HeartString Quilts

Design Wall Monday

2012-01-23T08:07:00.000-07:00

It is never too early to start on a holiday quilt!

Don't ya think?

Maybe if I start this halloween quilt now I might

have it finished by October!

A few years back a group of friends did a swap with

pumpkin blocks and halloween print nine patches.

I still have some moving around to do on this design

and probably make it 3 x 5 with a couple of borders

instead of 4 x 4.

Should be fun to work on.

My other "design wall" project this week is my February hanger.

January seems to be zooming by so very quickly I figured

that I really should at least get this cut out.

This morning I quilted a couple of little t-shirt quilts

and had a small area of backing left

so I put this scrap of minkee on the machine and let

my granddaughter Mia do a little quilting.

Now I just have to figure out what to make her out of

this scrap.

Pillow? beanbags? Doll blanket?

Any ideas?

Mia loves to look at the buttons on my quilting machine.

Crafter in the making!

Want to see more Design Wall inspirations?

Go to Judy's place and prepare to be inspired.

God Bless,

tammy

Sunday Funday

2012-01-23T00:19:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago I woke up with this idea to

make up a quilt sample out of all of those little

t-shirt emblems that are about 6 inches square.

I'm going to be teaching a t-shirt class at a local quilt shop and I needed to have a sample to hang.

So I got up and sorted thru all those squares and came up with this little quilt.

I did sashing and a border on this one.

Oh and this one too....

and this one I just butted the squares together without using sashing.

I pieced the quilts pretty quickly on Friday morning

and this morning I got them both quilted and ready to hand sew the binding down. This was a really fun little project!

When mia was born my sweet friend Jo gave me a baggie full of barrettes that her daughters had worn when they were little.

As you can see in the photo Mia's hair is really long in the front and

requires something to pull it back out of her face.

She loved looking thru all the barrettes and picking out just the right one.

When she gets a little older I think that this bag of barrettes will

be a really fun matching game!

Blackberries are on sale at Sprouts this week so Mia and I made up a blackberry cobbler today.

In this picture I had Mia practicing her mixing skills.

She thought that was pretty fun, but really wanted something in the

bowl to mix!

She enjoyed tasting as each ingrediant went in!

Flour was pretty interesting.

Mia also did a little quilting today on the longarm.

Pictures of that to come!

God Bless,

tammy

Design Wall Monday

2012-01-16T07:38:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday!

Over at Judy's it is Design Wall Monday

and here at Tammy's these quilt squares are in the

process of being designed!

Yes, It's a t-shirt quilt

and I have 25 squares cut and ready to go,

and 5 more squares to go.

When you are doing a t-shirt quilt those shirts that are a full square are

just easy peasy to do.

Then you have those squares where the t-shirt emblem is not

quite big enough to fill a 15" square.

Or the emblem is TOO big to fill the 15" square.

Then you have some creative work to do to get the "odd" square

ready to fit in with the other squares.

Kinda like making a round peg fit into a square hole!

Later today I plan on selecting the fabric to complete this quilt.

I am hoping I can find it in my stash, but I ~might have to visit

the fabric store............?

My sweet 18 month old Mia is modeling a rockin' red robe

that I made for her mother over 20 years ago!

How cool is that?

Makes me happy.

Til next time,

Piecefully yours,

tammy

It's been awhile

2012-01-13T08:22:00.003-07:00

Greetings and Happy New Year!

It's been awhile since I've written anything here.

I'm not sure why.

Okay, I do know why.

It's because the Christmas season was crazy busy around here!

Lots of cherished memories made with family and friends!

So.

My new best friend is Pinterest

Melinda had been telling me about Pinterest for ages

and when I finally went to the page I realized that it was one of those things that you needed to spend a little time at to figure it out.

OH, and you had to request an invite to do it.

Seemed like alot of time was needed so I put it aside.

Then Judy sent a link,

and then Melinda mentioned it again

so I figured that perhaps I should spend the time to figure it out.

I did and I LOVE IT!

So here is how Pinterest works.......

Think of it like this.....It is a place to collect all of the neat ideas you find.

Back in the day you would have a file folder system to do this.

You would make a folder for, lets say, recipes, and then when you saw a recipe in a magazine or newspaper you would cut it out and place it in your Recipe file folder. You might have a folder for decorating ideas, one for party ideas, one for places you want to visit and so on.

Pinterest is a place where you can "pin" an idea to a board.

You can create as many board ideas as you have interests.

So how do you get started?

First you request an invite and the website sends you an invitation to your email address. Then you go back to the site and start looking.

It does take some time to figure things out, but just start looking around and you'll soon get the hang of it.

Where does the content of Pinterest come from you ask?

It can come from anywhere on the web, but alot of it comes from blogs just like this one. So when you come to something that you like on Pinterest simply click on the picture and it will eventually take you to the source.

Here is one of the ideas that I found on Pinterest:

Handprint Ornaments

(the above link takes you to the blog where the handprint ornaments originated.)

This picture shows the handprint ornaments that we made

with Mia this year. Only one of them got painted when this picture

was taken, but I'm still working on them.

Here is another great pinterest idea......Simple Delights

posted this wonderful breakfast recipe and someone

pinned it on pinterest.

I found it, pinned it into my recipe board and yesterday

morning when I was trying to figure out what to have for breakfast I went to my board, found this recipe and viola......I had a great breakfast!

Place one slice of ham in a pyrex bowl.

Crack an egg and pour into ham lined bowl.

Bake for 12 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

I topped this with a little cheese and believe me....

It was delicious.

AND

only 100 calories.

The ham got a little browned and crunchy on the top

making this extra flavorful.

The recipe called for scallions on top and that would have

been heavenly, but I didn't have scallions, so I'll have to try that next time.

All this talk about food has made me hungry and I have not had breakfast yet.

Still don't have any scallions, but I do have ham and eggs!

Til next time....

Have a blessed day.

tammy

Thank you notes......

2011-12-05T09:17:00.000-07:00

I ususally end my posts with a picture of my sweet Mia,

but today I will begin with her!

Here we are putting the icing on a Snickerdoodle cake.

As you can tell she is having a great time

and *most* of the frosing went on the cake!

This is a rare happy photo of Mia.

I know, I know, you have seen tons of happy pictures of Mia,

but when she is focused on a task she is very serious about it!

While it is never enough (for me) about Mia,

the real focus of the post is about the precious

and beautiful artwork that you can see

on the refrigerator behind us.

These lovely pictures were made by Jen's little nieces Cate and Abby

thanking me for making these candy turkeys for them.

I was very touched by their pictures and letters

(mom wrote the words that they said).

This wonderful mom is teaching her children

to be thankful and to say it in their own words.

The world sure needs more of this right now.

Hmmmm......I wonder if there are any thank-you notes I need to write?

Cute, cute, cute Thanksgiving Day kids!

Christmas blessing to you,

tammy

Design Wall Monday

2011-11-21T14:50:00.000-07:00

Judy over at Patchwork Times does a Design Wall Monday post every, you guessed it, Monday and provides a list so other bloggers can post what is on their design wall too. It's a really cool thing because it prompts us as quilters to get on the stick and maybe finish up some projects. It also provides us a glimpse into what other quilters are working on and quite possibly give us some inspiration!

So here is what is on my design wall today........well there are several projects there since I had a "Work in my STUDIO Day" yesterday!

This little project is almost done,

just needs the buttons sewn on and the binding.

I made up 6 placemats for Thanksgiving, but since

I want to make them reversable with Christmas on the

other side, these did not get finished yesterday.

Probably won't get finished in time for Thanksgiving,

but there is always next year.

On my actual design wall I have these t-shirt squares

interfaced, cut and ready to be designed into a quilt.

Just waiting for the inspiration to come on how to design it.

OH, and I still have the batik Guitar quilt hanging there unfinished.

Hmmmm, I wonder if Judy has some sort of rules about posting the

same quilt several times on the design wall?

Then there is this little quilt that I FINISHED yesterday!

Here is my sweet Mia learning to use the longarm.

Train them early!

Thanksgiving Blessings to you all,

tammy

Hurray for mental health days!

2011-11-21T08:25:00.000-07:00

AAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Long contented sigh!
It's like a breath of fresh air or sitting in a meadow on a pleasant day.
Or slipping into a hot spa when you have a tired and aching body.

My schedule has been CRAZY for the last month (as evidenced by the absolute lack of posts here!) and yesterday I took a day just for me and
spent practically the whole day in my studio creating just for ME!
I can now face the world with a much better attitude!

So what have I been up to the last month? Here's a peek:

Saturday was Thanksgiving at my house

and all the kids came over and we feasted.

Jenny made this enormous apple pie.

It was delicious even tho it was sorta juicy.

(Jenny, I think maybe we should have let this pie sit a little longer before we ate it. Maybe it just needed to be a little cooler?)

Friday night Mike and I attended a special surprise

birthday party for my good friend Sharon.

She is a sweet and sassy lady and her

husband threw her a really wonderful party!

Isn't this the most precious little girl ever?!?

I can tell you that she truly is.

We spent all of last week together while her mommy and daddy

went on a cruise to celebrate their anniversay.

Mia and I had the best time!

Here are some of the things we did:

We ate.

3 or 4 times a day!

Then we cleaned up.

We cooked together.

We played in the sand and went down the slide at the park.

I made her do housework.

(Actually she found the mop and started dragging it behind her.

I think she *might* have been telling me that the floor was

dirty and I needed to clean it! lol)

We played with bubbles while washing our little table.

We also did some fingerpainting, but

I didn't get any pictures of that.

We went to the duck park with grandpa to feed the ducks.

Side note: my kids used to LOVE going to the park to feed the ducks.

But when we got to this park I decided to read the big sign at

the entrance and lo and behold.......there it was clear and simple:

Do NOT feed the ducks!

We follow the rules so we didn't get to feed the ducks, but we

did get to look at them.

Now I wonder if perhaps I never read the sign when my kids

were little. We ALWAYS fed the ducks!

We also took a trip to McDonalds to get an ice cream cone!

My week with Mia was wonderful, but very tiring.

She was up by 6am and hit the ground running every day,

stopping only for naps and food.

She is a happy, but ornery little girl.

Moves constantly and is ALWAYS looking for the next

great thing to get into.

Jenny and Rafael joke that she is a shark since sharks are always moving.

I sure do love that little girl!

Betcha didn't know that!

The week prior to watching Mia I went to

the Houston International Quilt Festival

with 6 of my quilting friends.

