'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving....

...and all through the house, not a creature was stirring....except Liz and Beth, who were stirring like crazy in the KITCHEN!  Yes, Thanksgiving Eve is upon us and we've been cookin' up a storm.  Lots of family heading over to Beth's house tomorrow for the main turkey event.  But we kicked off the week with a little down time in Show Low, AZ with Gina Halladay and family!  How fun was that?

Here's Gina and hubby Hal in the kitchen whipping up some yummy hot dip they 

lovingly call....Throwup Dip!  

Very appetizing, no?  Sorry, I don't have the recipe to post here, but it's got LOTS of Velveeta...

This morning, while we were still up at the cabin (and everyone was chowing down on the Pumpkin Bread I'd made the night before....) We whipped up some yummy Carrot Cake Jam!  

Thinkin' this will be JUST the thing for the homemade rolls tomorrow.  

I found this recipe in the Gooseberry Patch Christmas book which has LOTS of great stuff for the Holidays.  But if you don't have the book, I found the recipe online, just click Carrot Cake Jam.

When we got back to Tucson this evening, it was time to start some PRE-holiday baking!

First, we got the pies done....these are Chocolate Pecan pies.  

Y-U-M!

Then it was time for APPLE SLAB PIE! 

Another name for GIANT apple pie with like FOUR times the crust.

Out of the oven and properly glazed!

While the pies were baking and their yummy aroma wafted through the kitchen....

I mixed up THREE double batches of my family's MOST sacred Thanksgiving Day tradition.

THE ROLLS.

Period.  That's all there is to say.  Without THESE particular rolls, there IS no Thanksgiving!  It's the most delicious refrigerator roll recipe passed down to all of us by my Mom. 

I'll post a pic of the finished roll in all its glory tomorrow when they're fresh and buttery out of the oven.

But for now folks....it's time for BED!

Wishing you all the Happiest of Thanksgiving days.

GOBBLE, GOBBLE!

Over the River and Thru the Woods....

Or...on the airplane, over half the states!  Headin' out to Tucson today.  You know, cuz Beth and I haven't seen enough of each other!  LOL!  It's going to be a whirlwind week with a designing blitz AND Thanksgiving thrown into the mix.  But it's gonna be fun, fun, FUN!

Been a little silent this week on the blogfront....sorry!  Getting ready for my trip, helping my senior son get his applications in for 8 different schools, choosing senior pics (which totally crack me up...seriously, do I look old enough to have an 18 year old??  Don't answer that....), throw in a trip to NYC and all the LAUNDRY that had to be done before packing....and WHEW, I'm already worn OUT!

But here's what else I've been up to, you know, in my spare time...

Yep!  I made the Amy Butler clutch from her new book I showed you the other day!

I even put in a zipper.  Pat me on the back, would ya??

Cute or WHAT???  I think I'm going to jazz it up with some beading, perfect for all the upcoming Holiday parties I've got going on!

Last Saturday when I was at Byrne's Sewing Connection in Doylestown, PA for their shop hop, I noticed THIS cute little piece hanging on the wall.  It's Pat Sloan's Meadow Breeze BOM!  

This one was done by Joyce Hughes, who will be teaching a class on how to "thread paint" with 

FABULOUS Aurifil thread! Seriously, I've seen Pat's Meadow Breeze before, but NOT quite like this!  It was stunning!

And lastly...when we get home from Tucson, look what will be waiting for us...

I know it doesn't look like it HERE, but this baby is FIFTEEN FEET TALL!  Yes.  15.  

My dear hubby is ecstatic about it.  He's already planning on how to get the star on the 

top...I will have the video camera at the ready for this big event, you can COUNT on it!

Meanwhile,  have a listen to my daughter Sienna's cute boyfriend....

he dedicated this one JUST for me! (been buggin' him to sing it!)

He says he may try out for American Idol next year, tell me if you think he has a chance!

(we're a little biased....)

Get READY...Get SET.....and BLOG HOP!!!

WOOOOT WOOOT!!!  We're joining in our FIRST blog hop EVER!  With a BUNCH of 

fellow Henry Glass Fabric designers.  It's going to be 

FUN!!!

SERIOUSLY. It's going to be like a huge ongoing GAME for SEVEN whole days.....we're talking FREE PROJECTS and PRIZES....what could be better than that?   We'll

be explaining how it all works in detail when we get closer to the kick-off date, but we want you

to MARK YOUR CALENDARS NOW!  

You know, before Thanksgiving hits and we all become comatose with turkey and pie.

Check out the list of designer participants we have on the right of our blog.  Start reading their blogs too, so you can anticipate all the fun STUFF they'll be doing for the hop!  Are ya READY?

MEANWHILE....I'm going to enjoy my LAST full tree of gorgeous leaves...

Get into the Holiday spirit by baking some yummy treats!  

I found this recipe on The Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen site, it's called: 

Pumpkin Butterscotch Nutella Bread

How can a person NOT bake that baby???

(BTW...I baked it last night.  There was only a 1/4 loaf left when I got up this morning....

kids had it for breakfast AND packed it in their lunches!)

Also on Tasty Kitchen I found Pumpkin Oatmeal, which sounded soooo yummy!  

But I had to add a few choco-chips to the mix.  

Hey, choco is GOOD for you, remember???

Now back to the sewing machine for a bit while I try to make some of those bags I showed you yesterday.  Wish me luck!

