A tribute to Moms – only a little late!

Posted on May 11, 2010 by Barb

A shout out to special Moms everywhere with a few pics of some of my favorite Moms….

This is my friend, Heather, with her daughter Grace.  She is the one who introduced me to Pioneer Woman.  I owe her….. big.  And I have bigger hips to thank her for too – due to the extra butter and sugar in my diet.  If I ever actually win one of PW’s giveaways, I will probably have to share it with Heather.  Or not….. share….. or not…… share…. or not…  Apparently, I’m a little conflicted about this.  The link to PW above will take you to a recipe for Cinnamon Baked French Toast, if you go there before she changes it.  A very yummy recipe guaranteed to require lots of butter.  Take it from someone who has tested way too many of PW’s recipes.  Of course, if you happen to be reading this months from now, there will still be a buttery, sugary recipe at the link above.  It’s what she does.

Heather was wearing these three pretty pins in honor of Mother’s Day.  All of them made by her three children.

Aren’t they pretty?  Her kids did good……

This is my friend, Brenda, and her daughter Brittany.  Or I could say, my friend, Brittany, and her mom, Brenda.  It works both ways with these two.  Brittany is the recent (in my life anything less than 5 years is recent) college graduate (Brittany would say she graduated a whole year ago), who came and had dinner several times with dear hubby and I in our motorhome in Tulsa while he was working there.  She is not an animal lover, but she humors me and pretends to like Boo whenever she is at my house.  Remember how I told you earlier that Boo makes you like him?  Brittany could probably attest to that.

Brenda has been a dear friend for a long time.  She and her hubby are our dinner companions every Sunday afternoon.  I mean, every Sunday.  It would not be Sunday dinner without Brenda and her hubby.  And Brittany too.  She even likes being with us old folks.

This is Brenda and Brittany too.  We did this one just for fun.  Aren’t their curls cute?  I wish I had curls.  My mom might like my hair better.  She likes curls, but I have very straight hair.  But wait!  I got it from her.  Maybe Brenda and Brittany can share their curls with me?

This is my friend Lani, and her mom, Beverly.  Or I could say, my friend, Beverly…….oh, you get the idea.  I have friends in all generations!  And I really planned to get a picture of Lani with her two daughters, Halle and Brooklyn.  But they high-tailed it outa there before I could get their pictures.  Halle and Brooklyn are my friends too.  I have multi-generational friends.

This is my friend, Jeanice, and her daughter Presley.  Or my friend Pre……. stop, Barb, they get it!  Presley wanted to do the pictures over and over.  She is friends with Halle.  I think she was trying to make up for the fact that Halle didn’t get to be in the pictures.  And Jeanice used to be Boo’s Mom too!  But that’s another story for another time……

This is my dear hubby and his Mom, Betty.  We took her to lunch on Mother’s Day and also helped her with her computer so she could see my blog!  (Hi Mom!)

Thanks to Pam, we now have a floral tribute to all special Moms out there.

Aren’t her roses beautiful?  We stopped to see Pam on our way home, but she wasn’t there.  So instead we just took pictures of all her lovely roses.  Here’s another…..


And just because I wanted to………

One up close and personal one….. thanks, Pam!  (Oh, wait!  She didn’t know about these pics!  Surprise, Pam!)

Happy Mother’s Day – just a teeny, tiny bit late…..
Barb

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A Day with Friends – Quilt Show!

Posted on May 9, 2010 by Barb

This is my friend Suz’s back yard. 

Doesn’t it look fabulous?  All serene and calm and woodsy.  I could have sat there for hours Friday after lunch….. with a hammock or a lounge chair and a good book (perhaps one by Marie Bostwick!  See yesterday’s post….<grin>)  We had dessert on the porch and it was GREAT!

I zoomed in on some things in the yard…

This is an old mailbox that used to live in the front yard for the mailman.  Next to a cute little bridge.  Don’t you just want to move in to her back yard?  Apparently you even could receive mail there…..

