This just in.....

Oh my gosh fellow quilters and lovers of everything Mark Lipinski!! He just made an announcement on his blog that he is no longer with the magazine or the show Quilt Out Loud!!!!
Does anyone know why??? I just this week joined the site that hosts the Quilt Out Loud show and now I kinda want my money back. And his magazine?? I love it!!! It is so different from all the other quilting magazines out there.

I am wearing black today as I am in mourning. sigh.

Hugs From Helen Swap...Received!!! :)

Yesterday I went to check the mail and guess what came!!!!! My wonderful Secret Angel sent her gifts to me!!!! I joined in the Hugs From Helen Secret Angel swap this year and this is what my secret angel made for me.......

The felt purse has all of my change in it and is resting comfortably in my purse.......







How did she know I loves me some chickens???













And yep, this will be used this Christmas. :)













Thank you so much Micki for your thoughtfulness in making these wonderful presents for me!!! I love them all!!! For the rest of you....if you have a chance to join a swap I highly recommend it. You may make a friend....one who lives in a cottage by the sea. Can I just say that anyone who lives in a cottage by the sea must wake up every morning with a contented sigh in their heart and joy in their step. :)

hugs!!

20....

My baby, my firstborn, our only son...he turned 20 on Monday. 20!!!! Oh my goodness where did the time go??

And yes that is a phone attached to his ear. His Grandmother called at the exact time I put the cake in front of him and as these were trick candles she got to join in while we sang happy birthday to him. :)









Le' sigh....look how cute mah babee is! This is probably going to be the last birthday we spend together for awhile as he is talking to a recruiter next week and joining the Air Force. Oh boy, on that day there will not be enough tissues in the whole entire US of A.














I got this shot right before the smoke detector went off and my dog lost it. Good times people!! Good times!!

Happy birthday Anthonie!!!!

BFF's.....

See this guy over here?? The one being all "How you doin!" He has but one love to give and it's all for her.......












This love is the only thing saving him when he meows at 3am because he is hungry.....or bored.....or lonely......or has an itch......or is unhappy about the state of our economy.

:) Happy Weds everyone!

Other stuff going on Round' here.....

There has been a lot of this going on lately. The Boo-Bear is number 31. She is hilarious to watch playing volleyball. Oh my gosh is she funny. In between hitting the ball she kinda forgets to focus and dances or waves to friends or waves to me. When we have home games parents are asked to be line judges. This means you are in charge of telling the Ref if balls are in or out and if someone steps on the line you tell on them. I've been a line judge twice. The first time I got booed. No problem. I can take it. Well not really, but my daughter took such major umbrage at someone daring to disagree with a call I made that the boo-er decided to head to greener pastures.

I signed up for a second time cause the line judge on duty didn't show up for that night and guess what?? We got flags!!! Really pretty twirly flags to hold up all official like if someone stepped on the line when they served the ball. Guess what you shouldn't be doing if the ball is in play and you are in charge of saying whether it's in or out?? Twirling your new pretty flag. And why is this?? Because when the game stops and two really mean dads are screaming at you that the ball was in the Ref will have you walk over to discuss if the ball hit the pole or not. And how do you explain that you were blinded by the Love of Your New Twirly Flag and weren't really paying attention?? Not that I did that by the way. I'm just using this as an example of what not to do. heh. Note to the two really mean screamy dad persons: When you yelled I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my Red Twirly Flag!
This is a blurry picture of my girl right before she started singing to herself. Wonder where she gets it from??? Must be from her fathers side of the family. heeheehee











And this?? This my friends is called "Serving with Flair" Not everyone can do this mind you. Try not to be jealous.

Okay, I gotta go and be productive.
Peace out me' Hermanosssss!!

quilts......

