Riding through a winter wonderland!

Here's a little something that will get you in the holiday mood. A tradition that the city of Spanish Fork has is something known as the Festival of Lights. It is located at the mouth of the canyon at Canyon View Park. It starts on Thanksgiving and runs til New Years. After a yummy supper at Brick Oven Thanksgiving weekend we decided to take Angie on a ride through the lights. Sit back and make believe you are riding through the park listening to the Christmas carols playing through your car, in our case, a truck radio. Here are a few of my favorites, enjoy the ride!

Dashing through the snow!

Land of the dinosaurs, long before my time!

Fiesta Day's Rodeo

Frosty the Snowman

Someday my prince will come. Oh wait, he already has!

Silent Night

You better not pout, sass, tattle or whine!

After we made the jont around the park we decided that as long as we were in the truck we would ride to Salem and see the lights on the pond.

The trees are really beautiful. They look like they are really floating on the pond. Look at the reflections in the water. There are so many more than this to see.

A evening well spent setting the mood for the holiday season. Did you enjoy the ride?

It's Turkey Time!

We hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. It was mighty cold and windy here. We are very fortunate to have family close by that they don't have to travel far to get to Grandmother's house. We missed the Mitchell family and Angie. I know we have to share with the other family. One of these years we are going to be on the same schedule so everyone is around the White house table. Stuart tried something different in preparing our turkey. Deep frying is the way to go, omg it was heavenly. It turned out so moist and packed full of flavor. Compared to 7 or 8 hours our turkey only took 45 minutes to do. Boy did the house smell yummy with the bird cooking, yams and dressing baking in the oven. Let's do it again next year. We will probably be fixing more turkey's this way. Fast and very easy. Look at Tom, golden brown to perfection and ready for eatin'.
While I was mashing potatoes, Kira was making the gravy to go with them.

Stuart doing the honors of carving Tom, is there going to be leftovers?
Karas and baby are ready to eat. Bring it on, Grandpa!
"We are eating turkey today, not hamster(ZuZu Pet) Thayner Man!"
We were small in number this year, but we sure did lick our platters clean. Visiting and getting ready for the second round, for some!
G & G White, the host and hostess for the day.

You say chocolate and the kids come running. It must be time for pie. The kids opted for chocolate mousse pie over pumpkin. These kids are laughing at something, and I know what it is. Before I could turn away with the camera, Grandpa was doing his famous picture face. This would make anyone laugh.

Silly Grandpa!

I love chocolate, give me more!

Our pies this year were made by the one and only John Boy and I hear Kira and Hatch were in on it too. What an awesome treat, he spoiled us with pumpkin, chocolate mousse and a apple cinnamon one. Such a variety to choose from. John is now on pie duty when he visit's for Thanksgiving! Thanks to all our kids for making it such a nice Thanksgiving, what would we do without family?

Something for Baby!

This cute little quilt belongs to baby boy Mitchell. We are just counting down the days now until he will be able to use all these quilts. This one is so bright and whimsical. It reminds me of a three ring circus almost. Kaitlyn had this fabric picked out when we started making quilts for baby number one. At the time she didn't know she was having a girl and she thought this would work better for a boy. So it has been sitting in the closet for two years waiting for the right little one. This is some of an older line from Michael Miller sashed together with Amy Butler's kiwi green solid. It's another pattern found in a magazine, a Fons and Porter I believe.

What do you do when you don't have enough backing fabric? Well, you get creative and use up some of the leftovers and put borders at each end.

Again the quilting was done by Alli of My Strandz. Didn't she do an amazing job?

Here is our little mother to be again! Look at that cute little round belly, that shook when she laughed like a bowl full of jelly. Kaitlyn is anxioulsy awaiting the arrival of baby #2, but she says it won't get her soon enough! She's had a few little mishaps during the last 2 weeks. But everything is fine with mother and baby. Here she is with the homemade goodness from Grandma White. Oh, these babies are loved. We can't wait to meet him.

Crochet and Dancing!

I bet you didn't know I could crochet did you? You probably thought all I could do is sewing bags and piecing quilts, huh. Well your wrong. This has been my seat every Monday night for the last 10 weeks or so. One of my favorite shows is Dancing with the Stars, so while I watch, I crochet. All I know how to do though is baby blankets, but that counts as crocheting doesn't it? I find this really relaxing. A good way to unwind from a busy day of sewing or working!

