50.. Fit and Fabulous!

Well, 50, FIT and Fabulous was what I was shooting for, but I'll settle for 2 out of the 3! LOL! You'll have to guess which 2!

I celebrated the big Five - O on Monday by starting out my day hiking on the mountain with my neighbor and friend Jan. We hiked just over 2 miles and then I came home and did a little work in my garden. So far the day was pretty fabulous! My plans after that were to get cleaned up and then hit a couple of quilt/fabric stores and maybe a 2nd hand store or two. But the day was made even better when my friend Linda called and said that she was going to the very fabric store that I was planning on going to and would I like to go along. Now Linda is also the goddess of 2nd hand shopping! So not only did I get to go to the places I wanted to go to, but I got to share it with a good friend!

The day ended by spending a very wonderful evening at Caramba's with a whole tableful of special friends. Jo had arranged with my bunko group and some of the FNQer's to meet up at Caramba's to celebrate my half century mark. She brought a cake and everything! YUM!

Looks like everyone was having fun!

Jo's dear mother, who has since passed away, had this custom of smearing icing on the lips of the birthday girl/boy. Jo HATED this when she was growing up, but now continues the tradition............

I didn't mind one little bit since the frosting is my FAVORITE part of the cake!

One of the special gifts I received on my birthday was the news that my newlyweds have finally had an offer on a house accepted. They are in their 10 day inspection period. They had a foundation expert over yesterday to check things out since QUITE a few houses in this developement had had problems. I took some pictures while this was happening.

Here is the link to my webshots album:

http://community.webshots.com/user/crz4quilts

If all goes will they will take possesion of the house the first week in April!

Pretty Fabulous DAY!

I've been crazy busy the last couple of days! I was able to spend a very enjoyable weekend up north at Pines and Needles Retreat. It was great for me to be able to take a few days off (and away from the quilting machine) to give my elbows a chance to rest.

Here is a picture of the whole group:

I was able to accomplish quite a bit of sewing while I was there. I put together this quilt top from strips of fabric that were already cut. I had participated in a strip swap awhile back and these were the black and white strips that I had traded. It was great to be able just to start sewing the strips together!The pattern for this quilt is called "Dancing Stars" and it is made specially for 2 1/2" strips.

This quilt is another t-shirt quilt in progress:

These are some of the other projects that I worked on while at camp:

a Greenbay pillow made out of a t-shirt, another pillow made out of a t-shirt (red square) a pair of Micro-mitts, a pillow case and 2 paper-pieced heart squares made from scraps of quilts that I have made and given away.

Before I went to camp I embroidered this Apron for Kim, the hostess and owner of Pines and Needles Quilt Retreat:

I also embroidered this apron for our friend Nicole who used to play soccer on Mike's team. Nicole and her husband Craig just purchased their first home and unfortunately I missed their housewarming party since I was at camp. But Mike and all the kids were able to go, so I sent this apron along in my place!

I"ve also had a birthday since I last wrote, the big Five-O, but I'll save that to write about for another day.

Baccus Wine tasting

Last night we went to Bacchus, a wine bar in Keirland Commons to celebrate the birthday of our daughter-in-law. She really wanted to do a wine tasting and share a birthday cake with the other attendees of the wine tasting.

Last night we did a blind taste test of 6 different wines and we had to guess which country the wine was made in. The person with the most

correct answers won a free tasting. No one at our table won!

Bacchus is a really sweet wine bar with plenty of atmosphere, friendly people and great wine. Here is the link to thier website:

http://www.bacchusaz.com/

I finally got a picture of the t-shirt quilt that I was working on:

This is a 20 shirt quilt done in a Twist and Turn pattern.

One of the ladies that I quilt for got this idea to make pillow shams for her bed that would match the t-shirt quilts that she has made. Here are some pictures of the quilting of those shams-to be:

These shams will match the Patriotic T-shirt quilt.

and the shams below will match the quilt that she made for her daughter.

It is really neat how the quilter matched the t-shirts with traits of the people who will receive the quilt.

I am getting ready to go to Christopher Creek for a weekend quilting retreat! I've been trying to work and get alot done so I can enjoy my time away. We have had such wonderful weather, but they have been talking about a storm coming thru this weekend. Since I will be further up North, there is a pretty good chance that we might get some SNOW up there! What a cool treat for us desert dwellers!

Quilters join the 21st Century!

Extra! Extra!

Read all about it!

QUILTERS JOIN THE 21ST CENTURY!!!

A few months back I wrote about how I hurt my elbows and after procrastinating for some time I finally went to the doctor, who promptly gave me pretty new arm bands to wear, some meds, and sent me to 4 weeks of physical therapy for 6+ hours a week! My elbows improved for a time, but when I returned to my regular quilting work my left elbow flared up again and very painfully let me know it.

In the past at this point I would have just given up and decided that I would have to learn to live with it!

But not this time! I called and went in to see the doc AGAIN!

However I did something a little differently this time...........I took some pictures of the quilting machine that I operate. I figured that he needed to see exactly what I was doing, so perhaps he could better help me!

His reponse AMAZED me!

He immediately started typing away at his laptop.....asked me the name of the machine and said

"I thought that quilters just sat around a frame and talked!"

At any rate, I feel like I was taken a little more seriously, he checked out now only my elbows, but my neck and back as well. I have some new meds, MORE PT, and an appointment for an MRI.

I think I'll take the pictures with me when I go for PT. They could probably give me some pointers too!

But for the record:

Quilters have joined the 21st century!

Secret Garden

Last weekend we had 7 ton of rock delivered to be placed in my secret garden area.

It was really hard work removing the cement divider.

At first Mike was using a sledge hammer and crow bar........

but they finally borrowed a cement driller from our neighbor

and it made the work a little easier.

And hauling all of that rock was no picnic either.

But boy does it look good now!

Future plans include making more flower beds along the back side of the fence. I think that might be this weekend's project. The weather has been absolutely beautiful here, however they are forcasting 90 degree weather for Sunday. NOT the best way to begin March! Hopefully it won't get TOO hot TOO soon!

I've started COMPOSTING!

Here is one of my bins:

This year we gathered all of the leaves that

fell from the trees and have

been putting them into these makeshift bins.

I put all of my kitchen

scraps in here, water it down,

and mix it up from time to time.

I've already used one pile to enrich a

newly planted garden in another area

of our yard.

I've got the neighbor bringing me HER kitchen scraps too!

Mardi Gras

Yes, it is the Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday celebration today,

but did you know that it was also National Pancake Day?

I made pancakes from scratch this morning for my family. They were very yummy. I even warmed the syrup! We had a couple left over and I will warm them up for breakfast tomorrow morning!

I've been working hard in my studio. I've completed a customer quilt top and am near completion on a t-shirt quilt that I pieced and quilted.

Here is a picture of the quilt and a couple of detail shots:

The weather has been so very nice here the last few days. We have had 80 degree weather so I've been busy working out in my garden pruning and planting and pulling weeds.

Tomorrow is the start of Lent and while I am not Catholic,

I like the idea of participating in Lent.

In years past I have always forgone something...

like CHOCOLATE

or SUGAR

or my glass of wine.

This year I've decided that I would ADD something,

More daily devotion time,

daily exercise and

daily decluttering time in my home.

Discipline.....could be harder that giving up chocolate!

Wish me luck!

Free Placemats

Check out this website for monthly themed placemats...........
Free from Jackie Robinson - Animas Quilts

Jan/Feb/March are already posted.

http://www.animas.com/Placemats/Placemats.html

These placemats really look cool!