The Winner Is...

I asked my husband to pick a number between number 1 and 17. He picked 14 so Marissa Garner is the winner. Marissa let me know which cupcake you would like.

I was kind of hoping Thimbleanna's number would come up because she loves to sew and she is the cupcake queen. She loves all things cupcake. So, Anna, want to trade for one of your great little zipper bags? You can have pick number 2.

Ali just had surgery and she really wants to start sewing. She also told me how much she really, really wanted one. Ali you can have pick number 3.

Thanks for your nice comments and for playing along.

Tomorrow night I am hosting a New Moon premiere as a part of my job. Who knew there were so many enthusiastic fans. Wish me luck that all goes well. Eclipse is scheduled to come out June 30 just in case you wanted to know. The next Harry Potter comes out November 20, 2010. The theatres around here are already booked. Amazing!

Aspen Grove Retreat

I downloaded these pictures from our retreat but forgot to post them. The cherry quilt is being quilted on a regular machine. Helen is a great quilter and was demonstrating for us how she quilts her own quilts. She is a master quilter all the way around. The next quilt is a top she is just finishing. Yes, it's all hand appliqued including the borders.
A cute Christmas quilt with this year's Christmas fabrics.
This was a quilt top made out of quilt squares she won last year.

This last one made with Mary Engelbreit fabric. I've got the pieces cut out but have yet to sew one block.
This is just a small sampling of some of the quilts that were shared at this year's retreat. I can't tell you how much I look forward to spending 4 days a year quilting in a beautiful setting. It's heavenly!

A Giveaway For You

Here are the projects I made last week at Aspen Grove. I thought I would let you pick one of these cupcake pin cushions as give away prize. Just leave a comment to enter and a way to contact you if you don't have a blog. Easy isn't it? The giveaway is open to all and the contest will be open until Tuesday night at midnight.

Between Naps on the Porch is having a giveaway too. Check it out.
These cupcakes are made from felted wool sweaters. (Sorry the pictures aren't better.)
I also made this pear pincushion and the apple core quilt top underneath the pear. I almost completed the whole top. It will probably be on the back burner until after Christmas.
I learned how to machine quilt. This is a sample of some of the patterns I was practicing. I can't wait to try this out on my next quilt top. It was really fun to do.
I worked on burb clothes (left) and made a baby car seat cover (right with the rick rack.) (You know the kind that you hook to the car seat handle and cover the baby up with. I see lots of them around but we might be raising a whole generation that will be claustrophobic as a result.)
I finished these Christmas stockings for Marissa's little Campbell and made an extra one for the next baby. They already have three so I just needed to add a few more.
Here are a few close ups. They are machine appliqued and hand embroidered with glass seed bead embellishments.
It was so great to be around such incredibly talented women who were so willing to share their knowledge. I loved being able to sew for four whole days.
And, last but not least, I love this sewing machine. When Grandpa Creed passed away, I asked the grandkids if I could buy this if none of them wanted it. They actually gave this to me as a thank you gift. It feels so good to sew on. It is so sturdy and runs well.
It even came in the cabinet and it weighs a TON. It was very hard to get it upstairs into my studio/sewing room. It is handy to have because I often have someone sewing with me...girlfriend, daughter, or one of my young women. It is nice to not have to change thread when I'm sewing with multiple colored threads. I just move back and forth from my Bernina to this singer.
I did recover the top of this little bench right after moving it in. I also discovered that my friend (who designed the Christmas stocking patterns I made) has the exact singer machine and sewing cabinet. When she told me how much she paid for it, I felt very lucky to have been given mine. She had her cabinet refinished. Mine will probably stay as is or else I will paint it.

Look What I Won and The Party is Over

I couldn't resist posting one last picture of our little "Max." I hopeCreed is thrilled to see himself as a character in the book. My amazing husband was at work again. Now the giveaway.
It is rare that I win anything. But, look what arrived in the mail just before I left for my quilt retreat. Isn't it beautiful? It is all handmade by Loretta. It's part of a pay it forward giveaway. My next post will be number 200 and I will Pay-it-forward. Stay tuned for my giveaway.
Here is the party is over part of the blog. Here is a picture of the only things I bought at Round Top in Texas. I love these bottles that contain textile dyes from a Textile plant in the South. Candice bought a few as well. I used them as part of my Halloween decor but will probably keep them up somewhere in my house year round.
I collect all the decorations in my dining room and then pack them up. Most of the decor is pictured. It is such a relief to get it all put away. However, it does look a little emptier around here...to empty in fact. I didn't get a chance to put up any Fall decor and I really don't like much of what I have. I put most of it in the DI (like Goodwill) pile. (Steph would be proud of me...she thinks I have too much stuff so I'm working on it. Less is better anyway.)