And the only design I know how to crochet is this one called Hugs and Kisses. It was taught to me by a friend about 8 years ago when we were getting our first grand baby. I finished this one up during the last show. The finals were awesome, didn't you think? Or are you a fan like me?
This is who I have been rooting for the whole time. Jennifer and Derik did so a great job every week. How could they not have been the winners?So this is what I have been working on the last 10 weeks.

Don't they make the funnest stuff for babies now. This new little one is going to stay nice and warm this winter all wrapped up in his grandma's love.

This blanket I did a litte different. I used a chenille yarn and you only have to do a single crochet around the whole thing. It makes a really soft edge. The brand of yarn is called Peter Pan Darling. And you bet it is! Now what to do with my Monday & Tuesday nights? I know, let's get ready for Christmas!

Finished Finally!

This bag has only been in the works since last spring, it was about time I finished it before spring rolls around again. This is the demo bag I taught My Favorite Bag with. Actually this bag is not mine. It belongs to Marsha, the shop owner of Corn Wagon Quilts. She picked everything out and I sewed it for her. The fabric line is Rural Jardine from French General. The top part of the bag is linen which you can't tell against this beige wall. The tie is cut on the bias, which makes for a really pretty bag.

The inside pockets of this bag are terrific, there's room for lots and lots of sewing supplies which I'm sure Marsha will be using it for. She loved the outcome, but then who wouldn't when you are using such a fun and fairly simple pattern. Kati Cupcake has two new patterns out right now for bags. I can't wait to share the finished projects with you. Give me a couple weeks though. I need to finish up my decorating and also complete some things in the works for the new little addition that's making his way to the White house.
Oh yah, I forgot to mention that I was the lucky winner of the give away on Amy's blog. I won a copy of her new book, Baby It's You. It has some really fun quilt and bag patterns. I can't wait to get started on some of them. Thanks Amy for a fun give away. By the way, this is my very first contest to win. Boy am I a lucky girl!

Time to eat!

From the White house table to yours,we wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving.

Just like Mama!

McKinley knows just where we keep the extra readers at the shop. She comes in and helps herself right to them. She finally let her mom take a picture with me. Isn't she a hoot? The funny thing is, the way the glasses are shaped, she kind of looks like me don't you think? Or is it just a Grandma thing?

Idaho Spuds!

A couple of weeks ago Jacob brought home a 50 lb. bag of freshly dug potatoes from the great state of Idaho. This is something we like to do with them.
Just look how these homemade french fries turn out. Delicious, right down to the pink sauce!
Boy it sure is nice knowing someone in Idaho. Thanks Angie and family.

Bags & bags, oh my!

A group of my regular bag ladies wanted to get together for a special class of "My Favorite Bag". This bag just keeps going and going kind of like the Energizer Bunny! We met Saturday at the shop for an afternoon of sewing. During the middle of class my sweet husband showed up with a warm treat. He made us some of his homemade biscuits. It was a cold day so they hit the spot. There wasn't one left by the time it was time to come home. They were a hit. They wanted to know if this was going to happen at every class.

Luckily there was raspberry and strawberry jam in the fridge at work. You can't have homemade biscuits without the homemade jam!

This is Paula and myself with her bag. Isn't it cute? She did a beautiful job on it too.

Another cute bag from Kim.

The bags that are just about finished. These ladies must have been eating all the biscuits when they should of been sewing! JK These bags are goin to be really cute to when they are all finished. In this group photo we have Marianne, Alisha, Becca, Whitney, Nanette, Me and Katie. Now why in the world did they put me in the middle of the two tallest gals in the class?

On a side note, Marianne and Nannette's bags are made from Katie Cupcakes new line of fabric called Genevieve for Henry Glass. Katie is the designer of My Favorite Bag.

Christmas is coming!

I hate to say it but Christmas is coming and it's a cold rainy day here so I think I will work on these. This basket of glassware has been sitting on my sewing room floor for a very long time.

I have lot's of them to do. Watch for finished gifts soon. By the way, Happy Monday!

Baby, It's You Give - Away!

One of my favorite bag and quilt designers is sponsoring a give away this week. Amy from Katie Cupcake Quilting Co. has a new book out and that's what you could win. Amy is also involved with the Henry Glass Project Parade that is going to take place Dec. 1 - 7. You can watch Amy's blog for all the details which will start around the end of November. By they way did I mention that Amy is now a designer for Henry Glass. I am so happy for her, besides herself some of the other designers will be participating in the project parade so there will be lots of fun projects to be made.

