Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Awaiting pick-up...& then, Houston...we have lift off!!!  ; )

C'mon Phillies!!!

Piecefully, Pam

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Good Soggy Evening Girls,

I hope Lois & George are in Washington State by now!!! I bet they're having FUN with the "kids." : ) Do you think the sock monkeys made it ok...?!

So, I have begun the pre-Houston cRaZiNeSs!!! It actually started Thursday night. Scott has learned he needs to tie a string around me to keep me from flying all around when I'm about to travel or do something SUPER EXCITING!!!

One of the things I like best to do @ the Beach is FLY kites!!! The first time Scott & I made reservations to go to the Beach, I was SO, SO excited!!! It had been 7 years since I had been to the Beach, or had a vacation. I was packed & ready to GO!!! I was practically sleeping in the car the night before we were set to leave. Well, during that whole experience, Scott learned first hand the need for a string, a kite string! ; ) The phrase & idea of tying a string around me just "stuck." Scott's Mom will call or email & ask, "Does Scott have the string out yet...?!" Funny how some things stick. : )

Boonie Barb called this morning. She's wishing us Houston FUN & sending + juju. She & Charlie are in Keene, NH for a BIG Pumpkin Festival!!! They carved a pumpkin & added it to the tower...

Is the 3rd game of the World Series a wash out...? I heard there was a rain delay. Lots of people lost power in our neighborhood & surrounding areas. We've had an occasional flicker or blink, but we haven't lost power. I lit candles! Which happens to include the jack-o-lantern on our front porch.

Are your kids ready for Hallowe'en?! What are they going to dress as or be?!

Enjoy your night & stay dry!
Piecefully, Pam

P.S. Check out some new links I've added. There are some new blog links, there are some Houston links, etc. For those Quilt Mama's not making the Houston trip, when the Festival begins, you will be able to click on the Ruby Slipper link for a peek @ Festival...they usually put up the BIG winner's & sometimes will do pod casts or video casts live from the Convention Center floor.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Hi There Girls,

Good to see almost everyone last evening & gather @ Mo's!!! The tea was perfect & sew was the company. : ) How 'bout those Phillies!!! GO!!!

Mo - thanks for hosting us! Thanks for the tea too! Are you ready for Houston!?!?!? Are you making our room assignments? Would you be able to email me Dolores cell phone #, please?
Mare - thanks for emailing our departure info. I hope you get some sleep. Is everything okay in your household? I'll go to the bank tomorrow morning & have your Houston bucks ready whenever!!!

Lois - safe travels & give those grandchildren a BIG Quilt Mama hug!!! You're not giving Ainsley her TATW quilt yet, are you? What Hallowe'en FUN are you packing?! They are going to LOVE those sock monkeys!!! Take LOTS of pictures!!! Have FUN, FUN, FUN!!! ; )

Dolores - you were pretty quiet last evening. How are you?! Are you ready for Houston?! Do you want to swing by here & pick up a cutting mat to pack? We'll be home ALL weekend! Hey, thanks for sharing your Quilts 'n More magazine! How's that wild & crazy Joe Byrnes?! With the World Series in town & you out of town will he be safe...?! Let's hope Mr. & Mrs. D. keep an eye on him?!

Jean - here's a shout out to a BIG, FUN, HAPPY 50th BIRTHDAY to YOU tomorrow!!! : ) I'll be CELEBRATING with you IN Houston, girlfriend!!! : ) What sewing did you go home & whip up?! Duh, pillow casing those Origami Purses is SEW much easier, no?! Thanks for your help & input!

LA - thanks for coming last evening & bringing Kevin TOO (he's precious!)!!! Glad you were surprised & had such FUN @ your 30th bash!!! I want to SEE pictures!!! Glad to hear the construction is under way & going well. How nice to plan for Thanksgiving in the new digs!!! : ) There's NO place like home.

Lori - the baby quilt is soft, pretty & nice. I REALLY like how you echo quilted around the ABC's. Did you do that free motion?! Have you looked through the 2006 Houston Quilt Festival magazine? What do you think?! Pretty amazing. I hope your Dad is okay. Your Mom too. I was glad to hear John is being so...sew supportive of your trip to Houston!!! It IS a BIG deal!!! : )

Thanks for looking @ my show 'n tell stuff. I have a certain amount of relief that the Pastel Bubbles piece has forward momentum!!! Hooray! I want to sew the last LONG seam of my Pickle Dish over the weekend. Wish me luck!

