Out with the old

Personally, I can't wait for his year to end.

I'm looking forward to 2014.

I'm working on my word for the year....

I've narrowed it down to 3.

When I decide on one, I will share.

Just like I did last year.

But for now, I want to wish you all a Safe & Happy New Years Eve!

In case you over imbibe or are over-served...AAA has a NATIONWIDE Tipsy Tow tonight.

I've shared it with my kids and anyone else who would listen.

And now I'm sharing it with you.

SEE YA NEXT YEAR!

XO

Winding down...

After a nice OTD last night at Asti Cafe, I had a sleepless night.

Ugh.

Today, I took Tootsie for a mani pedi and then to the airport.

It's also Moms birthday.

I think she would've been 95.

Sad...

Sad...

Sad...

The kids gave me I giftie to Mission Rose for Christmas.

Mission Rose is right by the airport.

There was nothing else to do but indulge in a little retail therapy.

Who can resist B&W with Chartreusse?

Not this gal.

My blue batiks were dangerously low.

My dark purple yardage practically non existent.

Well, dangerous and non existent are relative terms.

But I will be heading south soon & I hope lotsa sewing will ensue down there. 

Thanks for the therapy, kids!

Especially John, who braved the quilt shop biddies and actually bought the giftie.

I love you 3 immensely.

XO

Christmas Love

They were here together!  BLISS!

These 2 are pretty sweet, too.

This guy was festive!

Lots of wine, some Jack & B&B.  I hope no one looks in my recycling bin tomorrow!

The Clinton Square skate tradition continues...although the frigid temps mixed with hangovers effected our ice time.

Oh, how I adore these 3.  How they love each other makes my heart go pitter patter.

A hubs worth keeping and 3 awesome kids...fur babies to love...a warm house, good health and all my extended family and friends.  

My heart is full.

God bless you & yours, today & always.  

MERRY CHRISTMAS!  

INFJ

It's my personality type.

I took a test.

Actually 3 different tests cause I wanted to be sure. 

Same answer 3 times. 

Yup, there's a pretty good good chance I'm an INFJ.

You won't believe this, but this is most uncommon of the personality types. 

(Or maybe you would believe it)

Only 1% of the people have it.

I guess that means that I am weird. 

I always knew I was weird. 

But at least now I can blame INFJ.

Actually, when I read the description, it's pretty freaky how accurate it is. 

Famous INFJs:

Nathan, prophet of Israel

Aristophanes

Chaucer

Goethe

Robert Burns, Scottish poet

U.S. Presidents:

Martin Van Buren

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Fanny Crosby, (blind) hymnist

Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Fred McMurray (My Three Sons)

Shirley Temple Black, child actor, ambassador

Martin Luther King, Jr., civil rights leader, martyr

James Reston, newspaper reporter

Shirley MacLaine (Sweet Charity, ...)

Piers Anthony, author ("Xanth" series)

Michael Landon (Little House on the Prairie)

Tom Selleck

John Katz, critic, author

Paul Stookey (Peter, Paul and Mary)

U. S. Senator Carol Moseley-Braun (D-IL)

Billy Crystal

Garry Trudeau (Doonesbury)

Nelson Mandela

Mel Gibson

Carrie Fisher

Nicole Kidman

Jerry Seinfeld

Jamie Foxx

Sela Ward

Mark Harmon

Gary Dourdan

Marg Helgaberger

Evangeline Lilly

Tori May

Magnum & Jamie ...swoon.

Ari, Jerry, Garry & Billy...BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA .

Robert Burns, Chaucer &Goethe...huh?

Mama T, MLKJ and Madiba...Wow!

Looks like I'm in good company.

My Murray took it, too.

But he's taken it before at work.

I'm going to analyze him next. 

I bet he'll be so happy to hear what I have to say when he gets home. 

If you google free personality test, you can take one, too.

If you do...let me know what you get!

The APQS Great Long Arm Giveway

As you know...I drive an APQS Freedom Long Arm machine.

Her name is Lola-baby...Lola for short.

I love her and the creativity she allows me. 

Here's a headshot of Lola...

A real beauty..huh?

And, yes, she has tatts.

She's my alter ego.

For the last few years, APQS has had a promo giveaway of one of their machines. 

This year, it's a Lucey with QuiltPath.

Lucey is a bit 'less' of a machine than my Lola.

Smaller throat space, no bells & whistles.

But QuiltPath is the new APQS computer. 

That's a serious whistle that rings my bell!

(I've been toying with the idea of going computerized. 

It's so much $$$....even been considering quilting for others to fund one)

Since we just got the FL locale, I dreamed of winning.

With that awesome studio space upstairs...

Natural light...

Private...

WARM...

Not to mention, how awesome would it be to quilt at either house?

Nothing says Happy Housewarming better than a free Long Arm.

Well, the drawing was on Monday.

So, I'm pretty sure I didn't win.

But APQS still hasn't announced the winner. 

Sheesh....it's so much harder to be jealous of someone when you don't know who they are.

That's ok...I can piece in FL & bring them home to Lola for quiltification.

It's all good. 

But I wish APQS would announce the winner already.

What's the hold up?

EDIT...they finally posted the winner...

She's from the Atlanta area...

Really?

There was a mega million winner AND a long arm winner from Atlanta in one day?

No wonder its called Hotlanta. 

A Scrappy Beauty

Be still my heart.

Barb has done it again.

Another delicious scrappy batik quilt.

Yum.

This quilt was a whopper...88x101, if I remember right. 

All she asked was that I put leaves in the brown border.

Ok...I can do that.

I took extra care to keep that brown border 'straight'.

Your eye is drawn to it and any wiggles would grab your attention & look 'wrong.'

I was proud of myself for thinking of that!

Barb isn't a big feather fan, but I feathered this one, anyway.

It gave some movement, and the quilt is so stunning, you don't even notice the feathers in the design.

All you see is that yummy batik goodness.

I love the back, too!

Turquoise...

If she doesn't like the quilting, I'll take it off her hands. 

It's the least I can do.

Nothing tickles my Quilty fancy more than a scrappy batik.

*swoon*

In other good news, this is my last 'customer' job for the year.

So, it's all me and my stuff for a while. 

I can't decide what to load first!

 

Facebook Quilting

I've recently discovered there are Quilty groups on Facebook.

(I love the blogger autocorrect, I just typed faceplace and it told me!

Too bad there's no auto correct in my brain.)

So...of course I joined a few if them just because I love any Quilty eye candy.

How awesome to have quilt pictures in my newsfeed.

But, I got to tell you....

I love it!

It's way more than eye candy. 

It's full of newbies.

I love newbies and their fresh take on things.

They ask questions about Quilty stuff.

Sometimes I learn new things.

Sometimes I answer & feel smart.

(I'm honestly shocked how much I've learned, through osmosis, about quilting)

No one is putting up political, perverted or whiny posts.

It's great!

If you enjoy social media, search quilt.

You'll be glad you did!

This has been a public service announcement.

Happy 27th Birthday John!

27 years ago?

How can that be?

The time is flying!

This kid spent his birthday lunch hour working for the food bank.

He's the cream in my Oreo kid sandwich.

My #1 son.

Smart and patient.

Always my helper.

Kind and easy going.

Funny and thoughtful.

For 27 years, you've made this world sweeter.

I'm so grateful you're my son.

And I'm proud of you, too.

Have a great birthday!

Stay safe XO

'I love you, everyday.'

Relief

Last night on the news they mentioned that Miley Cyrus might be Time Magazine's Person of the year.

I was horrified!

Thankfully, it was not Miley.

Although I'm sure she is a lovely girl, (snort) twerking just isn't a year altering contribution to society.

I've blogged about Popey before. 

He gives me hope. 

I know lots of other discouraged Catholics who feel the same way.

Good choice, Time Magazine!

Box Trot

I love the Box Trot pattern.

It comes together quick and looks good.

I put this one together for a friend who's had a loss.

I used some batiks & Asian inspired fabrics from the old stasheroo.

QD 70/30 Blend batting...cause women our age do not require a lot of extra heat.

I did a simple loopy meander, cause done is better than spectacular.

But it still seemed a bit stiff and un-snugly.

Is un-snugly grammatically correct?

I don't know.

Who cares...it's my blog...I can say things however I want to say them.

Anyway...focus...

I'm shooting for soft & comforting here.

So, I tried an Express Wash cycle and a tumble in the dryer.

Much better.

Even Mother Nature approves...this is the first sun I've seen in days. 

Glad I captured it on film. 

Or iPad.

Whatever.

I've often thought I should launder all my quilts before gifting them. 

Then I will be sure there will be no bleeding or construction problems.

And, if its already been washed, folks might actually USE them.

Instead of worrying that they might get dirty.

To me, nothing beats a quilt that's been washed. 

All that wrinkly goodness sets me heart afire. 