When you visit Amy's blog be sure to mention that you saw this contest on Shannon's blog It's Sew Shannon. The contest ends Nov. 19th. Don't waste anytime getting involved, it sounds like the parade is going to be a blast. I bet we can get great Christmas gift ideas from all these talented ladies.

1st Annual Quilter's Harvest Retreat

Friday I had the opportunity to attend the first Quilter's Harvest Retreat sponsored by Alpine Quilt Retreats. Sydney Haglund is the hostess and she is awesome. Friday's events were done a little differently from her usual retreats. There were four shops participating in this whole day event. There were three groups during the day and everyone made the same projects at each shop. We started at Alpine Quilt Retreats which happens to be in Sydney's lovely home located in the foothills of Alpine. The morning started off with a breakfast treat and cooking demonstration by Laura Potter of
Be My Guest in Alpine. She shared her recipe for Lemon Zest Scones. You can find the recipe on her blog.

The scones were delicious and the juice she served was too.

After the cooking demo we headed downstairs of Sydney's home. Oh my gosh, you should see this place. A sewing and crafting heaven. You can see pictures on her website. It can accomadate many sewers at one time. Nanette from Freda's Hive had a fun project waiting for us.

We got to play with fabric, E-6000 and all this fun loot.

We made buttoned covered pins and rings. Here is one of my pins and my ring.

Myself and Nanette. This lady has so much talent and is always willing to share it.
From Sydney's home we went to Just Sew in Highland. There we met Amber Johnson of

A Little Bit Biased and Gigi's Quilts. Here Amber is showing her latest quilt.

Amber shared her pattern for her pin cushion bracelet. She had most of the prep work done for us. What a fun project this was. This is on my list of things to give for Christmas gifts. Maybe you are on that list!

Me and Amber.

This is my bracelet pin cushion. She's a beut isn't she?
Here are a couple of snapshots of the Just Sew shop. This was my first visit there. They really have some great stuff.Isn't this the truth?

A few fat quarters were my souviners from that cute shop. I don't have anything in mind for them, I just thought they were cute and great to add to my stash.We were told to stop at Dear Lizzie's also located in Highland, where they had a special treat waiting for us. This cute shop has everything from home dec, jewelry, clothing and a cute little bistro with yummy, yummy treats.

Look at this cute sign they have hanging above the food counter.

This is the picture of the eating area. And this was our treat that was waiting for us.

A drink of our choice and one of their well known sugar cookies. I love cookies. Now this is one nice sugar cookie. I found this really fun lip balm while browsing the shop. It's Cute as a Button from Plain and Thimble. It's to cute to open. So it just might stay this way sitting on my shelf in my sewing room.
From Dear Lizzie's we traveled to American Fork to visit The Quilting Cottage.

While we were waiting for the rest of the group RaeAnn found this cute Bliss fabirc that she thought would make great button rings and pins. And she's right.At this stop we made wool flower pins with Suzanna.

My flower is a pretty rust color. Just right for the fall season. After this stop we had time to find a bite of lunch or forget about lunch and do a bit of sneaking around the cottage at all they had to offer. I came away emptied handed. So guess what I had for lunch on my way to our next stop? Yup, my sugar cookie but just half!
Our last stop of the day would be Broadbent's in Lehi. Here we took a group photo. This was the first time meeting these ladies for me. We had a wonderful time sharing stories of our sewing interests and getting to know each other a little better before the day was through.Group A: Diana, Suzanne, Sylvia, Mary Ann, Wanda, Paula, Emily and Susan. In front myself and Rae Ann.

While we were at Broadbent's Laurel showed us the technique of making zipper flowers, which are so popular right now.

My work in progress.

And tah-dah, it's all finished.

These are really, really simple to make. Me and the girl's will need to do these now, since I brought them all sorts of zippers from market last May.
This is what you see when you walk through the door of Broadbent's. I try to visit this shop when I'm in that area, which isn't very often so it was nice to visit it again.

And of course I couldn't come out of there with nothing.

A couple fat quarters, a Riley Blake charm pack of Lila Tueller's new line and some cute boys fabric that will probably get used for a certain someone coming our way.

This was such a great experience for me, I hope that I will be able to participate in more of Alpine Quilt Retreats. Go to Sydney's site and see what retreats are coming for the new year. She has some awesome teacher's lined up.