Getting to our new home

Yep, this was the inside of our car on our 'haul'!
This pic is of the birds strapped in! Both birds travel so well. We're really lucky they do!

This was at one of our breaks. Mandy was right back in her seat...the birds sit next to her so I think they keep each other company.

Our first night in the hotel room...birds settled in.

And Mandy ready for bed! Is she a sleepy girl or what!

Each year we always stop in Macon to go to our favorite Mexican restaurant, El Azeteca

This is the best Mexican food ever! We happened upon it by chance our first year and now we plan our route to have dinner. It's only 1/2 mile from our hotel room.

We were lucky enough to have 2 for 1 Margarita's and a great waitress named Mary 'G'. You can see my drink and Bob's in the background. His was half full..ok, half empty! The make the best drinks too!

Our waitress was great and we didn't even have to ask for refills...anyway, after having a lot of conversation with our waitress on how we always stop she came back to our table with 'on the house' tequila shots! I'm sure we were a sight...two old folks hitting back a shot! It was a very nice gesture and Mary said her way of thanking us for always stopping by. Yes, she got a VERY big tip...she was well worth it too!

Yep, this is Grammy hitting back her shot! Wow! I ended up pouring it into my ice with water. and I did drink it all. But we both slept well that night!

So here is our new house for this year! Larry's house is just the cutest place! And he had it all set up for us.

Check out the hibiscus plants. The flowers are beautiful and his lawn is too. The back yard is all fenced in for Mandy which is also quite nice. Even she is enjoying this trip more.

My sewing room is all set up and I actually sewed today! It felt so good!!! In fact, I beaded last night and hope to bead some more tonight. Bob and I are settled in and not going anywhere for New Year's Eve. I didn't even feel like going out for dinner so I made us a nice dinner and we'll have a glass of Irish Cream well before midnight! The past few years we are asleep and dreaming at midnight! Yes, we are oldies for sure!

Tomorrow I'll post pics of my BJP 2010 project I'm working on and pics of my sewing room. Bob's going to take more pics of the inside of our house. Until then HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Temp today was in the 70's and it's 64 @ 7:45 p.m. No, I don't miss the snow and cold.

We're here!

We had a great trip to Florida and lots to show and tell...but I haven't uploaded pics yet. So to show you something really interesting (although, not sure 'why' anyone would do this!) check out this 'extreme knitting' youtube! 70 and sunny today! Rain is due to come in later this week but it still beats the snow!

More Christmas pics

My daughter is holding a round robin quilt that we participated in a few years ago! 2000! There was a group of us, mainly out of state, and we were called the Postal Quilters because we had to mail each round robin back and forth monthly. Each year we did a round robin and in 2000 we each did a Christmas row. Dawn had given me the quilt to finish for her a few years ago but I forgot all about it!! She mentioned to me a month ago that's one gift she wanted so I did quilt it. It's really quite a nice quilt and I think there were 8 or 9 rows..can't remember how many of us there were! I'm sure she'll enjoy it for the rest of the holidays. Yep, that's our Mandy girl sleeping next to Dawn.
We didn't get to see Bob's son, Ron, and family but when they were up for Thanksgiving Mary Jo (Ron's wife) showed me some checkbook covers she was making. Now MaryJo doesn't quilt and in fact doesn't really sew. She has her mom's old Singer Featherweight and used it to create these checkbook covers for her sisters and daughter for Christmas. I'm so impressed that she took the time to read the pattern and followed it! Aren't they cute! There's even a sleeve for a pen! Nice Job, MaryJo!!!

The zebra printed one I think is for Kayla, MJ's daughter (our grand daughter!).

Here's a yule log that Dawn made and it was really good...great filling and frosting was superb!

Amber was showing me how to take a picture of yourself in the mirror! She actually is pretty good at it...that's me in the doorway 'learning'!

Of course Nick had to take a picture or two as well. He chose to take a pic of his dad! I'd say it was a closeup!

Any my kids!! I love them all!!!

Nick modeling the sweat outfit Auntie bought him. Kids just loved these!
And our beautiful little girl modeling hers as well. Auntie even had their names embroidered on the sweat jackets. Yes, that's a golf picture in the background. We're down in our family room also known as the 'golf room' . There are golf balls in cabinets all over and a putting green and golf clubs. It's Bob's golf course away from home!
So we are all packed up and ready for our trip tomorrow. Alarm system is all set up and working great! Nice to know that's in place. Our neighbors are great about taking care of our house as well. It rained most of Christmas Day and today we had a few snow showers and some sun. No accumulation which is nice for folks traveling.

So this will be my last post for a few days...hopefully, I have some projects to start posting about!

Merry Christmas 2009!

From our family to yours...HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

Check out this cute YOUTUBE of the dog waiting for santa!!