Another very physically tiring and overwhelming week.

But oh. so. wonderful!

The quilts were fabulous and inspiring,

the company couldn't be better and

the shopping was great too!

Here is my haul:

Thread for embroidery, stencils for quilting,

a DVD for inspiration, some embellishement goodies and

of course a little batik fabric!

So here are the other things I have done this past month:

Accompanied my husband on 4 day business trip to Long Beach.

Caramba's party to celebrate a promotion.

Boojum Tree Halloween Party.

Project Linus Sew day at my house.

Mia helped with the quilting too!

Trick or Treating with our precious baby.

(I made Mike and I's ladybug costumes.

Mike insisted on being ladybugs since Mia was a ladybug!)

Pumpkin Patch party at my house.

Carving a pumpkin with my sweetie!

Before yesterday I felt very stressed,

but now looking back over my past month

I realize how very BLESSED I am.

I'm surrounded by people I love and people who love me.

Who could ask for anything more?

Guess what?

Christmas is coming!

Quilty blessing to you all,

tammy

Halloween is coming!

2011-10-18T07:08:00.000-07:00

That's right.....

Halloween is coming.

But you sure wouldn't know it if you stepped outside.

A few weeks back we had some teaser weather.

The temperatures dipped down into the 70's

DURING THE DAY!

It was fantastic and we all hoped that perhaps summer was finally over.

It was too good to be true, we all knew it was too good to be true.

Summer does not officially end here in Arizona until after Halloween.

I remember one year I planned costumes for my kids that included black sweatpants and a sweatshirt. Halloween day arrived and the temperature

was still near the 100 degree mark. I knew they were going to roast in those sweats so I had to go out and buy them black shorts and short sleeved shirt to go with thier costumes.

But I digress.

Halloween is right up there as one of my favorite holiday's.

I try to add one new thing to my halloween decorations every year.

Sometimes I wait til AFTER halloween and get something that the stores have discounted and sometimes I make something.

This year I made placemats.

While visiting my DIL I noticed that she had some

really cool halloween placemats on her dining room table.

Jen's grandma had made them.

So when I found some fun halloween fabric I knew

I needed to make some placemats.

And here they are.

But kinda plain don't ya think?

I fished thru my trim box and found this fuzzy black yarn

and it made a perfect little border.

Simple. Fast. Fun!

My table is complete!

Mia is getting ready for Halloween too!

Wishing for cooler weather,

tammy

New Marking tool

2011-10-09T22:17:00.000-07:00

A couple of Saturdays ago I attended

"Black Bag Saturday"

at 35th Avenue Sew n Vac

and received this pen in my bag.

They simply told me it was a gel pen.

So I used it like a regular pen....

UNTIL

I saw in Cozy Quilt shop newsletter that this Frixion pen

is used for quilt marking.

The pen writes on fabric and is erasable by rubbing or ironing.

I was so excited I decided to do a little test.

I wrote on the selvage of this VIP fabric.

I tried rubbing it out with the eraser,

but that didn't seem to work very well

Ironing, on the other hand,

worked like a charm!

So COOL!

I was very excited!

Before I wrote this up I decided to have a little google look

to see what others may be saying about his Frixion Gel pen

and this is what I found:

The Quilting Board is a quilter's message board

and there was a big warning about the Frixion pen.

It seems that the markings of the pen, which comes in various colors,

seems to come back when exposed to freezing temperatures.

Hummm.

So I decided to do a further test.

Got the fabric scrap back out that I did the original test

on and made some more marks, ironed it off and then put it

in the refrigerator.

No marks.

Transfered it to the freezer

and the marks did indeed come back.

Now I don't know about you, but I don't put too many

quilts in the freezer........

I live in Arizona and I don't use my quilts in freezing temperatures.

So I'm not sure that I would worry about the marks coming

back on a quilt.

However, it makes me wonder under what other circumstances

the marks may come back.

A cool water wash perhaps?

So back to some google searching....

The Quilting Climber did a wash test on a

quilted sampler divided into 3 secions.

One untreated, one starched before writing and one starched after writing.

Have a look at her results here.

Looks like some more testing may be required before

I'll actually use this pen on a quilt top.

Mia thinks I should do more testing as well.

Quilty blessings,

tammy

2011-10-04T22:34:00.000-07:00

We are a little safer tonight than we were this morning.

San Diego Weekend

2011-10-04T07:22:00.000-07:00

For the last 32 years we've traveled the highways from Phoenix to San Diego. Our car knows the way....we could do it with our eyes closed. So many things have changed along the way, but so many things have stayed the same.
When we were invited to a destination wedding in San Diego, we were so excited to combine this happy occasion with visiting with family that live there.

One of the things I had planned for the weekend was a visit up to Temecula where their outdoor hung Quilt Show was planned for Saturday. You can't visit Temecula without a visit to one of the local wineries. Unfortunately unexpected circumstances derailed these plans.........too bad since adding some quilts and wine to this weekend would have just added a cherry on top to a pretty wonderful weekend.

Here is a picture from LAST year!

I've never attended a wedding that was held on the beach, so the wedding of Vanessa and Jeremy was really neat. The weather was perfect, the food divine, and the company of friends fantastic. I've decided that I truly enjoy weddings. Seeing two young people who are so in love just seem to reinforce my belief that love is the most important there is.

Mike and I danced the night away but paused briefly

for this photo to be taken.

Fun times.

After the party was over we took a walk on the beach to witness the

"Red Tide" effect.

Awesome, amazing and not to be missed if you are near the beach.

Waves lighting up with a floresent blue light is a

sight to behold!

Here's a link if you want to read more about this beauty of nature:

http://belmontshore.patch.com/articles/red-tides-glowing-waves-light-up-the-shore

Mom and I got to spend a fun day together visiting Seaport Village and discovering a new part of the city that she has lived in for almost 40 years.
Littly Italy is a quaint part of downtown San Diego that has almost a small town main street feeling. It is filled with the wonderful aromas of Italian food cooking, and people enjoying that food sitting in little outside cafes with their dogs at their feet.

This picture does NOT do this pasta justice.

It was REALLY good!

While we had a wonderful weekend away

we really miss those we leave behind.

We are lucky to have the ability to Skype

with our sweet girl! (s)

Miss Mia toddles in and out of our vision, stopping

in briefly to show us new treasures she discovers.

I captured this photo of Mia "airing the dirty laundry".

Enjoy the coming of fall and

remember to love one another.

tammy

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.

But the greatest of these is love.

Drawing on your quilt with a wet erase Marker????

2011-09-29T08:17:00.000-07:00

How to decide how to quilt a quilt top.

Recently I finished the quilting on this lovely blue and white quilt.

Deciding how to quilt this quilt made my little brain hurt!

When you look at this quilt with your naked eye you do not

see the circles that the quilt pattern creates.

However thru the camera eye (or the picture that you see above)

you can clearly see the circle pattern.

So one of the things that I wanted to accomplish with thread

was to enhance the circles.

So here is how I started the quilt design process:

First I measured the circle

and made a paper pattern with that measurement.

Then I used my secret weapon....my most used design tool.

I have a piece of heavy plastic that I have edged with blue painters tape.

(I added the painters tape to clearly

mark the edge of the plastic you will see why soon)

I placed the paper circle pattern under the plastic

and on top of the area I want to design topped it with the heavy plastic

and using a wet erase marker I draw

the circle pattern on top of the plastic.

**Important**

Use the utmost care when using a marker around a quilt top!

The reason for the blue tape is to CLEARLY mark the edge of plastic.

You don't want any stray marks on the quilt top that could be permanent.

So now that I have the area I want to design clearly marked

I can pick up the wet erase marker and start drawing right on

top of the plastic protected quilt top.

With the plastic in place I can draw until I am happy with the design,

both in the circle area and also the design in the in between areas.

Then I can remove the plastic and place it where I can see it

while I am quilting the top on the longarm.

Unfortunately with this quilt I STILL couldn't decide on the quilting pattern,

so I had to move on to my next little design tool.

As you may have noticed my little plastic does not cover the entire quilt top.

It is great to use for small areas or to use for block design, but not so

great to use for the overall design of the quilt including the

outside border and any area that is in between the blocks.

I put the quilt up on my design wall.

In this case I folded this large quilt in 1/2,

but I still got the main part and borders.

I photograph the quilt, upload it to my computer,

set my printer to print a low quality, low ink

black and white image of the quilt.

This gives me a look at the pattern of the quilt only and not the color.

Next I slip the copy of the image into a plastic page protector

and get out my handy dandy wet erase marker and

start designing.

This is a great tool since I can see the whole quilt

and how all the quilting elements will work together.

Plus, it provides me with a map on how the top needs to be quilted.

So there you have it......my quilt design secrets.

Now get on out there and do some quilting!

Piece out,

tammy

Design Wall Monday

2011-09-26T09:53:00.000-07:00

Still on my design wall this week....

but progress has been made on the guitar quilt!

Hopefully I'll find the time this week to do the machine applique!

This lovely quilt was also on my design wall/table this week.

Do you ever have a quilt that makes your brain hurt?

I worked for days trying to decide how to quilt this particular quilt.

I wanted to accentuate the pieced circle design, but had trouble

deciding how on earth to MARK this quilt since my go-to marking

powders are, you guessed it, blue and white.

On my next post I'll share with you a couple of really neat tricks

I use in deciding how to quilt a pieced top.

Do you want to be inspired by other design wall?

Then check out Judy's blog:

http://www.patchworktimes.com/2011/09/26/design-wall-monday-september-26-2011/

So now I'll leave you with another pic of my sweet granddaughter.

Happy quilting today!

tammy

Stuffed

2011-09-24T20:53:00.000-07:00

Christmas before last Mike and I were given a

gift certificate from Fogo De Chao.

Tonight we finally used it!

Anticipating a large amount of food we didn't want to

eat a late dinner, so I called earlier in the day and made reservations for 4:30pm.

I know, I know.......old people eat at 4:30, but we ate a light lunch early

and by 4:30 we were both hungry.

Here is how this Brazilian steakhouse works......

They serve 2 courses.

A salad bar and Meat.....lots of meat.

The salad bar was wonderful!

Lots and lots of very fresh selections.

Beautiful salad greens, vegetables, various cheeses & breads.

Potato salad, apple salad and many others.

Sliced meats including salmon.

I don't particuraly enjoy seafood, but I always try it when offered.

Guess it is just not meant for me to like seafood......

