Road to California Wrap Up – Hangin’ With the Quilt Celebs!

January 24, 2011July 13, 2013Leave a comment

Now that I’m back home from Road to California I can share with you some of the stories and pictures from my fabulous quilting excursion.

Here’s a photo of my friend Judy and me at the convention center on the first day. (Notice her adorable quilt bag made from Amy Butler Fabric. We are so eager! I think I need more quilt luggage or a least a trendy bag. I did get a couple of free bags from the show, though!

The first day I took an outstanding machine quilting class from Mickey Depre (I blogged about it here). Judy took machine quilting classes from David Taylor and a strip piecing technique from Elsie May Campbell. We love learning from the best teachers!

The next day Judy was in class with Darlene Zimmerman while I roamed the show floor and got to meet a few “quilting celebrities”.

Here’s “Christa Quilts Meets Quilt in a Day”!

Eleanor Burns was so fun and energetic in person. I told her how I first watched her on PBS over 15 years ago. I don’t think she’s aged a bit! She signed a book and recommended one of her favorite rulers to me. I hope to learn from her for another 15 years.

John Flynn looked so comfortable in his rocking chair with hand quilting on his lap.

Flynn was the featured artist at the show and his quilts were simply stunning in person. The two quilts behind us were some of the best I’ve ever seen. He had about 15 different quilts on display and got to sit in that chair and chat with the ladies all weekend. What fun!

The last day Judy and I took a machine quilting class together from Charlotte Warr Andersen. (I blogged about it here). I simply have to say she makes you feel like you want to be her best friend!All told, it was a fabulous trip and one I plan to make each year on a regular basis!

French Pastries Anyone?

January 5, 2011March 19, 2013Leave a comment

Today Jason and I met some friends in Paris. (The famous hotel in Las Vegas, not the city). They introduced us to this fantastic bakery serving authentic French pastries. We started off with crepes for brunch followed by an assortment of yummy fruit tarts and crispy croissant treats.

Imagine my surprise when I came across an assortment of aprons in the shop made from material I used to carry. My favorite was a Paris Cafe themed fabric produced by Michael Miller several years ago (that sold out quickly and is now out of print). There were also some aprons sewn from Anna Maria Horner prints, too. This just goes to show that fabrics are for more than just quilts!

Snow Day!

January 4, 2011March 19, 2013Leave a comment

Yesterday we had a snow day here in Las Vegas which was quite unusual for our desert climate. The kids had fun building snowmen and having snowball fights.

When I made my snowballs, I looked closely at the snow and was amazed at how much it resembled the consistency of quilt batting. No wonder crafters use batting in winter scenes to represent the snow! It looks just like fluff!

Before the snow melted we were able to make yummy snowcones gathered from the fresh clean snow. What a fun morning!

Christmas Wrap Up

December 29, 2010March 19, 2013Leave a comment

We had such a fun Christmas that I wanted to write about it. For starters, it was a “Toy Story Christmas” at the in-laws this year. In order to find our gifts, we had to dress up as the Toy Story characters and go on a scavenger hunt with clues leading the way. My mother in law & sister in law sewed some simple cowboy themed costumes and gathered supplies that transformed our family into the Toy Story characters – Barbie, Mr. Potato Head, Woody, Jessie, Army Guys and of course, Buzz Lightyear!

Now we have costumes for next Halloween!

We had a fun time with my side of the family as well. As you can see from the mess it was quite a party!

For the younger kids and friends, it was a “DS Video Game Christmas”. And my oldest son looks like he could be doing a photo shoot marketing Apple products. What a fun Christmas!

Christmas Quilt Guild Party

December 16, 2010March 19, 2013Leave a comment

Yesterday I attended a Christmas party for my local sewing circle and it was “sew” much fun! My mom, also an avid quilter, was in town so she was able to go with me.

I’m not sure what is more fun about Christmas parties – the food or the gifts! My grandmother is here with my mom so she got to come, too. Everyone brought a pot luck dish so there was plenty to eat.

Here’s a picture of Ann, the original founding member of our guild, Desert Quilters of Nevada, picking out her present for our gift exchange. Our guild has over 400 members and we divide up geographically into smaller sewing circles of about 20-30 people each.

My mom received two gorgeous sewn aprons as her gift – one for fall, one for Christmas.

I began to get a little jealous now!

I received this intricately embroidered tea towel with a picture of a Rodeo Grandma. My dear mother, a cowgirl at heart, was very envious. So she swapped me one of her aprons for the towel and we were both very pleased!

Our members are very talented and most everyone brought a handmade gift.

Several of the guests brought little trinkets for each of the partygoers. I gave everyone a Scissor Pal charm for their rotary cutter. In return, I received several adorable fabric ornaments and yummy goodies to take home. What a fun party!

Hike Friday

November 26, 2010March 19, 2013Leave a comment

Several of my friends went shopping at 2:30 in the morning on “Black Friday,” supposedly the best shopping day of the year. Jason and I opted for sleeping in instead and going for a hike a little later in the day.

We went to beautiful Red Rock Canyon and hiked a rugged 5 mile trail with a couple of friends of ours. We’ve decided this will be our day after Thanksgiving tradition, so we’ve coined the term, “Hike Friday”!

Thanksgiving 5K – Freezing But Fun!

November 25, 2010March 19, 2013Leave a comment

Our family’s annual Thanksgiving tradition is to run a 5K in the morning followed by Turkey for breakfast as a reward to all of the race participants. We’ve done this for about 7 years in a row now and our group keeps getting larger including grandparents and siblings. The dog even ran it!

My oldest son ran his best time ever while I ran with my younger son as we all tried to hurry as fast as we could to get out of the cold! Jason pushed our daughter in a jogging stroller, but she says she wants to run it herself next year! We loved the fact that we burned off plenty of calories so that we can indulge in our Thanksgiving feast later today.

Here’s a picture of the whole family after the race, trying to smile for the cameras while wanting to get out of the cold and back into our warm cars: