Whine and did I mention, more wine!

Cheers!

At the end of September, Heather and I took a field trip to one of our favorite hangouts - NAPA, California. I went for a Western Aerosol Conference (of which I am a Board member) and Heather came along for the ride.

We started our journey visiting the Mendocino County Fair - the object was to go to the Wool and Sheep Festival being held at the Fair. As you all know, my Heather is a weaver and spinner and her eyes were set on the wool judging contest. Of course, she had just spent money on fleeces, so she was going for the experience - not to buy! (HAHAHA). The wool judging was an eye opener for me....I didn't know there were so many different varieties of sheep or so many variations in the wool. If you follow Heather's blog - you will see all the different fleeces she is experimenting with. Amazing! She is also selling her homespun in her Etsy store....check it out!

We stayed in the little town of Ukiah and found a fabulous bistro and wine bar called Patronas. www.patronarestaurant.com It was so good, we went there twice!

While we were at the Fair, I bought Heather an old fashioned spinning wheel...it was lovely and looked just like an old spinning wheel should! It has joined her other spinning wheels in her small house in Redwood City, CA. This picture is the wheel's restorer showing Heather how to thread it. What fun we had!!!

Found a new favorite winery. www.robertsinskey.com The wines are fabulous, the tasting the best we have come across and the winery is also organically grown. It's an exclusive and lovely winery....do make it a point to stop there on your next trip to Napa. I know we will!

What can I say except that the wine and the company were extraordinary. The whole town of Napa smells like grapes during the harvest. It truly is an amazing experience - and lots of fun sharing it with someone who enjoys it as much as I do! Pictured are some tame koi that grace the entrance to the the Sinskey Winery.

We also went to our last year's favorite winery - Rubicon - for their harvest party. This is a lovely old winery and a must to stop at and sip some delicious Cabs. www.rubiconestate.com The party was fun - even those pigs rotating on spits were awesome!!! It's a little pricey, but well worth it - great ambiance and excellent wines.

Finally, I attended the Convention and had a very educational full day. Heather stayed in the room and spinned (or spun)??? She also got in a days work as well - she can work from her laptop or in the office. That evening we went to a local winery for dinner! It was a beautiful Winery - with tasting, art and a wonderful meal in the caves. Quite enjoyable, but those caves do reverberate with noise when there are alot of people enjoying themselves all talking at one time! www.clospegase.com

All in all, a good time was had by all - and we can't wait to head to Napa again next year. Hopefully we will have a girl's weekend and Abby will be able to join us. Of course, the new mother Shari, will be home with her hands full with her son-to-be, Logan Ryan Musselman!!!

It's Christmas Time in August!

I have FINALLY sat down to do some quilting. My goal is to get this small Christmas quilt done and quilted before the holiday. I had started this quilt in Las Vegas - but once I moved to Chicago all quilting came to an abrupt halt! I don't have any of my quilting buddies to prod me on - so nothing at all got done. I have a small room in the apartment that houses my office and I have sat it up to be a hobby room as well. Hopefully I will get to Joann's today so I can get some additional lighting, it is dark in this room. With my old eyes - I need lots of light. I do have a peeping Tom watching what I am doing.....

These are some pictures of the craft/hobby/office room. You will see that there isn't much space, but room enough to do some serious quilting. Lots of projects and lots of stuff....but it is so much more fun when you have someone (other than the Peeping Tom) working with you. I miss my friend Mary - especially when I come across something I don't know how to handle!!!

Abby will have her hands full getting the quilting done on all these projects so I think I will send some of the work out to Mary so she can make lots of money! She'll need it to go to all of the art exhibits her husband Richard is going to this year!!!!

I still have a quilt to make for my daughter-in-law Angel, lots for me and lots of wall hangings so I have quilts to give to all my kids. There's enough work here for me to quilt until I'm 100 years old. And ... I want more. Heather, I think that this might be where you got your love of lots of "stuff".... never enough wool - never enough quilt projects.

