I WON!

Today I have been working on the "Grandma Loves Noelle" quilt. While busily making decisions on sizes, and fabrics, and what not, my doorbell rang and there was Beth with a darling wrapped gift.





You see she had a blog give away for her 100th post. And I was the winner. It is this great handmade pincushion. Don't you think it is adorable? And, remember I recently found out that I collect pincushions. I have already put this on my shelf among the others. It looks so happy there. Go take a peak at Beth's blog. She is one busy lady. She manages to get an amazing amount of things done in a day. http://lovelaughquilt.blogspot.com/
Thank you Beth.

Noelle's Quilt

I found this great fabric while on the recent shop hop. It was all cut for a kit. I think my youngest granddaughter will love it. I may or may not use the pattern in the kit. I have extra of the heart girls. It can go into the quilt or be a pillow case. I hope to start this over the weekend. What do you think? Perfect for a three year old who loves the color pink?

At the Shop Hop

Robin and my day at the Hop was great. How could it not be touching and feeling all that new fabric. We managed to fit in all nine stores, hitting the first store at 10:00 AM and the last store near 4:00 PM.




Here we are looking a little worse for the wear at the last shop.

I set out with a plan to purchase fabric with words. That was not as easy as I thought it might be. I did find a few, but not much. So plan two was Kaffe Faccet. I found

some at a few stores. But, surprisingly, not as many as I thought.

Good thing I had a third plan: spots. Everyone has spots and dots.

Here are all the fat quarters the shops gave us just for coming. All Christmas themed. I have packed them away labeled Holiday Shop Hop, 2009. Maybe I will get that quilt made next year.

Holiday Shop Hop

Tomorrow Robin and I are going on a Shop Hop, or Quilter's Run, or in this case it is called "Holiday Hop". Usually I try to have a plan before I set out to visit nine quilt stores in one day. I'm thinking about making a quilt using fabric with words. However, it may prove to be a challenge so I think I need a back-up plan. So I'm thinking that back up will be Kaffe Fassett.


















Oh what the heck, I better have a third option. How about spots? You can always find that. I'll let you know what I come up with on my next post. Wish me luck.

Billie Lauder

I have been working a lot on Two Wacky Women stuff lately. Some mailings, and cleaning out files. The usual things for this time of year. We are having our annual yard sale this Saturday in my driveway and backyard patio. Robin and I are ready to go shopping for new fabric and it is time to thin out this year's fabric to make room for the new fabric and supplies we have yet to discover. In addition, Robin and I are hosting three retreats next year and facilitating one. Our first retreat is January 22 -24, 2010 and we are so excited that Billie Lauder (that's Billie in the photo) will be our guest instructor. She has over 30 years of teaching us quilters and still has joy in doing so. Do you remember Simply Quilts? She was on that wonderful quilting show 17 times. Yes, 17 times. You know she must have a lot to share. At the Two Wacky Women retreat, she is going to focus on 5" charms, 10" squares and 2 1/2" jelly rolls. You can be sure she will have a few tricks up her sleeve. We have more about Billie and our retreats at http://www.twowackywomen.com/ We have a lot of fun at these retreats. After all, we are wacky.

Mom is Ninety

My mom turned 90 last week. I know this is a dark, dark picture; but, it is all I have of her birthday dinner. We dined at her favorite restaurant "The Reef" in downtown Long Beach. The view is spectacular. Happy 90th Mom!

I Love Pincushions

I have never been a collector (except for fabric that is). And, I don't know when it happened; but, the other day I was looking around my sewing room and realized that I must collect pincushions. They seemed to be peeking out from everywhere. Most are handmade. I know I have more tucked here and there. Some exist in my back room, that gets less and less use these days, and some live in my travel sewing totes. And each and every one has a story. I have decided that it is OK after all to have a collection and now that I know it, I intend to gleefully add to it. Gee, I wonder if I have other collections of which I am not aware?

Halloween

Halloween is a big deal around here. My next door neighbors really do it up I tell you. Those life-sized ghouls are animated. And when the night comes on October 31, the black lights and dry ice come out and the little darlings run screaming half the time. It is hard to see, but the car (hearse) has a life-size skeleton as the driver. We get over 200 children each year on this block and it really is fun. I never seem to figure out the candy right. Last year I had too much, and this year not enough.

Here are my grandchildren in Florida in their Halloween costumes. So precious, don't you think?

On to November now.