Christmas Day

No trains for me! Go Postal gave me this saphire pendant hoping it would go with my Mom's saphire ring that I wear often. They look great together!

The second attempt at Flan worked fine, we had a huge meal. And even though his neices and nephews are older than mine...we still had fun opening gifts and watching them play "guitar hero" on the PS2. Banjo got a whole can of wet food since after all...it was Christmas.

Hope everyone was able to share this wonderful day with family and friends. I got to celebrate three times...in Georgia with Dad, Teen and Kim's family, then with Mary and her boys in Winston-Salem Christmas Eve...and with Mike's family Christmas day.

The Best Christmas Ever...According to Buddy!

Dinosaurs, Trains, Legos, remote control vehicles...just what these two guys were wishing for! And the reindeer even ate all the food that was left outside for them!

Flopped Flan

Sharing recipes is fun, but something told me that my friend Lila's Flan would not be as easy to make as she promised. Ingredients are easy to get right, but the secret to a great recipe is often in the techniques. Just like a quilt or any other form of creativity...getting the pattern sewn or the notes right doesn't mean you will like the end result. Thankfully this was the warm up before I took it to Christmas dinner.

Quilters Christmas Dinner

Here are all of my quilting buddies our for our annual Christmas dinner and dirty Santa gift exchange. Everyone was pretty pleased with the gift they opened. I thought I was home free until Mrs Goodneedle decided to steal my fabric. But alas....I got to open another and just look:




How Cool is this...A chicken pin-cushion. I really can use this more than fabric...he can go with me on my next retreat. I have several of the grab it magnetic pin cushions but they don't always stay in tack in the bottom of a tote bag.











The gift that got away.....







Can't wait to see these in next year's quilt show!!

Brie...How did you eat all that?

The Polar Express Pound Cake is gone....Brie ate her weight by devouring it when Mary ran an errand last week. Glad we took pictures!!

Altanta Weekend

I had my Ann Taylor Loft Shopping Buddy back in action this weekend. I came away with 5 pairs of pants, three tops and a skirt for $200. Now thats power shopping. Sofia did great, she hung with us girls through IKEA and finished up at Lennox Square Mall at 8pm. She is a delightful baby!

Sofia got some new socks...look how cute. They have Mary Janes knitted right into the sock (because 6 month olds just won't keep shoes on)

Polar Express Pound Cake

We started clean.....

Little Man was more interested in eating the coal (chocolate chips) than helping us decorate.

But Buddy and I finished our Christmas Train!

Finished for Christmas

I took this "Loose Ends" class about 10 years ago, got the borders on about three years ago, quilted and bound three sides about 18 months ago.....and FINALLY its up. Go Postal helped hang the quilt hangers within the footprint of the framed picture that hangs on this wall the rest of the year. This was my first attempt at stippling by machines and I used it as a warm up for completing my neice's quilt. My original thought was to have a quilt for every season on this wall....but at the pace I am going......

Good Boy Banjo!

Just in time for Santa, Banjo has made his dad very happy. This week two field mice presented on the side walk of the cabin (and not allowed to get into the crawl space where this time last year they decided the heating ductwork material made good nests) We weren't sure at first if it was Banjo's doings or another cat that has been "visiting" Banjo. But as we left his Dad's house last night about 9pm....we saw him in action with a third mouse he had just caught from the field.

Thanks Dad

My new chimney cabinet is in place and the shelves are in. Dad made it from Maple, but we both had a time getting it to stain even. I tried first, but it was like bad quilting on a well constructed quilt top. He sanded it down and tried again using several different types of stain before we settled on paint. Its all ready for linens and extra toliet paper for the half bath!




Zorro inspected it already and said it would be fine where it is.

Hello from DR

I have had a nice stay in the Dominican Republic....its about 80 here today and sunny! Too bad I have spent most of my time in a conference room! We are staying in Santiago (near the airport) and our textile plant is in Bonao (center of island) Yesterday we did travel to Santo Domingo to see a few sew plants and I know just enough Spanish to ask the driver about a good place to buy coffee. We stopped at a latin version of Wal Mart and I bought 8lbs of Santo Domingo coffee (about $3.50 per pound) First one to post that they want to try it can have a package! I think they must use about a cup of ground coffee to brew a pot, so I have had to restrict my intake. I have brought 33 children's quilts to the plant, and the manager is going to distribute them to flood victims and the girl's orphanage down the street. I thought I might get to go with him, but they announced a big management re-org here today so he will be tied up. He promised to send some pictures, and its probably better I not see the orphans or I would next be trying to figure out how to take one back with me. He didn't know a spanish word for quilt but he knew blanket.


This country has made a lot of progress since I was here as an intern in 1989. Our textile plant will be intstalling a bio-fuel plant here next year to burn cocunut shells and other agricultural by products instead of bunker oil. We have eaten at the plant the last two days but may venture out for dinner s0 maybe I will get some tostones tonight!