And how about these flowers……

But maybe you’d like to see them up close and personal?

I love the cute container. 

See?  You could move into Suz’s back yard, receive mail, lay in a hammock and read A Single Thread and enjoy pretty flowers.  Sounds like the life we’d all like to have, doesn’t it?  Will you feed us once in awhile too, Suz?  (Lunch was a fabulous spinach/strawberry salad, yummy chicken salad sandwiches and bundt cake with coffee on the porch afterwards.  She could feed me that same meal every day and I would be happy…….content………… and fat.  That’s because I had 3 helpings of everything.  I couldn’t help myself.)

And you’d have these two friends to play with too……

This is Sadie.  She likes to chase squirrels.  I’m not sure she’d be happy if she actually caught one, but she sure does like to chase them!

This is Arthas.  He didn’t want to look at the camera for his picture.  But he gets to be a famous dog in a blog anyway.  Hi Arthas!  It was fun to meet you!  Can I come and live in your back yard?

Did I say I could have sat there all day/week/year?  But we had a Quilt Show to see!

So off we went to the Arlington Quilt Show – here are pics of us at the Show.   Apparently I’m not very good at this blogging thing yet, as I did not take very many pictures of quilts! 

Here are my friends Sally and Suzanne (who I like to call Suz) in front of the Best in Show quilt.  Apparently they are way more important to me than the quilt as you can see.  But it really was a beautiful quilt.  You’ll just have to take my word for it.  And if you look very carefully, you can sort of see another quilt over Suz’s shoulder.

Here’s another pic of my friends with me this time.

Again, you can kinda see this quilt….. sorta…. if you look real hard.  By the way, Sally is banned from ever wearing this shirt in public again.  At least if Suz and I are with her.  Plain T-shirts only for Sally at Quilt Shows – unless you want to be stopped constantly by people admiring her cute shirt.  (Suz and I are going to outdo her with cute shirts the next time – and she is required to only wear a plain T-shirt.  Are you listening, Sally?)

This quilt was a favorite of mine in the show.  I liked it so much I took three pics of it…..

The quilt……

One block…… and then…….

………up close and personal.  Just so you can see exactly how the star is constructed.  It’s important to see the seam lines and all.  In case you might want to actually make this quilt yourself.

Who me?  I’m too busy blogging to make quilts.

And then I found this quilt…….

Look familiar?  I was quite impressed with this quilt pattern, obviously.

And that’s the Arlington Quilt Show.  The end.
 

I guess if you really wanted to enjoy their quilt show, you’d better have gone to it and not depended on me to report and show pictures.  I know.  I’m fired.  Terrible blogger that I am.

 WAIT!  I did take two pictures of a really cute zebra quilt…… which was actually two quilts…

the front end…………………………………………………………and the back end……………….

Isn’t he just the cutest thing?  Suz especially wanted the pics of him (she has zebra things in her house) or you probably wouldn’t be viewing these pics either – I apparently thought the camera around my neck was just a fashion accessory that day.  You can fire me now.

Or you could see four more pictures of quilts from the Show at Sherrill’s blog.  (She apparently didn’t want to go crazy with her camera either.)

Luv,
Barb

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It’s not every day you meet a famous author….

Posted on May 8, 2010 by Barb

……and a NY Times Bestselling one at that!  Marie Bostwick has written 6 novels – the first three are historical fiction and the last 3 have a quilting theme.  (She apparently had to practice on those first ones to get it right before she took on us quilters. <grin>)  I have read the first two in her “Cobbled Court” series and just bought the third one so I could have a signed copy.  Now I am ready to find copies of those historical novels and read them too!  I love the way Marie develops her characters – she made me care about them and that speaks “good author” to me!

Instead of writing a book review blog today where I end up giving away the whole plot line …. meet Marie Bostwick!


