I REALLY LOVE ST. GEORGE!

Why do I say I really love St. George?? Because of the lack of snow! We returned today from the tundra a/k/a Salt Lake City. We encountered a snow storm that we weren't planning on. We sloshed and slid our way back down I-15 realizing that I can stand the summers if I don't have to deal with snow ever again. The purpose of the trip was to see our newest little grandson Beckett. Here he is getting spoiled by Grandpa. He is the cutest little redhead and is loved by all.

Saturday was also his big brother Finn's birthday #5. He is quite the big shot now. He showed us lots of his toys and books and told us all about his adventures at his new school Rowland Hall. His dad - our son David - teaches first grade there and Finn loves going to school with Dad each day and complains if he is picked up too early! I think Finn may grow up to be a meterologist as he can quote anything and everything about tornados in "America's Heartland"! He is quite the guy. Wish they lived closer.

Sunday morning was spent at the weekly broadcast of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I wish we could attend every week. If we could, I think I would just call that my church attendance for the week!

Sunday afternoon we traveled down to Highland to stay with some dear friends that we have known for years. We have been practically family for over 20 years and have adopted their kids as our grandkids. We lived near each other in Connecticut and were excited when they followed us out here a year after we moved. Just as we were arriving at their home, the snow started! Horrors!! Its been 10 years since we negotiated driving in snow! When we dug out this morning and began the trek back to St. George, we soon discovered our window washer fluid reservoir was empty and our wipers blades had given up the ghost - no doubt because of the sun in St. George! We stopped to get some new fluid to put in the tank, but the entire line was frozen and the fluid was not going to work. We had snow the entire way down until about 10 miles outside St. George. We decided to make a quick stop at Costco and lo and behold - the fluid started flowing. Ah yes, we love St. George!! I was glad I had some handwork to occupy the time while Paul had the job of getting us home safely. I was able to complete about 40 yo-yo's! I don't know why I need another project, but I am make these little yo-yo's for an elephant made with them. I think I am avoiding the 15+ quilts that need binding. At least it kept my mind occupied and kept my eyes off the road and the big trucks that I thought for sure would run us off the road!

A GREAT DAY IN HISTORY

Today is a very memorable day for our country. A new President has been sworn in. We saw on TV our government running so smoothly - at least from our vantage point. So many countries change Presidents as often as they change socks and have demonstrations and riots in protest. We are so fortunate to have some brilliant men and women working on our behalf and our safety. Although the outgoing President has received much critisism, he still has many things he will be remembered for but it may take some time for the bitterness of some to go away. No matter what our political affiliation is we need to be supportive of this new President and give him a chance to deal with some real problems.

We were living in Washington D.C. when Jimmy Carter was inaugurated. Since it was such a frigid day and we had just moved to DC 3 weeks prior from California, we just couldn't take the cold! Washington was an exciting busy place to live as there was always something happening - good and evil! We enjoyed our time there and have many memories of learning about our country, visiting lots of museums, meeting interesting people from all over the world. Our childrens' school had many from other lands whose parents were living there while on assignments from their governments and each year had a fabulous International Festival.

Mmmmmm good!

Each month our Enrichment cooking group meets to learn new skills and share ideas and of course lots of talking and laughing. Last night was our annual kick-off meeting when we have a potluck at Katie's house and ooh and ahh at each others creations. This time was no exception and lots of wonderful creations were presented along with recipes. I think the favorite was the Curried Chicken with brown rice made by Leslie. After dinner we were all given a list of suggested topics for the coming year and people signed up for what they wanted to do in their homes. I picked October where I will teach 2 methods of brining a turkey. Some of the topics are: Pillsbury Bake Off recipes; grilling; soups/chowders; making a mix from ground wheat (yuck); appetizers; summer drinks, etc. etc. It is a nice group of women with great talents. Our fearless leader is a Martha Stewart wannabe and she really inspires us to do our best.

Here is the wonderful spread of tasty dishes. My contribution of apple dumplings made with crescent rolls is on the left next to the Cool Whip can.

Above is my neighbor Loretta who by the way is a wonderful quilting friend

Dixie Larkin standing guard over the lemonade.

Cristy Christiansen with her usual smiling face and infectious laugh! You always know when she is in the room. Cristy and her family live part time in Colorado and part time in St. George. They have business ventures in both places. We really like it when she comes back to St. George and joins in the activities. This time they are actually here because of medical reasons.

THE MYSTERY IS UNVEILED!

