Sunday, November 30, 2008

Busy quilting with my walking foot

Tuesday December 2 is Manteca Quilters annual Christmas party. I am one of 12 people making a table decoration for a table that members will set at during dinner. Then at the end of the dinner they will draw tickets and lucky quilters will win the table decoration. I just took this picture of my sewing machine and I've been busy quilting this part of my decoration.I'm using my walking foot.....after using it to quilt a baby quilt a the free sew I really like the way it works and how nice the machine quiling turns out. I will take pictures of the finished project at the Christmas party so you can all see it.
I need to get back to quilting......I have to put binding on it when I have finished with the quilting.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving............

Today is Thanksgiving here in the US. A day for being with family and eating a turkey dinner with all the fixings. Giving thanks for all of God's blessings and praying and hoping that the economy here gets better and people who are out of work can find jobs.
I wish all my readers here at my blog a Happy Thanksgiving. I'll be at my Mom's tomorrow with my sister and part of her family and my daughter and son in law. We will miss you Bryan, Heather and Lauren but look forward to seeing you at Christmas.

Enjoy today and don't eat too much.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Crockpot blog

There is a blog that started on January 1, 2008 and every day the gal there is using her crock pot....so almost 350 days of recipes. You can go back through the months and read all the good recipes she's posted. She even cooked a whole (small) turkey in her crock pot. Amazing.....check it out http://crockpot365.blogspot.com.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Free Sew....more pictures

This picture was taken from the back of the large room we use.....I've been to quite a few free sews and we had the most people attending yesterday.I spent most of my time yesterday quilting this baby quilt......I used my walking foot and the attachment that comes with it......this is the posh tot quilt that I made months ago.....I'm quilting straight lines from one side to the other.....about 2 1/2 inches apart......it worked good using he walking foot.
Pat was working on a nine patch quilt.....beautiful fabric.
Here is the room early in the day.....people come and go.....work for awhile and then leave. We enjoyed a tasty lunch and snacked all day.
Dianah pined up her outfit for Laney after she sewed on the ruffle on the pants.
Rosemarie was working on a quilt for her 5 year old grand daughter......a very nicely done quilt.
A close up of the central panel.
Liz W worked on several projects......she sewed together this cup cake pin cushion. Looks good enough to eat.
Cathy came in later in the afternoon and layered this quilt so it would be ready to quilt. Its a kit from Lady Bug quilt store. Makes a nice fall throw.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Saturday Free Sew

Setting up to start the free sew today....we started early and sewed all day. Barbara made a pot of coffee and we set up the irons and gathered all our UFO's and began sewing.Barbara worked on her quilt from the class she took from Dianah at Lady Bug quilt store. I really like the fabric she used and the way she used a few bright colored in with the black and white.
Sandy used today to machine two quilts......this is the first one....it's so much easier to machine quilt down at the library because you can put two tables together and have lots of room that's hard to come by at home.
Shirley worked on this black and white quilt.......I have this pattern and can't wait to make it.....I have collected lots and lots of black and white fabric.
Teresa laid out her newly found chicken fabric......looks nice.
Dotti is working on this flannel quilt for her college aged son......very manly fabric.
Dianah is working on this Christmas outfit for Delaney......love the fabric and the way she's used it in this cute outfit.
Cheryl is working on finishing this batik leaf quilt. Love all the beautiful colors.
Close up of one of the leaves.
More pictures tomorrow.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Free Sew Saturday!


Tomorrow is a free sew down at the library for Manteca Quilters.....yea!! We all bring our projects to the room at the library and sew all day. You got so much more done there then when you are at home...... away from all the distractions of home. And if you are having problems with a quilt there will be plenty of fellow quilter to help you out. We will all be bringing food to eat so we don't even have to leave.

Now which unfinished projects to bring??? There are so many to pick from. I will gather them all tonight and I know I won't be able to finish them all. But I'm going to try!

