The Phoenix Zoo and Zoolights with the Family

My parents are in town from Texas so we did something we have never done before. We went to the zoo as a family. My brother has a one year old and everything revolves around "the golden baby" as we call him so this is why we went. My sister and I have never gone to the zoo with the rents, nor did any of our four children. I can list many things we didn't do with the parents that our younger brother (the golden boy) did. While I say this with humor, it is absolutely true. He has been to Sea World, Disneyland, and lord knows what else, when we never went anywhere with our folks. In fact, after he was born they took a family picture and my sister and I are not in it. We were ten and twelve when he was born, and in fact no formal picture of us as a family was ever taken. Though we have a HUGE photo of the three of them framed beautifully when he as about six too. I love my parents (and my brother) but things were never fair and I think my sister and I still deal with that reality to this day. She has a harder time with it than I do, but I have three children and I could never consistantly do more for one than the other...so anyway if you are still with me (and I don't blame you if you aren't) we went to the Phoenix Zoo.

My brother has a friend that works there and she took us behind the scenes a bit and one thing we got to do was feed the elephant (Reba) and hang with her for a bit. She is 42 or so and used to be in the circus. She was amazing up close and we all fell in love with her. Ben especially enjoyed feeding her cookies and she was able to pick them up with her trunk...she has amazing fine motor control with that thing! We all wanted to touch her, but we had to stay behind the yellow line and just admire from afar. It was worth the price of admission (which was VERY expensive, I may never get back to that zoo, lol).
We went to eat after seeing a show at the zoo and some members riding the carousel and camels and touching stingray and such.

I took the pictures so I am not in any of them--except the one they took as we came in. The rents let us be in it--GRIN.

This one I took when we came back for zoolights..and paid another admission fee. My stepdad Gary on the left, mom Toni, sister Tina, brother's gf Tiffany with my nephew Ben on her shoulders and my brother Sam on the right. He is a really nice guy despite being spoiled by us all, all his life.
This was my favorite tree in the whole zoo. The lights are rainbow colored and the tree is just amazing. I even managed to get a picture without any people in it!

I suggested we all buy a little elephant ornament to commemorate the visit. Every year I buy an ornament for us (I used to do it for my kids every year, this is the first year I haven't since the baby is 16 now) and write the year on the bottom of it. I try to pick something out that reminds of us of what we did that year. This is the year of the elephant I guess. So everyone bought one so that was fun.

Got bad news from my oldest son and it has affected my mood (as if you can't tell) going to be a tough Christmas...sigh.

Quilt History Class

Last Thursday night I went to Zoe's Trunk for my Quilt History Class. We had a little Christmas feast which was really good and got the fabric and info to make Clara Stone's "Best of All" Christmas Star block. It didn't really have directions with it and so Mary explained what to do and drew us pictures. I did some serious google searching and came up with http://mccallsquilting.com/qb/pattern_1105/ which has directions for this block of the same size so I will be trying to follow along with those when I make it. Didn't they pick out FABULOUS fabric for this star? It looks really nice put together. Mary had hers all done to show us. I can't wait to give this one a try. Roberta is an amazing historian--very inspiring! She brought us some of the little pictures you see in the picture. They are printed on fabric so we can put them in a quilt if we want. So nice and thoughtful. I have to think of something neat to bring everyone some time. There was a new gal there this month, Linda so I am no longer the newbie! That was fast, lol.
We also discussed what all we want to learn about this next year. I took some crazy notes and this is what I think is going on for the next year:
January: Colonial Revival, Grandma Clark, Aunt Martha
February: Opal, a speaker from Kentucky is coming in with quilts, we may try to find some patterns and history on what she has, Marie Webster
March: Ola Vears, Mountain Mist
April: Dustbowl
May: Chicago World's Fair, Sears Competition
June: Ruby McKim, Feedsacks
July: Any other designers from the 20's and 30's
August: Arizona Quilts of the 20's and 30's
September: World War I Blocks, Kits from Drucilla and Paragon
October: Pattern Publishing, Kansas City Star, Other Newspapers, Magazines, Mail Order Patterns, Kit Quilts, maybe Lynn will speak
November: Gee's Bend in the 20's and 30's, Triangle Patterns, WPA, TVA, Nancy Cabot
December: Innovative Women of the 20's and 30's, Earhart, Marie Curry, Mary Coulter, etc. Carrie Hall and any other designers
As you can see we have quite a working plan. I am excited to learn so much more about quilt history. I am preparing something for the Gee's Bend talk (we all take turns presenting different topics) but have a year to get that together. I have seen one exhibit on them and own a book so I am at least ahead of knowing nothing! I will be keeping my eye out for more information on that...I also own a CD of the Kansas City Star patterns but otherwise don't really know much about this stuff.
Today I wrapped Christmas presents, did some cleaning, and laundry and got Chili going in the crockpot! I have done my work for the day and next I am going up to do some sewing.

