A girl's weekend!

Kira, Kaitlyn, Karas, McKinley and myself headed to St. George for an all girl's weekend. We would be meeting up with my sisters and their girl's and their girl's. In total there were 16 of us going. The girl's and I left on Thursday afternoon so we could make it to our early morning bag class at Dave's Bernina on Friday morning. The last time I was there I signed us up for the cutest bag called Petunia. The timing couldn't of been better for scheduling a class in. What a great way to start the day. Karas and McKinley came in my room to make sure I was up. These two little ones don't know how to sleep in, but then again we couldn't on this morning.
We got the girl's ready and fed them breakfast and it was off to a babysitter. One of Kira's Stampin' Up friends offered to watch the girl's while we went off sewing. How nice of her to do that. Thanks Wendy, we owe you big time.Let the sewing begin. Kira and Kaitlyn both have nice Bernina's to sew on. Aren't they lucky? I am so glad that both of them like to sew. We have alot of fun getting together, which isn't often enough.

Here we are with Jana or Lola as she is called from time to time. We are showing off our Petunia bags. We didn't quite get finished but you can get a glimpse of what it looks like. Jana is a designer for Izzy and Ivy Designs which is located right here in our area. I guess you could call Salem our area. This company designs darling kids clothes, bags, hats, etc. Check out both of these blogs for some great inspiration.

Later Friday evening everyone else started to arrive. Me and my girls made supper for all of us. We fixed taco soup, green salad, chips and salsa. And everyone brought some kind of treat out of mom's recipe collection. There was everything from caramel corn, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, rice chex mix and puffed rice balls. We weren't going to go away hungary this weekend. I think yummy treats are all a favorite of ours. You can tell we are all Thomas'.

My sister's Collette and Jan. My two neices, Lindsay who belongs to Collette and Karissa who belongs to my other sister, Tamara.

Even the little one's were invited to the get away. Here's my great neice Maddie and my two little crazy's, McKinley and Karas. So well behaved, sometimes!

Belly up to the bar! Now that is funny, we had two cute pregnant girl's at the party. Kaitlyn and Alayna are both due in December. Both are having boys.

We had no longer finished supper and Collette was already preparing breakfast for the next morning. I told you we weren't going to go away hungary.

What's this? A guy at the girl's weekend. I don't think so! Colby stopped by to pick up his two girl's after supper. Colby belongs to Collette and happens to live in St. George. It was fun seeing them again even if it was for such a short time.

Let's eat, again!

Saturday morning we welcomed Annette(my sister-inlaw) and her girl's Amber and Shanna.
Annette brought us yummy cinnamon, raspberry and orange rolls from Shirley's. Oh my, just the right thing to go along with our breakfast casserole Collette fixed the night before.

Amber and Shanna, showing off pictures of their kids.

After breakfast and visiting a bit, we all headed out to do our own thing. Most all of us hit some kind of store or another. We really didn't do alot of shopping this trip. It was just fun hanging out and getting caught up with everyone.

Oh no,

what should we do about this? Can you tell just how high these ceilings are? The little ones were a little bit curious of just how we were going to get this balloon down out of the fan. Watch and you will see.

Tadah, Kira and Alayna to the rescue. Thank heaven's great grandpa had a ladder in the garage.

For Saturday nights supper we all met at Iggy's. Front to back we have, Amber, Annette, Shanna, Lindsay and Quincey. From back to front we have Collette, Maddie, Alayna, Tamara and Karissa.

And at this table we have McKinley, Kaitlyn, Karas, Kira and Aunt Jan.

Back at the house for some pictures.

Isn't she cute? I think so.

Say cheese! We were trying to get McKinley to pose so we could show off her new boots. We couldn't stop laughing she was trying so hard.

And this, isn't it the cutest thing ever? This is something you don't see Karas doing very often. I snapped this picture at just the right time. I love it and it will bring back fond memories of all the fun we had on this weekend.

The Thomas four. Shannon, Jan, Collette and Tamara. We're missing someone, Mom. She would have had fun with such crazy girl's, granddaughters and great granddaughter's. We are so thankful for such loving parents that have given us a wonderful home to have such great get aways and making memories that will last forever.

Three silly sister's in St. George.

Later Saturday evening Kira brought us some of her Stampin' Up supplies to make charm necklaces. We all commented about having craft night in years past when we used to get together on deer hunt weekend. Oh we did some unique stuff way back then. Remember sponged painted sweatshirts, button collared sweatshirts, beaded fabric necklaces and the list could go on. We laughed about all of the above mentioned. Times have certainly changed.

The Stampin' Up demostrator giving directions.

Everyone was so involved. Intense stamping!

They all had a good time creating their charms.

Even Maddie had fun.

Here are a couple of examples of the templates that go in the glass saudered charms. "T" is for Tamara.

Love the black and red.

Great Aunt Collete entertaining the kids on her new play toy, her Ipad. She had downloaded some games for the kids on it.

McKinley doing a little relaxin before the long trip home.

Home again, home again jiggety jog! Boy were these girl's really testing us on the travel home. We finally had to seperate the two little one's in the back.

Karas playing the waving game. I told her to wave at every car that passed us. That lasted about a second, or maybe two.

Finally she's asleep. Peace and quiet at last. Maybe!

Not now, I'm driving!

Let's say cheese for the camera, Karas!

What a great weekend, but there's no place like home.

Give me a little time to rest up and we can do it again.

Boutique Time...

Already! Didn't we just have the spring show? This is something I look forward to every year and I have done so for the past 13 years. I have worked 26 Hobble Creek Barn Boutiques in that 13 years. I miss working at Heritage Woodworks and most all the customers we see miss the store too. After the store closed 4 years ago Ellen struggled wether to keep the boutique going or not. Just like so many others I am so glad she decided to keep it going. This is the time of year we as past employee's can get together and have some fun, plus we get to see so many shoppers we don't get to see only but once a year, or maybe twice. I do see some of them from coming in the Corn Wagon for their quilting and stitching supplies. Don, Ellen and Karen just chillin before the opening. The weather this year was unbelievable. We have never had the warm weather like we did. We usually have the heater going to stay warm. This year we were struggling with trying to find an air conditioner. That's a first.

Karen's one lonely little spool of ribbon just wouldn't stay in it's boothe!

I wish this picture was a little clearer. Can you imagine wearing a ring this big? Now that's what I call some serious bling. It was pearls and chains all twisted up into a ring. There were lot's of boothes with jewelry this year and alot of it was big and bulky. Whatever floats your boat, but I probably won't be putting this on my Christmas list this year.

And oh, here is the bracelet to match. Really this thing was so big and heavy it just swung to one side. I told the cashiers that this thing would never sell and guess what? The following day I rang this same bracelet up for a customer. I hope she enjoys it!

Here are a few snapshots of some of the boothes this year.

There were all sorts of flower pins and hair bows to choose from. Flowers are so in right now. This boothe really had some great felt flowers and bows. I ended up buying a couple of them for my fall sweaters. I think it's time to get them out now, no more warmer days. Yeah!

Halloween decor by the crundles.

This boothe does really well on their vinyl. They have everything from blocks, tiles, and plaques.

This lady is super talented. She just happens to be one of my co-workers at the Corn Wagon. She does these amazing wool flowers cut out of ladies cashmere and wool sweaters after she has felted them. I already have a few of these, many, many colors of them. Marianne has been involved with the boutique as long as I have. She also sells Cookie Lee jewelry in her boothe.

And Katherine has the best array of jewelry and purses. She has been doing the boutique for about 6 years. She does very well. Katherine also does home parties and sells in a few boutique shops around the valley.

Ellen and myself outside the boutique. What a pleasure it is for me to be acquainted with such a wonderful person. I just wish we got to see each other more often.