'Sets me heart afire'...really?

It seems life is taking a toll on my ability to use era appropriate language.

I think I'll head off to the post office and get it in the mail before I say anything else.

Hope she likes it!

7 years

Hard to believe it's been 7 years without mom.

Sometimes it seems like yesterday...

Other times like ages.

That crazy old bag...I still miss her.

Guess I always will.

SCORE!

Phil & I set out at 7:30 this morning in an attempt to acquire the gaming systems are darling boys would like under the tree.

We were home before 11, with everything their hearts desire. 

We even picked up an extra PS4, in case Kelly wants one. 

HO! HO! HO!

If she doesn't want it, we can always return it.

Or, as Herman pointed out, sell it on eBay for big bucks!

I can't believe the big deal these things are.

By the time they started handing out the tickets, the line was over 60 people long.

And that was before 9am on a Sunday morning.

There were 5 people who SLEPT AT THE MALL to be sure they got one.

Unbelievable!

After they give you the ticket, you wait even longer in line for your turn to buy one. 

Best Buy was well organized.

And our salesperson was a cutie who was Baby's age. 

On a very positive note, everyone in the line was real nice. 

We saw none of that ugliness that has been on the news about Christmas shoppers.

It feels great to be done.

Look who Murray found

Murray had a stuffy Holiday affair at a local bank after work on Wednesday. 

I wasn't invited.

Even if I was invited, I was too tired from my FH morning to mingle and be charming. 

(those of you who REALLY know me, know that charming is not my forte)

Apparently, Sr Colette has more energy & charm than I do.

And, I gotta say, that woman LOVES parties.

Charming is her specialty.

Unless there is work to be done...then slave driving is her specialty. 

This woman could get work out of a corpse & money out of a rock!

I guess that's why she's been so successful at FH.

No one knows exactly how old she is, but she's well into her 70s.

She still rollerblades, exercises regularly, plays the piano and acts in the St Francis charity shows and runs FH like a clock. 

She's hilarious!

Who knows what else she does!?!

But she is an inspiration, for sure. 

A Good Morning

I spent this morning at Francis House. 

I brought the tshirt quilt to Kathy.

Remember this one?

She LOVED it!

She got goosebumps when I first showed her. 

She laid it out in the Common Room and showed it to anyone who would look.

A reaction like that makes me happy I persevered and finished it.

Hildegard made me some German Christmas bread and gave it to me. 

I love my Wednesday Francis House friends...Hildegard, Janice, Kathy, Tony, Ellen & Jeff. 

They are a blessing to me.

A thank you?

I just got this in a text from John.

He often goes home at lunchtime to feed Ozzie.

I don't see the humor.

A repair

Before I started blogging, John bought his house. 

So, I made him this quilt.

I considered this to be a perfect guy quilt and was quite pleased with myself. 

Then he got this guy.

Full disclosure...I love this guy.

But....then this happened.

Ozzie!  How could you?

It's been getting mighty nippy lately.

I fixed it today.

Im sure Ive shared my distaste of binding quilts.

So, you can imagine I did not enjoy rebinding this one.

And, I washed it.

It was stinky smelly.

It shall be returned to Chestnut Street in the morrow. 

Why did I just say in the morrow?

I'm strange. 

Tshirt quilt

What's the only good thing about making tshirt quilts?

Finishing. 

I made this for one of my FH friends granddaughter. 

It started out as me teaching her how to make it. 

I'm not sure how, exactly, I wound up doing the whole thing.

But, I did....

And, it's done.....

And, I still do not enjoy the process. 

I did, however, like using all those yummy purples!

Attitude...

Is everything.

I'm posting this so I can retread it when life gets hard. 

The 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud woman, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with her hair fashionably coifed and makeup perfectly applied, even though she is legally

blind, moved to a nursing home today. 

Her husband of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary. 

After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, she smiled sweetly when told her room was ready. As she maneuvered her walkerto the elevator, I provided a visual description of her tiny room, Including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on her window. 

"I love it," she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having Just been presented with a new puppy. "But wait, you haven't seen the room yet." "That doesn't have anything to do with it," she replied.  "Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged...it's how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it..."

She went on to say, "It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up.

I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I 

have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and

be thankful for the ones that do. Each day is a gift, and as long as my 

eyes open, I'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored

away...just for this time in my life. Old age is like a bank account...you

withdraw from what you've put in...So, my advice to you would be to deposit

a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories, so when you go over it

a second time, you can enjoy it again."