A Sewing Bee Prize and Thrift Shop Fabric Lottery!

A few days ago I got my sewing bee prize from Stashbuilders Yahoo group! Sharon made these festive little coasters and I am using them in my living room right now. I have another set that I won awhile back in my quilting studio in different colors, but I was delighted to get two more I could use for the holidays downstairs. I like coasters--and so do my wood tables!

Last night we hit the thrift store (I LOVE a good deal!) and I found a huge bag of fabric for 2.99. I decided to take a chance since I could see a few good looking pieces in it...I should have taken a pic before opening it but here is some of it...

Then I found LOTS of good fabric in the middle. Most of it quilt shop type quality and some really cute stuff I could use on future I Spy quilts! I was about jumping up and down with glee.

Then imagine my suprise to find a stack of little hexagons just slightly larger than the ones I have been cutting! LOL also a stack a large squares in kiddy fabric. Turns out there were only three or four fabric in here that I don't really want and the rest of that huge bag is completely usable!!! And to top it all off Kathy found 20 bucks on the floor at the thrift shop so it was really free! She has a habit of scanning the floor for money since her mom (now in heaven) frequently leaves us pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters and an occasional dollar or two. This time 20! WOW thanks Mom. Smile.

Other good things I got include a "You Don't Know Jack" computer game. We have three now (and Randy has four). If you go online to find them they are a little expensive, ours 2.99! It is a really fun game for one or more people.

The package I sent off to Australia made it to Sue. It was my first send to that continent and I am glad it made it there and she is enjoying what I sent. She sent me lots of goodies and I was glad to return the favor.

I also went to my Quilt History group last Thursday night and had a good time. I got a new block for that and we decided on a year's worth of topics. I will post about that next..so something to look forward to!
Angela

Believe!

Not the greatest picture as I need to recharge my camera batteries, but I spent some time stitching these free pattern from Tanya Marie Anderson/The Sampler Girl 2008's blog. I will turn it into an ornament for the tree later this week. I had forgotten how much I like counted cross stitching while I watch mindless tv! Thanks Sue for the inspiration!

Flying Geese Leftover Pincushion and some Art

Remember my left over flying geese from the railroad crossing block that was a perch for my little owl? I saw this pattern in one of my new magazines and knew I would be turning it into a pincushion! I still need to stitch it closed and add the buttons, but it was really easy to make this so far. I love it! Guess I am starting to collect pincushions because that is my fifth one maybe!

Thought I would show you this picture...one day I may be dead and the kids may look to this blog to find out where the "treasures" I leave them came from. This was painted by my great-grandmother Violet Hanna Rushman of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. She died when I was 16 (one week exactly before her huband at Christmas that year) so I was lucky to know her for many years. Her daughter Charlene died just a few short years later...the first of her children to die (and my beloved grandmother--my daughter is named after her-Hannah Charlene). Anyways she painted this and many other paintings and I used to have one of them and don't know where it wound up but my folks just passed this one on to me and it hangs in our dining area. It is the only snow I hope to see now that I live in AZ!

