Elf on the Shelf...Shark Attack

They said it would be safe to snorkel...they lied

Elf on the Shelf...Footprints in the sand

Went for a long walk today...It was hard for me to keep up with Leslie and the dog.....

Elf on the Shelf...Siesta Time

Siesta Time in Grand Cayman... trying to catch up on my shut eye...lots of late nights partying lately.

Elf on the Shelf....Taking a quick dip

The ocean is lovely this time of year.

Elf on the Shelf...Quick Sand

Come on guys...this isn't funny anymore...get me out of here

Elf on the Shelf...Keep your eye on the ball

Have been playing a few games of tennis while I'm here.

Elf on the Shelf....Lounging on the beach

At Spott's Beach, Grand Cayman

Elf on the Shelf....On vacation

I'm on vacation for the next few weeks and I hope that you will enjoy Elf on the Shelf's photo album of his vacation with me. We are visiting Grand Cayman together.See you when we get back!

Thanksgiving fun

Our family was invited to my sister in law's for Thanksgiving and although she always says not to bring anything, I don't like to go empty handed. I took this little cheese mice platter and a turkey veggie plate. The kids all thought it was great and everyone had fun with it.

Creative Sewing Festival

 This was a fun day. My mom and I signed up at Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. for the bus trip on October 22nd to the Creative Sewing Festival in Toronto. We had such a good time that day. Michelle who owns the store offered the bus trip into Toronto and the price included your bus trip , your entry fee and loads of fun and draws on the
bus. There was a 80/20 draw.....you bought an arm's length of tickets for $5.00... 80% of the tally went to the winner and 20% went to the bus driver.....and my Mom won. It was $170.00 which was a wonderful treat for her. She insisted she pay for lunch....and I let her.

Dresden Girls...before and after

 

These are the ladies in my Black Magic Dresden class. They are making great headway on their quilts. Thank god for strip sewing as there were many, many Dresden plates to make. All their choices in fabric look wonderful and I can't wait to see them all complete. It's a nice pattern that teaches Dresden, some applique, setting blocks on point and sashings. Lots to learn.    

Autumn House groupies

These are the ladies in my Autumn House BOM quilting class. We meet the 4th Saturday of the month at Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. to work on Bunny Hill's BOM called Autumn House. What a great group of ladies, we have so much fun. By the time the quilt is complete they will all be sick of applique ha ha experts in applique.

Anything to save a buck

I'd thought I'd seen it all...that was until Elaine brought her crazy 8 block into the store. Crazy 8's is a BOM whereby if you come on your scheduled Saturday with your completed block, you get the next one free. If by chance you don't get it done, you pay $8.00. I laughed my ass off sides sore when Elaine brought her completed block in. It wasn't sewn, but pinned very carefully to resemble the month's block...she tried to tell Michelle that the power had been out and she wasn't able to sew it and it wasn't really her fault and could she forgo the $8.00 fee as she would have had it done....ya da, yada, yada.....I think  Michelle just let it go as it was just so damn funny.   She did do a really good job of pinning though.

An apple a day keeps the Doctor away

This was fun to make. It's the pattern from Heather Bailey called Fresh Picked. It called for interfacing so that the bias pieces don't stretch, but it allowed me to try out Sulky's Sticky Fabri-Solvy. I just stuck the stabilizer to the fabric, cut out the pattern and  sewed. Worked wonderfully. I like to do give-a-ways at my quilt classes and this little beauty was won by Kathie at my Farmer's Wife class.

Farmer's Wife Block 25

I'm not really a purple or mauve kind of person, but I'm liking this block even though it's all in those shades. In the scheme of things, when all the sashings and borders are attached, it will blend right in. It's called Cups and Saucers. 

It's a zoo in here

This is an amazing quilt. Linda made this quilt for her sister and it is awesome. I love the animal prints and I don't know how she was able to collect so many. It's just wild...excuse the pun. The backing was a perfect match for the quilt as well.

Dragonfly Quilt

Mary brought me this lovely dragonfly panel quilt to long arm. Isn't it stunning. I love the colortones and the wonderful panel prints. It was quilted in the pattern called Seaside.

Gobble Gobble watch me Wobble

I had been doing alot of quilts lately using the Dresden Plate technique and started playing with half a Dresden for this cute Turkey Mini Hang Up. I think he turned out cute and right in time for Thanksgiving. The pattern is available at Kindred Spirits Quilt Co.

Where did this come from?

I was sorting some bins and boxes out when I was totally shocked to find this UFO. It was the most ghastly fabric and pattern imaginable and as I looked at it I thought...What the hell was I thinking?...Well this might be salvageable. In the same bin was coloring and work pages of our youngest son Nick from when he was in grade 1. This dates this UFO back about 12 years.  I looked at the pattern and decided I just couldn't continue on that path. I found a picture of a nice maple leaf quilt  by Loft Creations which kind of resembled what I had going on. Most of the leaves were complete in the bin, and there was plenty of  more ugly fabric, so I managed to make a few more leaves, and fill in the rest with plain fabric. I used a variegated thread and quilted the hell out of it  pattern Plumage to try and hide the fabric. Turned out rather well considering that I was thinking of just pitching the whole thing.  

Haute Couture

I love a fashionable dressed dish soap, don't you. These are the cutest little quilted aprons for your kitchen counter dish soap. It was featured on the Moda Country Fair Hop by Camille Roskelley on her blog Simplify. I've made a few and they are all just the sweetest. I've given a few as giveaway gifts at some of the classes I teach. So fun to make, more fun to give.