Kept In Stitches

Rise of the Jack-O-Lanterns

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November 2, 2014

To close out Halloween, tonight my partner and I went to “Rise of the Jack-O-Lanterns” with some friends. It was an incredible experience…a 45-minute walk through Descanso Gardens with thousands of carved pumpkins. Video games, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Dinosaurs…you name it, they had it made from carved pumpkins. Definitely, something to keep in mind for next year! Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween!

Expert pumpkin carvers were giving a demonstration

The tree was COVERED with small, carved pumpkins

Pumpkin dinosaurs!

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

I hope we will see them next year!

Happy Halloween!

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November 1, 2014

Today, we’re recovering from my annual Halloween Event. It was a lot of work, and a lot of fun. Things got a cut a little short by a bit or rain, but we still had about 260 trick-or-treaters last night. Now, it just needs to be put away until next year…Hope you all had a “wicked” good evening!

Halloween is almost here

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October 29, 2014

Every year my parter and I set-up a haunted-yard display. I spent the entire afternoon getting all the stuff out of the garage. The décor will go up on Friday just in time for all the little monsters…in the past we’ve had around 300 trick-or-treaters. Who knows what will happen Friday. This is just a tease for now and I will post more pictures as the Witching Hour arrives.

Halloween Prep

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October 26, 2014

My partner and I have been spending the day making a treat bag for Halloween…you never know when you might get some treats! Keep an eye out for what we have planned for Halloween…

VMQG Modern Meet-Up

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October 22, 2014

This last Saturday was Ventura Modern Quilt Guilds first “Modern Meet-Up”. It took several months of planning and many headaches, but I think the event was wonderful. A huge thank you to all who made this day a big success. The door prizes were incredible and everyone went home with at least 2 prizes. Planning has already begun for the next ‘Meet-Up’, in April. The day was highlighted by the debut of the guilds first opportunity quilt. Tickets for the quilt are to be printed soon and then the sales will begin. The quilt is awesome and Georgeanna Hawley did a superior job quilting it. Thanks again to everyone for helping to make the event a success, and we’ll see you again soon!

Have Hexies, Will Travel

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October 6, 2014

On a daily basis I see other peoples blogs and the projects they have posted. I keep saving many posts to my favorites list with the best of intentions of making that particular project. There are just not enough hours in the day. Looking back over the favorites list, I was thinking which one do I wanted to make first…LOL…all of them! My friend JJ from Kentucky, sends me a links to projects that he likes. The other day he turned me on to The Zen of Making. They have some great tutorials on the site and I had to make this travel case. Once again Tim Holtz fabrics appear in my projects. I’m Hexed!

Hexie Travel Case

Quiltfest Oasis, Palm Springs

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October 4, 2014

My partner, Greg, and I went on a little day trip today to Palm Springs for the Quiltfest Oasis…of course, it was the hottest day of the year! But, at least the Palm Springs Convention Center was air conditioned. We had a wonderful time, taking in all the inspiration…and, doing some shopping. We can’t wait until the show next year…hopefully, it will be a bit cooler!

Diamonds and Triangles, Pat Yamin

Self Portrait, Kate Themel

Beyond the Mountains, the Small Town Story, Misik Kim

Tumuli, Kate Dowty

Pebble Beach, Janet McCallum

Waves, Nery Sharir

Spring is Here, Gisha Wogier

Under the Boardwalk, Nancy King

Tholian Web, Nancy King

Contoured Pixel Magic, Tammie Bowser

Convergence, Darlynne Evans

Purse Palooza 2014

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October 2, 2014

I am so thrilled to be a part of Sara Lawson’s blog this week. She is featuring bag/purse patterns made by different people in the sewing community. For her blog, I made a bag from McCalls Pattern 5828. It was so much fun to make and I’m proud to be on her blog. If you haven’t visited sewsweetness.com, it’s time you did. She has some amazing stuff lined up…check it out!

Strawberry Banana Cheesecake Salad

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October 1, 2014

I do realize that this may look a little ‘low-brow’….but, it sure is good! Try it…it’s easy and I’m sure you’ll like it.

I know it looks a bit messy, but it tastes AWESOME!

Stir together:
1 bag of miniature marshmallows
16 oz of vanilla yogurt…
1 regular size tub of cool whip
1 package of no bake cheese cake filling

Stir in
1-2 containers of sliced up strawberries
3-4 sliced up bananas

Other fruits can be substituted or added as desired

Best served chilled and same day due to banana discoloration.

Sew-In Saturday

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September 29, 2014

This past Saturday several members of the Ventura Modern Quilt Guild got together for a group sew at Superbuzzy in Ventura, California. I really loved seeing the amazing projects the members are working on…so much talent within this creative group of people. I even managed to get a huge amount of work accomplished for my current project. Georganna Hawley, an amazing long arm quilter (and, she makes some pretty incredible quilts, too) finished the quilting on Ventura Modern Quilt Guild’s first opportunity quilt. I need to put a hanging sleeve on the back and add the binding. The quilting on this quilt is so wonderful…..I will be buying my share of the tickets in hopes of it finding a new home with me. I will add more photos of the quilt later.