On to the second course:

MEAT!

And lots of it!

They serve 15 different types of meat which

they bring to your table on a spit and carve to your liking.

During this course they also bring side dishes of

garlic mashed potatoes, crispy polenta, bread and carmalized bananas.

This is a photo of the slab of meat and the gaucho slicing tableside.

Most folks just got a slice of each of the 15 selections.

I think we tried 12 of the 15....some of which I had merely a bite.

There were several top sirloin offerings, filet mignon, filet wrapped in bacon,

chicken wrapped in bacon, little chicken legs,

sausage, ribeye, lamb chops, leg of lamb and several pork offerings.

I was stuffed!

TOO MUCH FOOD!

We overheard the lady sitting at the table beside us

asking if she could have the WHOLE piece of filet mignon

instead of just a little slice.

This was a piece of meat about the size of a man's hand....

not just the palm....the whole palm and fingers too!

She said it was her favorite.

Not a bad idea I thought.....might as well have a whole piece of

your favorite instead of little pieces of everything.

However she partook of every selection that was brought

to her table! She must have been slipping to into a bag in her purse!

I honestly don't know how anyone could eat so much!

We scored an extra bonus.....

Phoenix happens to be in the middle of Restaurant week.

I've heard about it, but didn't really know what it entailed.

It seems that a number of restaurants offer a lowered price

and special offerings during this week.

So Fogo de Chao offered a reduced rate on our meal

AND included DESSERT!

Now I was STUFFED!

But you know I didn't turn down dessert!

Key Lime pie and Turtle Cheesecake.

Delicious!

(no I didn't eat BOTH of them. one of these was Mike's!)

Would I go again?

Maybe I should answer that question tomorrow

when I am not still full!

Honestly it was too much meat for me.

If I were to do it again I would have had my salad course

and meat course together.

I would have enjoyed having the different flavors and textures

offered at the salad bar along with my meat.

Mike thought that it would be nice to have a selection of

different sauces to have with the meat.

All in all it was a great evening.

Good food, good company.

Thanks to our kiddos for such a thoughtful gift!

Sorry we took so long to use it!

Anyone want to ~~meet~~ meat me at the mountain tomorrow?

I really need to start hiking again!

Any guesses who might be in this ladybug costume?

Totally stuffed,

tammy

Design Wall Monday

2011-09-18T23:13:00.001-07:00

This is what is on my design wall today.

(okay, it is pictured on my table here,

but it is on my wall now!)

I had some leftover curved blocks that I put together

in this little quilt. Initially I was planning on making

a baby quilt, but I decided on making a wall hanging instead.

It just didn't want to be a baby quilt, it wanted to be an art quilt!

I drew out this guitar shape based on the Guitar Center logo,

since I really didn't want to cover up the pretty batik fabrics.

The guitar will be black fabric and machine appliqued onto the top.

Head on over to Judy Laquidera's blog and check out

what is on the design wall of many other quilters!

http://www.patchworktimes.com/

Prepare to be inspired!

Speaking of inspiring.......Here is a picture of my sweet little granddaughter.

I put her in front of the sewing machine every chance I get! I am hoping to grow a new quilter! Mia just turned one a couple of months ago, so of course she can't really sew on the machine yet, but I put my hands on her little hands and we guide the fabric thru the machine together. (while talking about keeping our little fingers a good distance from the sharp needle!)

Don't you just love rapt attention Mia is giving this project? Do you think I may have an aspiring quilter on my hands? Hope so!

Hope you have a great Monday!

tammy

Christmas is Coming!

2011-08-22T16:53:00.000-07:00

Look up.

I mean it.....Look UP!

Do you see that it is exactly 125 days until Christmas?

Christmas is coming and it will be here before you know it!

Every year just before Christmas I promise myself that

NEXT year I will be more organized! and I vow to start in January

and do a little bit each month. Ha!

I love Christmas but it's always so hectic and as the mom I always have tons to do to facilitate all the family traditions that we have started over the years.

And now we have sweet Mia............this year should be a barrel of fun with her. Here she is last year:

She was just a wee babe!

Isn't she cute in her Elf shirt and hat?

So I thought that this year I would share my journey with you all on this here blog by sharing some of the tips and tricks of managing the season

that I'll be trying. We can all support each other!

I will also share some of my favorite patterns for the season,

but first I want to share with you a great organizing site.

http://flylady.net/images/HCJ2003.pdf

This link is to Flylady's Holiday Control Journal.

Have a look at these pages.

"Flylady" talks about alot of her other helpful routines

in the first couple of pages of this link,

but continue to read thru it, because at

the end there are some really great forms for getting organized.

One of the pages that I plan on using is the one to

organize all your holiday recipes all in one place!

I have several recipes that I use EVERY Christmas.

If you want you can even join the flyladies regular site, both

online and on facebook of course.

She'll send regular messages to help you get organized, both

in getting your house ready, menu planning and grocery shopping.

Here is the link for her regular site:

http://www.flylady.org/

Actually I have already started making some of my holiday crafts.

Okay, truth be told......these projects were started

LAST Christmas,

but they are done now!

See.....it pays to start thinking about Christmas now!

Merry Christmas from our family!

Hoarder?

2011-08-21T20:24:00.000-07:00

Have you ever watched the show on the TLC network called

"Hoarding: Buried Alive"?

What do you think?

Are you a "saver"?

Do you feel the compulsive need to clean after watching it?

Well I do!
I am a compulsive saver.
I just hate to throw anything away that I think I might have a use for in the future. Trouble is.....sometimes I can't FIND "it" in the future!
I'm pretty sure that I AM NOT a hoarder........YET!
But I do need to do some serious re-organizing!

Today I started cleaning out some of the boxes I have

stashed away in my studio.

Here's a little glimpse into one of the boxes:

What is that?

Could that possibly be....?

REALLY?

Macrame.?.....that's SO 70's!?!

A macrame owl?

REALLY?

I still have a macrame owl?

I remember making macrame owls in my apartment in 1978!

HOW CAN I STILL HAVE A MACRAME OWL?

AND IT IS STILL UNFINISHED!

Do you think I could be a hoarder?

What should I do with it?

~cringe~

So the upside to going thru boxes is that I found two things I've been looking for! I knew I had a roll of velcro somewhere! And I've been looking

for the pattern for a bullseye quilt for some time now.

Didn't find the pattern, but looks like I already have quite a few blocks

already done! Guess I can figure out the dimensions from this kit.

Quite a few boxes to go..........I can't wait to see what treasures I uncover.

Just hope I can make some decisions to

GET RID OF SOME STUFF!

Sweet Mia would LOVE to help me reorganize!

In Pieces,

tammy

2011-08-20T23:07:00.000-07:00

OH man! I've done it again!

My last post was AGES ago!

How does this happen?

We spent a little over a week earlier this month in San Diego.

Mom and dad took a little vacation and asked if we could come over to stay with thier kitties. We had to think long and hard about leaving our 110 degree heat to stay where it was only in the 80's...........

One day we drove up the coast to visit with our friends that we met YEARS ago in South Africa.

It's always a great day getting together with Rusty, Lyn and Terry.

Here I am at the bay enjoying a picnic supper.

Thankfully we had a quilt in the car.....It was only 64 degrees!

We took several LONG bike rides (15+ miles each), went to the beach and bay, ate at Kono's and The Chicken Pot Pie shop, and basically just enjoyed the great weather.

I did work on several quilty type things while I was there.

I made mom some new kitchen curtains,

and made a whole stack of Petite Potholders

and of course visited The Quilted Rose and

Rosie's Calico Cupboard.

As you know, all good things must come to an end and well,

we are back in the 100+ degree heat.

Thank you God for Air Conditioning!

This is one of the projects that I am working on at the moment.

I had some leftover squares from a larger quilt I made and

thougth that it might make a baby quilt,

then reconsidered since the colors were not very babyish.

My brother is in a band and plays the guitar

so I thought that perhaps I could applique a guitar

and add a border to make a arty type wallhanging for his apartment.

Tonight I drafted the guitar pattern for the top using the

Guitar Center logo for the basis of my drawing.

Guess that's it for now.

Do you think our sweet angel knows

that she is loved alot?

Quilty Blessings,

tammy

Time keeps on slippin, slippin, slippin.....

2011-07-26T10:51:00.000-07:00

Can you believe that it is almost the END OF JULY!?!?!

Do you remember those days, ( back when you were a kid), that time seemed to move at a snail's pace? The school year lasted FOREVER, when you were anxiously awaiting summer vacation. Summer vacation dragged on and on when you couldn't wait to get back to school to see your friends again. Sunday drives with the family seemed an eternity when you were stuck in a car with your 3 brothers, mom and dad and it was raining outside and stuffy in the car. (Had to add that one in there for YOU mom!)

Welcome to adulthood. Where time moves at lightening speed. You blink your eyes and 1/2 of the year is GONE already. Where. O. Where does the time go?

July has been a super busy month starting off with the happy occasion of a wedding. Our family has known Oliver since he was just a little guy. We were honored to be included in the celebration of his marriage to Kim who is beautiful both inside and out. Here they are taking their very first steps together as husband and wife. Don't they look happy?

The other major event in our busy month was the

1st birthday of our precious granddaughter Mia.

Mia and mommy were so excited for the party!

We were so blessed to have 53 people in attendance to

celebrate Mia's 1st birthday.

Rafael and Jenny decorated their house so nicely.

Jenny made delicious pulled pork sandwiches, pasta salad, fruit salad

and a tasty watermelon punch.

This is a picture of the Watermelon cake (s)

that Jenny and Rafael made.

Pretty clever!

Mia polished off her little watermelon cake in a matter of minutes.

She looks like she is watching out for someone to come

and take her little cake away.

She truly enjoyed her first taste of SUGAR!

Must take after her grandma!

Another notable July event was the big Haboob

that hit Phoenix!

We get dust storms all the time, but this wall of dust measured

one mile high and about 5 miles wide.

It was a monster.

This photo is a picture of our back yard and

a baby haboob that hit

a few days later.

My picture is not as dramatic as the ones shown on tv!

Time to end this little story for today.

Tomorrow I'll catch up on all of the crafty things

that have been happening in July.

Here's a picture of my favorite little "blogger in training".

Is it any wonder that the kids nowadays know more

about computers than we do?

Love, Piece and TIME,

tammy

Strolling down memory lane........

