Retirement

It was supposed to be the happiest day of my life, but once my Frontier friends starting bringing in all the delicious food and saying their good-byes, it started to change. Then when all the final hugging started, the tears came!    What the heck... Who knew it would be so darn hard.  After 17 years of working at the airport in Denver, I checked in my last young man to Chicago today. My co-workers and some passengers in line all shouted Goodbye Joan at the same time, and my day was over.  Yep, and those darn tears started again.

I can't begin to tell you, as tough as the job was some days, my co-workers made it all worthwhile in the end, and I will truly miss them.

Ann Marie was so kind, she bought me the bestest gift ever!

The mini quilts that her family made, and the 9-11 Quilt book will hold a very special place in my heart forever!

I do love you guys, and will truly miss you.

On to write the next chapter of my life now...
And wipe the mascara off my face!

:-)

ARRRRGH!!!!

I was so dancing in delight with my Hummers Storm quilt, when an eagle eyed quilter discovered a big boo-boo in my piecing.

What???  It just can't be...

The top photo us correct!

But

If you notice on the bottom photo

Top right hand corner...

My Storm at Sea block turned into a Monkey Wrench!

Glory Bee, just how did that happen? I was so careful when I was piecing.

Oh yeah it's all coming back to me now...

This was done to show just how easy it is to change up a block and get a totally different look. It's a teaching quilt. That's my story and I am stickin to it.

Design element I say - design element!

Jeez oh Petey,  what an idiot I am!

:-)

Some days you gotta take the good with the not so good.

On to the next project.

:-)

Hummers Storm

Oh Boy, oh boy!!  I actually got some quality stitchin time in lately. While reading thru all my blogging friends posts a few months back, I stumbled across this wonderful pattern for a Hummer's Storm Quilt, and I knew I had to have it.

I was never much of a paper piecing fan, but a class with a great instructor, changed all that for me. Nothing beats the precise-ness of paper piecing!


You too can find your very own copy over at Cherry Blossom Quilting Studio
click HERE for the link.  Now don't forget to give Cherry a big ole thanks. She has shared some fabulous patterns with us!

  Note: My quilt is done just as the pattern shows, and I bought 4 yards of each of my 2 main fabrics. I have about a yard of the pink leftover, and scraps of the blue. The green "odd man out" block and the border were out of my stash. If that helps you with yardages at all!  Now I also have to tell you, I have become a huge Thermore Batting fan. It's a Hobbs Ultra Thin Polyester batting that I have long come to love in wall hangings, because it quilts perfectly flat. I have not used it in a big quilt before, but WOW, it did a fantastic, and it makes for a very nice summer weight quilt! A queen size bat is about $20 and if you use your JoAnn's coupons you can get it at half price, quite the bargain!

Now, after looking at this photo, I think I need to focus on weeding for awhile!
:-(  Yuck!!  Just why is it, that weeds seem to flourish in my yard, when grass struggles?  Gheez...life is not fair!!!

Table Toppers

Madame Samm is having a table topper blog hop, and I had hoped to be able to play, but "time" just wasn't there for me this go round. I decided not to participate, but I do have a couple to share with you.

What would Easter be without those wonderful peeps!

This one speaks to my soul! 

Kind of explains a lot doesn't it?

:-)

I, for one have enjoyed seeing what everyone else has done, and I am so inspired!
        With retirement is just a couple of weeks away.
        I see some quality quilting time in my very near future!!
                    Now I have loads of inspiration!
                                                     
                                     Yippee!!
So if you haven't already seen the goings on, be sure to check out the Table Topper blog hop, click HERE for the schedule. Be sure to tell Madame Samm hello for me!  :-)

PIF finally

Pay it Forward. Remember me volunteering to do that. You know the thing I had a year to complete. Now, just where the heck did that year go?????  I had the idea, and had the fabrics, then something horrible must have swallowed em all up in my sewing room, because it vanished!  Can you imagine?

So I went for that bakers dozen idea. 13 months, after all it's close to a year now isn't it?

Last week I mailed off my 2 packages (finally). Paul and Lynne, I sure didn't mean for this much time to go by, but I hope you both enjoy your little surprise.

You know with all my trivet tuxedos, I just had to come up with a special trivet for you. When I stumbled across this fun pattern from Ami Simms.

That's Amore!

(Click HERE for the link)

I knew I was on to something.

 This little guy made his way into the mix too.

After all, he fits right in.

So to round out the package, I added all the fixin's to make their very own pizzas. Nothing beats prepackaged pizza crusts, when your in a hurry!

 I hope you two enjoy. On pizza night throw in a beer or two for me. I just couldn't figure out how to ship them along too. 

Sorry!

:-)