Miss Nancy brought her sewing machine to work on her tumbler blocks and Anne said she had some hand sewing to do....and that we would laugh....hm... strange, even for Anne..

We sat down and started working and all of a sudden Anne brought out two Christmas packages... One for each of us!! How fun!!

Look what I got...





Is this not the most beautiful table runner you have ever seen. You can click over to Anne's blog and see more photos and read about the pattern. I love it so much...and it will sit on my dining room table forever...

oh, Anne's hand sewing? It was to add the labels to the back of the table runner.lol

For many reasons (that I won't go into) today was a very stressful day... so I decided to do a little retail therapy... I have no idea what I will do with these, but that wasn't the reason I bought them... I think the owner of the shop now thinks I am nuts as I showed up on her doorstep and said "I need to buy"...lol

3 one yard cuts....



And my first ever jelly roll....



I did buy some strips for this quilt but they weren't a "real" jelly roll, just some strips a vendor put together and sold. That one up there... AUTHENTIC....

Guess I need to head over to the Moda Bake Shop and see what I can do with this... I bet they have lots of options...

Nancy

Whats a grandma to do.....

I was talking to my oldest daughter last week and she was telling me some funny things that bitty was doing. Bitty waits until her sister is gone and then goes in her room and drags her baby and cradle to her own room to play with. When asked why bitty doesn't play with her own doll I was told she didn't have one... WHAT??? NO DOLL???

Crisis averted....



Both girls wanted to take this baby home.... Mom said "no"...






Nancy

And the winner is.......

Seven

and it belongs to

Nancy C. (teenietators)

congratulations Nancy

Send me your mailing address and tell me....do you want sewing or non-sewing items

I will get it mailed out before I go to retreat Thursday

we will have a winner....

20- the number of you that sent me copies of congrats emails to Kristin. Thanks to all of you. Yesterday I overheard her telling someone that all these "weird people she didn't know" were sending her emails saying congrats on her new job. :- )
Her sister clued her in....

I thought it only fair that she get to pick the winner, so I have sent her an email and as soon as she picks a number I will announce the winner.

Yesterday was a fun filled day with a wonderful Baby Shower for my niece. We played games and had great food. We were handed a blue ribbon bracelet with a blue Binky charm. The most fun was watching my oldest granddaughter run around trying to get people to say "baby" which was the magic word. If you said the word, you lost the bracelet. The one with the most bracelets at the end won a prize. She was relentless. She would run over to a baby and say "Grandma, what IS THIS?" I would say "oh, a b-infant?"....she would stomp her foot... At the end she won another one of the games and I ended up with the most bracelets (thanks to Kristin, who walked up to me, said BABY and handed me her 4 or 5). What did I win? A set of candle holders...UGH! I don't do candles, so they will be regifted during a Christmas game...sshhh....don't tell anyone.

I can finally show the quilt I made for the new baby (due in January)....



I thought I got some closeups, but can't seem to find them...dang it...

The tutorial for this is at the Moda Bake Shop. It's a great tute by AmandaJean at Crazy Mom Quilts. Check out her blog for loads of other great tutes on her side bar...

I love this fabric, Wee Play by American Jane...I wish I still had a whole set of FQ's ....

Need to start packing for retreat today. I have it on good authority that my ride will be here at 2pm...and I better be ready to go...

Back later tonight with a winner...

Nancy

numbers....

86 - The number of followers I have

9 - The number of peeps in the contest so far

2 - The number of days left to join in the contest

Where are the rest of you!!!! Wait.wait..wait.(insert light bulb here) .maybe you don't sew? That's it...

77 - The number of followers that DON'T sew

hm....ok...here is what I will do.

I will get two prizes... one for those that sew and one for those that don't. OK? Will that get more of you to respond?

Come on peeps.... help me out here....

BTW.... the reason I picked Sunday IS...she is not back to work until then. So all these messages will be in her inbox on Sunday... Funny, huh...

Off to make meatballs....right after I go to the store and get all the ingredients...

Nancy

Congrats.......and a contest

Congrats go to my second daughter. She interviewed for a new job last week and last night she accepted.... She will be an office nurse! Regular hours, home each night with her kids and hubby, no holidays, no weekends, still close to home. Not a bad deal. Right now she works with the criminally insane and you know you can only do that for a limited time.....

I think she will enjoy it. I was a pediatric office nurse for 12 years. I loved every minute of it and only transferred to the hospital when a new nurse manager and I didn't see eye to eye....turns out I had some kind of intuition as she was neither a good manager or a nurse...yes, she had lied about being an RN. Who does that and thinks they won't get caught...

So, how about if we do this....

Email my daughter and congratulate her on her new job...

Leave a comment and I will send you her email address... please make sure there is a way to email you...some of you come in as no-reply.

When you email her, send me a copy and I will put your name in a drawing for something good...

WHAT?

Who knows....maybe a pattern, maybe a fq, maybe some thread...I will shop for you....

Ok....you have 3 days... I will pick a name on Sunday am and get the prize in the mail on Sunday Monday duh.....