2011-07-14T07:13:00.000-07:00

It is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL morning here today in Phoenix.
I walked outside and it actually felt cool instead of the usual furnace blast.
What a great opportunity for a refreshing morning bike ride. I soaked it up since we won't see many more cool mornings until about October!

Ages and ages ago I sat in an excelerated summer school accounting class.
I didn't know too many people in Phoenix having just moved here from San Diego, and I'm a friendly sort of person, so I started a conversation with the nice looking girl that was sitting in front of me. Marla and I became fast friends. Lifelong friends too it seems!
It was a "blast from the past" when I opened the email from Marla saying that she was in town and wanted to know if I wanted to meet up with her.........

Don't we look like two young 20 something's here in this picture!?!

It was great to see Marla and catch up on the last 20 years......
(guess that might make us in our 40's....right?)
We started so many conversations last night and this morning I realized that we didn't finish alot of them. So I'm looking forward to renewing our friendship. Marla reminded me last night of a trip we took to San Diego together.....we talked the entire 6 hour ride there, 6 hours ride home and then called each other to talk on the phone after we got home! Guess we just like to talk!

Seems like just yesterday I shared a very special day in her life.......

We were honored to have Marla join us last night as we had a small celebration for Miss Mia's first birthday!

Here is Mia with mom and dad

with her "practice" cake.

Mia is "practicing" blowing out the candle

and mom and dad were "practicing" making

her real cake for the party on Saturday.

Jenny really wanted to make a cake using fondant icing.

She found a recipe for a watermelon cake and fondant icing

that was made from marshmellows.

I have to admit that the fondant tasted pretty good.

Mia sure liked her first taste of sugar!

She cleaned her plate.

A girl after my own heart..........

Jenny and I have been busy plotting and planning for Mia's birthday party this coming Saturday.

Pictured here are the cookies was have made.

Can you guess the theme of the party?

Quilts, Quilts, Quilts

2011-07-11T20:31:00.000-07:00

Last time I posted I mentioned what a fun job I had.
Thankfully my longarm has been cooperating lately.
I think it may have something to do with the moister weather
I finished up quite a few quilts last week including these two:

Judy brought this to me and wanted the black fabric to fade into the background abit, so she asked if I could use a varigated blue thread to bring a little color to the black.
Sometimes it is scary to use a high contrast thread.....ANY little blips or mistakes show up BIG TIME! Plus, in the past I've had problem using this particular brand of polyester varigated thread. The static electricity tends to build up and cause all sorts of problems including thread breakage every time you turn around. One of the things that was suggested to me by Mark at APQS was to run a dryer static sheet over my rails and thread path to help with the build up. I did that, but I also cut a little piece of the dryer sheet and attached it to the first thread guide on my machine. Worked like a charm!
The varigated thread looked awesome on the black sashing and borders. Love the way this quilt turned out.

Here is a detail pic of the quilt:

The next quilt that I worked on was this very manly quilt made for Nolan by his Winky Katrina!

Nolan loves cars and Yellow!

So Katrina asked me if I could quilt cars all the was around the perimeter of this quilt.

I started the top with racing flags and cars with the number 3.

Nolan will be getting this quilt for his 3rd birthday.

Little roadster.

Milk Truck

Fire Truck

Semi Truck

School bus

Race cars

These cars and trucks were designs from

Anne Bright's Quilting pattern books

and transferred to the quilt top using a laser light following the pattern.

Continuous curve quilting on center blocks.

Back of quilt!

Cute huh?

Finished up another large quilt top tonight, but still need to

go thru and check for threads and remove the chalk markings.

Will post a picture soon!

Gotta close with a picture of my sweet baby girl.

Piecefully yours,

tammy

2011-07-06T23:33:00.000-07:00

One of the really cool things about my job

as a longarm quilter is that I get to be part of

some really cool quilts!

This quilt was made by Linda and will be given to her son.

The quilt was very geometric with alot of straight lines,

so I tried to bring some curves into the quilting.

This is a close-up of some of the quilting details.

We celebrated the 4th with a BBQ at our friends Bob and Jenni.

Mike and Rafael are enjoying some homemade ice cream in this picture.

Poor Mia only got to watch!

No sweet stuff til her 1st birthday!

The Gibbs can clearly see fireworks from their driveway

so we all sat outside and watched the display.

Last Saturday we all donned our finest and

attended the wedding of Oliver.

Oliver has been a family friend since he was just a little lad....

What joy it was to see him marry a really wonderful

young lady.

The icing on the cake is that they clearly adore each other.

I wish them a lifetime of happiness.

tammy

Finally Finished

2011-07-05T14:00:00.000-07:00

Whoo Hoo!

I put the final stitches on this sweet summertime Watermelon quilt last night just before midnight and I just love the way it turned out.

This quilt started with fabric purchased at Rosie's Calico Cupboard in San Diego. I found the watermelon seed fabric, then chose the green while I was there. I knew I had white fabric at home in my stash.

My next job was to find a pattern.

I have a bunch of 3 yard patterns from Fabric Cafe.

http://www.fabriccafe.com/

These are quick to cut and easy to sew patterns.

The Wind Mill quilt pattern looked really interesting because when I altered the dimensions of each strip each square could look like a watermelon slice.

My first plan was to find a watermelon print at my local quilt shop, but alas, there was no watermelon print fabric that matched the fabric I already had. The watermelon seed fabric I had was pinkish

and all the print fabric was more red.

So I was back to the drawing board............

I've always wanted to do an applique border so I figured that this was my opportunity to create one.

Awhile back I remembered seeing an applique on the Moda Bake Shop website

so off I went to find it.

Maria Wallin's quilt "Sun Kissed Squares" inspired my watermelon applique border treatment. I really liked the vines she created and the little flowers she used throughout the quilt. I just made a watermelon to match my theme and used the flowers in a different way.

You can find a picture of Maria's quilt here:

http://www.modabakeshop.com/search?updated-max=2011-06-07T00%3A00%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=12

This is the label I made for the back of the quilt.

When I saw this swag banner made by Kerri over at the Lovely Little Handmades blog I knew I wanted to make one.

Mia's party gave me an excuse to try it out.

You can see the banner Kerry made for her daughter's Polly Pinwheel party here:

http://lovelylittlehandmades.blogspot.com/2011/06/pinwheel-party.html

I changed it up a little by using felt instead of fabric. I also made the appliqued letters on my embroidery machine. Pretty fast and fun!

Here are some other fun watermelon things that I have made or found.

The cool watermelon border fabric came from Joann's and made terrific tablerunners. I used some of the scrap border fabric to line the bottom of some plain kitchen towels that I found at the 99cent store. Micro Mitts were also made from some scraps. I found a watermelon candle at Walmart and the watermelon drink jar came from Fry's. Our dear friend Jo loaned us the watermelon bowl and shakers.

All that is left to do is plop Mia down on the quilt wearing her little pink bathing suit with the watermelon applique and take some pictures........

when she gets up from her nap I just might do that!

Having a watermelon kind of day here.............

tammy

Bittersweet Blessings

2011-06-26T22:39:00.001-07:00

Thirty some years ago I was living in South Africa with alot of time on my hands while my husband worked there. I've never been a person to let my hands be idle, so when I found an ad for a quilting class I promptly signed up and learned the basics of quilting. By hand no less. It was love at first stitch!

Back in the early 80's quilting was enjoying a revival of sorts, so when I returned to the States, at the urging of my friend Lyn, I joined a local quilt guild. The Night Owls. Heaven. Loved it. However, at the tender age of 21, I kinda stuck out like a sore thumb as the very youngest member of the group. I learned alot from the older ladies who graciously shared thier skills with me, and even taught them a few things as well. (although looking back on it now I think they may just have been encouraging me on my quilting path)

There was one lady in particular who scooped me up and tucked me under her wing. Helen Relfe invited Lyn and I over to her house to show us a new project. When we got there she had set up 2 sewing machines, had a pattern and her fabric stash wide open for us to choose from. WOW! Helen's generosity and gentle spirit just warmed my heart and made me feel really special. Lyn and I each made a dimensional Christmas tree wall hanging that day. It still hangs in our houses every Christmas. If it were not packed away in my Christmas boxes I would take a picture of it and post it here.

That day began a life-long friendship between Helen and I. I so enjoyed visiting with Helen and her husband Walter. Loved hearing about her journey to the valley from her home in Northwest. Loved hearing about what Phoenix was like in the early 30's. Helen and Walter showed me all the best places to get bargains on fabric and quilting supplies. Helen and I were friends thru thick and thin......the birth of my children, the death of her husband. We shared the love of quilting, exchanged recipes, stories and hollyhock seeds. One year for Christmas I made gingerbread cookie people and wrote "Helen" and "Walter" on the cookies and put them into bags. The last time I visited Helen's home those cookie bags were still hanging on the wall.

My family always say that my stories are too long and I tell too many details, and take too long to get to the point. (gee, I'm becoming my mother after all! lol) (love you mom!)

So here is the point to my ramblings......

Helen passed away earlier this month. She would have been 93 this August.

I went to visit her this week and was told that she had passed.

No one called me.
I missed her funeral.
Sad.

My heart hurts to have lost her,

but rejoices that she is no longer in pain and
is with her beloved Walter
sitting at the right hand of Jesus.

Bittersweet blessings.

I found this after an online search:

Helen Strohmaier Relfe

92, of Phoenix, AZ passed away on June 10, 2011. A first generation American, Helen was born in Vida, Montana, August 18, 1918, and married Walter Relfe in Salem, Oregon, on September 11, 1938. Helen's life was characterized by hard work, including employment with the City of Phoenix and the Arizona State House of Representatives. She also gave much time, energy, and resources to serve others throughout her life. She is survived by daughters Carole Lowery and Dorothy Colvin, six grandchildren, and 16 great-grandchild ren. Graveside services will be held on Wednesday, June 15, 2011, at 9:30 AM at Greenwood Memory Lawn, 2300 W. Van Buren.

This is the last picture I took of Helen.

She was always a lady and always had her lipstick on.

Rest In Peace

Helen Relfe

August 1918 - June 2011

I miss you Helen, but I will always hold you in my heart.

One in a Melon

2011-06-22T18:09:00.002-07:00

The first birthday of Miss Mia is fast approaching

and Jenny is planning a watermelon themed party for her.

So in the spirit of things I decided to create some watermelon themed accessories.

Can you see the little pink bathing suit pinned on the quilt?

I appliqued some watermelons on it!

