FNSI and PIQF

It is that time again: Friday Night Sew In!!

I have plenty to work on tonight. So much in fact, that I made a list! And I am feeling very inspired. Why, you ask? Because yesterday I went to PIQF with my friend Loris. We had so much fun, and saw so many quilts, and did so much talking, and so much shopping, and so much.....

Anyway, it was a great time. And I have a little picture show for you.

New York Beauties are my favorite, and this show did not disappoint!

Whole-cloths with phenomenal quilting!

For my bff, who is a Dear Jane-er.

Baltimore Album anyone. This one was simply stunning.

Ok, seriously. A pineapple-ed hexie! That is some serious workmanship. This one is c. 1890.

For the patriot in me.

Very realistic. Can't you almost smell the ocean air?

Ok, this one had so many of my favorite things: NY Beauties, circling geese, mariner's compass and strings. What a lot of work!!

Isn't this amazing!?

Ok, what about this!? Hard to believe it is all fabric!!

Love birds on a background of excellent quilting.

Pretty huh? Wait'll you see the quilting.

Gorgeous.

Interesting perspective and beautiful colors. But again, wait'll you see the quilting.

Oh man! This one was a true beauty.

Some fun and funky houses.

For the fall-lover.

The color, pattern and workmanship of this piece were spot-on.

LOVE it. It is not often you see the "Nativity" story portrayed with a pregnant Mary.

Very interesting political piece.

And finally, the quilt that we went to see. This is only 1 of the 4 blocks on this quilt (sorry, poor photos of the whole thing, but believe me, the other 3 animals were just as impressive!). It was made by Loris' friend, Nancy Brown. Isn't it great?!

It is not to late to head up to the show yourself. It runs through tomorrow.

Fall into Fall Winner

Wow! There were some many nice comments left about my little pincushions. Thanks to everyone who stopped by! And to all of you who want to stick around as followers: Welcome. I hope you find plenty inspiration and humor while you are here.

So without further adieu, by random number generation, my winner is Barbara (of the #145 Barbaras). I need your snail mail address so I can get Spiced Pears headed your way!


Now, in case you are wondering which of the pincushion patterns turned out to be the most popular, the breakdown goes like this:

Spiced Pears: 63
Big Dolores: 58
Heirloom Tomatoes: 26
Just can't decide: 16

And, if you are interested in purchasing any of the patterns, well they are only $5.95. And shipping is a whopping 75 cents. Just email me or leave me a comment.

TTFN

The BBC

I went to the Bakersfield Business Conference last Saturday.

It was probably the best conference I have ever been to!

There were 3,000 flags on the grounds. 10 foot flags. Each representing a life lost on 9-11. The display was outstanding.

Wow, 10,499 other patriots also showed up for the event!

Very exciting.

The number one reason I went was to see....

Sarah Palin.

She is a great speaker! Her clarity on the issues and ability to call it like it is, is very admirable.
She spoke about how we got to this point in our country and where we go from here. The crowd loved her!

Laura Bush was another excellent speaker. And a favorite among our little group of ladies.

What a treasure she is. Such elegance and grace. A beautiful soul, who just stole our hearts.

She spoke about her life and her time in the White House. She had us laughing and crying at her stories about George and the family.

Politically, one of the things that she spoke about were the Bush-Bashers. She said that all of the bashing bothers her, of course, but that she does not let it get to her. And there are two reasons why. First of all, she KNOWS who she is and who George is. Trash-talkers cannot change those truths. And secondly, "This is America and the freedom of speech is our nation's sacred music". To try and control that would be to undermine all that we stand for as Americans.
That kind of dignity, in the face of ugliness is who she is. What a true blessing it was to have had her as our First Lady.

Mr and Mrs Cheney also spoke about their time in the White House and the events of 9-11.

I believe that he said he had served under 5 of our most recent 6 republican presidents.
He talked about the things that make a president. In his opinion, the two key factors are: 1) who he is as an individual and 2) what crisis comes to the forefront during his administration.

Now, my favorite speaker of the day was Rudy Giuliani. I could just go on and on and on about what he had to say, but I won't. The synopsis, however, includes: his time as mayor of NYC, 9-11, welfare reform, fighting crime, leadership, President Bush, and his personal battle with cancer. And, it is part of the cancer talk that I want to share with you. He said that the day before he was diagnosed, he was in grave danger but he did not know it. So, the day he was diagnosed with cancer was the luckiest day of his life because now he was able to do something about. A born optimist!
I used to work with a girl, PG for short, who was the most optimistic person I have ever known. I just loved that about her. But now she may be #2. However, being an optomist herself and a Giuliani fan, she probably won't mind.