When I started quilting I bought this pattern....Sugar and Spice Paper Dolls by Amy Bradley. I absolutely loved it! but whoo was it hard to do when you are first starting out with the whole quilting thing. I started it. Threw it out in frustration. I started it again. Threw it out again. Then a couple of months ago I got serious. I decided to tackle it and not stop til it was done. Last night?? FINISHED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Today it goes on the frame to be quilted. :)




Look how cute some of these blocks are!! Love them! And yes my little girl is brown. We are the United Nations over here and my youngest was concerned that her Zulu (She swears she is descended from a long line of proud Zulu warriors...why she thinks this we do not know but hey?? REALLY REALLY FUNNY!!!) would not be represented. Never fear, mom is here. :)

Oh, and the machine is working like a dream. It is so much fun to put a quilt on there and get it done. I've quilted my swap gift for the Chookyblue swap...... it turned out perfectly!!! Can't show pics as it is a surprise to my swap partner. Let me just say that having this frame in the house makes me oh so happy people! hahha







Here is the Be-Attitudes quilt fresh off the frame. It just needs the binding done. Next week is binding week. Yep, I do now how to bring the wild and crazy.

Okay, I gotta throw some laundry in the washer and vacuum so that I can peruse the JoAnns sale today!! Happy quilting!

Quilting like crazy!!! but no pics cause I am scared to get off of the couch as I have just seen 4 episodes of Ghost Whisperer and I am chicken.

My machine has had it's tension fixed oh so nicely. I have been quilting like a mad woman. Pictures will be posted tomorrow. Why am I not posting them tonight?? It is cause I am home alone right now and in the mail today was my Netflix movie of choice....Ghost Whisper-er season 3 Disc 4. I've just spent the past two and a half hours watching it and okay yes crying whenever someone goes into the light but can we talk a minute about what is going on underneath that town????!! I totally think it is the portal to Hell because halfway into one of the episodes people were trying to get out from under the street. And it was scaaaaaary. You know the whole shot of faces and hands reaching out from something stretchy?? Yep, that is what scared the bajeebus out of me and now I am to scared to get up from the couch and get the camera to post some pics of my lovely quilts. I also have to go to the bathroom but have to wait another 20 minutes til some of my family comes home cause guess what????? it is dark over where the bathroom is and I know that when I walk down the hallway faces and hands will be all reachy touchy and there will be no Miranda to help them go towards the light. Nope. Nuh-uh. Just me. Scairdy pants Dawn who has to go to the bathroom but is going to sit right here on the couch til someone comes home. I am also right now this very minute rue-ing the fact that I don't think I closed the curtains shut tight enough and probably ghosties are out there waiting for me to get up and go to the bathroom (do not think about water!!!) so they can scare me and then they will laugh when I do not make it to the bathroom in time.
So pinky swear promise that tomorrow.....in the daytime!....I will post pics!!!

In other news....I bought my tickets to see New Moon!!!!! (insert teenagerie squuuuuueeeee right here if you please) I am now locked and loaded. Please do not judge me. Cause um hello?? EDWARD!!!!!! AND JACOB!!!!! SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

September 11th.

We will never forget.
Rest In Peace.

Where does the time go??!
My new machine got here a couple of days ago. I had the Janome 1600P-DB on layaway for a couple of months and finally paid it off. I, being the wonderfully experienced quilter that I am, decided to heck with fixing the tension!! Put a quilt on the frame and get er' done. Ah yes, I can see you other much more experienced long-armers shaking your head and saying "Dawn, Dawn, Dawn." heh. I knew the Janome had tension issues but that once you figured it out it quilts like a dream. Mine is still at the nightmare stage. I had a Christmas gift that was all hand appliqued and oh so very pretty that I put on the frame thinking I had the tension issues all worked out. Looked great on top so I figured the bottom would look just as great. heh. heh again. The back of my quilt?? Totally ruined. After much wailing and gnashing of teeth I called the SewVac guys to tell them my machine was defective and could they maybe hop in their tech truck and drive from Texas to Dayton and fix it?? Yeah/no. The guy walked me through a few things and sent out some BD needles sized 16. I in my infinate wisdom went to JoAnns and bought some universal needles sized 16. I took the machine off of the frame....by golly those things are heavy!!!....and started working on the tension. The back of the quilt looks great now...the top not so much. I have thread everywhere. I am now waiting for the correct needles to come in and then I am going to try again. The bobbin has been loosened, everything is at a 0. I don't know what to try next to get my stitches to flow together...anyone got any ideas??? Underside of quilt looks great. Top is a mess.
sigh.