And last night I averted a crisis...tell you all about it Sunday...

Nancy

a little surprise.....

I love a good surprise... going out to dinner, friends dropping by, someone else unloading the dishwasher..

So I took off last Friday to town to do my usual payday errands. I needed to go to the post office, the bank, the grocery store. B-O-R-I-N-G!! So to break things up a bit I decided to see if my LQS had any fabric suitable for another couple of checkerboards. I was looking for some kind of black print and some kind of red print. Right off I found some red with white polka dots. I looked and looked for some kind of black print, but had to settle for a white with a black dot. I figured I can always use dots so I told her to cut 2 yards of each.

That's when she told me.....

"Did you know all fabric is 50% off?"

"really?"

Now that is a nice surprise!!! I bought a couple of more yards...yea, just a couple.

See, most of you can go to your LQS and find a ton of fabric, but mine is almost bare. She is attempting to "down size in order to fit into a smaller store and ride out the recession". Her words. I moved here 3 years ago. She hasn't had a new bolt of fabric since then. For the first year, I didn't even notice. And then I realized that every time I went in, the same fabric was there,just moved around. I think with some good marketing she could turn this around. I was lucky to find these.



Nancy

Design Wall Monday.....

Not much going on here...

Top left is a new pattern called Lilly Pilly. I want to do it in all greens, but won't even start it until after the first of the year.

That's the center panel for a quilt called Tweet D Pie...It's in This Book by Two Sisters at Squirrel Hollow.

Underneath that is part of our quilt guilds BOM with instructions.

Finally, a stitchery by Lynette Anderson. I am sorry, I can't remember the name, and I have no idea where the pattern is....

Hubby is out of town the next couple of days, so I will be busy cutting kits to take to retreat. I like to have all my projects at least cut and ready to start on....
Two friends and I are going to sew for a couple of days in a condo with no responsibility other than for ourselves... can't wait..

Nancy

A Sunday finish.....

Do you remember this post? When the three of us decided to do these little projects, I thought of something I wanted to make the grandkids. They are 7,6,6 and 3. Now is the perfect time for a checkerboard and when grandma sews they get one made of fabric. And when grandma thinks ahead, they get one with built in storage.




Now to make two (or three) more.

Yesterday was fun... My sister called and asked me to go furniture shopping with her. She has been looking for new living room furniture and one of the local stores had a fabulous two hour sale. After sitting on EVERY chair there was, she settled on a great cream set (she has no young children or pets so she can pick cream with confidence) and she picks it up next week. I tried to steer her to the exact same set in dark red with no luck... she just isn't a red person.
So then she took me to lunch....we really like the soup and salad at Olive Garden...
Thanks Sis, I had a great time!!

Nancy

Fred....

Happy Halloween!!!





This is my son-in-law... this is my son-in-law on drugs He is a manager at a grocery store and dresses up every year.Such a good sport. Check out the feet....they are plastic shoes... Sorry the picture is crappy, it was taken with my daughters IPhone... not the best camera in the world.

I can't wait til the tonight and the door bell rings for the first time with little trick r treaters. I love seeing them all.....

Nancy

a funny halloween story....

So, I didn't get the binding completely sewn on my project so I thought I would distract you with a funny story.

I was over at HappyZombie yesterday and she was talking about halloween and dressing up. I also love to watch the Today Show and see what costumes they come up with. My favorite so far was Matt Lauer dressed as Jennifer Lopez and Al Roker dressed as "Puff Daddy" a few years back.

So anyway, that led me to remember a long time ago when I worked in a pediatricians office. On Halloween the doctors would dress up. There would be a clown and a golfer show up every year. So one year the staff decided to dress up. For about 3 weeks we all plotted our costumes and got really into it. Then about 2 days before Halloween we got smart and realized that it would be funny for about 10 minutes and then a pain in the butt for the rest of the day. Not to mention, we might scare the kids more than we needed to... We all gave up...

Halloween morning came and we all showed up to work... office staff dressed as office staff, nurses came as nurses, those doctors showed up as a clown and a golfer and then, after lunch, it happened....

In the door came Kim. Kim was a part-time employee. She worked a couple of days a week. She was in college so she came in after class.

Uh oh......

Kim came dressed as a baby... in a body suit, with a diaper and a huge baby hat. She even had a pacifier hung on a ribbon around her neck...

Sorry Kim... we forgot to tell you. But, dang it was funny....

Nancy

the back.....

Do you pay attention to the back of your projects? I am not a type A+ person. If the front/outside looks good, I am fine with it... Some people take it to the inth degree... not me...

I thought I would show you the back of Tuesday's projects...

Miss "Type A+" Nancy



Ann



yea, mine...



Why does mine look so much messier?? To be fair, we didn't use the same fusible interfacing and maybe that is why the back of theirs looks so much cleaner and crisper? Who knows.

I do know that mine is almost finished. It is quilted and sitting patiently waiting for the binding. It will be added today... then tomorrow I hope to show you the competed project. It is so dang cute... and my own idea too!!

And all those messy seams? They are all inside where no one will even notice..LOL

Nancy