The last person I am going to talk about is Captain Sully. He was our surprise speaker. And what a good speaker he was. He defined courage as the discipline to do what is required in spite of fear. Now, we have all probably heard some version of this definition before, but I have never heard it include the word discipline. And I don't believe I have ever heard it directly from the mouth of a national hero. Somehow that just makes it all the better of a definition.
Secondly, he spoke about the need to cultivate extraordinary virtues in ourselves and others, so that when extraordinary circumstances present themselves we will be prepared to preform extraordinary acts. Great words of wisdom that we would all be blessed to live by.

I am including a link here to a recreation of the Captain's heroic landing.

There were many other excellent speakers. I have only shared with you those whom I favored. And, I hope that you have found a nugget or two of wisdom or direction that you can use for yourself!

Now in closing this very long post, let me just say that I came home feeling pumped up and hopeful about the politics of our nation. But then I heard about the "transaction tax" and some of the new voter fraud schemes that are running rampant. And, just like that, I was back in the thick of this big fat mess we're living in!!
Now, I don't know about you, but I am voting 5 minutes before the polls close this time because if someone else is fraudulently voting under my name, I want to know about it!
See you at the polls.

Visions of Autumn

Last year, my friend Heidi and I spent a day together, enjoying autumn activities. We had such a great time that we decided to do it again this year. We headed out to Sea Canyon to pick apples and then to LOVR to buy pumpkins and then back into town to visit the Goodwill Outlet.

We had a great time, except that it was 112 degrees in SLO last week when we went! And the pumpkin farm was closed! And they did not have the kind of apples (Pearmain) that Heidi wanted!

No, but really, we had a great time!!
That is the beauty of hanging out with girlfriends.

So here are some photos of the days bounty.

Fall into fall givaway

Today is the day! It is time for the Fall into Fall Giveaway and there are plenty of bloggers and businesses who are giving away wonderful things. Click on the scarecrow icon for a link to all the the participants and start signing up to win some prizes!

How do you feel about adorable little pincushions?

Spiced Pears

Heirloom Tomatoes

Big Dolores

How do you feel about kits to make adorable little pincushions?

To sign up for my giveaway, just leave me a comment letting me know which of the 3 I could send to you when you win!! Each kit contains the supplies for 2 cushions, you just need to add your own unique buttons.

2 More Finishes

These are my 2 UFO finishes for September. And boy am I glad to have them all finished up!

This first one you have seen before. Remember my mystery assistant?

I started it several years ago in a Sandy Turner workshop over in Cayucos. Lots of fun, especially now that it is done!!

This one was started several years ago, as well, at a Country Threads retreat.

Now that was a lot of fun, regardless of whether or not I never finished a single thing! I just love Country Threads.

Hope projects are getting all buttoned up in your neck of the woods, too.

And one more thing. Did you notice the new little scarecrow button in my sidebar?
Well, it is there because it is almost time for some fun and fabulous giveaways!
The fun starts on October 1st, so come back and see what I have for you. And be sure and check out all of the other wonderful prizes by clicking on the scarecrow to access all of the links in one easy spot. Good luck, I hope you win!!

A Momumental Crisis

Tomorrow is my guy's 25th high school reunion. And we are going. So, obviously hair must be addressed. I called my usual hairdresser, who has been cutting my hair since the late 80s. And wouldn't you know it, she was completely booked. She has been on vacation and is trying to catch up. So, with a heavy heart, I drove my shaggy head down to the salon of a stranger.

She was not the source of this crisis. The cut is a-okay.

Then, today I decided that I had better tackle the shock of gray at my temples. I surely do not want to be the only gray-headed spouse at this reunion!

I prefer to use Clairol Colorspa in the shade of medium cocoa, but apparently this color has been phased out.

Great.

Since I was being forced to make a change I decided to just try the one on sale. Revlon Colorsilk #40, medium ash brown.

I have medium brown hair.

Warm cocoa is medium brown.

This had a picture of medium brown.

Easy right.

WRONG!

I didn't notice the problem at first. But when I looked in the mirror after my 20 minutes was up, my hair was black with dark purple at the skin!! BLACK with DARK PURPLE!! I nearly had a heart attack on the spot.

And then I started praying. And shampooing. A lot.

I'm pretty sure I cried as I pictured my new life on solitary confinement. No church. No quilt group. No board meetings. No Mary Mashuta class next weekend. No Sarah Palin lecture the weekend after that. No dinner parties. No lunch with LB. And, definitely NO high school reunion.

This was looking very, very bad.

But, the Lord must have heard me! My hair is definitely darker than I like it, but it is not black.

And, more importantly, it is NOT PURPLE!!

Hallelujah!! My chains are gone, I've been set free. My God, my Savior ransomed me. (Feel free to sing along with me!)

So, if you have medium brown hair with a shock of gray at your temples...do NOT try Revlon Colorsilk #40, medium ash brown. It is just not worth the stress.