Now this is for all the Manteca Quilters that read my blog......The free sew on NOVEMBER 29th is canceled!! At the last minute the library decided to shut down all the library's in the county for Thanksgiving week and since the library won't be open we can't use the room. So please don't come down to the library on November 29.....because no one will be there.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Tuesday night at the library

We all love batik's......and how about a batik made out of flannel......soft and beautiful. Sandy made this quilt and layered it on the floor......when she was done I took this picture.Dianah made this quilt as a sample for a class she's going to teach at Lady Bug Quilts in Manteca. The pattern is from the Threaded Pear Studio...web site here. She said it sews up fast and makes a quick and easy baby quilt.
Liz is finishing up her fall table topper.....she's working on the quilting.
Lue-Anne is working on a fall table runner......here you see her laying it out on one of the large tables at the library.
She's using raw edge applique.....and fusing the leaves on the block.
I have never seen this baby fabric......it's so cute. What a cute baby quilt!
Close up of one of the blocks on the quilt.....love the look on the baby's face.....I need to find some of this fabric!

Sunday, November 16, 2008

A Fun Sunday Outing......

Look where I went this Sunday afternoon......the new Bass Pro in Manteca......wow.....what a wonderful store to just wonder about on a Sunday. This is the front doors......look at all the antlers they used over the entrance. On the outside in front of the large building is a stream.....built with lots of rocks and look at these cool deer.
Over the door that you go through is the quote.....welcome fisherman, hunters and other liars....look at the deer heads and whole stuffed deer. All the stuffed animals inside and outside the store are donated to Bass Pro by families who don't want them hanging around anymore....and they have lots and lots of different stuffed animals.
Looking down from the second floor to the main floor.
Here is the waterfall and fish tank with native California fish inside. When have you ever seen a waterfall inside of a store?
I will go back and shop here again.....wow....you could wonder around here for hours and hours and not see everything. When ever you are in or around Manteca check out this store.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Thursday night's show and tell

It was a small show and tell last Thursday night at my Oakdale guild. Inez made this 2 1/2 inch quilt with a bali pop. Love the dark rich colors in this quilt. Bridget made this Christmas table runner and taught it in a class up at Standard.....said you could make the top in about three hours.
Bridget has been very busy.....she made nine take five quilts to give to her family for Christmas. She showed us three of them. I sat next to her and she spent Thursday night sewing on the binding on the quilt below. Love these colors.
A close up of the quilt above.
Another take five.....beautiful colors.
Close up of the quilt above.
Flowers on this quilt.
Close up of the quilt.
Bridget plans on making the family pick numbers and then go into a bedroom and pick the quilt they want. I think that is a smart way to give away quilts and no one will be mad if they get a quilt they don't like.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Taste of Home.....good food.

This was the view from my seat last night at the Taste of Home at the Modesto Center. What fun....I've never gone before so I was a newbe last night.This was the line to go into another room and get samples of food......we did not do this as we had dinner before we came in.
After they took your ticket you received a bag of grocery's....and coupons all kinds of good stuff in this bag.
This issue of Taste of Home Fall 2008 was used and some of the recipes were demoed last night.
During the night they gave away lots of good stuff......Taste of Home cookbooks and I didn't win till the end when they gave away the food that was fixed last night. I won Chocolate Chex Caramel Crunch and the bowl......very cool. I took it to work today and everyone was on a sugar high all day. I will share the recipe below.

Chocolate Chex Caramel Crunch

8 cups Chocolate Chex cereal
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
6 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup vanilla or white chips

Place cereal in a large microwave safe bowl, set aside. Line a baking sheet with waxed paper. In a 2 cup microwave safe measuring cup, microwave brown sugar, butter and corn syrup on high 1 minute, stir. Microwave 30 to 60 seconds longer. Stir until blended. Stir in baking soda until dissolved. Pour over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Microwave on high for 3 minutes, stirring every minute. Spread on baking sheet. Cool for 10 minutes. Break into bite size pieces. In a small microwave safe bowl, melt vanilla chips, stir until smooth. Drizzle over cereal mixture. Refrigerate until set. Store in an airtight container. Yield 16 1/2 cup servings.
Enjoy.....