Mish Mash

Need somewhere new to go for an outing? Try Garden D'lights at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens. Here's what they have to say on their website. "Thousands of tiny twinkling lights will transform Bellevue Botanical Garden into a fantasy land of flowers every evening during the annual Garden d'Lights festival from November 29, 2008 through January 3, 2009. Inspired by plants found in Northwest gardens, hundreds of volunteers bundle strings of commercial grade outdoor lights into three dimensional flowers, shrubs, vines, and critters. In November, these creations are 'planted' in the Botanical Garden and, with a flip of a switch, this unique holiday garden blooms every evening from 5:00-10:00 pm." I have been several times & every time is different. They add new displays every year! Last year I went around 5 & had no trouble parking in the upper "free" lot. Start a new family tradition!

Contests, contests & more contests. There are so many pattern & fabric designers that offer free give aways. All you have to do is leave a comment to be entered to win. Here are a few of my favorite blogs with fun stuff going on!

Cinderberry Stitches Natalie from "down under" fab stitchery patterns

Bunny Tales Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs-Love her bunnies & chocolate applique

Gail Pan Designs Another fab designer from "down under" (can't wait to do this)

Helen Stubbings Hugs & Kisses- stitchery, note cards etc

Most of the contests end Dec 1st. Gail is having a contest every Friday. Who knows you could be saying "winner, winner chicken dinner" & you won't even be at the casino or on Dancing with the Stars!

The kitchen is calling me. Pre-Thanksgiving prep & cookies for Pa's (quilting Diane's Dad) 100th birthday celebration. I can not even imagine living to be 100. He has half & half on his oatmeal every morning & grumbles when he has to eat store bought bread.

Countdown til the 10th............Sharon

Quilt of the Week

This quilt was started in 1926 by a customer's grandmother. The redwork blocks won her a blue ribbon at the local fair. Pam wanted to sew the blocks into a quilt to give to her cousin, Grandma's kindred spirit. She took a Roxanne Carter class at Aunt Mary's Quilt Shop hoping to finish by Christmas. I had the privilege of quilting it for her. I wanted it to reflect the quilting that would have been used in 1926.

I think that the scalloped border that they chose was perfect for this special quilt. Check out Blog Along with Aunt Mary to see the finished quilt.

If you ever see blocks or special embroidery at the Thrift store, make someones "Grandma in heaven" happy & give them a loving home!

Busy as a bee here. 15 days & counting........................

Sharon

Quilts & Roses

This rose is in a pot by our driveway. Who would have ever dreamed that on November 16th I would still have a rose blooming? Jack Frost has made a "fly by" so far this year. Our weather has been pretty mild. This rose reminds me to take time to "smell the roses". Especially after the week I've had!


All is well with the ceiling. What a relief that is to be fixed!

Here is the corner of a quilt I did for Mary C. It was hand dyed fabric.
If you go to my webshots later you can see the other pics I took.
My business manager, Joanna, & I are working on a photo book of my quilting.
I'll post some pics when we are done.

23 days until I'm in Grandmaland..................

Sharon

Quilt of the Week

Time to put another quilt picture up. This sweet quilt with applique flowers was made by Jean(Grandmother extraordinaire). I hope someday I can learn to do applique as beautiful as she and the rest of the Sassy's! More on the Sassy's in another post.

I tried a new feather/leaf/swirly thing for the background filler.

I was happy with the way it turned out.

29 days & I'll be in Grandmaland...............Sharon

Little Mister Andrew

Hi everyone. Grandma is busy quilting, so I snuck on the computer to say "Hi". I'm learning all kinds of new tricks. Mom says I can hear myself now so I make noise. I really have the crying thing down. I have my "hungry" cry, my "fake" I don't want to go to sleep cry & the best of all "crocodile tears" cry. That one always gets to Mom. I am guaranteed snuggle time with that one! I like laying on my activity center & hitting the bell and I think I'm talking when those sounds come out of my mouth.

Everyone keeps smiling at me so I finally decide to smile back.

Not much else to say now. Does this pumpkin make my hiney look big?

I'm hungry, see you later.................Little Mister Andrew

Contest

Aren't these just the cutest? You could win the pattern to make all of them! The pattern is "Marshmallow Dreams" by Sue Daley Designs. All you have to do is go to her blog & leave a comment telling her what is your preference
Hand work - What type ?
or
Machine work - what type?

She's giving away 6 patterns. It could be your lucky week.

Hope your week hasn't been like mine. Here's what I woke up to Wednesday morning. I felt like Chicken Little only it was my living room ceiling,not the sky that was falling! It seems we had an undetected hole on the roof. I think a branch that fell during a storm started it and then when we were walking on the roof to get to the gutters clean it broke through the roof sheeting. Luckily just a little water, soggy sheetrock & a lot of insulation to clean up. It took most of the day to get it under control. Little pieces of insulation were everywhere. The vacuum got a real workout! Right now it looks like Ma & Pa Kettle live here. There are 3 huge black plastic garbage bags covering the hole!

We have great insurance through PEMCO. I have had a policy with them since 1975. The claims adjuster called me back within 15 minutes, had a contractor here by 2:30 to put a temporary patch on the roof(the hole is the size of a 50 cent piece) & I had a check in my hand by 4:30. I just keep telling myself that it could have been worse. The ceiling fell in above an area rug, missing my quilting machine & any other furniture in the room. Lucky for us the torrential rains did not start here until Thursday,whew!

So here's to a better week, enter the contest, someone has to get lucky!

Stay tuned for more Little Mister pictures soon!

33 days to Grandmaland............................Sharon