Long Weekend with Monica!

Not much sewing happening at my house because my best friend from high school, Monica was in town for a long weekend for the first time ever! We go way  back and she has seen me through several heartbreaks and I have seen her in a successful marriage with the same guy she was dating way back when we met (I was dating Coleman's father then).  While our love lives diverged (lol) we both had two boys (and me a girl in the middle) and our oldest boys had a few challenges and we truly became best friends in those young years when we needed each other's support DAILY!  Seems so long ago now as they are all grown up and college age now. 
I honestly can't remember the last time Monica and I had this much undivided time together and it was fabulous to catch up!  She is now a first grade teacher and so now we have teaching in common too...:0  In fact, she sent me a whole pdf of all kinds of games she plays with her kids so I can see if any of them can be adapted to ASL (I teach adults but it is all language development so we play kids games--I have been known to play Simon Says, telephone, tic tac toe, etc.  all in ASL!). 
Anywho, while Monica was here we were jam packed with activities to include sightseeing, shopping, eating, walking, visiting my family, taking silly pictures and more eating!  So here are some photos of what we got up to. 
Sunday, after lunch at Joe's Farm Grill, we took a long drive and went to the Salt River Canyon.  Here are Kathy, Randy and Monica at the top.

 Here is Randy at the bottom.  Water was a bit chilly but it was really fun to see.  There was a rescue swim thing going on nearby too so that was interesting!

 Here are Monica and I at the bottom too!  Monday I taught in the morning and then Monica, Kathy and I drove to Scottsdale and did some shopping.  We also each had a margarita in the middle of the day.  They had gone to breakfast while I was teaching, but I had eaten my early yogurt as usual.  So at 3 PM when we had Margaritas...well one of us was rather tipsy!  It was fun to just relax! 

We also took her to the Grapevine to eat (one of my favorite places ever since I was a girl) to have Lavosh.   It is an outdoor restaurant (you can even eat on the roof, but with the sun going strong (even in March) we chose to eat under the shady roof! 

 
Randy and I took her to ride the light rail and eat at the Spaghetti factory for a late dinner.  That is another restaurant that I have loved since I was a child.  They have a "spaghetti tree" which as kids we really believed grew spaghetti!  It is looking a bit under the weather these days.  It is all in an old mansion type house  and it gorgeous and spacious inside.  We ate on the trolly...how fun is that?  Monica left her phone there and we made it one stop down the light-rail when she realized it and we got off and got on another one going the other way to retrieve it!  Luckily one of the waiters had it and she got it back!

 Tuesday Kathy stayed home and Randy and I took Monica to meet mom and shop in Cave Creek.  We went to "The Town Dump" which is an eclectic store and found some cool things like this tiger and these stools! 

On the way home we stopped at the Brass Armadillo and checked out the antiques.   I really wanted to take this machine home with me because it was in pristine condition, it runs and it was 85 bucks!  Of course, I have no idea if it is worth that but for an older machine it was in great condition.  I am still thinking about it!

 This little toy sewing machine was over a hundred if I remember right.  It was SO cute!  I don't have a collection of toy machines, nor do I have a place to put one, so I did like Bonnie and did a proper "catch and release!"

 We did see a few quilts--nothing really worth picturing but I LOVED this hand sewn scarf and thought it was photo worthy.

Monica offered to fly Kelsey's quilt back (and she already dropped it off with Kelsey's mom) so I wouldn't have to pay shipping so I can't wait to hear what she thinks of it!  Monica said she has hers in her guest bedroom because she doesn't want her dog to ruin it.
So Monica's visit was a whirlwind tour of the area with plenty of shopping and entirely too much eating!  There were so many other places we wanted to go but had only so much time.  We did show her the outside of The Phoenix Castle when it was all lit up but little did we know tours book MONTHS in advance!  We will plan to see this next year and send Monica pictures because we sure aren't going through it in the heat of summer. 

 

Today I am working all day (even now, lol my morning class is in a computer lab and there is no talking for me to terp right now!) until late but then I am hoping to get in some Saturday sewing.  Sunday is Easter and we are having it at my brother's place this year.  My Mom and Dad are moving again in a few weeks (yes this is the 6th time they have moved since I moved her 4.5 years ago) and with the new baby we figured it would be easier to just have it at Sam's.  :)

BlogLovin

Claiming my blog.
Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Orange Talkin' Turkey!

Linking up with Angela over at the Rainbow BOM Orange and I have to say that knowing I am missing a linky if I don't get sewing is really motivating for me.  Thanks Angela!  I really enjoy making this block each month and know I am not parting with this quilt when it is done.  Four blocks done (I did the red one before I decided to do this as part of the Rainbow BOM--we haven't had red yet).  Not the greatest picture of the three, but I have to get the ladder to hang the forth block and then I will get a better picture.

Meanwhile, Kathy cut out four blocks for her and four for me for this month's Kaleidescope of Kolor/35th Ave. BOM.  She got two of hers sewn together but I didn't get a picture.  I also didn't start mine because the gal said they are tricky due to close size of some of the pieces..they tend to get mixed up.  I will do that one a day when I am up to concentrating harder!

We also cleaned the stairway pictures up, dusted and moved and hung some that never got back on the wall after Kathy came back tonight.  Seriously getting excited for my best friend from high school, Monica to come visit next Saturday!

Easy Street for Kelsey is Done!

Easy Street is done!  (Sans label but will do that this weekend too).  This was Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville's latest online mystery.  The clues are still at the link but eventually she may take it off the net and put it in one of her books, so if I love it, grab it now (and buy the book too later, lol!).  This one is for my beautiful goddaughter Kelsey back in Wisconsin.  Here is a picture of Kelsey heading to a school dance awhile back.  