I hope those 'Mama's going to Houston will NOT be disappointed after ALL my hype. But, I just don't think it's possible!!! Thanks for reading my myriad of emails! Listening to my blather! And, looking through whatever magazines, pages & forms I passed along along the way. Mo, thanks for "organizing" us & our schedules. I appreciate it!!! ; )

I must say. I am packing MORE casual than 2006. I am wearing jeans & maybe taking along another pair too. I will wear "nicer" clothes to the Winner's Circle & to Angel though. PLEASE, pack whatever you're comfortable in!!! PLAN to have FUN!!!

I packed my sewing notions for my classes. I have that little, pink, plastic box packed SEW tight it's like a can of snakes!!! I pray they don't open it for a luggage check..?!

Cathy & Peggy - we missed you both!

Time to walk the dog!!! Thanks for the bags. ; )
Piecefully, Pam

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Hello, girls! Happy Tuesday. A reminder that Consuelo has graciously offered to host tomorrow evening. LA - have you recovered from Saturday evening? It was rumored that you were seen doing shots with some firemen?! Peggy - so nice to see you and hear about the baby. Amazing that she knows her ABC's already. Mare - how did Bill and Joanna make out babysitting the McCabe crowd? Pam - how did the origami purse class go? How many students did you have? Lois - what day are you leaving? You must be so excited. Feel like I haven't seen you in ages. Cath - it was nice to see you on Saturday too - sorry you won't be there tomorrow - after we come back, we'll have to switch bee to Tuesdays so you can make it. Lori - is John away - will you be able to come tomorrow? Dolores....thanks for the laughs on Saturday. Can't wait to see your show&tell from the sale. A neat 'Mom' moment last night - I'd given Erin a stack of CD's that I wanted on my iPod and she said she would do it for me. I watched her as she loaded the CD's, realized she was doing three things at once - downloading, seaching iTunes store and creating playlists - ponytail bopping as she sang along with some of my goofy songs - amazed at her complete confidence in what she was doing and her ease of doing it. That would have taken me at least an hour....10 minutes later she handed me everything - finished! Boy, I love that kid! Hope you all have a nice day.....piece.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Hey Girls,

Jean - thanks for blogging!  Sorry I missed Bee last evening.  I didn't think anyone was going.  I didn't want to be an interruption in Lori's household!  : /

I AM on Fall Break this week!  : )  And, it's been pretty EXCELLENT!!!  Yesterday morning Scott & I went into the City to check out Greenable Solutions for product information & ideas for our planned addition.  They had LOTS of stuff & it was a pretty cool store.  They had things like denim batt insulation, soy foam insulation, a solar attic fan, etc...?!

Afterwards, Scott returned home, but I stayed in the City & went to the Gee's Bend Exhibition!!!  : )  It was AMAZING!!!  I am SEW, SEW, SEW glad I went!!!  I cried.  I've been following the Gee's Bend quilts & quilter's for the last 6 years.  I've had this Exhibition on the blog calendar for more than a year already!  Ever since these quilts made history @ the Whitney Museum, I've been interested!!!  I had hoped & dreamed about the Gee's Bend quilts coming to Philadelphia.  When the Exhibition was announced, I waited...  I don't know what I expected, but the quilts were MORE remarkable than I had imagined!!!  They are FILLED with spirit! They are DYNAMIC!!!  They are PURE art. They are HONEST.  No photographs were permitted. I did take some notes & made a couple rudimentary sketches.  I went on a guided tour & was interested to learn...I had noticed many of the early quilts had quilting stitches that didn't seem to make any sense to me...?!  Some portions of a quilt were quilted with a Baptist Fan pattern, other areas had sloping rows of stitching, & still other sections had stitches that ran horizontally or vertically OR some of both. The quilting stitches were placed without any regard to the pieced design or pattern.  My mind couldn't figure it out...what & why was this so, sew?  It gave movement & interest to the quilts though!  It MADE you LOOK!!!  During the guided tour, we were told, "Piecing was done individually, but the quilting was done as a community."  What this meant was, there was NO predetermined quilting design to follow. Each woman put in quilting stitches in the portion of the quilt that was in front of her on the quilting frame.  They stitched until it was done - SEW BEE it!  The Gee's Bend quilts have some similarities with Amish quilts.  MANY ways, many times & with many different styles of interpretation, the quilt maker added variation in her quilt design - she would "turn" a block of Birds in Flight randomly here & there.  Or, a block design was repeated but the colors would be reversed, again, here & there.  Or, perhaps the quilt maker would do BOTH of these things, rotate a block AND reverse the colors.  It made me think of the Amish "humility" block.  The quilter's of Gee's Bend created interest & movement within their quilts.  They also used very BOLD colors, much like the Amish.  The Gee's Bend ladies used scraps & leftover bits.  If they didn't have enough of a pant leg to finish a quilt top, they would maybe cut the whole quilt top into quarters & add the smaller bits & pieces they did have.  Or, if they had enough, let's say, orange fabric, but the whole quilt was done using hot pink & black, they simply added the orange.  They NEEDED to make the quilt DONE so their family could be kept warm.  Each quilt is an original.  They do NOT ever repeat a design or pattern!  When asked what is the most important characteristic about a quilt, LOVE was their reply!  They like to use leftovers, scraps & pieces of clothing because they believe it gives the quilt spirit.  I could go on & on!  There are 74 (AMAZING) quilts in the exhibit!!!  In the Perlman Building there is another, much smaller, exhibition of African American quilts which are also worth visiting.  It was a day of ART & inspiration.  : )