Hopefully - now that I'm back in the groove, there will be more posts. By the way - today is my sister Regina's birthday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY REGINA, LOVE YOU!!!

Audrey and Jigalo

Several weeks ago, Jamie, Shari and Audrey (plus Granny) went to watch Abby at a Regional Horse Show in Waukesha. Thatch was also there being the "husband/groom" - a position in which he excels!

When we got to the show, Audrey was a little nervous around the horses. The last time we took her to see Jigalo, she was quite frightened. She is a little girl and he is a BIG horse! In the grand scheme of things, Jigalo is an average sized horse, but to a three year old - a GIANT.

We encouraged her to go into Jiggy's stall and brush him while he was tied up and tired from his dressage class. Audrey took a brush and very gently gave him a quick swipe on his side. When he turned to look at her, she dashed out of his stall. A little later, she wanted to go back into Jigala's stall (she calls him Jigala - his name is Jigalo)! She braved feeding him a carrot - of course Abby's hand was close by in case the big teeth crunched fingers instead of carrots. He really does love his carrots.

Finally she said she wanted to ride Jigala. We couldn't believe she was brave enough to get on his back but she had been watching the other people ride all day - and her confidence in Jigalo's quiet nature was high. Abby put her on Jiggy's back in his stall and she sat on there for a few minutes. You had to see the big smile on her face. She was scared to death, but quite proud of herself.


Later, we took her outside and let Jigalo walk around with her on his back. She had her "spotters" on each side to keep her safe. If she got a little off balance, Jigalo would stop in his tracks. That's how you can tell when you have a good horse, if he knows his rider is uncomfortable or off balance, he stops instead of runs away.

Abby and I are ready for her to go to horse shows....but her mother and father are not quite as anxious. They see dollar bills flying out the window! But Abby and I will persevere - we'll have her in a leadline class in no time!!!

By the way - Abby and Jigalo won a Regional Championship in a Training Level 4 dressage test. We were all proud of that team! However, they couldn't have done it without the husband/groom and his support.

Abby's Stamp Camp

My daughter Abby is a Stampin' Up demonstrator! She took over the realm when I moved out to Las Vegas. Several weeks ago, I went up to WI to help her out with her first stamp camp! What fun we had getting ready. Of course, having a stamp camp is supposed to be all about creativity - but in our case, it was all about cleaning the house beforehand. Not only did we clean, we planted flowers too! But it was worth it as everything looked very nice when we were done. Also, Abby made snacks using her Tastefully Simple supplies and veggies (the best beer bread)!

Abby had four friends come for an afternoon of stamping and laughing. That's what stamping is all about - the camaradarie (sp?) of friends having fun and going home with beautiful handmade items for their use. Everything was laid out and ready when her guests arrived. We really enjoyed ourselves! We made six cards which we decided was two cards to many. We ran out of steam before all the projects were done.

Thatch came home that weekend and I spent the night with them. All in all, it was a wonderful weekend and we can't wait to do it again. Next time though - we will have the projects done well before the night before the Camp!

Thanks girls for coming - lets do it again soon!

Josh's Day

Can you imagine, the baby of the family has graduated! He looked sharp in his cap and gown - we were all SO proud of him! The graduation was from Northern Illinois University and he graduated with honors. From there, he will head to Houston for his job at a software company based there. We will miss him, but we are quite excited for him as well!

Audrey and Shari spent the weekend with us. We had dinner Saturday night at Olive Garden in McHenry, IL will Abby, Thatch, Shari, Audrey, Josh, Angel, Mike and myself. A good time was had by all - it was a joint mother's day and graduation celebration! Audrey is quite the pistol. She is so sweet one minute and meaner than a rattlesnake another!

We didn't get a chance to do any of our crafts this weekend - but we did watch Twilight and thoroughly enjoyed it! Last night, Mike and I watched Nights in Rodanthe.....a good move, but a real tear jerker! Oh well, cleaned out the old tear ducts - you need to do that every once in a while.