I found this cool watermelon fabric when I was at Rosies Calico Cupboard

in San Diego. I was hoping to find a coordinating watermelon print fabric

here in Phoenix. Unfortunately I didn't find any and I didn't have enough

fabric to really complete this quilt. So I decided to add a white border

and make some cornerstones out of the leftover piecing.

Here is the quilt top with white borders and leftover pieces for cornerstones.

Now the fun part begins............I'm going to add some applique.

Yesterday I loaded my longarm with this Nativity panel.

I've been having significant problems with my longarm lately.

A couple of months back I purchased new wheels to upgrade my longarm.

Unfortunately the new wheels have created a problem with static electricity.

The static electricity has arced and messed with the electronic with my machine. Fortunately the folks at APQS have been really helpful providing a grounding kit and technical support.

I haven't wanted to load customer quilts until I have had this problem resolved, which I think I may have done yesterday.

The Nativity panel came out pretty good. Only one blip with the machine.

I'm hoping to quilt Mia's quilt tomorrow and that will be the final test.

She checked out the top today and told me that she likes it!

Blessed are the piecemakers,

tammy

Design wall Monday

2011-06-20T21:13:00.000-07:00

Awhile back I posted a picture of an antique quilt that found it's way into my studio. My friend Carole had a friend who wanted this pieced top quilted.

This is the picture of the finished quilt on my design wall.

Since I had never really quilted an old top on the longarm I was fraught with indecision. I was afraid that the longarm needle would be too much for the delicate old fabric. The quilt did not lay anywhere near to flat. Almost every curved block had a little pooch in it. Numerous background fabric had been pieced.......the grainlines went every which way. The quilt was no where close to being square. The top measured 69" and the bottom measured 65" ......a full 4 inches different. The sides were pretty close to being the same at 85".
I was pretty scared to do this quilt.......what if I ruined it? Should I improve on the piecing? That would mean taking it apart......AND changing it.
Finally I just jumped in. I figured that the people who wanted this quilt finished wanted it for sentimental reasons and would want it to remain as it was originally pieced.

So I put it on the longarm figuring to baste down the top and sides and if the fabric held up I would tack it at the intersections. The fabric seemed so thin and fragile, but I soon realized that it was actually made from old flour sacks and was pretty durable. So I ended up outline quilting the blocks and curved pieces. It worked out great.

Whenever I work on a quilt I can't help but think about the person who will be receiving the quilt and trying to quilt alot of love into it, but in this case my mind kept wondering about the person who had pieced this quilt so long ago.
What was she like? Why did she make this quilt? What was her life like?
I was really fortunate enough to get some of these questions answered about this particular quilt.

This is what I received:

" It was made by Ola Streety who was born in 1900. She said it was her 1st quilt and it just never got completed. She was between 13-18 when it was done (they think) and when they found it, it was quite a surprise as the other family had already been through the house and taken anything of any value or interest. This was found in a box in a shed or attic and is really the only thing Jim (Tonya's husband) got that was his grandma's. I was able to make a pillow case just like you showed me to put it in. She wants to meet you some time to thank you herself. I told her what a special person you are and how you really connected with the quilt. Thanks again!!"

I am so happy to have been part of bringing this special memory alive in such a tangible way to this family. I hope that they enjoy this quilt for many years and can feel the loving arms of Ola around them when they snuggle in this quilt.

This is the unquilted picture of the quilt.

I always like to close my post with a picture of my sweet grandbaby.

This is my current fav pic of her:

God Bless,
tammy

San Francisco Saga concluded

2011-05-25T11:33:00.000-07:00

Need to finish up writing about our San Francisco trip!

Beware! This may be a long post!

Sunday May 15

Bay to Breakers Day!

Here we all are at the very beginning of the race.

We got up very early so we could figure out how to get the muni to the Embarcadero where the race started.

On the muni we met a homeless man who was making a sign advertising

his availablity for adoption.

He kept us entertained with jokes and funny comments on our bus ride.

"No checks" he said, "but Visa and Mastercard are okay"

It was a poignant and sad encounter.

There are SO many homeless people in San Francisco.

Bay to Breakers is a long standing tradition in San Francisco.

This was the 100th annual race!

The run is know as the Mardi Gras of the west

because of all of the alcohol, costumes, nudity and general craziness!

Before the race started we recognized that the man in the photo

above would probably we naked when we crossed the start line.

I wonder where they store thier clothes during the race?

It took us 2 hours and 55 minutes to walk the 7.4 miles course.

The serious runners finished it in under 45 minutes!

Alot of folks worked really hard to prolong the experence!

If you are interested and would like to see more Bay to Breakers

costumes, youtube, and info

Check out this link:

http://bayarea.sbnation.com/2011/5/16/2173037/zazzle-bay-to-breakers-2011-costume-pictures-photos-captions-youtube-video

We probably walked another 2 or so miles getting our really sweet

finish medals AND trying to find a bus stop to get back to our hotel.

We had some lunch then Brian and Jen had to leave us to get a flight back to Phoenix and Mike, Rafael, Jenny, Mia and I went to the Aquarium.

Nice aquaruim located close to Pier 39.

Mia got a little touchy feeling with a large lizard at the Aquarium.

Monday May 16

We had a 9am tour time for Alcatraz this morning

so we grabbed some doughnuts from the shop adjacent to our hotel

and hopped on the trolley.

Jenny spent alot of time on the internet before our trip scoping out

places to visit and to eat.

The place pictured below is supposed to be where the locals eat

and hang out.

It was raining at this point and we walked a long way trying to find it.

So here we are finally at Red's Java house located right on the water and full of local color! I could have eaten the onion rings here all day! They were delicious!

No trip to San Francisco is complete without a ride on the cable cars.

Here is Rafael hanging off the side.

The rain must not have started yet in this picture.

By the time the cable car stopped everyone who

was hanging off the side were SOAKED!

Then we had to find a ride BACK to our hotel since the cable car was

not a round trip ride!

Tuesday May 17

We visited the Acadamy of Sciences which is a wonderful

Science museum. They had a really cool place for toddlers

crawl around and experience science at thier level.

Mia had a blast here because she got to actually crawl around,

something she didn't get to do much of on this trip.

Who wants to put a baby down on the floor of a hotel?

After the science museum we boarded the muni and were off to see the Presideo.

The Exploratorium was located right beside this so we visited that next.

Mia getting some tactile experience in the sand.

Playing with bubbles with mom and dad.

A Sip of Conflict.

Would you take a drink from a water fountain made from a toilet?

I didn't!

We finally boarded another muni to get back to our hotel to pick up our bags and head to the airport.

I have to say that SF has an extremely good transit system.

They always seem to be full.

Sometimes to the place of having NO PERSONAL space at all.

Makes me wonder why I always see completely empty buses here in Phoenix.

We had one pretty tense moment on the muni.

The bus was packed, standing room only, and 3 big scary looking dudes get on the bus and one of them started blaring music on his phone.

Everyone was pretty uncomfortable,

especially when the words of the song started getting raunchy.

So I hear this voice from somewhere in the crowd asking the guy to please turn the music off....it wasn't appropriate for the kids and women to hear.

It was the voice of my husband!

As you might imagine the request was not met with compliance, but with a verbal onslaught of "I can play whatever I want, whenever I want, etc, etc"

The young man finally looked over at Mia who was sleeping and said that he would turn it off, but only because of the baby.

There were a few moments when I thought there could be trouble

but it all worked out okay and I was very proud of my husband for

speaking up for what is right.

Good Bye San Francisco...........We had a great time!

Hope we'll get to see you again soon!

God Bless,

tammy

Congratulations are in order

2011-05-23T20:55:00.001-07:00

My last post was all about a party.

Now I happen to love a party,

but I forgot to acknowledge WHY we were partying!

Oh, I know, I told you it was Mike's birthday

and Rafael's graduation.

I mentioned it......

But I forgot to say how proud Mike and I are of

Rafael and Jenny.

These kids sacrificed alot to get that piece of paper.

Rafael worked nearly full-time while taking

a full load of college credits for two years.

There was homework.....alot of it

Group projects, student loans, pinching pennies.

Not to mention the time that was spent studying

instead of with family.

So Congratulations Rafael!

You did it!

and Mia helped!

Beautiful family.

Dad and Grad Celebration

2011-05-22T11:46:00.000-07:00

If you have read my blog or looked at my Facebook

you would certainly know where be Baldi's go to celebrate!

Last night we celebrated Mike's birthday AND

the Rafael's college graduation .

At Caramba's.

We did something a little different last night.

I called ahead and reserved the patio and it was

wonderful! We had the WHOLE patio for our group

and you know what.........we NEEDED the whole patio.

It was nice to spread out and move around.

Here are some pictures of the evening:

Brian with our little precious angel.

Rafael and Jeremy with their sweet babies.

Mike and Brielle with Tony and Elsa.

Christiana, Jeremy and Eliana

Buddy and Bree, Paul and Rick, Katrina and Kathy

Nicole, Jenny, Makayla and Craig

This table was occupied by many of our neighbors

Gail and Burt with their daughter Debbie

Joe and Jan

and Berta, who is not my neighbor but a very long time friend.

And in the back table you can see Charlene and Brooke.

Brooke and Mia were good friends last night.

I heard that Mia was laughing with them.

Mike with Brady and Brielle

Quilting friends

Linda, Carole, Jerry, Joanne

Steve and Mary

More Quilters

Bob, Ray, John

Charlene's husband (sorry....I can't remember your name!)

Sharon

There never seemed to be an empty seat at this table so

I never got to sit down and chat with my quilting friends.

Our dancing buddies Bob and Sue

It was lovely to see the Forst family.

Jen and Grandma Lee

Mike and Grandma Lou

Lou, Grandpa Jack and Lori.

Ali and Haley and Bianca's chairs were empty when I took this photo.

Rick and Vic

Kris

Besides Mike and Brian, I think that Kris is the person

that I have know that longest in this group.

Sue and I shared a margarita

And to end this lovely story I present Miss Mia with Christiana

Mia looks like she wants whoever is behind the camera.

I'm guessing it was daddy!

My heart never fails to fill with warm happiness

when sharing an evening with friends.

My family is truly blessed.

tammy

San Francisco.....Day 2

2011-05-21T13:53:00.000-07:00

Day 2 of our San Francisco adventure started out at the Ferry Building

at the Farmer's Market which is held every Saturday morning.

Mike, Brian, Jen and I spent a delightful hour investigating

all that the market had to offer before

jumping on a bus headed for Napa.