Bad girl

No art work for awhile

Well, with packing and getting ready for holiday cheer! I won't be posting any artwork until after the 1st of the year. Actually, all my hand work, quilting supplies along with dyes and paints are packed up. I've been trying to finish Dan Brown's latest book The Symbol at night so I don't need any hand work. I have to turn in the book today and I'm just about finished. It's a good book and a quick read due to his writing style, which I love. I did want to post some pics from our date night which I posted about. I enjoyed the time with all the 'kids' so much (yes, Jeff, you are one of the kids too!).
Of course kids had to play in the snow! I tried to stay in doors to take the pics but I finally had to go outside and get some shots.

Who rides their scooter or skateboard (yes, I have a pic of Nick on that too!) in the snow!
Nick had snow in his ear. We were laughing so hard...really funny.

SNOW FIGHT!

Auntie made a great Mexican dinner for us...yes, that's a pizza box in the middle of the table. Nick is a pizza guy!

Nick is deep in thought painting a clay ornament.

And Amber is so careful about painting or doing any craft. She always does a nice job.

Then we started on our gingerbread houses Auntie bought the kids to make. What a mess..but what a memory to have!! Thanks for that too, Auntie!

Amber and Auntie worked on her house and it turned out just perfect! Last year when the kids and I did this our houses kept falling down...hmmmmm I work better with a hot glue gun, which is what I should have used!

This is Nick's house (and yes, I helped him!)...he decorated it just as he wanted. Nice job, Nick.

Amber's finished house.

Date night and some more doodling

I just got back from my overnight with kids for our 'date night' (actually, it's Kris and Darrin's date night!). I'll be posting pics tonight or tomorrow...I had a GREAT time. Dawn had the kids and I over for chicken fajitas on Sat. which were WONDERFUL!!! We did stop and pick up a pizza for Nick but that was ok..more fajitas for us to eat!! It was so nice to spend time with Dawn and Jeff along with the grand kids!!! Thanks for another fantastic meal, Dawn!!! The past two date nights have been really special for me!!

Today Darrin and Kris, Auntie Dawn and Uncle Jeff took us to Kruse and Muer for breakfast with Santa! What food!! I think I've eaten enough this weekend for an entire week!!! That too was a surprise from the kids! Thanks again for breakfast, Darrin and Kris!! And for the extra 5 lbs. I gained just this a.m.!! Darrin was taking Nick off the the gym for all the food he ate! I should have gone with them.

So here's some more doodling I did this past week.

Can you tell I'm still on this feather kick!

Amber's School Concert

Busy week preparing for Christmas, Florida departure and just normal 'stuff'! Mandy had her dental cleaning on Wed. (you know we have to take advantage of our senior discount days).

Thursday was Amber's school concert and talk about excitement! I do have to say the music teacher is great at her school! I've seen a few of the concerts and she does a great job with all the kids. They are all so enthusiastic!

On a side note, Thursday a.m. I had a phone call from the school stating Amber wanted the school to call me and let me know the concert was starting at 2:30 instead of 2:45. The principal said "what a responsible grand daughter you have"! Wasn't that special!!! Next, I was already seated in the gym when Amber came in the room. As soon as she saw me she started waving, then she went to her music teacher and next thing she came running to my seat and gave me a huge hug!! Of course, the tears started flowing from me but I didn't have anyone to say "what a sweetheart"...probably the other mothers, dads, etc. figured I was just a sappy senior! Which I am!!! And darn proud of it! Memories......

Amber is in the Santa hat (white trim) to the left of the teachers arm. Amber was so cute and just sung her heart out!!

These next two pics are the teachers putting on a skit. What a hoot! Check out the 'lady' in the green dress! You could tell they all had a blast putting this on for the kids.

At the end of the teachers performance the kids were screaming, clapping and throwing their Santa hats in the air. It was like a huge sugar rush of 100+ kids!

And here's the singers in action!! Good job, Amber!!!

It was a really nice concert! Afterwards, kids and I went back to their house to wait for dad. The kids made grandpa BD cards which were adorable!! I'll have to take pics and post...they are special for sure.

Today I'm off to kids in the afternoon for date night and I'll stay overnight. That way kids can take their time and perhaps finish shopping, enjoy a dinner and maybe a movie.

On a fiber note...I did finish the knitted scarf which turned out quite nice and I made (so far) a total of 14 fiber cards for Valentines. My CCC fiber group Valentines are in the envelope and ready to mail so that's behind me. Also, note the widget on my sidebar for the '3 Creative Studio 2010 Challenge'.....yep, I signed up for it!! Go figure!!! Heck, who wants to sit and eat bon bons and watch TV! Not me!!! The challenge looks interesting and you only create one quilt every two months based on a new theme they present. Good way to try different techniques. I'll be posting pics on progress....and yes, I worked on my BJP last night. I finished one whole pine needle branch. So off to get some work done before being a babysitting grandma!

Now on to beading

So my Valentine fiber post cards are all finished! Well, at least 10 of them are! I can make the rest while I'm in Florida. I almost finished with the knitted scarf..about 3/4 of the way.

