It was JSS Bee Day recently and you know what that means… Food, Quilts and New Challenges for the New Year!  And Fun.  We are all about the fun.

It was a chilly day in Texas and a warm fire greeted us at Karen’s house.

Breakfast greeted us too!  Including these oh so yummy rolls.

But even better than that were Karen’s World Famous Cinnamon Cream Cheese Ooey Gooey Thing-a-Ma-Bobs.  I’m sure they have another name, but I just call them Delicious.

Plain brown bags were brought once again.  Filled with fabric of all sorts to be turned into wonderful quilt tops during the year.  Or made hurriedly the day before the Christmas Party in December.  But maybe that’s just me.  I work well under pressure, you know.  Could this be the year I finish mine early?  Don’t hold your breath.

Moms were there.  And they chatted at the table and had breakfast while friends gathered in the kitchen.

Sue and Susan shared smiles and a cup of java as the day began.

Nancy shared this cute Block-of-the-Month Halloween Baltimore Album that she’s working on.  Will we see a finished quilt in time for Halloween, Nancy?  So cute.

Then the Show ‘n Tell began……

Sue H showed this cute wall hanging as Karen looked on.  And we all oooed and aahed.

And Sue was working on this cute appliqué project too.  Nice, Sue!

Angela came all the way from Juneau, Alaska to be Suz’ show ‘n tell for the day.  We hope she’ll join us again for a retreat this year!  She got the prize for traveling the furthest for Bee Day.  If there were a prize that is.

Spice joined us too.  And I thought this was a great pic of Karen!  Hi Spice!  He’s a very sweet kitty.

Dede had this very pretty quilt to show.

LaNelle had this cool seam ripper that someone had given her to show us.  Very nice!

I had Pam hold it for a pic so you could see how nicely it fits in your hand.  Both ends come out and turn around to become seam rippers – double ripping!  Nice nails, Pam!

Karen showed this beautiful quilt that was her brown bag quilt from a previous year.  Made by Susan.  All quilted and bound and nearly ready to be hung in Karen’s kitchen.  As soon as Karen finishes hand stitchin’ that binding down.  She even added piping.  Fabulous.

Sally makes a new calendar quilt to hang in her kitchen every year.

Sally’s work is perfect – her embroidery is flawless.  Which has earned her more than one Best of Show winning quilt!  I wanna quilt like Sally when I grow up.

Susan showed this pretty quilt.  She’s finishing the binding on this one.  Nice job, Susan!

And this is part of the embroidery for a quilt Sally is now working on.  Can you say perfection?  It’s just beautiful, Sally!

Soon it was time for lunch…..

This was Susan’s lunch.  Bleh.

This was my plate.  Full of colorful salads brought by several of the JSS ladies.  We have some fabulous cooks in this group.  Jules brought lasagna too, but you don’t see that on my plate.  I was avoiding the cheese.  Partly because I had 13 pieces of Karen’s breakfast ooey gooey thing-a-ma-bob.  Sometimes choices just have to be made in my life.  And I was saving room for dessert.

Cindy and her Mom were a little anxious for dessert too, dontcha think?  Watch out with that knife, Cindy!

Dessert included this tasty fruit concoction that LaNelle brought.

And how nice of Karen to have a birthday that week so we could all share in her birthday carrot cake brought by Sue OK!  Yum!

It was indeed a day to celebrate!  Good friends, good food, good quilts and good FUN!

This is my motto for 2012… brought to you by Sue OK.  Thanks, Sue!  I like it.

By the way – we also received our new same fabric for our 2012 challenge and you see this beautiful batik now in the margins of this blog.  I can hardly wait to see what these girls come up with using this fabric!  I bet Christmas will be here before we know it.

Keep calm and sew on!
Barb