Chookyblue's Secret Santa Swap ...!

Hello everyone, I do hope you had a wonderful holiday season.

I have been participating in Donna's, Chookyblue blog, Secret Santa Swap since she first started back in 2007.   What fun it is!  I have never been disappointed.   So, allow me to share with you what I received from my Secret Santa, Suze of Bears Mum.

Check out the packaging!  Right up my alley!

Lovely!  Here is my ornament.

Early December when DD and I were putting up the various decorations on the tree, it was nice to reminiscent.

Our tree is nothing fancy, just a mishmash of various ornaments, (some from my maternal grandmother, some from friends and swaps and others from the various projects done by DD throughout her elementary school year) but it's very special to me.  When I look at my tree, it has meaning ... that's how I like it! ;)

This is what Suze sent me for Christmas.

It's lovely! It now hangs in my sewing studio!

Thank you again Suze for being my Secret Santa.

I do hope Santa was good to you.  Thanks for stopping by!  Cheers!

Holiday anticipation ...!

I'm ready for Santa!

Hope Santa is good to you!  Have a wonderful Holiday Season!

Irrational and perhaps insane ....!

Some might say!  Last night around 10:00 p.m. I saw the cutest quilt posted by Kathie (redandgreenquilts) on Instagram and I just had to make it.  You understand, don't you?

So up I was, designing the block and quilt top on EQ 7.  Looked in my stash and saw this gorgeous fabric that would be perfect.

But, but, but ......

Any fabric but those! Folk Art Christmas II, that has got to be more than a decade old.  I so loved Robyn Pandolph's style when she was with Moda.  Oh and that Sturbridge Village Scarlet .... now that's a beauty.  I take those out every now and again and pet them!

Seriously, Aren't you NOT suppose to use your stash!!!  But ..... but .....

Kathie made me do it!  How dare she post the cutest quilt for me to see late at night!  I seriously thought about driving to Fibre around midnight to pick a different fabric ... you understand right?

But I didn't ..... And I made the quilt ... using my precious fabric!

Now I need to machine quilt it!

Tomorrow, I'm driving to Fibre and picking up the cutest Santa backing!  Won't it look great on the table with Santa's cookies and milk?

Thanks for stopping by!  Cheers!

Lot's happening ... !

I am finding it more and more difficult to not be tempted by new projects.  You only live once or YOLO, as my DD likes to say.  So, this is a new project ... YOLO! ... that I'll be staring January 2014.

It's a new BOM being offered by Fibre Junction.  It's called Austin Bluebird and is designed by Minick and Simpson.

I saw this at Market Schoolhouse this fall.  The colours are absolutely gorgeous.   The fabrics will be coming in this month and I cannot wait!  If you would like to join me, you can reserve your place here.

Last Tuesday, the day and evening Simple What's Not Club members joined me for a pincushion exchange a la Yankee Swap style.  What fun we had.  I love seeing the creativity!

I really have the bestest customers/club members.  What a hoot we had.  Each one brought a dish to share. The food was amazing.  Sorry, no picture of the spread, it's all gone! ;)

Thank for stopping by!

Back from vacation and On my Soapbox ..!

Went shopping at my favourite feed store and this is what greeted me!

Seriously, it's a week and a half before Thanksgiving .... really?  That poor tree will be a fire hazard before Christmas day rolls around!

I don't understand the rush to get holidays over with.  Halloween wasn't even here yet and the stores had their Christmas decorations out!

Well, I'm taking my time ... I refuse to be stressed .... I want to enjoy each holiday and not rush into the next one before one is over!

On a different subject, a much slower paced one ... I had a wonderful vacation.  Enjoyed every single day.  The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was amazing.  I felt such at home. ;)

Here I am going to platform 9 3/4 ...

Just goes to show you, I'm not a muggle!  :P  On my way to .....

I miss my butterbeer!

The weather was fantastic! Went swimming every night!  So enjoyed the lazy river .... the current pushes you along!  Ha ... such is vacation life!

Back to the world of muggles ....

Hope you've had a wonderful week!  Cheers!

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane .....!

For a vacation, something I haven't had in more than a decade.  Where am I going you might ask?

DD and I are going for a week.  It's just a mother daughter vacation.  Given that we are both Harry Potter fans, I'm sure you can guess where we'll spend most of our time? lol

I am so looking forward to it.  Some actually down time.

Catch you later!

Playing hooky!

On Monday, I chose to head on over to the Johnson Space center.  I'm a space buff, and enjoy reading about the early space program.  This was a perfect opportunity for a visit.

I took the Houston Public transit, what a ride! lol

The buses were very nice.  It's a great way to sight see from a different perspective!

As you get off the bus you are greeted by the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.  It's huge.

In the early 1980's, I actually saw this aircraft fly over my parents home in Montreal.  It was on it's way to have the Canada Arm installed.  I remember going out on the back balcony and watching the aircraft fly over.  It was so exciting!

This pass was so kool!  It allowed me supervised access to various locations not accessible to the regular tours.  It was worth every penny!

The LM

We visited the ....

Such a huge pool!

They had astronauts training.... look for the bubbles!

You could watch them on a live cam...

We visited Mission control ... gone is the moving space capsule on a wire! lol

On your left is the actual rocket waiting to be launched in Virginia.  Yea, sadly it's the one that blew up!

The Apollo mission control.  Check out the metal desk ..... brings back memories .... I'm dating myself! lol

Now this American flag has been to the moon and back twice .... so kool!

Every part of the tour was amazing, but if I had to pick my favourite, it would be the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility

OMG ... I was like a kid in a candy store .....  I liked that they had a memorial wall of the space disasters.

Somehow, I was under the impression that the Mars Mission was a private endeavor, but no NASA is very much involved with it.

The Mars capsule ...

The transportation

Suiting up all from the inside ...

You walk around this facility and engineers are hard at work .... Makes me want to go back to school and get in the space program .... apparently they're hiring! lol

I learned so much .... so many pictures to show, but I'll spare you! ;)  One last one ..... A selfie!

I'm still excited from my day at the Johnson Space Center.  I'm definitely going back!

Thanks for visiting with me!  Cheers!

Fall Market 2014 - it continues!

When I talk about Fall Market in Houston, many shop owners tell me how they cannot stand Houston.  I'm really not sure why, I think it's a wonderful city.  I have no issues with Houston, perhaps it's because I was born and raised in a city.  Nonetheless, it does have some beautiful buildings, like the JP Morgan Chase building (I think that's what it is).  It caught my eye as I was walking back from the Fabshop dinner on Thursday.

Sadly, I think this building is gone!  I certainly didn't see it.  I was told that Houston does not cherish their old buildings.  It's unfortunate!  The architecture was beautiful.

This is the view I enjoyed every morning as I savored my latte.

I do a lot of walking when I travel.  I'm not one to take a cab, unless it is miles and miles away or unsafe to walk.  Of course it helps burns some of the calories from these ...

and more of these ....

On Saturday, there was a wonderful Moda Customer Appreciation party that I was fortunate to attend.  Thank you Moda!

With some Texas style Entertainment ...

With all the eating and drinking, you can see how walking is a good thing! lol  

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday ....!

Ahhhh.... No only did Stephen remember, but I woke up to these .....

I love flowers ..... Thank you!

The primitive Reproductive side of Fall Market 2014 ...!

I will admit, I was a tad disappointed on the reproductive fabric side of market.  It's the first year that I do not buy full collections, but pieces here and there.  Hum .....

There was a beautiful display at the Marcus Fabrics booth from the Quilted Crow Girls from Australia.

Jeanne Horton from Windham Fabrics had a lovely display.

Her booth was so inviting .... Love that tumbler quilt!

Letters Home by Audrey Wright for RJR Fabrics.

Gotta include some Jo Morton from Andover Fabrics ... It's all about the hexes!

There was a cute little booth by Farmhouse Threads.  Love this display!

More Farmhouse Threads displays...

Can't forget Geoff's Mom Pattern Co ... Lovely quilts!

Stay tune for Market pictures!  Catch you later!