This evening we are going to see Jason Mraz in concert.  He opened for Alanis Morissette 2 years ago, & now he IS the act!!!  : )  We're looking forward to it!

And, how 'bout those Phils?!  Wow, huh!!!  Will we be-e watching from Houston..?!

One last sewing morsel.  It involves quilting, politics & folk art.  Have you seen the quilt Denyse Schmidt has made?

Enjoy your evening & stitch when you can!
Piecefully, Pam   
Hello, ladies! Happy Thursday! A small but mighty bee last night....Mare, Lori and myself. We talked about Houston a bit and also the upcoming vendor night at Sacred Heart. I saw Maureen yesterday afternoon - she said she will host next Wednesday - she was asking if folks could email her or blog what their schedules are in Houston - when are you taking classes/white-gloving, etc. It would be good to put this list together for everyone along with cell phone #'s. Lori has lots of cute towels made for the vendor night. I have a dozen burp cloths. I think Pam and Cathy have things as well? Mare has a bunch of pillowcases. We talked about meeting at my house on the Saturday before - November 8th - to price things and work out the details. Less than two weeks now until the trip - getting excited! Lois - when are you leaving for Seattle? Do you have your projects finished? Hoping that Grandmom Peggy and the baby are doing well. I heard that Amanda made a visit out to BM Rehab to visit her great-grandpop - awesome! LA - how is life in your thirties? Dolores - are you still quilting like mad - God bless Gracie! Pam - do you have a fall break? SJU students are off next Monday and Tuesday - we're still working. Isn't your purse class this Sunday at Cloth&Bobbin? Have fun....Cath - have you recovered from your trip - is Mike making those little animals out of towels for you in the evening? You're doing another TATW? Good for you.....hope that everyone is enjoying this beautiful fall weather - and those Phillies fans among us - how about those guys??!! If the series goes to game 6 or 7 - we'll be in Houston. I'll be in the hotel bar on those evenings if that's the case! Take care of yourselves - sometimes we forget that in our busy lives....piece.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Hello Girls,

I've been tweaking the blog settings a little.  One of the things I did was to make the print bigger. Does that make a difference for anyone?  Should it be bigger still?

I needed to do a blind hem on 2 of the pants I hemmed yesterday.  I have the WORST time figuring out how to do that!!!  Press, pin, fold, sew - on WHAT?!  What are you sewing ON?!  How does this work?!  Do I need to pull an ENTIRE pant leg onto the free arm of my sewing machine?! Oh, NO way!?  I read the manual.  I looked in my Sewing Encyclopedia.  Errrgrrrffff!  Google to the rescue!!!  Hooray!!! What did we ever do before the internet...?!

Yesterday when talking with Momma Barb, she gave a sage bit of advice.  She said, if I can give ONE tip to those going to Houston it's this, "Buy it when you see it!  Or, write down the booth number & make a note about what sparked your desire because you will NEVER remember!!!"

I did a bit more work on my Pastel Bubbles project today.  : )  It's feeling better.  What things are you sewing on?!

Enjoy your evening & have a GOOD tomorrow!  Bee this week, girls...?
Piecefully, Pam

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Good Evening Girls,

How is everyone doing?  Wasn't this a GORGEOUS day?! I had wash out on the line!  ; )

Jean - thanks for hosting Bee on Wednesday.  It was a Houston Frenzy!!!  Thanks for your Show 'n Tell.  Nice!  
: )

Mare - thanks for emailing blog links.  I've looked @ most of them.

Dolores - it was good to see you @ Bee!  What are you sewing?  Hey, how's Rocky been?

Lois - when do you & George leave for Washington?  What things have you been sewing?

Lori - can you tell me the date of the Vendor Night, please?  Also, the time & the location? Our dental hygeniest is interested!  Are you doing any sewing?