Randy and I took a painting class and each made one of the Wisconsin paintings a few years ago. This one is his (mine is not as good and I am not sure where he has it to get a picture) and I love the fall colors. That is what I miss most about Wisconsin. Fall! Not raking mind you, but looking at those leaves and hitting the apple orchard in the fall...they have wine there too you know!
A few of the blogs I am reading have lots of cross stitch stuff on them. I own a ton of cross stitch stuff I rarely get out now but can't part with. I started cross stitching while pregnant with Coleman (almost 23 years ago) and did it most everynight for many many years. It is easy to put down when kids need you and is so portable. I made this one from a free pattern and enjoyed putting in every stitch of this cute little neighborhood! I have some other stuff I will be taking pictures of and documenting. Again, when I am long gone I hope the great greats care where stuff came from! I think I may have been living in Maryland when I did this one so that would be about 1992 ish. Where does the time go? Anyway Sue has inspired me to get out some cross stitch stuff and I may make a little "Believe" ornament from a free online pattern...it looks quick and cute!

Two Christmas Tablerunners and Aunt Lisa's Hamballs

I had a good time with a little Moda Merry and Bright square pack last night. I made not one but two tablerunner tops in no time!

I was two squares short for the second one so I added in a Christmas fabric I had that sort of (being generous here) went with it to complete them. I need to get backing and finish them!

Before cooking and the sauce!

Today I made Aunt Lisa's Hamballs to take to the work Holiday Party on Thursday. Aunt Lisa and I went to high school together and she was in my wedding back in '88. Because of that she met my uncle who is ten years older than we are and viola...one marriage has lasted anyway. She is the mother of my youngest cousin on my dad's side. Lindy is more than 30 years younger than me! I am the oldest grandchild on both sides. I cooked them all and we sampled them, then I will freeze them and recook on Thursday since I don't really have time to make hamballs during the week (too many final tests to grade this week!) If you are interested in the recipe, it is easy!

Aunt Lisa's Hamballs
1# smoked ham

¾# ground beef or if you can find it just get 3 pounds of ham loaf mix

¾# gound pork

1 cup milk

2 cups crushed wheaties

2 beaten eggs
Sauce: 1¼ cup brown sugar

½ cup vinegar

1T. dry mustard
Pour sauce over balls

Bake at 350 degrees for 1¼ hours. I doubled the recipe so there are lots in the picture! Time to make: 1 hr 45 minutes

CJ called today. Man I miss that kid. Can't believe he is 22 now! Where does the time go? We did a ton of grocery shopping today and used as many coupons as we could...saved 70 bucks YIPEE. Also picked up a few Christmas presents, only have a few more to go which is a good thing because I am robbing Peter to pay Paul (maybe I should make that quilt to remind me of these good times?). We also watched Horton Hears a Who today which was nice to take your mind off any worries you have. Life should be easier all around..don't you agree?

Our Tree and Two Baseball Quilts for the Boys in New York

Really kind of pathetic looking in this picture, but we just don't want to try to put up the big tree with the dogs this year. We are gone alot during the day and I just don't trust the younger dogs to leave it be. So far they are leaving this one alone since it is up on a table. Kathy said it reminds her of a Charlie Brown Christmas tree and Randy put it up and decorated it..including some of his stained glass ornaments. I love that stocking on the front!

I finished putting the blocks together for Noah and Jack Jack...each nephew will be getting a quilt in New York this year. Kathy originally put these blocks together, I joined them and finished the quilt, then she tied them so it was a team effort. While most of our packages have already been mailed, this one is at the door waiting to go! I even sent a suprise package across the pond! Oh and I have the Norway box waiting to go too finally got the correct address to send it to.

Not hte best picture...Rosey is as usual in it and Daisy's tail is sticking out on the other side! Kind of looks like one long dog!