I finished this mystery quilt in record time. I wanted to get it machine quilted at one of our local quilt shops (Quilted Works) while I had a valid coupon for a nice discount. I was also fortunate to get it to them on a slow day and I had this quilt back within 48 hours. Now that's the kind of turn-around time I like (as long as it is a good job - and it was) Of course this quilt has not had the binding put on as yet and who knows when that will happen! At least there is another project nearly done! Its a good thing!!

YAY - A NEW QUILT STORE!!!!

Today I visited my friends' new quilt store in Hurricane for the third time, but this was the official Grand Opening. It is called "The Quilt Cottage". What a comfy place to shop and visit. I don't think I've ever been in a quilt store when I didn't run into someone I know. This cute shop is busy getting their shelves filled with lots of the newest lines of fabric. They are only held back because the manufacturers have their own time schedule! The owners, Lynette, Wendy and Sariah have done an amazing job renovating with this 'ol house. They literally moved walls, built walls, painted, put in new flooring and the list goes on. The one great thing they have done is created a huge classroom/kitchen from the attached garage. I think the square footage of the classroom is as large as the entire house. They have decorated in such a fashion that you feel like you are at home. Congratulations to the 3 owners and we'll do all we can to help support you in this rotten economy. By the way, all of the owners have been closely associated with different aspects of real estate and we know which direction that has gone! They are a good example of "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade". No pun intended Wendy! (her last name is Lemmon)

This is the book recently released by C&T Publishing written by Lynette's sister Helen. I shopped today for the rest of the fabric I need to start this project (like I need another project!) Below is one named "Twilight" made by Lynette. I wonder what books she has been reading??

Here is Sariah busy cutting fabric while on her lunch break from her "real job"! She is a real estate agent along with being a quilt shop co-owner.

I also found a great fabric to make my 3rd "One For The Money" quilt which only requires one - yes one fabric! This one will be a lap quilt and the other 2 are wallhangings which I will post in a couple of days. I'm using a pattern from http://www.grizzlygulchgallery.com/. I really like Ann's patterns. When I saw the fabric I knew it was "the one", but I didn't know how much to purchase. I got on the store's laptop, went to Ann's website and called her. She was very accommodating and I was able to make my purchase without the pattern in hand. Aren't quilters great??

HANNAH - BANANA!

My cute 10 yr. old granddaughter Hannah said she wanted to make a quilt to enter in the upcoming quilt show. So I let her go shopping in my fabric closet and she picked out great combinations! She has done about 99% of the quilt by herself - even the rotary cutting. A couple of years ago I purchased a Klutz glove after someone in a class I was attending cut right through her hand. Needless to say, I've never used it but I did pull it out for Hannah's project. Her quilt top is complete and ready to be quilted. Unfortunately I have introduced her to "quilting by check" at an early age, but that's the way I do it! She is still tossing around some names for the quilt. I think she will be a winner at the quilt show in April don't you??? It is my thought that if the art of quilting is going to survive, "each one teach one" will need to be continued by us oldies but goodies! I was glad to hear that our local schools incorporate quilting in their home economics classes and that a couple of the schools have long arm machines!

OH MY ACHING FEET!!!

Yesterday I spent many hours at the Innova Long Arm Training Center http://www.terylloy.com/ quilting away on this monster quilt. Since it was my first time at this adventure, I took a quilt that I figured I would never show to anyone! I made every "artistic" mistake possible. I sewed an entire row with no bobbin thread; went over designs twice many times (I call it thread art); ran out of bobbin thread six inches before the last row was finished, etc. etc. Since I was using a pantograph and couldn't see how it was doing on the other side of the machine, I was flying blind! I made loops when there should have been points, I overlapped the big loops, I accidently pushed the green button when draging the machine back across the quilt and guess what - it made a new quilting design! Glad there was a seam ripper handy. After it was all said and done, it doesn't look bad for a first time. When I got home after 6 fun filled hours, I went straight for the Advil, dinner and bed. It is hard work! I really can appreciate what the longarmers go through. I had won 8 hours of time on the machine as a door prize and guess what??? Teryl awarded me another 8 hours for giving her a referral! She knows that if I give it another try, I'll eventually catch on! I would like to be able to have my quilts done faster, but they will only be limited to non-heirlooms! Thanks Teryl and Jeryl for the encouragement and LOTS of help. I have been trying to use up stash and this quilt is from that category. In case you ever want to try your hand at using a long arm machine, Teryl rents out time on the machines - http://www.terylloy.com/