The flowers were beautiful

Jen found the peaches delicious

We found some fabulous ham and cheese croissants and I also

had a bag of cherries. I've bought some cherries yesterday

here in Phoenix and believe me, they just don't compare

to the delicious ones I had in San Francisco.

Wine Tasting at our first winery.

No we didn't drink it, our server

just brought cool big bottle for a picture prop.

Still at the first winery. Sadly I can't remember the name

of the winery, but our tasting server was Tracy and she

was WONDERFUL! Very personable and pretty generous

with her tasting pours!

This was at our third winery.....don't remember the name of this

one either......are you noticing a pattern here?

We did not enjoy this tasting as our "wine educator" was a

pompous a**. (pardon my language)

Right before this picture was taken our "wine educator" told us

that we needed to smell our wine with one nostril at a time, so I plugged

one nostril and sniffed and promptly cracked up laughing along with

Brian and Jen. It was one of those laughing fits that you can't stop.

Truly....we were pretty discrete about it AND we were not the only

ones in attendance that were not happy with our "wine educator".

The Andretti winery was a different story as we had

a nice tasting at a beautiful winery.

No, we didn't drink this whole bottle either.

Brian and Jen at Andretti Winery

Part of our wine tour included a 45 minute ferry ride

back to San Francisco.

Dinner and a good night's sleep.......

Bay to Breaker's run tomorrow!

Judging Eyes

2011-05-19T23:17:00.003-07:00

Remember the old saying "You can't judge a book by it's cover"?
The last 5 days has been a series of re-learning this old saying.

Last Friday we set our alarms for 3am so we could make our 6am flight from Phoenix to San Francisco. Mike has always wanted to run in the Bay To Breakers run, Rafael graduated from college and had a reason to celebrate, Brian and Jen decided to go as well, so off we went.....all seven of us!

Our first task upon entering the city was to figure out how to navigate the BART system. (with 4 large suitcases, several assorted carry-on bags, a stroller and a baby!....babies DON'T travel light!)
San Francisco is a fabulous and facinating city! Full of very friendly and helpful people. After unloading our luggage at the hotel we headed off to find some breakfast navigating yet another public transportation....the F trolley.

The first day was spent at Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf, Zazzle Expo (to pick up our race bibs) and the Museum of Modern Art. PHEW! A full day already! Checked into our hotel and met up with Brian and Jen who had taken a later flight.

Can you see us under the sign?

Mia carried the sourdough bread we picked up at Boudins at the wharf.

Alot of time was spent looking at maps!

This t-shirt quilt was diplayed at the Expo and

contained shirts from past Bay to Breakers run.

Painting at the Museum of Modern Art.

We stayed at the Renior Hotel which turned out to be quite old and charming with a wonderful and helpful staff. Unfortunately the hotel was just on the fringes of the Tenderloin district, one of the worst areas of the city. We were a little nervous, but the hotel was safe and clean and it turned out to be quite interesting being up on the 5th floor and looking down upon a side of life that we never witness. One night we saw a man rummaging thru the garbage can. We assumed that he was looking for cans to recycle. Well that was just what he was doing.......Our eyes widened abit when we realized that he was peeing in the can!

This "Cinema" has a facebook page!

The highlight of our first day was meeting up with Casey and Amy. Jenny and Rafael met Amy when they were interning at Walt Disney World in Florida. Amy and Jenny frequently worked together as Chip and Dale. Casey is a family friend whom we have known since she was a toddler. She lives in San Fran now and is in grad school there.

Thanks goodness for these savvy city girls! They showed us yet another form of public transportation! There was a muni bus that was in a tunnel underground! Who knew?!? So off to dinner we went! At rush hour! Everyone was getting off work and getting on the muni. We crowded on with the rest of the city and off to a restaurant in the Castro district.

Turns out that the Castro district is known for flying rainbow flags.......
We had a really nice dinner and enjoyed visiting with Amy and Casey, and on our way out of the restaurant I could see from the corner of my eye that 2 people had fallen in behind our little group of 9. Mike was in the back of our party and was holding Mia on his shoulder where she was looking back.
I guess that when these 2 gals fell in line behind us Mia looked at them and I guess her eyes must have widened a little. The response from one of the girls was "That baby has JUDGING EYES". The "ladies" were dressed in leather strips placed stratigically around their bodies and one girl was holding a chain which was attached to a collar on the other girl. Wish I had a picture!
Dinner AND a SHOW!
It was a fun evening.....one that I'll remember.

Sweet Mia says good night and God Bless!

tammy

Yard Blitz!

2011-05-02T21:31:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday my husband and son "blitzed" Rafael and Jenny's yard. They have been in their house for 2 years now, but have never really had the time to work in the back yard. Rafael works nearly full time, has been in school full time and when you add in a new baby that leaves very little time to work outside!

The picture above shows the before picture with Grandpa holding Mia with 2 dead citrus trees in the background. Brian thought it was important to help get this yard in shape since Mia will need a backyard to play in very soon! So while Rafael was at work Mike and Brian went to work. Jenny also pitched in when Mia took her nap.

This is the result:

There is still alot of work to be done, but this was a huge start!

On Sunday we attended a birthday party for Brady.

He loves volcano's so this became the theme for the party.

The highlight of the party was the Lava Slide!

The kids had a really fun time going down this slide!

There was also a little waterslide for the little bitties.

Mia was having none of it, but some of the older toddles had a blast!

On a serious note I've been having alot of trouble watching the news today. The killing of Osama bin Laden is the big story. It puzzles me how much people are celebrating. I know that ObL was evil, but it just seems wrong to hunt him down and basically murder him. Two wrongs don't make a right is what I was always taught. I'm pretty sure that the killing of this man will not stop terrorism. I'm guessing that he already has appointed other evil people to take his place.

I will say that I do appreciate and honor all of the men and woman who are serving in our armed forces. I'm very grateful for them.

This quote by Martin Luther King speaks my heart tonight:

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do

Harden not our hearts; pray for peace for those that have been harmed.

Piecefully yours,

tammy

If I were more blessed......

2011-04-23T21:14:00.000-07:00

I'd be TWINS!

I am blessed with a beautiful and sweet grandaughter.

Love seeing the world thru her eyes.

Grandpa and I enjoy the simple pleasure of just watching her sleep.

My kiddos indulge me and come and color the Easter Eggs.....Still!

I love those kids!

I gave my kids their Easter baskets to them last year and told them that

the Easter bunny would probably not fill them any more (me!)

However I couldn't help myself and got them a few little things including

these foam dart guns.

I loved watching my grown-up "kids" playing like they were children.

A precious gift for me!

I always hope that they remember to be young at heart!

I love cooking!

This morning I made 9 mini loaves of banana bread,

peanut butter fudge, sugar cookies and

roasted butternut squash, onions, and apple to make

butternut squash soup.

I have a great recipe that was given to me by my friend Sharon.

Tonight we celebrated Easter with my family.

My heart sings with thanksgiving for all of the blessings that I have been given.

Tomorrow will be another celebration.

A celebration of the life that Jesus sacrificed for us

Jesus is Alive!

God Bless,

tammy

Design Wall Monday

2011-04-18T11:06:00.001-07:00

On my design wall today is this very old

and very fragile quilt top that was brought

to be to be finished.

So I thought that perhaps I'd post it here

to get some feedback.

I'm a little afraid to put it on the longarm.

Not sure that the fabric would handle it.

The top does not lay flat so it will be challenging.

My customer wants this quilt to be finished so

she can display it.

My initial thought is to envelope the top

and simply tack the batting and backing together.

Does anyone have any tips for working with antique quilts they could share?

Quilty Blessing,

tammy

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2011-03-17T11:24:00.003-07:00

I am not sure why, but I just love St. Patrick's Day!

Maybe it is because everyone wears green and

hat symbolizes the coming of spring.

Maybe it is because of all of the

old Irish blessings that sound

so uplifting and charming.

Or maybe it is because you just have to

have a drink to celebrate!

One of the ways my family has always celebrated

St. Patrick's day is by having a green breakfast.

I make green pancakes, green butter and usually green milk.

(today we had orange juice.....whoops)

Usually I make green scrambled eggs,

today we just had regular ole' white fried eggs.

It was a lovely morning to have breakfast outside.

The birds were singing

and sun was just peeking into the garden.

Then there is the traditional dog washing.

It is rumored that if you wash your dog on St. Patty's day

you'll have good luck in the coming year!

Nahhhh, I just made that up!

Mike is returning from a business trip tomorrow

and Jenny thought it would be nice to wash his dog!

Shamrock cookies to take over to a friends house.

Check out the cool tablerunner!

Great story.....great memory!

I made this at a quilting retreat and

it was the first time I had

made up this particular pattern.

Let's just say that I had had a glass or two of wine and

the runner came out a little cattywampus.

PERFECT for St. Patty's day!

Later tonight I'll have to watch "The Quiet man"

Mike and I love this old movie and it is great anytime

of the year, but especially nice around St. Pat's day.

John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara.

If you have never seen it......

You really should check it out!

This little Irish lass is the greatest gift of all!

Irish Blessing to you!

tammy

HeartString Quilts 1st Charity Sew-In

2011-03-13T22:00:00.000-07:00

What a great day!

We had a very successful first Charity Sew-In today!

My friend Kathy and I have been talking about doing this for some time

and today we finally DID IT!

Kathy arrived at my house with a TON of fabric

and started right away started making Kits!

Kathy is known as the Kit Queen......today she EARNED the title!

My daughter Jenny and granddaughter Mia came to help,

along with Berta and her daughter Mo, Sharon, Cheryl,

Sally, Joanne, Katrina, and Lindsay.

We had a kit making station, sewing station, ironing station,

longarm station and design station

and finished 3 quilt tops, almost finished a fourth,

quilted one top and MADE 32 KITS complete with backing!

Berta worked on this top for Camp Reach for the Stars.

Monique worked on sorting 5 " squares.

Cheryl, Berta and Sharon put the pedal to the metal

and made those sewing machines HUM!

Jenny and Kathy and Sally (not pictured here)

worked on cutting 1 yard pieces of fabric,

color coordinating that fabric, choosing an appropriate pattern and

combining them into beautiful kits!

Monique (and Lindsay not pictured here)

took a turn at longarming.

and of course had her turn working with Mia!

Joanne matching up squares

and sewing them all together.

Quilting all finished on this one.

3 finished quilt tops ready for backs and quilting.