I'm BAAAACCCK!!!!

Well, finally things have settled down somewhat. This is a picture out my apartment window! Aren't the babies cute. Chewy wanted to eat one of the babies, but I told him he did NOT want to wrestle with a Canadian Goose mad momma!

This is a picture of Mike with his newest nephew. We were at Sharon and Spencer's wedding reception in San Diego and Barry, Margo, Yarome, Orly and Elad (sp?) were there visiting. It was a beautiful day.

I found three quilt stores within a fifteen mile radius of where I live! Went to one yesterday and found some awesome wine fabric...Heather, that's for you and me! Pictures to follow! I will tour the other two in a few days - need to accrue some money to visit!

Last night I went to a stamp camp that my friend Lisa had. We made some awesome cards and I remember why I like stamping so much. Abby, you will have to get that Big Shot....it opens up a whole new world!

New horse in the family - his name is Marco. So now we have Marco and Proteus. Both horses are beautiful and we really hope to have some fun showing them. One of them will be Abby's new show horse - we just aren't sure which one yet. Marco won't be trained till the winter so we are not sure of his abilities - but he sure is beautiful. Pictures will follow.

Mary and Sandy, if you are out there reading this - I miss you both!

Ups and Downs

It's been a long weekend. Poor Ernie is so sick....some days I think it will be his last and other days he acts like a puppy. Today was a puppy day - yesterday was a bad day. My poor kids call and don't know whether I will be laughing or crying. One particularly bad day Abby sent me some cheery flowers - it made me feel much better! Who wouldn't be happy with such a smiley face and flowers!

Today was an arts and crafts day. I spent most of the morning working on the bright colored quilt. It is still not my favorite, so I made it about the size of a table and will use it as a picnic table cloth. Once it is done, I'll take a picture of it.

This afternoon, I went to my friend Richard Bailey's art open house. We did some painting of flowers and played around with color all afternoon. Of course, there was wine and cheese - the wine to make us more creative!!! Tomorrow I head over there to take a lesson with Richard. We're going to experiment with different mediums and he will show me the Bob Ross method of painting.

Once home, I decided to work a little on my newest quilt. It is using 30's fabric and I found the pattern in a quilting magazine that I get. I thought it would be different than what I usually do, and would look nice on the bed at our new apartment! These are pictures of some of the nine patches that I did. They aren't sewed together as the pattern is different than the picture to the right.

I sure do miss Mike, Shari, Audrey and Jamie. It's very quiet out here without them. Can't wait to head back to the Chicagoland area. We have a small apartment in Arlington Heights....will be quite something to go from 2,000 square feet to 900 sf. Can't wait to see all my friends and Audrey again!

The castle.....

Audrey was happy that we finally were off to the castle....(the Excaliber). She has been wanting to go for a long time! We started at NYNY and then moved onto the tram to the Mandalay Bay. We rode the tram back and forth about 12 times. One of the few free rides in Vegas! This is a picture of her mommy and her on the tram....

We went to the M&M store, the MGM Lion Habitat, the Titanic exhibit at the Luxor and back and forth, back and forth, back and forth on the tram from the Excaliber to the Mandalay Bay.

All in all, it was a fun day - and we had one tired, grouchy baby when we left the Strip. She wanted to stay at the castle, because, after all - she is a princess!

Countdown.....

It's been a rough couple of weeks around this house. Ernie (my 15 year old Yorkie) has been diagnosed with diabetes and it is so hard to make the decision on how to treat him. We have decided that as long as he feels ok, we will not euthanize him. Yesterday he started on insulin and he seemed to feel much better today. However, he IS 15 years old, and whatever is causing the diabetes will not likely get better. So we take each day at a time, and enjoy him while we have him.


Chewbacca will not know what to do with himself without Ernest. He has been low dog on the totem pole all his life, he even lets the cats bully him around. However, no more dogs for us....the cats are much easier to care for - especially since Mike and I travel so much.