This is Marie with Quilter’s Dream owner, Beverly.  It was such fun to meet Marie.  She was very personable, warm and fun!  She made us laugh and she brought tears to our eyes as she talked about how quilts and quilting impact our lives.  She took lots of time with each person as she signed their books for them.  And she loved our shop!  We may be seeing her more whenever she visits this area – as a customer!  Incognito!  (Wonder if she wears dark glasses and a camouflage outfit.)  She told us a story of how she once tried to attend a retreat incognito – she even went under an alias.  But then when one woman started talking about how she loved her novels, she “outed” herself and signed a book for the fellow retreater.  Maybe she’d like to attend a JSS retreat?  As a newbie attender, we’d make her sign all our books, eh girls?  While she makes us coffee, brings us water, makes our morning waffles —- ooooo, let’s invite her!  We’ll just accept her as one of the gals and make her feel right at home.  But I digress….. where was I?

Oh, yeah….. book signing…..


Look at the pretty table of goodies that Beverly had set up for the special occasion.  Marie was impressed!  She said we were way more fun than Barnes and Noble (sorry B&N!)  And I got her permission to give you just a brief video clip of her program – which she also does at guilds and other quilting events.  In fact, she had just come from Paducah!  You can read a whole lot more about Marie at her website and register as a reading friend – I just did that and it looks like a fun site!  She even has a blog!  Well, of course, she does, silly Barb – she’s a writer, after all!

Here are some more pics of the day……


Marie as she told us about her first book, A Single Thread.


And as she talked about her son and a serious medical issue they faced when he was a child.  That’s him on the screen beside her.


My friend, Karen, with Marie.   Karen brought her Mom with her to enjoy the morning.  Happy Mother’s Day, Gloria!


My friend, Lynn, with Marie.  Lynn has already read A Single Thread.  Ask her about it when you see her!


This is the line awaiting chatting with Marie and getting their books signed.  This is after a majority of ladies had already left!  I should have taken this pic sooner…..


Marie chatting with new friends while she’s signing books.  The bright hunter star table runner on the table is one she brought along to show.  Cool quilt, Marie!


My friend, Suzanne, with Marie.  Suzanne tooks lots of pictures too and I hope she’ll share them with me!


My new friend, Marie and me.  I had such a fun time meeting her and chatting.  Wish you all could have been there!  OH!  But you sort of have been now, haven’t you?  OK, OK…. I’m seeing the value of the blog…… (picture Barb here, being pulled into blogging….. but now having loads of fun!)

Happy quilting…..oh!  and reading……
Barb

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More Baubles!

Posted on May 7, 2010 by Barb

I had a busy day today!  Book signing this morning, lunch with great friends and then a quilt show this afternoon.  A red letter day!!!!!  I have much to report on the day so watch for postings about those events soon. 

Just a quick update tonight to the baubles I posted earlier.  Thanks to Peggy, who sent me a few more pics.  These are some works of art!  Way to go, Ann!

This is a beautiful framed piece……

and another framed one…..

And one more pic of Racheal’s piece – a little more up close than the shot I posted earlier today….
See the little bee in the upper right?  That was hard to see in the pic I posted before.  So cute!

Now stay tuned for more exciting things from my day today…………… wish you could have been there.  But wait!  Some of you were there!  (Way to keep up the anticipation, Barb!  Keep ’em coming back for MORE!  Are you waiting on pins and needles?)
Hugs,
Barb

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A Bit of Baubles

Posted on May 7, 2010 by Barb

A friend was in the quilt shop the other day, showing off something that her friend, Ann, had made for her.  Racheal had given Ann a box of her mother’s baubles and Ann made her a thank you gift.  It was pretty fabulous and I thought you might like to see it too.  So on with the show – here it is!

All of the shiny pieces (including the piece to hang it with at the top) were from Racheal’s mother’s box of baubles.  What a perfect memento of her mother!

May your day be filled with baubles and quilts,
Barb

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