Or....maybe I'll go see what ELSE is cooking up at the Tasty Kitchen.....

Fun Books from Market/Festival

I'll admit, sometimes when I get home from a trip my suitcase can sit unpacked for a coupla days.  Especially if there's nothing in there I really need (like dirty clothes....).  Honestly, am I alone here?  You know, you crack that baby open only long enough to grab your toothbrush and toiletry kit and then try to ignore it until one day you find yourself wondering if you can fit into your daughter's underwear just to eke out ONE more day of NOT unpacking????!  Well, this time, I couldn't WAIT to unpack my bags from Houston because....oh boy, I brought home some TREASURES!   And I wanted to share them with my girls.  So while the laundry was happily spinning in the washing machine, filling the house with the scent of fresh lavender (gotta love that Tide!), I sat down with my daughters and flipped through the pages of these lovely books I brought back from market.  Check out my finds....

First...a whole book full of Amy Butler bags!

We decided I needed to try to make THIS little clutch for some upcoming dressy events I have to attend.

But, uh, it requires a zipper.  YIKES!

It comes it 3 different sizes...I think I might try the smallest!

(my daughter may have to do the zipper tho...)

Next was this ADORABLE book by Amy Barickman of Indygo Junction

This is one you'll want to SIT and READ!  It's decked out with vintage pics, 

needlework, sewing, cooking, fashion...etc.  Just look at this cute little peek inside....

Then I HAD to get Kay Whitt's new book, Sew Serendipity! 

(if you'll remember, Kay got the special People's Choice Award for "Cutest Texan"!)

My daughter likes to make clothing and LOVES that Kay autographed this book to her!  

She'd like to make this cute wool coat FIRST...nothing like jumpin' right in there, huh?

I also got Kay's "Media Frenzy" book.  It has all sorts of fun bag patterns!

Personally, I'd like to make the little wallet right there in the bottom right-hand corner.

They were SO cute!

So I swung by Jo-Ann's yesterday and bought me all sorts of fusible interfacings and stabilizers, 

in preparation for my bag making fest! 

Even got myself a zipper (or two).....

Houston Festival - Day 4 (a few days later!)

So I had EVERY intention of writing this post before leaving Houston....but, uh, that obviously didn't happen!  Sunday was a long day.  Wait, have I said that for EVERY day in Houston?  I think maybe.  And we even had an extra hour of sleep Saturday night with the time change! Didn't feel like it though.  I think when we enter Houston, we enter some sort of time warp.  So Sunday was the day our booth went from this...

To this....

And this....

Then yesterday...it came full circle back to here...

Beth's garage!  I got this pic in a text from her....I think it said, 

"Dang, now I have to do laundry!"

(she also threw her suitcases on the truck!)

However, BEFORE all that happened....we actually got to the convention center early enough to walk through the quilt exhibit.  This was TRULY a treat as we never seem to have the time to do just that.  If you look to the right of the blog, you'll see a link to our flickr group where we've uploaded all our fav's.  It's ALMOST like being there!  Here are a few to entice you to go take a look....

Look at those appliqued circles!!!  LOVED IT!

And poppies....I found POPPIES!  I think I need to try this...looks JUST like one of my watercolors.  It got an award for the quilting...which was amazing!

Coulda stared at this forever and STILL not seen everything in it....

This one reminded me of art school, when we had to draw our shoes EVERYWHERE!  I chose a pair of laced up boots I had, and let me tell you, was I ever sick of drawing those babies....never even occured to me to make it into a quilt.  Maybe I need to pull out my OTHER art school drawings, see which one's should become a quilt!

Need I say anything about this one?  Who doesn't LOVE to accessorize?  

Took this pic for my kids.  I can't even imagine making a story quilt like this.  It was gorgeous. 

(and yes, there are poppies!)

LOTS more fabulous pics to see on our Flickr page....go have a tour and tell us which is your favorite!  Meanwhile, we're going to try to overcome our Houston exhaustion and get back to the grind.  We have SOOOO much fun stuff we need to pump out and share with you all.

Stay tuned....

Quilt Festival--Day 3

Oooh boy...we've been in Houston a long time. Halloween feels like FOREVER ago, was it seriously only last week?! Here's a little glimpse of our Day 3 here at Festival. We're gonna skip day 2 altogether....if you're a fan of ours on facebook, you know why. We managed to shake it off, believe in karma and move on. Cuz we gotz ta keep laughin' and smilin'....life's too short to be cranky!

So here goes....



A full crowded booth ALWAYS makes us happy!



Visits from GREAT fans are PRICELESS! Here's our good friend Maggie. She's come to see us every year since we met her in Long Beach three years ago. Is she WHIMSICAL or WHAT?!



We had Maddy come by and model our laminate rain gear...is she cute as a button?!



We got to sign a block for a quilt that will be hung next year in the Colorado State Capital building! (had to whimsify it of course...)



Joyce Stemple, who bought some Whimsyland fabric from us the day before, brought in a block she made in her morning class! Free form stars...isn't it cool?!



In line for lunch...



Figured out that the potties by the food court had no wait lines!



A gross close-up of our lunch...another loaded potato 'cuz they were outta sandwiches (after we waited in line for 10 mins...)



FINALLY got to meet Clare O'Donohue, the fabulous author of the Someday Quilts Mystery series! That was a highlight...I know, hard to believe after seeing our lunch....



BREAK TIME....!



And I found our Lizzie B uniforms for the next show.

Ya think?!