Honey, I'm home!

We've actually been back home for about a week now, but it's the first time I've had to actually create a page instead of reading. I decided I would reward myself first with reading all my old favorites (and some new one) in blogger land. But now, it's time to share, again, isn't it?

We had a lovely time, as always! Something new this year, though, and probably for the next couple of years is CONSTRUCTION! Right next to the property where we've always stayed is going to be a mega resort and it's owned by Viceroy. I believe there are other properties like this in FL and Palm Springs. Many morning we woke up to the noise of equipment, and/or the wild chickens and roosters that were roaming around in front of our villa.

Overall, I can't say enough about our trip, and how much we both needed this vacation. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. In another entry, I promise I'll list the 11 books I read with a small review of each. Today, I am cutting, cutting, cutting for my Birthday Stitch Day of 2007 which will be THIS Saturday.

This is an airborne view of the island of Anguilla. It's about 16 miles long, and this is about 1/2 of the entire island. Where we stay is on the beach on the right topmost part of this picture in the curve.

This is the entrance to our Garden Suite.

This is the side of the Suite facing the ocean. All new landscaping has been planted, so it's not quite as secluded as in years past and there's a better view of the ocean.

After a short walk 2 minute walk, this is the entrance to the beach, just past the sea grapes.

And at the end of the path? Paradise, just waiting for me!

I walked 2,000 steps on the beach (measured with my pedometer) morning, and afternoon each day, with added 2,000 more about half the time by sunset!

As you can see, this beach is SO-O-O crowded!

Mead's Bay (our beach) attracts many yachts that anchor overnight or just come in to play for the day. Here's one of the world's largest yachts, The Lone Ranger. You can read more about it here, if this is what floats your boat (scroll down the page to see it)

There are other yachts that stop by, too, but this has to be one of the largest ones I've seen so close to the beach itself. I think it's a party rental out of Miami, but I really don't know. Some party, eh?

A slight breeze always kept the 85 degree weather quite nice on the island. And you can see a small clump of sea grapes at the base of these palms.

A few of the flowering plants were nice bright spots in the landscape.

Even though I planned for this to be my reading spot, I never made it there. Doesn't it look perfect?

One of my favorite meals: Anguillian Crayfish at Zarrah's.

When we flew back home, we got stuck in Dallas overnight because of all the ice and snow. We decided early on to just go to the Hyatt Hotel at the airport and not even try to get home with all the flights cancelled. It's the first time I have ever seen the airport so deserted - and hardly any planes at the jetways. Even so, it still took us twice as long the next day to finally arrive back home. This is what the approach to the Kansas City runway looked like as we flew in.

Quite a change, huh?

So that's it from here. I've got about a hundred more photos, but they're much of the same. As far as my beach kitties go, I worked on only one of them, and they are sitting by my chair in the hearth room waiting to be seen again. <<<>>> Sew much to do, sew little time.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all...

And to all?

I wish you were coming with us to the beach! We leave tomorrow morning, December 27, and will return January 14th. I am hoping that my mother does well during my absence, but we have a lot of resources around her to keep her happy and comfortable. I will try not to worry too much, and enjoy my time with Hubby.

So with that said, me and my beach babies will be having a good time in Anguilla - a little island in the Caribbean. I changed the black cats to a soft black fleece for some texture...I sure hope they won't be too hot there!

I have my 11 books ready to go too. I've them packed already and can't remember a single one of them except for Allende's new novel about Ines Suarez in Chile that will go into my carry-on.

Stay safe and I'll "see" you next year!

Beach baby, beach baby

there on the sand
From July to the end of September
Surfin' was fun we'd be out in the sun every day
(Listen to this song at Jerry's Jukebox)

(The color is off on the block below, but is truer in color on the last picture in this post. It is really more of a soft lime green with a hot pink swimsuit. In order to get the detail on the Beach Baby, I had to take the picture without a flash.)

Sometimes, I think I am just crazy, and other days I just know I am! Today is the day I KNOW!

I don't have time to be messing around with ANY new projects, but what am I doing? Messing around with a new project.

We're planning to go to the Caribbean (same place as the last 20 years) December 27 as long as my mom is OK. I just can't fathom not taking handwork along with the 2 dozen books. I've been telling myself that I need a break from sewing and quilting, and it's OK not to take anything. I finally broke down and pulled out a pattern that I've loved and wanted to make for a long time. Of course, it won't be anything like it when I'm done, but it's nice to have an inspiration piece, right?

I find that handwork is really calming. I can think and dream about anything while I stitch. Sometimes, when we are vacationing, I can fall asleep while I am stitching. How relaxing is that? When people tell me that I do too much, why not take a break, I pause and think about it, but in the end, my heart knows what my hands want to be doing. Sewing!

Can you see where this is heading? I think I'll have 4-6 babies done, ready to embroider and buttonhole while I'm on the beach.

Beach babies, beach babies there on the sand....la la la la....

Christmas with my buddies

My buddies, Carolyn and Ibby and I went out on the town (Lawrence, KS, home of the Jayhawks) yesterday. We met around 9:30 AM, drove about 40 minutes away to Lawrence, and shopped and shopped, ate,shared our handmade Christmas presents with each other, then shopped, shopped and laughed a lot along the way. It was a great day! We all bought fabric at Sarah's, which is a wonderfully chock full of fabric store. We all found things we didn't know we needed at the other shops, and I actually bought a coat! We didn't get back to town until close to 6 PM, and I was exhausted. I had a light dinner with hubby and then went to bed to read (The Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson). Hubby woke me up to go to sleep around 9 PM. LOL!

Here are the goodies we exchanged:
These are the 20" pillows I made for them. The lighting was bad, but you get the picture anyway! I added the sequins and beads since the wreath spaces seemed so big!



And these are my gifts from them! The sewing kit is from Carolyn. What is so funny is that I planned on making these last year for them out of wool, and I hate doing embroidery so they got put aside. Now, I don't have to make them, as I love the one Carolyn made for me. The fabric is from the Seaside Rose collection.




And doncha just love this pincushion from Ibby? It's wool work, and it looks just like Bonnie. It is now sitting in front of my Christmas quilt in the hearth room.

It's hard to believe that this weekend promises to be so nice with temperatures in the 60's. Especially after the snow we had just a couple of weeks ago!

I've spent most of the time this week taking care of my mother. She had a small stroke Sunday morning, but didn't realize it until several hours later when she couldn't tie her shoes. The left side of her face is somewhat paralyzed, but she can still speak (slurred and no tonal inflection) and eat (has a difficult time chewing). Her left thumb wouldn't work, but has gotten stronger and the big news this week is that she can actually work the hooks and eyes on her bra! She will be getting physical/occupational therapy and speech therapy, so we are hoping for some more positive results there, too. She was afraid of being left alone when we returned from the hospital, so I slept on her floor. Euuwww! It's a concrete floor with carpeting on it, and it sure was hard. I think it got harder as the night got longer!

And I am not hard to please! Lookie what I found at our local Wallie World!! I was so excited to find this, I bought two rolls, and I think I am going to go back and get the neon green roll, too.
I use it to wrap my thermofax screens. For those of you who don't know about thermofax screens, you can check it out here

What's a blog post without a snapshop of my Bonnie girl, doing what she does best? Sleeping and guarding quilts! Now, I am trying to get the last of my Christmas sewing completed for early gift giving on Saturday.

The last of the bunch!

They're done! AND delivered!







We took all 30 quilts to the clinic on Tuesday and had a nice informal lunch with the staff. Afterwards, the Director of the clinic gave the Sisters their surprise in her office, so it was low key and personal. It was wonderful to see the delight and wonder in their eyes, that the twin size quilts were for THEM! The last of the pictures I posted today are the Diabetic Education reward quilts that we will continue making over the next year.

I've had construction going on in the house for the last few weeks too. We had a closet organizer system put into the master bedroom walk-in closet, and hardwood on the stairs going upstairs as well as the long hallway and landing leading to the three bedrooms there, too. New carpeting was supposed to be installed in the bedroom and closet this past Thursday, but the installer never made it, nor did he call. Why do we always seem to end up with these guys, Huh? So now, we have to wait around on Tuesday to get it done. Of course, I am still living out of the three bedrooms full of furniture and contents from my bureau drawers in the meantime.

Because of all of this, I am not putting up a Christmas tree, and no decorations. Well, I DID put up the Christmas quilt, with three Jim Shore Santas in front of it. And my apple swags are waiting to be put up instead of the pink roses in the main living room. But that's it! My friends are having a hard time believing that this is all I will do. I usually start decorating around Thanksgiving, and it takes me until Christmas Eve to finish it all. We will just enjoy everyone else's this year!



This is a little art quilt I made a few years back that makes me smile. It was supposed to be a self-portrait, but it's a little too "tidy" to be me. But, this is exactly what I will be doing in my "stewdio" for the next few days.

It coulda been worse, and still might be...

I can't believe that on Wednesday it was 72 degrees here, and I finally found time to put away the last of the lawn ornaments and furniture from the deck. I got all my bird feeders filled, and this morning I have a great treat of finches, juncos, cardinals, and bluebirds out my window, because yesterday, it ICED! And SLAINED! And SLEETED! And thundered and lightening'ed!