32 QUILT KITS!!!!

We really did have a fun day.

Some of us took a couple of kits home so we can

sew them and bring them back to be quilted and ultimately

donated to Project Linus.

So if you are reading this and live in the Phoenix area,

come on by and pick up a quilt kit to sew and donate!

God Bless!

tammy

Amazing, Awesome day

2011-03-09T23:25:00.001-07:00

So today was my birthday and I was given so many gifts that my heart is nearly bursting.

It was a pretty ordinary day. I spent alot of it with my precious granddaughter. She wasn't feeling too hot or actually she WAS feeling hot and really under the weather. But when she looked at me with her trusting eyes and laughed at my simple attempts to keep her distracted.....just filled my heart with love.

Jenny and Mia took me out to breakfast this morning. I just LOVE breakfast out! Eggs and hashbrowns and toast.......Love it! Why? I don't know, but I really do love it!

I loved getting the many birthday wishes from friends on Facebook.
I REALLY loved the pictures that my mom uploaded of me when I was little.

I have the most awesome kids in the world. They all planned this elaborate surprise for my birthday. We were supposed to be going to Brian and Jen's for dinner tonight, but the surprise party was actually held at Caramba's....one of my favorite places to celebrate practically ANY occasion. Jen contacted a BUNCH of my friends, Jen and Jenny concocted great stories to get me there and surprise me. Overwhelmed. Loved. Special. Words to describe how I felt when I walked into Caramba's.

It's late, I'm tired. I'll probably sleep really well after having such a wonderful day. Thanks to all who have made me feel so special today.

2011-02-28T22:05:00.000-07:00

The last two monday nights have found me at Great Skate.

What great fun!

It's been about 10 years since I last skated and I was AFRAID....very afraid to go now.

The last time I was at the rink I fell and fell hard!

Took about 6 months to heal so I quit skating after that, but I

LOVE TO SKATE!

So I'm skating again, but I will admit that I am very cautious!

Now I started skating many, many years ago and I've got

to tell you......ALOT of things have changed!

Like the picture below......texting while skating!

And I have NEVER seen a stroller with a baby inside on the skating rink!
There were not too many people on the floor tonight, but LAST week it was packed and they had a stroller out there.

They have also come up with these PVC pipe contraptions to help beginning skaters. They are pretty cool.........EXCEPT when those beginning skaters decide they want to leave the middle and cross straight across in front of a ton of skaters. Kinda like crossing the freeway during rush hour!

Hi Kathy!

You look great!

Back in the day, I used to be able to backskate.

Made it 1/2 way around the rink tonight before I ran into a wall

so I decided that going forward was good enough for me!

Close up of the beginning skater helper.

I learned to skate in my basement back in Ohio

using those metal key skates

(remember those? they tightened onto your shoes?)

and two brooms to hold me up!

Hey....it worked!

Next week I will be celebrating a birthday

and I've decided that I want a roller skating party!

So next Monday night if you are in the area

make sure and join me at Great Skate!

6-9PM

Do you think they would play a special song for me?

When I used to go roller skating back at

Dow Roller skating rink in Nelsonville, Ohio

they ALWAYS played

Tammy Wynette "Stand by your Man"

Now THAT was a few years ago!

They probably wouldn't even have the song available.

AND if they played it all of the other skaters would groan!

Here is a pic of my sweet granddaughter taken today.

She is such a precious child and

never ceases to amaze me!

I'm going to start bragging now...just wanted to let you know.

She does all the usual fun baby things........smile, laugh, sit up.....

But today I realized that she understands when I talk

to her and can perform simple tasks when I ask her!

One of the things I did today was ask her to grab my finger

and pointed to the hand I wanted her to use.

Then I asked her to use the other hand

and then both hands!

She is so amazing and smart.

Yep....I'm a pretty proud grandma!

Lots of love!

tammy

Margarita Cupcake recipe

2011-01-14T10:47:00.002-07:00

I'm reposting the recipe link for the Margarita cupcakes AND below you will find the recipe I use to make my Never Fail Buttercream frosting.

Here is the link again for Recipe Girl's Margarita Cupcakes:

http://www.recipegirl.com/2009/05/02/margarita-cupcakes-2/

Just look at all the yummy ingrediants in these cupcakes!

Many years ago, and I mean MANY years ago! I took a Wilton Cake decorating class down at what was Christown Mall. It was a 6 or eight week class and each week we had to make a cake and then take it to the class to learn a decorating technique. Mike and I used to just leave a fork by the cake and have a bite when we walked by. Oh.....to have the metabolism of a person in their 20's again!!!!

At the last class the instructor gave us this recipe for buttercream frosting.
I didn't even have a piece of paper to write it on! I tore off a piece of cardboard from a box and wrote down this recipe:

Never Fail Buttercream frosting

1 lb powdered sugar (that is one box or 4 cups)
1/4 c. milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp butter extract (omit this if you use butter shortning)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup butter or shortning ( I ALWAYS use Crisco shortning)

Place all of the ingrediants in a bowl and mix until smooth
This will make a stiff icing suitable for piping.
Add milk a little at a time to desired consistancy.

I still have this recipe written on the cardboard!
Maybe I should write it on a proper recipe card!

So here are the changes I made for making the frosting for the
Margarita cupcakes:

Instead of using the 1/4 cup milk I added 2 T. fresh lime juice.
The icing was VERY stiff and since I didn't think Milk would go very
well with the lime juice and I really needed to thin this down abit AND
I still had some margarita mix......I added the margarita mix in small amounts
until I reached the desired consistancy!

I hope that you make these cupcakes and ENJOY them!

Celebrate!

2011-01-12T16:46:00.001-07:00

With Margarita Cupcakes!

It's 5 O'Clock somewhere!

Last week a group of us met at, where else, Caramba's

to celebrate Jo's birthday.

Jo shares her birthday with Jesus

so normally she never gets to celebrate all her own

so we decided to celebrate last week!

Since Caramba's is a mexican restaurant and we all like

their margarita's I decided to find a recipe for margarita cupcakes.

I got the recipe I used from here:

http://www.recipegirl.com/2009/05/02/margarita-cupcakes-2/

I love the pictures of the cupcakes on this site,

especially the one with the shot glass on top of the cupcake.

(I couldn't do that at the restaurant!)

I will say that I changed up the icing recipe abit and used

my well-tested buttercream recipe.

I just used fresh lime juice in place of the milk I usually do.

I was scared, but the icing turned out fantastic!!!!!

Here's the birthday girl knocking back a few margarita's.

Actually I think she might have been drinking water or soda,

everyone just put their glasses in front of her!!! lol

I can't end a post without a picture of my sweet baby Mia.

She just loves to visit with people.

Doesn't say much, but LOVES to just

watch what everyone is doing!

Okay.....Is this JUST WRONG......

2011-01-09T15:42:00.001-07:00

OR do babies just put EVERYTHING in their mouth??!!??!!

I couldn't resist snapping a picture of Mia reaching for the wine bottle.

Not a single drop passed into this babe's mouth!

But it really did make for a funny picture!

This past week I watched Guy Fieri make a tasty looking german meal

called Jagerschnitzel with bacon and mushroom gravy.

He also made a homemade german dumpling and roasted carrots to go with it.

I decided to try it for a late lunch/early dinner today.

Here is the link for the recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/guy-fieri/jagerschnitzel-with-bacon-mushroom-gravy-jager-hunter-recipe/index.html

It turned out pretty delicious.

Well, at my house you can't have a german meal without a german

wine. So I opened up a bottle of Piesporter and put it on the table with

my very favorite centerpiece.....MIA!

Mia is at the stage where she puts EVERYTHING in her mouth.

Okay....it's a little scary that she knows that the top of the

bottle is where she needs to put her mouth.

Wonder where she learned that?!?!?

On Saturday Mike and I and Jenny, Rafael and Mia celebrated our

last holiday party of the season at Glendale Glitter and Glow.

Historic downtown Glendale decorates the town square with millions of

lights for the Christmas season.

It is truly beautiful.

The weekend after new years they bring in lots of hot air balloons which

are tethered down, but they are lit up with fire.

This looks so Awesome!

It is fun to watch them blow up the balloons and then heat the air.

It is super crowded, but everywhere you look there are smiling faces on

old people and young people.

Kids are running around and dancing to the many bands that surround

the square. It's just great family fun!

Mike and I with our sweet baby granddaughter at Glendale Glitters.

Another one of our favorite holiday traditions is when

BERT BOMBS THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Here is our neighbor Bert pouring the last layer of

Grand Marnier on the B52's

Rafael and Mike toast

Tammy and Jenny take the shot

Gail and Bert with the B52 tray.

So here is how this tradition started.....

Quite a few years ago on a Christmas day I was busy

preparing for my parents arrival later that day.

One of my "other" neighbors called and YELLED at ME

because Mike was cutting the grass on Christmas day!

It upset me SO MUCH!

I had to take something over to Gail and Berts after this call.

They were busy playing games and having B52 shots with lots

of family. They offered me one and somehow I was not so upset after that!

A new tradition was born!

Always be Thankful

2010-11-25T07:03:00.000-07:00

In those moments between being fully asleep and fully awake I can do just about anything. This morning during that time I started counting my blessings. It is Thanksgiving after all. But during that magical time I am very articulate and creative, so I am hopeful that now during my wakeful state I can duplicate what was in my heart and head just a few short moments ago!

Just about all of the blessing that I have in my life have equal importance, but near the top of my list of people I am thankful for are my parents. They gave me life, but not just any ole life, they gave me the opportunity to live and grow up in an idylic place where I knew I was safe and loved. They gave me 3 precious brothers. They instilled in me a very strong sense of family and moral compass that still guides me in my life today. They are my rock, the cornerstone on which my life has been built on. I could go on and list many other things, but I will move on as I have a long list of blessings.........

Elizabeth Cooper Williams was my great-grandmother and was one of the most influential people in my early childhood. I just did the math a few years ago and figured out that she was 75 when I was born. I only had her in my life for 15 or so years, but in those years she molded me into the person I am today. Her greatest gift to me was the gift of my faith in God. Strong and unwavering. She always told me that when she went to heaven she would be my guardian angel and I'm pretty sure that she watches over me everyday.
Grandma also planted the seeds of my love of quilting. I am so thankful for her!