Kaitlyn and McKinley stopped by on one of the days. Ellen let Miss M pick out her very own pumpkin to take home. What a great weekend or should I say 9 days. The fall show runs for 9 days and is usally held during the first week of October. Watch for the spring show if you missed this one. All the great stuff is offered then too. It runs the first weekend in May. Plan now to attend.

I'm Twisting again!

This is my latest Twister quilt. This was made from scraps that a friend had put into a layer cake. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time (maybe not a good thing). Emily was just getting ready to sell it at her fabric yard sale. Thanks alot Emily for letting me preview shop the day before. I really like the way it turned out. The browns, blues and green work so well together. We still had the Moda blue with brown dots at the shop so that's what I put on the back. Pretty cute, huh? So this quilt works well with either scraps or layer cakes. Trust me, I've done it with both now. Just a reminder, I will be teaching this fun and exciting technique on Saturday, Oct. 30th if you want to learn. The class is from 10:00 - 3:00 at the Corn Wagon. Come do some twisting of your own, once you start you won't want to stop. Contact me through e-mail if you might be interested.

Simply Sewing 101...Finally!

I know my Simply Sewing 101 group has probably thought I have dropped off the face of the earth. Well, I have not. So for my sewing lady enthusiasts we will be meeting on November 17th @ 6:00 at my house. We will be making these really cute Snap Happy Bags. You will be simply(no pun intented) amazed at what keeps these bags snappin'! I can't wait to see all of you again. Now that summer is over and fall is well on it's way it's time to get back to a schedule for Simply Sewing. If this is something you may not be interested in, feel free to bring a project your working on or if you need help with something bring it too. For this project you will need the following:
** Scraps of fabric at least 9" x 17" and small scraps for the prairie points. Or you can bring 3 fat quarters if you would rather.
**Sewing machine
**Basic sewing kit
**Thread to match
I will be providing the fusible fleece, the thing that makes it snappy(it's a secret), and the TREATS!
Please e-mail me if you are interested. I know you all are because you keep asking each other when Shannon is going to have sewing again. Let's get things "SNAPPIN'" again!

Two of my favorites!

Quilts and bags! Last Wednesday at the CW I taught my Spooky Treats quilt class. We had a packed crowd but that didn't stop anyone from having fun. This was such a simple quilt to make that most everyone got their quilts done and ready for the quilter to get started on them. And believe me she has a pile of them including those that weren't in the class. She's going to disown me after she gets them all done! I just love the freindships I am building by teaching classes. Have I told you lately, I love my job!

I was excited to have these two in my class, Tracy(Knotts)Frazier and Linda(Holley)Anthony. I graduated with these ladies and I remember all the good times we had in school way back when. It was good to visit with them and get caught up on things.

Sew, sew, sew!

Suzee Q(Anderson) showing off her quilt. This is the first project Suzee has been able to sew since her stroke a few months ago. I am so glad that she did it with me, and I am glad to see her doing so well. Wow, what a fright they had. You amaze me Suzee Q.

Look how adorable this border is. She changed her fabrics up a bit. So spooky like!

Then on Thursday night it was my usual bag class. These ladies came all prepared to make the Bella Bag. Another successfull night. Everyone got their bags completed. Yahoo!

Meet Carolyn and her Bella Bag.

The smile says it all. "I did it"! Did you hear it snap? Katie has become a regular Bag Lady. She is so full of life and is always ready to learn more.

Katie has even got her mom coming. Linda and Katie Magelby with their bags. Time for the straps. They both have a love of vintage fabrics and their choices on this one were awesome. You "SEW" girls!

Nanette and her daughter, Whitney are regulars also. We had Marianne join us that night. I hope she had an enjoyable time. Don't their bags look amazing? I wish I had taken pictures of the others before they left. Darn it all! They were super cute too.

I have opened up a second class for the Bella Bag. If you are interested stop in the CW or contact me and we will get you all set up. The class will be Saturday, Oct. 16th from 10:00 - 1:00. There are a few spots left. Hope to see you there.