Cathy - are you HOME?!  How was your Cruise?!  Was it AWESOME?!  What cool things did you do?  Where were your ports of call?  How was your weather?  I bet your Mom & kids were glad to see you & Mike!  : )  Did you pick up your machine from it's "spa?"  What are you sewing?

Mo - what's new on your end, girl friend?  Are you on Fall Break?!

Peggy - I've been thinking of you, your Dad & your family. Keeping you all close to my heart. How's that grand baby?!  ; )

LA - how was your 30th?!?!?!  Did you PARTY!?  ; )  How is Kevin doing?  Are you getting any rest?  How's the house?!

I hemmed 3 more pairs of pants today.  Then, I took apart my Gertrude machine & cleaned & oiled her.  Whew - where does ALL that lint come from...?!  Talked with Momma Barb today. Her broken machine is back, & BEST of all, it's been repaired!!!  Hooray!!!  I sewed a couple more pillow cases today.  I'd like to do some Pastel Bubbles sewing tomorrow.  And, I would like to work up the courage to sew a LONG seam in my Pickle Dish project this week.  I'm feeling like maybe I can...we'll see.  Much ado over nothing!

Jingle got a bath today.  And, Scott carved a jack-o-lantern.  Fun!  I hope you're enjoying your weekend too & getting a bit of time for sewing.  ; )

Piecefully, Pam  

Friday, October 10, 2008

HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY LEIGH ANNE!!! : ) It's NOT really your 30th...it's the FIRST anniversary of your 29th birthday, girl friend!!! ; ) Enjoy YOUR day!

Piecefully, Pam

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Lori!!! : ) Enjoy your day!

Leigh Anne - hope Gerry's family is alright. Sorry to hear of his Uncle's passing. We'll miss you this evening. Take care & I hope you've been able to get some rest!!! Momma Barb LOVED the picture of Kevin. ; ) Thanks!

Take care girls. Looking forward to seeing you this evening. Meanwhile, have a wonderful day.
Piecefully, Pam

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Hello, ladies! Hope you all had a nice weekend. Was thinking of Cathy and Mike.....sitting on deck, umbrella drinks in hand....looking out over the ocean - boy, it would be nice to be there!!!! Anyhow - a lovely weekend here. And the Phillies won - lots of happiness in the McCabe house? The Burke house is psyched! It's time for the Houston meeting....how about here on Wednesday? If you could bring your catalogue with you - or at least the days/times of your classes - Pam had a good point about basing the sleeping arangements on who has early classes, etc....taking into account the snorers...you know who you are! Of course, we want to have the regular bee stuff too - don't forget your show & tell - and the girls who aren't going to Houston....please come and let us know if you're looking for anything in particular. Apparently, we're going to be able to find just about anything down there. Hard to believe it's nearly here. Have a happy Monday - hope to see you all on Wednesday night....piece.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Good Evening Ladies,

As you can see, I'm thinking Autumn...  Is anyone else delighted with chilly nights & the crispness in the air?  We bought apple cider @ Market - yum!  Last weekend we visited friends in Lancaster & took them a BIG pumpkin!!!  ; )  Leaves are falling.  Squirrels are busily stowing nuts for the Winter.  Mums are blooming!  Yep, Fall IS here.  Happy October 1st!

Missed getting together this evening.  Jean - I hope your car is alright.  What an inconvenience. Rats!

Cathy - when do you leave for your cruise?!?!?!  Are you ready?!  Excited?!  : )

Mare - you've been silent.  How are things on your end?  What's new?  Getting to do ANY stitching?

LA - I hear you've been sleep deprived.  How's Kevin doing?  I hope all is well & improving in your home.  I've been thinking of you!

Lor - what's shaking on your end?  How's John & the kids?  Doing any sewing?

Lois - when do you & George leave for Washington?  Do you have the monkeys packed...?!  ; )

Peggy - how is that NEW grand daughter?!  Sweet?!  : )

Dolores - what are you sewing?!  How MANY quilts have you stitched up since we last saw you?!

Maureen - how's BMC...?!  Have you cuddled in YOUR quilt yet?!

I've been stitching up pillow cases.  And, I hemmed 6 or 7 pairs of pants.  I am continuing to hand applique my Amaretto Rose project.  And, I busted out that Kaffe Fassett Pastel Bubbles project & have been doing some work on it too!

I've been trying to take advantage of ANY nice weather we get.  Hanging wash out on the line before going to bed in the morning when the weather permits.  I picked a bunch of flowers last evening ahead of today's rain!  And, I've been REALLY enjoy my walks with Jingle.  I LOVE the smells of Autumn - leaves, acorns, mums & such.  : )

I am hoping each of you is doing well.  Take the time for a cup of tea & a couple stitches.  See you sometime soon...
Piecefully, Pam