In line with all that's happening, I started working on an angel quilt. I hope that this will give me some of the extra strength I need to handle Ernie, Mike being in Chicago and Shari and the baby leaving next week. If that doesn't work, there is always pills!


This is a picture of my latest "angel". She's a garden angel and I really enjoyed making her. There are twelve of them to make and then they go together in a quilt! It's alot of fun adding accessories to her clothing. The flowers and bees are buttons and her shoes have little black beads on them! I'll post the new ones as they come!


Shari and Audrey leave on Thursday. I"ll miss that baby (and her mother) but can't wait for them to get back together as a family. It's been too long apart for all of them. Mike will come home on Thursday and then, if Ernie is OK, we will head to Scottsdale for a much needed vacation. We're going to cheer Proteus on in his first horse show. Pictures will follow!

Monday, Monday

Well, it started out kinda slow. Didn't wake up till it was time to take Audrey to day care, so late we were. Saw a dead cat on the way to day care, so I knew it was going to be a challenging day.


It was, of course, a typical Monday....worked like a demon getting my eStyle books and records ready for the new year. We had our storage unit broken into and all my business records were stolen so 2008 will be the only records I have. Bad news. Hopefully business will start to pick up - right now we are very slow. This evening we threw out the couch Audrey has been sleeping in. She will sleep with her mother until it is time for her to go back to Indiana (which should be within the next three weeks). The good news is that in removing the couch (garbage), we made room to set up my quilting table. Until I can afford a new table, this will work for me.

Mike leaves for his new job in Illinois next week. I can't wait till I can join him back in the midwest. In the meantime, I'll let him contend with the ice and snow! I'll stay in sunny Las Vegas!

January.....

Today was a lazy Sunday. Spent most of the morning working on a January wall-hanging. This is a series that has a hanging for every month. Since I have a spot in my living room to hang quilts, I thought this would be fun! Molly is supervising - she had to get in the picture! I still need to quilt it and put the backing on it - then it will be ready to hang!

Later in the day Shari and I went to the Christmas Goose. The Goose is my favorite quilt store in Las Vegas. I love the people that own it and my friend Mary and I spend an awful lot of time (and money) there! Mary is my best Las Vegas friend and one of the main reasons I quilt as well as I do! She is a phenomenal quilter and shares her knowledge freely!

Shari worked on a table runner for her new apartment. She is almost finished, but has to put on the binding and backing.

I got a small purse that hangs on a belt - that is my next small project. I cut the fabric, but either I'm dyslexic or crazy - the directions make NO sense to me at all. Pitiful really!!! I also have the February wall-hanging to get started on as well as a new project on ANGELS to work on for one or both of my Angels (Josh's fiancee and Joe's wife). All in all, a productive day!

Go Giants Go!!!

While not a big football fan, Shari and I spent the day working on my son Joe's Holiday quilt. Of course, it has a New York Giants theme. It's a BQ quilt - I made the same one for my grandson Joey - his had a fish theme. If you want to make a quilt in a day, this is the one for you. Of course, it is really a twin size or lap quilt. On Monday, it will go to Abby's house for quilting. Tomorrow I will go to the Christmas Goose to make a pillowcase to go with it! It was fun and easy - and I can just see Joe sitting on his couch watching the football game with this and Weenie dog in his lap.

It took Shari and me about 9 hours to make the quilt and we have one little problem that we have to fix - if we can't, then Abby will do it for us! We still have a problem with our seams not always coming together....when the quilt gets heavy it pulls the bottom layer out. We don't always catch it and it leaves a gap in the quilt. Hopefully we will get better and better and this won't be a problem!

Tomorrow Shari will work on her quilt as she only has a couple of months to finish it. She doesn't get a chance to work on it every day and hers will be a large queen sized quilt.

Now off to bed with a good book - or should I say The Good Book. I am reading the Bible from cover to cover and I'm in 1 Kings. Sometimes its fast reading and sometimes slow - right now, SLOW.