Have you met my family? Mike and I have been married for 31 years and have made 2 beautiful children. Those children have married brought 2 more wonderful people in my life along with their extended families. And now I'm getting grandchildren! Now if you really know me you would know that I could go on and on and on about my family. But I'll spare you that today, since I write/talk about them alot on a normal day. But suffice it to say that I am so grateful for Mike, Brian, Jenny, Jen, Rafael and Mia. They are my world.

I am fully awake now and my creative side is getting rather uncreative. Besides that I have cooking and cleaning and black friday planning to do, so my brain is starting to run on a different wave length.

However I would be remiss not to mention one of the most valuable gifts that I am grateful for and that is my friends. God has placed a whole host of people in my life who are precious to me. My little ole heart just wells up with thanksgiving and love as I count each and every one of you.

Sounds like I have a pretty perfect life doesn't it? There is one area of my life that I struggle with, but I'm even trying to be thankful for that. For the last 8 years or so I've not had too many days without pain. Some days are better than others; I'm thankful that there are few days that are really bad. I truly believe that we are given trials in life to shape and mold us into the people we need to be. Sometimes I just wish I could learn my lesson and move on! Guess I have a thick skull!

I've been at this for an hour now and I really must start my day. But I leave you with this quote that a friend posted yesterday:

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, and confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow." ~Melody Beattie

Have a beautiful and thankful day!

~tammy

Another Monday, come and gone

2010-08-23T22:35:00.000-07:00

Isn't this the sweetest baby

you've ever seen?

I finally designed and embroidered the

label for Mia's quilt today.

It is all sewn on the back of the quilt

and is now ready to go to it's new home.

This label was designed and embroidered today as well.

It was sewn onto this t-shirt quilt

which will go to it's new home soon too.

I guess I need to finish up the YIKES quilt

so I will have a quilt to keep!!!!

Sometimes it is hard to see my quilts leave.......

Does anyone else have this problem?

God Bless,

tammy

What a weekend!

2010-08-22T21:27:00.000-07:00

I love this picture.

Our angelic Mia never has a shortage of people

wanting to hold her.

Grandpa refused to get in line.

He insisted that grandpa's always get to go to the front!

I wish every single baby in the world had so many people

wanting to hold them!

Mike and I had the pleasure of Mia's company for a whole night!

Jenny and Rafael had a wedding to attend

Here they are all dressed and ready to go.

These two are great parents and really

deserved a night to themselves.

I did decide one thing during the 4AM feeding.....

God was very wise to give babies to young people!

I used to love those nightime feedings when my

kiddos were young.....it was a very special time.

Even tho I was tired and rather bleery-eyed at 4am this morning,

Mia rewarded my loving care with an ANGELIC smile

when I picked her up.

She is just so, so precious and words just

can not describe the deep well of love I have for that little babe.

Saturday morning dawned bright and early and it found

me moving furniture and deep-cleaning my carpet

AND

embroidering these shirts for Jen.

She is in charge of a banquet this coming week and

asked me to make shirts for her committee.

I love the way they turned out!

I had embroidered these aprons earlier this week, but on

Sat. morning I also made some micro-mitts to go along with them.

So Saturday was a great day......

some cleaning, some creating and some family time and some MIA time!

Sunday was a day of rest.....well-deserved rest!

God's Blessings,

tammy

Whoopee!

2010-08-20T22:41:00.000-07:00

Finally Finished!

I've been working on this t-shirt quilt on and off for some time now.

And I'm really happy to say that it is

FINALLY FINISHED!

Isn't it cute?

I am so pleased with how it turned out!

Melinda gave me a big bag of really cool shirts

some time ago.

Her fav colors are yellow and red AND she

wanted the quilt to be made with FLANNEL!

I just couldn't get into making the quilt out of flannel

because I could not find any flannel that enhanced

the shirts.

I finally convinced her that having flannel on the BACK

of the quilt would still be quite cosy.

So today I was determined to finish this quilt.

Do you have any idea how heavy a 30 shirt t-shirt quilt is?

Oh....especially one made with FLANNEL?

I spent a great deal of time today pushing and pulling and lugging that quilt

thru the sewing machine while

attaching the binding!

Oh....did I mention that it was about a million degrees in my house today?

Okay.......I'm done whining.........

The quilt is finished and it turned out gorgeous!

I spent a few hours today over at Patrick Lose's studio working

on quilts that will be going into his new BABY book.

I pieced a very cute little quilt that will be on the cover of the book.

Made me want to come home and make one up for my

sweet little grandbaby!

Guess I'll have to wait until the book comes out

so I'll have a pattern!

Can't close a post without a picture of my precious angel.

Mike and I are going to babysit for the whole night tomorrow night.

Wish us luck!

It's been awhile since I've had to get up during the night with

an infant.

So with that in mind I think I'd better close and get some sleep!

til we meet again,

tammy

2010-08-17T23:34:00.000-07:00

Added two piano key side borders today

and this Yikes quilt is starting to come together.

Still need to add the top and bottom piano key border

AND

another light border and a dark border.

Borders are not my favorite thing......:(

Almost completed quilting a t-shirt quilt today.

Just have a little more to go, but I just couldn't

work up the energy to finish it up tonight.

I embroidered these two aprons today

for a wedding gift.

Jenny designed them and

they will be part of a gift that

Jenny and Rafael will be giving at the

wedding they are attending this weekend.

I was lucky to spend a little time with Mia today.

She is AMAZING!

I know, I know,

I'm sounding like a doting grandma, but HEY!

That's what I am!

I've really been seeing such growth in her the last

couple of days.

She is holding her head up so nicely!

Okay, I'll stop at that!

God Bless, and good night,

tammy

2010-08-16T23:14:00.000-07:00

What a day!

It's pretty hot outside so I am happy that I get to work inside!!!!

I worked on my "Yikes" quilt this morning and finished

up sewing all the blocks together AND I put on the first border.

Honestly I'm not thrilled with it

so I hope that when the next border goes on it starts to come together.

The next border is a pieced piano key border

and it looks pretty cool.

My day was filled with quilting a t-shirt quilt and cleaning the

carpet in 1/2 of my studio.

Oh and some news.........My precious grandaughter rolled

over today for the first time.

Amazing!

She's only one month old!

I hope this was just a fluke and she

is not going to start rolling over all the time!

One thing is for sure............Gonna have to watch her all the time now!

Mike and I are going to be watching her this Saturday night

while Jenny and Rafael go to a wedding.

They will be picking her up in the morning.

Should be an interesting night.

I've recently made this sweet quilt for Mia.

It was so fun to go to the quilt shop and pick out fabric.

So often I try to use fabric from my stash and make it work.

What fun to choose fabric and watch it all come together!

God Bless,

tammy

Friday Night Fun

2010-08-14T23:20:00.000-07:00

For the second friday in a row I've found myself sewing at

Patrick Lose's studio.

Last night the Friday Night Quilter's met up there to sew.

It's been a long time since we have ACTUALLY SEWN!

What a wonderful feeling!

Cheryl finished up a back for her latest quilt.

The backs of Cheryl's quilts are ALWAYS interesting.

Interestingly enough this is a quilt that I started

many, many years ago.

It is an I Spy quilt that I was making using a variety of fun focus fabrics.

It was a project that I didn't think I would ever finish so I passed

it on to Cheryl's mom.

She worked on it and then it was passed on to Cheryl.

This will be going to Cheryl's new grandbaby.

I mentioned that I, too, had a new grandbaby,

but well, she wasn't willing to give it back to me.

Joanne was working on her annual doll.

Each year for her grandaughter's birthday she has made an original doll.

I always marvel at her creativity.

Dolly is working on making bags out of Capri Sun containers.

Like mother, like daughter.....creativity seems to run in the fam.

Cynthia was working on a paper pieced project.

AND brought in a really fun quilt to share.

Wish I snapped a photo!

Since I could not sleep the night before I had all of these

blocks cut and ready to sew.

Whoo hoo! I finished them all!

Here are all of the finished blocks for the quilt.

Now comes the interesting part of arranging them into a quilt top.

Guess that's it for now.....

sleep well all,

tammy

Sleepless in the Southwest

2010-08-13T05:33:00.000-07:00

For some reason I've found myself wide awake

in the middle of the night lately.

Usually I toss and turn and try to go back to sleep,

but this night I decided to take a page from my friend

Carole's book and get up and go down to the studio.

At our last quilt retreat I started working on Debbie Boles "Yikes" quilt and

I made a couple of blocks last week at the "Area 51" Work on your

UFO's workshop I attended.

Tonight is FNQ night and we are sewing at Patrick's studio so I decided to

get the rest of the blocks prepared so tonight all I have to do is

get the pedal to the medal and SEW!

Look at that! I've got my blocks and patterns all ready to go!

Hopefully I'll finish them all up tonight!

Yesterday I got to spend some time with my two favorite girls:

And I'll get to see them again today since I get to spend some time

with Mia while Jenny attends to some business.

I wonder what mischief we will get into today?

Last time we were alone I offered Mia some frosting

(something I am notorious for!)

She pretty much shook her head at me and told me

(in no uncertain terms)

that "Babies don't get to have sugar until they have thier first birthday cake"

and "My mommy told me that I could not have frosting until then!"

Isn't she a smart girl already?

It's 5:30am and I think I'll try to close my eyes again and

get a little sleep if I can.

Don't want to be grouchy today with my Mia OR

tonight with the FNQer's!

Night,

tammy

What is the best pick-up line you've heard?

2010-08-09T22:20:00.000-07:00

So when is the last time someone handed you a pick-up line?

I've been married over 30 years and if you do the math you

could probably figure out that I'm not in my 20's, 30's or 40's anymore.

I've heard some lines over the years, but I'm usually pretty oblivious to them.

Then I think back and say "HEY! What was that?"

As was the case one fine steamy hot day last week.

I was walking up to get a cart in front of the grocery store and as usual

keeping an eye out on what is going on around me.

I noticed this guy sitting on his BICYCLE holding a case of beer right

in front of the door of the grocery store.

Weird, but not worrisome.

As I walk into the store mumbles something to me. I keep on walking.....

It didn't really register to me what he was saying until I got into the store!

His words were "Wanna go for a beer?"

WANNA GO FOR A BEER????

I cracked up!

So was he picking up chicks on his bicycle?

Gonna go out into the parking lot and toss back a few cold ones?

AND did he need glasses????

Hell-o?!?

TOOO funny! Guess I still got it!

Still laughing,

One hot gramma in Phoenix!

tammy

ps. I can't end a post without a cute picture of my precious angel.

These are the things that I pick up!

Precious babies and pizza!