 Purple is her favorite color, so I hope Easy Street has enough purple in it to keep her happy.  She is going to have to become a fan of lime green because there is plenty of that too.  I have been wanting to make Kelsey a quilt for a long time.  She is my ex-husband's sister's oldest and since the divorce I rarely see any of them anymore.  Kelsey however will always have a special place in my heart as my goddaughter and first niece ever.  She has also decided to follow in my footsteps and become a sign language interpreter when she graduates from high school this year!  She has been signing for a few years, and loves it as I do.  She will go to UW-Milwaukee and will be close to my daughter Hannah (in miles, they are already close otherwise!) while she goes to college.

I bound it in aqua scraps (while watching Bonnie's first archived Google Plus QuiltCam!) and I am really overjoyed with the quilting Barb did on it too.  She put big flowers on it as I requested and the thread she picked is really visible on the purple borders and just really adds to the quilt.  I hope Kelsey knows how much she means to me--not just anyone gets a Bonnie Hunter quilt from me!  :)
In other AMAZING news, my newest nephew has arrived!  My brother Sam and his wife Tiffany are adopting this little guy--Colton Darell.  He was born last night and is less than an hour old in this photo.  Pretty sure I got to hear his first cry through the door (with mom and Tina) while Sam and Tif were in with his birth mother.  She was SO awesome to allow all of us to traipse in postpartum to see him and take pictures.  I hope she knows how much love this little guy will get and what a precious gift she has given to my brother--she chose him and his wife--miracles do happen. :)

I love him already!  Welcome to the world Colton--you are my other favorite nephew!

Celebrate Worldwide Quilting Day!

Today is Worldwide Quilting Day!  I am celebrating by meeting up with some friends for our Kaleidiscope BOM meeting and for 35th Ave.'s Black Bag Day.  May manage to make it to the Mesa Quilt Show too! 
How are you celebrating?

Hand Sewn Hexies with Bonnie :)

Bonnie Hunter was on QuiltCam tonight..and since I had had one of those days I hung out and hand sewed with her and she cheered me.  She was having a frustrating night with her UStream and yet bore it with humor and grace and reminded me that I just need to smile and enjoy the moment and quilt.
I am happy this hexi quilt has been growing lately after a long stretch of nothing..funny how things go in cycles  like that.

Gnome Quilts for the Loveseats are Done :)

 I got in the Spring cleaning mode this past weekend in anticipation of my best friend from high school coming to visit in a few weeks!  We rearranged the living room and dusted, mopped, in and around and behind and below everything.  I am sure new dust and doghair is already forming but it still needed to be done!  You can see my bike there in a new spot and I am still getting on it--now for 30 mintues, but not regularily enough.  Will try to reapply myself!

Barb  quilted my gnome quilts and I got them bound over the weekend too.  I didn't do much for sewing, did some cutting and bound these two quilts and that was it.  I also cleaned the kitchen and fridge which needed it. 

 Now you can see the quilts on the loveseats.  It was time for some newer small quilts..we wash them every week because with five dogs...ugh!  Anyways the two I have been using have seen better days!

The other thing I have been doing lately is reading.  Just finished this one last night, and have read several books that inspired Downton Abbey as well.  I also finally finished Bag of Bones by Stephen King which I was listening to forever--not as scary or as good as his usual tales, but I like to listen to books while I sew since I seem to never make enough time to read! 

Slow Stitching Sunday and Orange :)

 It never fails..if I try to get a picture of a quilt one of the animals (or several of them!) lays down on it before I can even snap a photo!  So here are the updated hexi photos along with Princess Stitch Kitty.  I sewed another row or so today and I cut and prepped some more too.  Linking up with Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching!

 I did dusting and cleaning of my sewing room today (about every six months I do the shelves and window and WHEW is it dirty!) so more putzing around more than anything.  I did manage to sew up the Em block for the Skillbuilder BOM.  We could turn the blocks in whatever way suited us and I liked the X better than the other layout.  I had a heck of a time getting this block to come up to the right size.  Bias sewing is not my friend!

 I also added to the orange spools in keeping with the Rainbow BOM.  It is really helping me get some of these done now that I am focused on a certain color and not just doing one or two a month, lol.  When I get the color of the month done I try to do some blue because I seem to have the most of blue!

Linking up with Angela's Rainbow BOM for Scrappy Saturday-ORANGE you glad I did?

Progress on a Few Things...

I have been working on my hand sewn hexis diligently the past week or so.  I am really enjoying it again.  So nice to have it to take along in the car.  I have added another long row since the last picture but haven't taken a new one yet.  

 In other news, Barb is on a roll quilting up a few quilts for me.  Above is my gnome couch quilt and below is Kelsey's Easy Street!

 It is hard to see the quilting on that but here is the back.

 Kathy and I went up to Mom's for Tiffany's baby shower.  We stopped off at Jacki's and dropped off a few pink blocks for a special project she has going.  Kathy did her BOM with a white background and I did an extra one of my Talkin Turkey.  We love these blocks!  Now the color is orange, so we have to get to it!

We then got the food ready for the shower and wrapped gifts, copied off games and sharpened pencils, etc. Then today we set and had Tiffany's baby shower.  It all went really well and I think the baby will be just about set!  We gave Tiffany the baby quilt and a few kids books about adoption.  I am a book freak!  Tiffany's best friend was giving her an evening party/shower tonight too.  Kathy and I were too tuckered out to even try to do that so we met up with Suli (my brother's ex and Ben's mom) and I gifted her her baby quilt too.  Both these little guys are boys and will be less than a month apart if all goes as planned.  Ben will finally be a big brother in both houses!