Did I say less is better? Well, maybe not when it comes to Halloween decorations. :)

Pictures from the Pirate Party

I thought you might like to see some of the pirates that attended our Halloween party. My husband set up the photo booth in our room with a blue sheet as background. This is what he came up with after using photoshop. Chris made his own costume by buying a womens' wool coat and adding cuffs and trim. He also made his wife's scarf. They looked pretty good don't you think?
Heidi and Dana ended up coming together as one of the husbands stayed home to babysit all the kids and the other one ended up having to work. They made great pirates.
See...they really got into it.
Of course Steve and Jill were pretty good too. Steve came as Red Beard. He was also the best at Curses. He had to talk like Mr. T and really got into character. It really was great.
Here we are.
Good actors aren't we?
Stephanie and Brent got into it too. His costume was really fancy. They ended up being our partners in the Treasure Hunt.

Here is our token islanders. We held them for ransom on our pirate ship. We, the royal we, also did photo strips like you would get in a photo booth. I can't wait to deliver them. I might have to wait a day or two to not spread germs.

You can also tell by the pictures that most of the couples were much younger than we are. We were trying to get to know some of the couples in our neighborhood better. And, no offense to the friends we usually hang out with but that last dinner theatre event we had, two of the husbands fell asleep. I don't think they would have been willing to go on our scavenger hunt anyway. We are counting some of these couples as our new best friends. They were so fun to play games with.

I spent the last 4 days at a quilting retreat. So much fun! Unfortunately all that fun seems to have caught up with me and I came down with a cold last night. (Not H1N1...I already had my shot.) I did bring my camera and took lots of quilt pictures. Wait until you see the talented women that I spent the week with. I learned lots of new things too. However, I was on the planning committee so didn't get quite as much done as I would have liked, but I sure had fun.

I'm still packing up the Halloween decorations. Life has been too busy to get to it. Tomorrow is the day to get it all put away even if I don't feel up to it. Wish me luck.

Halloween Happenings

Here is our little wild thing. Wait until you see what my husband does with the background.
Here Creed AKA "Max from Where The Wild Things Are" trick-or-treating. He went to all of 5 houses before he was done. He just drug his little tail every where he went.
He just made me smile. Could there be a cuter little wild thing? Eli changed his mind, thank goodness, so I didn't end up making his costume.
Leslie and Brenna made us this plate of Halloween goodies. They really know how to make things great with presentation. A close up of the bow.
The plate of goodies.
Yummy sugar frosted cookies and popcorn hand. I do have to admit that these cookies were irresistible for me. I'm not sure I stayed within my Weight Watcher points after eating two of those today. Some things are just worth it.
And then, my husband had someone ring the door bell and give him this hand made certificate for his pumpkin carving. He is a very talented carver. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures.
Kind of a fun thing to do if you want to make someone's day next year. Stephanie always makes up a great certificate and takes around a gift to the best decorated Christmas house. This could be the basis for a fun party.
Speaking of parties, we had a great time at our pirate party and think everyone who attended did too. The first thing everyone was sent to do was to take pictures in our photo booth. I'll try to add some of those pictures off my husband's computer at a future date.

Everyone was invited to dinner at the Black Pearl and of course, like the movie, all had to be cursed. (I took all the curses cards out of our game and gave everyone two. They had to do their curses all during dinner. Each person had a pile of M&M's and if you were caught not during your curse, you had to give them an M&M. It curtails the conversation a little bit but it is extremely funny.)
Next everyone was broken into three groups. Each group consisted of two couples. Each group was given a pirate booty bag that included: 4 quarters, 3 Pirate Island game tokens, a package of bubble gum, a sticky eye ball, Halloween candy, and a Pirate map tied with black ribbon.
If you click on the picture, I think you will be able to read what everyone had to do. It was hilarious. Everyone was asked to bring a digital camera and document their adventures.
Here was the winner of bigger and better. They started out with the eye ball on the right and someone gave them the eye ball on the left. It was better than the Dove chocolate or box of kleenex the other groups traded for.
Here is some of the booty from Pirate Island. Pirate Island is a pizza place with a game arcade and lots of pirate decor. We ended up sharing everyone's adventures and pictures back at our house and giving out prizes. I forgot to take pictures of the prizes but they were good ones. LOL

For dinner we served white chicken chili with chips and other toppings, corn bread, green salad, and for dessert a family recipe my mom named "The next best thing to Magnum PI." It's an all time favorite in our family.

After that anyone who wanted to were invited to a cabin at Sundance to play more games. I'll try to get the video clip that one of the couples took on our adventure. It was too funny.