How sweet to look up from my sewing machine just a few minutes ago to see this little buddy looking in at me!I took mom to the dr yesterday to get her "blood booster" shot, and got back home before it started. But today they are predicting anything from 2" to 20" of snow. Because we live where the weather bands change (look at the planting zone map of the US and we're on the edge of two zones), we never know what we get until we get it. So, today and tomorrow will be great days to hopefully finish up all these charity quilts. It's a good thing, too, since Tuesday is the delivery day!

Carolyn just finished up the 7th Sisters quilt, and I just finished the binding on the Stars of the Heartland, and a couple more lap quilts. Today I am quilting another lap quilt, and I hope to get a flannel one sandwiched and mostly quilted by the end of the day. Maybe tomorrow, there will be more to show. In the meantime, here's two more of the "same but different" lap quilts!

Here is another one

Are you bored yet? Here is another lap quilt like the others that I just finished the other day. I have another one on the quilting machine, and one that went back to Carolyn to finish the binding. I've lost track what number we are on. I guess when the work basket is empty that means we're finished, right?

I know I've been MIA. I had several dear friends call and write saying they were/are concerned about me. I'm OK, but a bit overwhelmed. Not with the quilting commitments, but rather life in and of itself. I'm still dealing with Mother's terminal condition, hubby's recovery, my grandchildren, and me still trying to lose weight and get healthy. Some days it's just too much! On top of all that, we decided to have a new closet system installed, new bedroom carpet installed (and in the same closet where the new system is), and hardwood replacement for the carpeted stairway and upstairs hallway. That's been going on, and will continue for the next couple of weeks as well.

We did a little runaway trip again to Las Vegas last Sunday through Tuesday. I had a luxurious day in the spa at the Bellagio. I had a swedish relaxation massage with hot cranberry oil and hot stones for my feet, and stayed in the eucalyptous steam room for as long as I could tolerate it. I spent a great deal of time in the meditation room, too. It was all very nice as long as it lasted...but now, I am home again, and back to reality.

1/2 (one section) Charity Quilts complete!

Here are 1/2 of the lap quilts completed for the Diabetic Education Program at Duschene Clinic that they will use for their reward at the end of January. 5 of these are Carolyn's, and only 3 of them are mine. I have two on my table right now, if that counts VBG! And remember, we are using stash from other quilters for these quilts. The pictures are clickable for larger views. They are all about 42" X 60".

A little time for rug making

I've been wanting to try making those fabric rugs ever since Darcie posted hers. I knew I had purchased some of the fleece strips at ridiculous prices ($.25 per spool!), so I finally found them hidden away for a rainy day.

Mom fell and possibly tore her ACL, or at least badly sprained her knee on Saturday. I knew we would be at the hospital a while, so I grabbed the supplies and off we went.
Little did I know that as many strips as I had, it just wasn't enough for a bigger rug. I threw it on the chaise in my stewdio, and Bonnie didn't seem to mind. Now that the weather is getting colder, she has claimed it as HERS!


Mom is doing better, even though she has been moved from her apartment to the Care Center unit until the orthopedist gives her the all clear to remove the knee immobilizer. Until then, I've been busy working on charity quilts and running errands for her.

Next post? 8 charity quilts in a row!

3 of 9 Charity Quilts

Now in red, white and blue...my mistake on the last post, the pink and turquoise one was really only the second of 9, and this one was on the machine at the time. So now, six to go! And today it's the blue one with a funky hot pink/orange and dark blue contrast fabric.

Stars of the Heartland

And now, we interrupt the production line of star lap quilts to show you the completed top that was just sent to the quilter in Iowa. It is a 92" X 108" quilt from a pattern of the Des Moines Iowa quilt guild (I think in the late 1990's?) called Stars of the Heartland.

My friend, Carolyn and I each made half of the stars on our own, and we used any color blue for the stars, and then cut leftovers of white-on-white fabrics for the background. She made the white borders, and I pieced the blue one.

Then we came together for two afternoons and put it together. She did the backing while I put the rows together. You'll notice there are some blue and yellow small stars and a couple of large ones in yellow too. Just something different to sparkle it up.

Now, back to the lap quilts. The one I've got on the machine right now is a blue one! Next post will be the one I finished yesterday - a red, white and blue one.

We've made this quilt before for a Breast Cancer organization, and we just love it. Every time we've made one, we always say we'll do one for ourselves...but by the time we finish it, we're not so ready! LOL! It's like a giant puzzle when you go to put it together. I believe I unsewed twice as much as what was left together! It will be auctioned at the end of February for the Caritas Clinics (Duschene) in Kansas City.