Big day for Taylor!!

Happy 18th birthday, Taylor! She had to show us (grandparents) what her Mom and Sisters did to her car! All four sides have something written on it, but my camera was out of memory so only two sides are shown. Taylor reminds me of Mighty Mouse.....she's all of 4'10", a strong gust of wind could blow her away, but she makes her presence known. We always know when she's around because there's constant chatter and motion. She just makes you smile (when she's not tired...then it's grumpy, don't talk to me). I'm not sure just how she drives this big Yukon but she doesn't seem to have any problem. So, another milestone for Taylor!!

Crazy Christmas Cactus

I got this plant about 10 years ago when we still lived in MA, so it survived a cross-country move. Apparently, it loves it's home because it now blooms about three times a year....actually, parts of it bloom at different times from now until spring. There must have been two plants originally because as you can see, some flowers are red and the others have a pinkish tint to them. I'm surprised that after all these years the colors are still so separate. The red ones are starting to fade, but there are still lots of buds of both colors.

Flea Market Fancy give-a-way!!

Hop on over to Sew Take A Hike blog for a chance to win some great fabric from the "Flea Market Fancy" line, an autographed copy of DS Quilts, and more. Make sure you read all the instructions in order to qualify and grab her button while you are there.

Teton Retreat...hard at work

We had a wonderful three days of quilting. This retreat was a "do your own thing" retreat. It was fun to see what everyone was working on and gave us a chance to dig out those UFO's, or as I like to say, our PHD's (projects half done). Lots of tips, techniques, and short-cuts were shared by all. Don't you love to learn new things while having fun?

Teton Patchworks Retreat

These are just a few of the projects we worked on during our retreat in Idaho. One of our talented ladies showed us her "10 minute" tablerunner. The photo on the top left is of the 21, yes, 21 tablerunners that we all made. Of course, we had to make a "quick" trip to the quilt shop for fabric to make them!! Continuing clockwise, the next picture is a "fractured picture". The original picture is enlarged and divided into sections, then each person in the group makes one of the sections. The trick is to get all the sections to fit together! The two tops that I worked on are on the right. One is a wacky four patch, and the other is an on-line bom from last year by Angie Papadilla. Cindy was working on her pinwheels and Kaye was putting together a block exchange from another group. We really made a lot of progress on our projects even though we talked, laughed, and ate, and ate.

Angel Swap Goodies

These are the goodies that my swap Angel made for me. Debra made a journal cover with an appliqued rose, a super cute flower pincushion, and a zippered bag, all of which I will be able to use this weekend (yep, another quilting get-a-way). See the little pieces of allsorts? They are buttons! What's really interesting is that my hubby loves licorice and had actually bought a bag that morning (yesterday)!! The other little bag that's reflecting (darn) contains little Christmas Pudding buttons. Deb is a designer of cloth dolls and stitcheries, and her daughter makes the buttons. She has lots of fun patterns for sale, so pay her a visit at: www.wattlebee.com . Oh I forgot to tell you that she is from Australia.

Thank you Deb....I'm so happy you were my Stitching Angel!