Guild Christmas Party

These are just some of the door prizes our sewing group assembled for our guild Christmas Party. I thought our members were very generous, and those who did win them seemed very appreciative.

This is the tray of enchiladas that I brought for the buffet

This is our table decorated by our sewing group.

These are pics of the "Twisted Sisters" sewing group

We had a competition for those who entered their favorite christmas quilts, it was very rainy and wet, so I guess some members didn't bring theirs because of the weather. We had an ornament exchange which is always funny. Of course there were tons of food, that was all wonderful. We are all looking forward to next year.

An unusual walk with Clare

Clare and I were out on our daily walk this afternoon, enjoying the brisk, but not too cold temperature. Halfway into our walk, as we are coming over the crest of a hill, we both see these two dogs running towards us at full tilt. That is scary enough, but as they got closer I saw that they were pit bulls. Clare started whining, and within seconds they were up to us. Immediately, my brain starts working, what is it that youre supposed to do when dogs run up on you???what would Cesar do???? Oh my god, okay don't make eye contact. Clare is pulling on the lead trying to get away from the more aggressive male, whining all the while with an occasional shrill bark, like protect me, will you please. I keep walking hanging on to the shortened lead, just letting the male dog run up ahead, then charge back each time sniffing Clare then running away again, only to circle around and run at us.
I had my cell phone and while trying to remain calm, I called my husband, who immediately got in the car and came to pick us up. I kept talking to Clare and pretending not to notice the male dog that just kept circling. After about 5 minutes walking my husband arrived. I got Clare into the car and walked to the other side with the male following me the whole time.

I don't know if those dogs would have attacked me or Clare, but they certainly acted aggressively and threateningly. I am just grateful that I had my cell phone and that my husband was home. Clare and I are both okay, but will be very cautious whenever we walk from now on.

On a happier note, we had our guild Christmas party last Thursday. It was great fun, my sewing group was running it. We put together several door prizes, ran the ornament exchange and counted up the ballots in the viewers choice contest for Xmas quilts. All the sewing groups decorated the tables and a few of the husbands came early and helped us set up. Pictures are still on the camera, will publish them on the next post.

Watch out for unleashed dogs

Ahh...sewing group

Today was our regular sewing group monthly meeting. We met at Linda T's house and we all brought something for lunch to share. We planned our Xmas party, and our table decorations for the guild Xmas party. Unfortunately, 3 of our members are under the weather, and one is trying to get her house repaired after a bad fire. Despite our fewer numbers this month, the four of us had a good time and got lots accomplished.

But the biggest news is that my favorite youngest son got engaged last night. We love his fiancee and are just thrilled to death. Two down and one to go......

Fall and All

Okay everyone is posting fall pictures this time of year. But these crape myrtles just look like fiery sticks this time of year. The other two pictures are generic fall pictures but they do inspire one to make a quilt using these colors.
The deer around here are very active these days, living on four acres of woods, you do see some interesting sights. Of course, Clare our new dog goes totally nuts when she sees them, and after they have gone away, she will stare out the windows looking for them for at least an hour afterward. Ever feel like a puppy is running your life????

This is Clare, feeling bad because she hates being in the kennel. But she was very wet after going outside, so she dries off in there. She shouldn't complain, her blanket contains alot of minky. How soft is that.

CBQ Auction 08

Okay, a day late but more auction pictures. Here
is one of Linda

Charlene, Jeanne and Suzette

Ray and Ben and Nieata and Linda

All the prancers, you know who you are

We will find out the numbers next week at the meeting. I know we did well.

It is Clare again. Today she is pictured with her new dog toy. Being a retriever, she especially likes the duct S bought for her this morning at PetSmart. She has been carrying it around all day.
She has been very patient with us this weekend as we have been turning the house upside down moving furniture. We had moved the master bedroom downstairs a few months ago, decided we liked it better upstairs so moved all our bedroom furniture upstairs, and turned the old bedroom into a den, and for that moved a sectional up from the basement family room up to use in our new den. It went on like that all saturday and half of today.
Then today S was running water in the sink and went to answer the phone and forgot about it, so we spent an hour cleaning up water on the kitchen floor, then discovered it had leaked down into the basement, another couple of hours. But now, we are done, and I told S, that if I ever said I wanted to move our bedroom downstairs, just ignore me, okay?

Needless to say, no time for quilting, but do have a few more pics from the auction. Will post them tomorrow.

More Quilt Auction 08

These are snapshots from our auction last Saturday. The biggest quilts were displayed on stage, made by various sewing groups withing the guild
The women seated are those whose job it was to walk the quilts around while they were being bid on, they are the lovely "prancers".

While reading all my quilting blogs, I am struck by how many were so happy about President Obama. Those who mentioned nothing about the historical vote ignored it. Oh Quilters we are so unwilling to

appear rude or unkind. We are real gentlewomen.

For me, the election was bittersweet. I am happy that we have a democrat, and a man who will be upfront, forthright and less partisan. But I did have a strong wish that a woman, namely Hillary would get the chance to lead this nation, and give women an opportunity to show how well or better we can do than a man. Perhaps in 8 years we will get the opportunity. How old is Hillary???

Charity Quilt Auction 08

This is the quilt my sewing group submitted, and this is the sewing gp.
We had our auction Saturday, last and it went off like clockwork. We had 84 items to auction, we started at 1pm and were finished by 3:15. The auctioneer was great, the only downside was that many items didn't go for as high a price as last year, but I really think the bad economy really had a negative effect on prices.
There was plenty of food on hand, and lots of excitement. It is hard to believe but I am already looking forward to next year.

Just returned from our every other day walk, Clare and I. And as usual she will sleep and I will do things on the computer.
Tomorrow is set up for my quilt guild's annual auction. It is always a bear, as we have 80 different quilt items to hang for display, which is very physical and time consuming. But by Saturday afternoon it will all be over and life will return to some semblance of order. The quilt I have pictured is the one I bought last year at our auction. Believe it or not it is one fabric, just all cut up and sewn together in a different configuration. Gorgeous....

Clare, the dog

Now or Never

I've put it off long enough, once I get the words out there, I am sure it will get easier.

When you first start these things, you think, god whatcould I write that would be interesting enough to make anyone else want to read it. Good question!



But when I think of it in terms of a diary, something I can go back and read later, and say those were the good ole days or not...and if I decide to tell my children about it, they could read what I do and think about on a daily basis. They will love me no matter how boring my life is, right?



Then there are always the quilts. I am not that prolific when it comes to quilt production, but my friends are, so between myself and the rest of the "SewBeeIts" there might be some interesting pics.



But for my first post, I have to include a picture of my new dog. She is a rescue dog, a lab mix, and the sweetest thing in the world. She has taken over my life with all her boundless energy, need to play all the time and figuring out how to get along with two humans , three other dogs and two cats. She is getting better everyday, and has kept me active taking her for walks, and makes me laugh with all her antics. The occasional accidents, barking and waking me up at 5:30 am are harder but I know will improve with age.



Meet Clare, the new dog