No Wine and Appetisers for Us Tonight....

So sad for me!  For the past year, every Wednesday night (with a few exceptions) my sweet girl and I have been walking next door at 8pm to have appetisers and wine with Anna and Adrianna, our neighbors, while we watch Criminal Minds.  It is so much fun.  We laugh and talk and watch our favorite characters.  Anna really likes Dr. Spenser Reed.  I like the David Rossi character and Penelope Garcia.  Tonight we will miss all that.  Anna is taking a writing class and she hasn't gotten her paper done that is due tomorrow.  Good thing for us that tonight is a rerun.  Still.  Next Wednesday I am going to put my foot down....No cancellations!!!

Mindy's Quilt

I am almost done with the embroidered blocks for Mindy's Quilt.  That is the name on the pattern, but I will change it to fit my blue and white theme when I am done.

I cleaned up the past two days.  I went through the ornaments, magazines and other stuff.  Sounds like everything is perfect, doesn't it???  It isn't.  Tomorrow I will bring the bag of tan clothes for the kids here at school, the bag of magazines for a teacher and the food for the food drive to work.

Tonight.....more embroidery.

Today I am Old

I just had to laugh today.  This has happened before, but today I know I am old.  The 7th grade class I help out with is beginning to read the Outsiders.  It is a book about two groups (gangs) of kids and things get out of hand, all because of prejudice.

Before the children read the book, there is a keynote presentation about the sixties.  In the room full of students and a teacher, I am the only one who is even remotely old enough to remember the sixties.  This teacher is in her 20's.  She was born sometime in the 80's.  There are pictures of hippies and war protesters, fashions from back then.  The hair styles look like the ones my mother wore.  All of this combines to make me feel my age.

Unfortunately they left out the best parts of the 60's, and I don't mean the death of John Kennedy.   I was just a baby then.  What they don't show is the walk on the moon!

Also today:  who is most influential?
Mozart, Queen Elizabeth I, Jesus, Buddha, Albert Einstein, Rosa Parks, Abraham Lincoln, or Mohammad?
Most of the students picked Jesus--he is our savior, he died for us, etc.  There were a few who choose Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein and Rosa Parks, even one Mozart.  Funny no one picked Buddha, Queen Elizabeth I or Mohammad.  Probably don't know who they are........

What have I done all weekend????

On Thursday I went to Berkeley, CA to award a scholarship to a very deserving student.  There is a scholarship in my parents name at CAL for an engineering student.  Every year there is a luncheon where the students show up and thank us for the money.  Very nice.  Usually my sister goes to the luncheon.  She has friends there and has made it into a trip each time.  Last year my brother, Richard, was in the area from Iowa and he went.  This year it was me.  I was surrounded by people probably a lot smarter than me--engineering types--having lunch.  I treated myself to a sweatshirt.  I was back on my way home by 2:30pm.

That evening I went to my guild meeting.  Our speaker was Helen Hardwick.  She makes these incredibly small quilts.  Her talk was about what to expect when you put your quilt out there to be judged.  At one point, she said we all had that "deer in the headlights" look.  No one by me was thinking of having a quilt judged.  When Helen asked if we had any questions, there was only one hand--Phyllis Day.  She does incredible work and wins ribbons.  the rest of us--not a question!

Friday I went to the River City Quilt Show.  It was amazing.  I absolutely loved the quilts by Jan Soule, the featured artist.  She does classes and has a trunk show.  I took her information for the next program chair for my guild.  I went expecting to be there for an hour.  I was with my friends, Sandy and Irene.  We were there for four hours.  There were so many quilts, so many vendors.  One of the vendors had this great quilt up. It was called Vintage Stitches--blue and green embroidery.  The patterns were an old fashioned sewing machine, a water pump, etc.  I loved the pattern so much, I bought it.  When I got home, I took it out and found it was just a copy.  That is so wrong.  I have heard that shops do that--take a pattern and then make their own copies and sell them, but it is so disrespectful to the designers.  I am thinking of calling the quilt guild and saying something.

Saturday and Sunday I sewed small squares together --see the picture above.  When I have more of the quilt put together, I will post another picture.

Now it is off to bed.  Have a great day tomorrow.

The Latest BOM

Last month at my guild meeting we got back a 9-month block-of-the-month.  I had put in a yard of a cream with blue fabric and a block I made.  Then eight of my fellow guild members each made me a block.  Now I have 9 blocks to put together into a quilt.  I have a plan--a checkerboard border and sashing.  So, I have been cutting out 1.5-inch squares and sewing them together.  I need 176 pairs.  On Thursday I am going to my guild meeting and am hoping to get scraps from the eight women.  It took a lot longer to do the 50 sets I have done than I thought. Definitely a job for a movie day.

Plans for Friday to go to the River City Quilt Guild Quilt Show.  If you are in Sacramento this weekend, check it out!  Scottish Rite Temple.

Apple Hill

Hello.  I have been a bit lax for a while about checking in here and posting.  I am making a commitment to do better.  So, sorry to anyone who looks in regularly.

On Saturday I went up to Apple Hill with my Circle of Friends.  Apple Hill is just above Placerville on Highway 50.  There is apple farm after apple farm after apple farm.  It smells so good--like pine needles and fireplaces.  It is worth going up there just for the smell.  There were crafts, apples, pears, vegetables and gifty items.  I bought a box of pink lady apples, some pears and apple cider.  Yummm.  Apple pie this weekend coming up.  I must remember to purchase the vanilla ice cream.

We also stopped at Shared Stitches and High Sierra Quilts.  At Shared Stitches I bought a little suitcase to hold my embroidery.  I am using a small box by Susan Branch, but it is slowly breaking.  I will need something else soon,  I also bought a pattern Suffragette by Heartspun Quilts.  Every time I go into Shared Stitches, I find a quilt on the wall that I just love.  Then I look to buy the pattern and find that it looks nothing like the quilt on the wall.  The one on the wall is in reds and creams--rich dark colors.  The one on the pattern looks wrong.  It is red, white and blue.  I can't even decide what it is that makes it look so wrong.

We were gone all day.  It is always fun to hang out with this little group. 

Let me tell you about the gifts!  I don't usually require gifts to be friends, but this group comes up with the best presents.  There was a cute little cellophane bag with a gingerbread ornament, a gadget and some Ghirardelli chocolates.  Yummm.  There was a coffee cup with a cute organizer.   One of us gave each person a notebook with a cover in black and white with a label in the middle that says Circle of Friends.
I gave everyone a backpack (because we were going on a trip!!) with hand sanitizer, lip balm, snack, mints,
a cutting tool (something fabric oriented) and a whistle--just in case someone got lost.  I got the backpacks from my sister-in-law.  She had them from her prescription drug selling days.  I was just so darn pleased with myself for thinking of this. 

It's time for bed now.

thinking of gifts.....

I spend time with a group of friends.  It is a great group of women.  There are several things that I can attribute to knowing these women, butthe funniest is that I think in terms of six.  There are always gifts.
It is such a fun part--not just gettting gifts, but thinking of really great ideas to give to them. 

On Saturday we have a trip planned to Apple Hill.  Apples--yummm.  I had a brilliant idea that I can share on Saturday, but not before.  I have planned this since August.  I drove to Modesto to get part of it.  I helped myself to six of everything offered at a Kaiser table in SOuthern California.  I have been brasen in my quest to get six of every thing.  We shall see if I am as clever as I think......

I can't wait until Saturday!