Saturday, March 30, 2013

Happy Spring.....



Wishing the mamas and their families a very Happy Easter!

Peace...


Monday, March 25, 2013

Quiltmama weekend hangover....

Oy! Ladies...what a fun weekend! Lots of good food, including goat cheese balls (which only come in pairs, of course!). Where to begin....let's see. Shopping on Friday when we arrived - at the usual places. It was actually snowing these big, fat flakes when we landed - the town was quiet. The Bird-in-Hand shop has become a regular stop. And the Farmer's Market! We got the scrumptious blackberry cream cheese spread and graham cracker pretzels....and other lovely appetizers. Went to the Kling House for lunch, then to Omar's - where Dolores and Consuelo helped a complete stranger pick out fabrics for her Liberace quilt! The we picked up the keys and set up camp.....adding a few touches to make the place feel like home....



Mare gave us a demo on making pizza dough and we got to work!




The sweatshop was in full swing until it was time to break for pizza - delicious!!! It was hard to break out of the carbo coma and get back to work - but we persevered. Saturday morning, the sewing frenzy continued....until it was time to go to the Iron Horse. Yay....bunny hops! These came with chick peeps on swords...which led to only one sword fight, the goat cheese ball discussion and the usual raucous laughter. The pitstop to pick up chicken potpies was almost the highlight of the ride back, until Dolores jumped out of Lori's still-moving van to go to Zook's! She landed gratefully and made some bunny hop-fueled purchases - someone should have accompanied her!!!! Back to the grind.....stopping only for a splendid appetizer buffet around 6:30 - we had delicious chicken nachos prepared by Consuelo, a family recipe from the old country. We also had some of the wonderful things we bought at the Farmer's Market - and decided somewhere in that food haze that next year's Friday night dinner would be all appetizers - the brie on crackers with cranberry honey mustard was 'moan-worthy'!  We followed some NCAA basketball games, watched a video from a crazy dance party at the Bono house and had a lot of laughs while cranking out loads of stuff!! Sunday morning came quickly (especially for LA and Lori who stayed up till 2:30)....and here's the show & tell.....


This is an awesome wallhanging Mare made for her brother - it's hard to see, but Lori thread painted the bear and the moose - it looked terrific!


This is an Easter stack-n-whack that Mare made in a class a few years ago at Steve's - beautiful colors!


This is the Consuelo-approved back....


Consuelo machine quilted these two quilts - and got the binding on.....wtf?



An Irish wallhanging - designed and made by LA - love those wonky borders!


A cute baby quilt made by LA - love the baseball diamond....


This is just adorable - another LA original - the cutest panel, cut into squares and made into this quilt.


Lori made these two soldier tunics for the Sacred Heart eighth grade stations of the cross - they are complete with sashes - very cool!!


Another LA original - cute color blocks, with chenille blocks around the center - adding those shapes really makes the whole thing pop.


Lori made these cure little quilts to hang on her rack - one of the spring ones is for her Mom....hope she doesn't read the blog!

March....


She's not sure if she's keeping the pink or purple one for herself!


LA made this cute coins quilt as a raffle item for the benefit for Claire....the colors are fabulous!


I made this 'easy bricks' quilt using a Lucy's crab shack layer cake.


This is a jelly roll called gypsy girl - and the pattern is a suggestion from Dolores....and I still have lots of jelly rolls left - maybe for a piano key border...we'll see....


This pattern is called 'tickets' - and I used a layer cake - still deciding how to quilt it.


A cool string quilt from Dolores - the polka dot fabric is a flannel - naturally. It looks great!


Dolores had gotten this beautiful floral on sale at the Country store on a previous shopping day - the reds really shine...


Should we call Dolores the lady in red? Another stunning string quilt.....


These were blocks that D found while she was packing for the trip - the floral fabric was with them - so she put on the borders and voila - another beauty!


This was something that Mare started a few years ago at Brigantine.....finished just in time for Easter...



Whew.....21 projects ladies! In the space of how many hours? Oy! If the government were half as productive and efficient as us.....we'd be living large!!! What a hoot.......when can we go again?? Thanks for everything.....Lois, Cathy, Peggy and Pam - we missed you. Wishing you all a wonderful Easter if I don't see you before then.....peace.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

One more sleep.....

This time tomorrow......we'll be hitting the road....thank goodness!!! Lois - I hope you are feeling better. If you feel okay in the morning and want to come, just give a call, ok? Happy birthday, a day early, to Mike DiNardo! Enjoy your day.

A thought for the road....



Peeps smores.....delicious or cruel??

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Things we didn't know.....

Seedy underworld of peeps....


Sad......

Monday, March 18, 2013

Happy Birthday,Cathy!!



Have a day that's as nice as you!

love, the mamas

Friday, March 15, 2013

only one week till spending time with my peeps...

Tomorrow, March 16th is national quilting day! Rock on.....

Peace

Monday, March 11, 2013

Monosyllabic Monday

So tired...see you soon.

Nice pic....


Peace....

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Nearly time for the Wearin' of the Green

Getting ready for St. Patrick's Day......I've finished these two Irish projects.....


A double Irish chain quilt for the benefit. I quilted shamrocks in the middle of the white blocks - one is upside down......I left it. I think twas the leprechauns who did it!


A celtic cross for Wally - the maintenance guy at work. This is about 12 inches tall - not as hard as I thought. (the black background is the front of my oven!)


Slainte!

Monday, March 4, 2013

Just another Manic Monday.......

Is that song stuck in your head now? It's in mine....hope everyone had a nice weekend.....did you know that we turn the clocks ahead this coming weekend? And only 18 more days till we hit the road for Lancaster. Once everyone tells me if they're going or not, I can let you know how much it costs. Have you started thinking about what projects to bring?

Hope Dolores is enjoying Disneyworld! I'd love to be somewhere warm right now.

Did you read the Bloggess' post about becoming the next pope......hilarious!! I'm thinking his retirement doesn't involve hawaiian shirts and wrap-around sunglasses.

Has anyone else stopped getting the Joann's flyer in the Sunday paper....I've not gotten it for two weeks now....that's disappointing.

I'll leave you with this thought today....


Peace.....

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Happy March!

Good morning, ladies. Happy March - goodbye February! Spring is coming - yay! We had a nice bee chat on Thursday night. Dolores came bearing gifts - thanks so much! She and Joe and the kids and their 'others' left for Disneyworld at the crack of dawn yesterday...have fun! Cathy and Lori came also - as well as a surprise, quick visit from Consuelo. Cathy is working on beautiful blocks from a Round and  Round pattern from Camille Roskelly. Lori brought the quilts she made from her Dad's clothing for her Mom and her siblings. Cathy and Dolores helped with the quilting - they are terrific!!!






Love the patterns and colors. Nicely done, Lori  - and what a wonderful tribute to your Dad. Hope you all have a lovely weekend....next weekend we turn the clocks ahead and three weeks from right now, we'll be sewing and looking forward to a nice lunch at the Iron Horse.....life is good! Peace....