New Skin!

Check out my new skins for my Bernina 230. Isn't is wild. You can have one to. I ordered it from here, http://www.designskins.com/. They have all sorts of stuff to pick from to personalize your machine. The only sad thing is they just fit the 200 series and the 630. Sorry about that. It just matches my carrying case. I bet you didn't know I had a streak of the wild side, did you?

Things I did at camp!

This is what I did while I was at KoHoLoWo last week. How did you know it involved sewing? I sewed, sewed, sewed. But you will be surprised at a couple of other things I did as well. Here's my show n tell. I made myself quite cozy. I used the dining table to sew on.

And the kitchen counter served as my cutting and ironing area.

Monday evening after Stuart got back from being down home for awhile, he brought me this package that was in the mail. A package from Yvonne, but she had already sent me a birthday gift. How exciting to get something in the mountains. It was a very nice birthday card with a couple of pieces of fabric. One of her "BEE" friends, Hilde had gone to France on a holiday and she brought me back these lovely pieces. My fabric stash is now collecting fabrics from around the world. Wowsers! I have some from the Netherlands and now France. Hilde said I was part of the "BEE", even though I'm not there to sew with them every week. Boy do I feel honored.This is the card and the nice fabric. Thank you "SEW" very much Hilde. I can't wait to make something out of it. Any suggestions?I love this time of year just so I can burn a pumpkin spice candle. I had it burning everyday while we were up there. It got me in the mood to make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I am so glad that I packed all "3" ingredients. That's it, 3. These are just about the easiest cookies to make.

All you need is a can of pumpkin, a spice cake mix and chocolate chips. Mix that all together and bake for 10 - 13 minutes on 350. Simple huh?

Here are my cookies in my cute little oven. They did take a bit longer to bake because of the altitude.Now onto the sewing projects. I was experimenting with this bag pattern. It just possibly might be a mystery bag some time. What do you think of it? I love the fabric line from Kate Spain, it's called Fantango.

The inside of the bag is nice and roomy. Lots or space for all the girly stuff we girl's have to carry around.

I finished binding another Twister quilt. I made this one from scraps that Emily had put together in a layer cake. I am really tickled with it. Isn't she a beut. Boy are these things addicting. Remember I'm teaching a class on this technique on Saturday, October 30th. Come join us at the Corn Wagon.

Here's another bag that I did. The pattern is from Whistle Pig Designs. This is a different shape for a bag, but look at all the features she has. It kind of reminds me of a lunch bag.

It had snaps on both sides for the enclosed sides or you can leave it open for a more roomier bag. Here it is snapped closed.

And this is it left open.

The pockets in the inside have an elastic casing all the way around. It will keep all your things in place. The only thing I would change on this bag is the handles, they are just a little bit too long for me. Change is good. This will probably end up as a class.

This is where the surprise comes in. I never really ever read anything but quilt patterns and magazines. I saw this book advertised in one of the book store ads and I knew I had to read it. I have been following the articles in our newspaper about Paul Cardall and the struggles he has gone through living with congential heart disease. This book struck home, Stuarts older sister Marriden suffered with this her whole life and eventually passed away from it. Maybe that's the reason I needed to read it. After I would read a passage from the book to Stuart, he would say "That was Marriden". Both Marriden and Paul shared some of the same doctors at Primary Children's Hospital. I was not disappointed in this book. This is one of those books you can't put down. I read it in between sewing projects. I recommend it to every one. It has a great message about things we should do before our hearts stops. I'm crying now just writing about it.

I sewed the binding on and then I sat and bound my pinwheels quilt while we were watching movies.

Here's a quick and easy baby quilt that I pieced from the Riley Blake All-Star line. Of course it's for that baby boy were getting in December. A grandbaby that is!

And the last project I didn't quite get finished with is this western quilt I'm making for the trailer. So you can tell that I was one busy sewer over the week. Don't you just love those kind of weeks. Too bad I can't say that about this one. My sewing machine misses me.