So last night I started beading on my BJP for January. I'm using bugle beads for the pine needles. The bottom of the piece is a small bit of doodling or McTavishing! And that will be beaded in areas as well. My next BJP's will have more of the doodling/zentangle work on them. This one won't have much but it's a start.

It's hard to see the beads but they are only on the left side so far. I'm using 3 different color of greens which I hope will blend in. This was a left over piece of sky dye fabric by Mickey Lawler that I bought in Houston way back in 2002! I have enough to face the piece with but that will take care of this scrap of fabric!

I can't believe we'll be leaving in less then two weeks!! There seems to be so much to do but none of it related to getting ready to pack for Florida! Had lots of errands to run today and tomorrow Mandy girl gets her 6 month teeth cleaning. I'll try to get some things finalized then. Thursday I'm going to pick up kids after watching Amber's concert at school. Then I had date night on Sat. Well, off to bead, read and/or knit! My usual nighttime activity!

Feathers at last!

Yep, finally I have feathers! I have to admit I love seeing feathers in the traditional and some of the current artwork out there. But...I've never been able to free motion quilt feathers. Something about my right brain and left brain colliding with each I! It's always been a struggle but YIPPEE!!! I did it but it sure took a team of professionals to guide my brain to work!!

First off, Patsy Thompson has some great free motion quilting videos. I purchased these a few years ago in Florida (I said I've been trying this for years!). I did learn lots of new quilting patterns and ideas but still didn't master the feather..close....then there's the great Ricky Tims who has another DVD with really good tips and, again, basic training to show you how to do feathers. OK, so I was half way there but still my feathers looked like they came off my parakeet from his tail! Mary Nordeng was my last ditch effort and finally it all came together for me!! No, it's still not perfect and it was hard for me to be consistent with my stitches because I was trying to focus on where I was going but I did it!!!

I made 10 fiber post cards yesterday and thought the silk dupioni I stitched on would be a perfect background for the cards. After I quilted the feathers I cut it all up! Go figure!! After all that work and now I'm cutting it up...hmmmmmmm...oh well...at least I did feathers!!! Now I'll probably never do them again! Actually, I did feathers in my dreams last night! No joke! All I could see when I closed my eyes was stitching feathers!!

So here's a few sneak peaks at some of the cards I worked on. The gold on this one is metal that I put through my paper crimper and stitched to the feathers.

This one has a heart made of Etal which is a metal type fabric. I purchased it from Joggles.com quite a few years ago but I'm not sure they still sell it. The sheets came in copper, silver and stainless steel. I've used it in my art work on several occasions and it's easy to sew through.

Yep, those are feathers back there!

OK, this one doesn't have feathers but it's the finished piece I did with my zentangle doodling in free motion work.

So now to start putting the edges on all the cards and address them. Another project behind me. I did finish all the quilting on my BJP for January and now I need to add the beads. I ended up only doing a small bit of doodling/zentangle work on the bottom of the piece. Actually, it's more McTavishing but the end result is the same.

It's 31 degrees, overcast and rainy today. Yep, a typical Michigan day when we don't have snow! Good day to be in 'playing'! I wrapped the majority of my Christmas gifts yesterday and I'll finish those up this week as well.

Great night out!

Here are the 'fab five'...should be the 'sensational six' but since LoisAnn moved to Italy there were only five of us at Mary's exhibit reception. We should have put Mary in the middle but we didn't!
Start with front row: Karen and Judy. Back row: Mary, me and Carol. You can see some of Mary's work in the background. Her exhibit looked fantastic all hung together.
So before I show more at the exhibit...here's what we had for dessert (we met for dinner prior to the reception). Karen and I split this chocolate layered cherry cake...ok, I ate all mine and Karen only had a bite or two then took hers home.

This was Judy's and I think it was a rum pound cake?? Everyone said it was really good!

Carol had the turtle cheesecake. Don't they all look great! We ate at Blackstone's downtown Flint and it's our 2nd time at meeting there for dinner. Really good food and good size portions.

See I did eat all my cake! But I did take home some of my dinner..a good trade off, right!

Some shots of the ladies chatting..again, click on pic and you can see some of Mary's art work.

The pottery/ceramic piece shown here was huge! It also cost $14,000!! Yep, but pieces were also sold separately. There really were some interesting art work at the exhibit but it was hard to get more pics with people milling around.

Next door to the gallery is Page's Book Store where a lady who works with Carol was singing. Her name is Bonnie and she did a good job. She's more of a folk singer but she does write all her songs and plays guitar. This is Bonnie and I have a short video of her singing.

We did have a really nice evening and Mary's work got some nice comments. I was trying to be that 'fly on the wall' and listen in! I did get to hear some of the comments which were all good! Guess next time I won't stand around and talk but mingle and listen! That's what a real friend would do, right!