Baby Pumpkins. . . ?

The original "baby pumpkin." (I'm really embarrassed at my "masterpiece." (???) But aren't they just the cutest! Little witch Jenny and pumpkin Katie. Must have been cold out there! Katie looks pretty well bundled up.
And now for the next generation of "baby pumpkins!" Obviously, Katie is much more the artist than was I when I was making a pumpkin costume for her!

And now I have to tell the rest of the story. Walt has related now about how he had a pumpkin costume when he was a boy and I remember at some point with one of her little ones Jenny also had a pumpkin costume! This is obviously a set-in-stone family tradition. Baby pumpkins for halloween. How adorable is Luna. (You can check out the rest of Katie's pictures of Luna here.)

I Forgot!

I left this one out of the previous post. The two generations together celebrating. What a beautiful family. Congratulations to all!

WEDDINGS--Then and Now

I was rummaging through the photo albums this afternoon and came across these pictures and had to pull them out and post them. They are pictures of Thayne (Walt's brother) and Cathy's wedding long, long time ago (1977?) and seeing as how I was just this afternoon going through the pictures of their daughter, Hayley's wedding a couple weeks ago, I just coulldn't resist putting them together.

Phoebe (Walt and Thayne's mother on the right) attended this wedding. . .
And here are photos of Hayley and new husband, Ganesh, sharing their bites of wedding cake (cupcakes!).

. . . And at age 94 Phoebe also attended this wedding! You go, girl!!!

Show and Tell! WOW!

It's always so much fun whenever we get together for a group work day because the first thing we do is start pulling out all those projects we've been working on since last we gathered and show them off. Yesterday was especially fun! This is Joan's finished top from our last group project day--it's her Christmas fan quilt which she turned into a dresden plate design. She did a great job by adding the green sashing strips--really makes the green in the "plates" pop. Gorgeous! Rich. Very Christmasy.
Let me see--this is Ellen's "garden twist" design that she has turned into a Christmas tablecloth. I love it. It's amazing how we all used the same fabric selection and turned those fabrics into totally different projects. Beautiful.
And this is Ellen's autumn/Thanksgiving table runner. (She has a thing about table runners! She turns them out like crazy!)
Another project using the same set of Christmas fabrics. Drin used them to make the Jacob's Elevator pattern that the rest of us made weeks ago. I think she's glad she waited and used the Christmas motif--it is really gorgeous.
And this was my project for yesterday--done in a day. A Christmas table runner. I wasn't sure I wanted to tacke a "quilt-as-you-go" project, but Ellen helped me get started and it turned out pretty darn good. I will probably make another.

We had a really fun day--and Drin redeemed herself when she brought the best cake ever--the famous Hershey's Chocolate Cake. And with "scratch" 7-minute frosting it was absolutely delicious. Thanks, Drin. You are totally redeemed! So, what are you bringing next week????

Happy 60th Birthday, dear Cathy!!!

I have a dear, special sister-in-law who celebrated her 60th birthday a few days ago. She's one of the few people I know who looooves anything and everything Asian. About a year ago I asked Thayne what were her favorite colors (red, gold, purple) as I knew at some point I wanted to make a quilt for her. So I started collecting Asian fabrics. What fun I've had and I've come to really enjoy and admire Asians--they are stunningly beautiful and the designs are lovely and elegant and flowing. Most Asians are shot with gold thread, so they just glimmer. I have a huge stack of them--more than enough now for several quilts! But I will enjoy working with them and am looking forward to my next Asian project!
So. Make a quilt for Cathy for her 60th birthday. The only problem with that was finding the time to get it done (that is frequently my problem with making quilts these days). Serendipity! The doc gave me "house arrest" so sadly I was unable to attend their daughter's wedding in San Diego. It was the first family wedding to which I was invited that I couldn't go. It was really hard for me as I love weddings--any wedding!--but family weddings especially. So I decided to spend that time that I was missing by making Cathy's quilt! And now it is done, she got it in the mail today, so I can share this beauty with all.
Another serendipity. Cathy loves cranes (frequently used in Asain design) and I just happened to pick a focus fabric for this piece that is made up of cranes. So beautiful. No way do any of these images do justice to these gorgeous fabrics. They are all shot with gold thread (well, gold colored thread!) and the colors are glorious. And the gold fabric is really rich and beautiful. Just doesn't show up here (you can click on the photos to enlarge them).

I think she likes it!!! She called a little while ago so we could talk about. I'm happy that she likes it as I was so pleased with the way it turned out and hoped she would be truly blessed by my gift for her. She is so special and does so very much to make everybody else feel good, so I'm happy to do something special for her.

The only problem is that I wanted something that would be warm and snuggly and she would enjoy curling up in on that odd Phoenix evening that might actually be a little cool. It's not soft and snuggly, but oh well--guess I can't have everything! (Anyone out there hoping for an Asian quilt???)

Now, the fun thing was that I went to the post office on Saturday to send this off to her and got a box in the mail from her! She sent me a "wedding" box chockfull of all the wedding favors and guest gifts that they used for Hayley's wedding! How fun. The fabric they found to decorate the reception tables is absolutely stunning and she sent me a couple of those. I have them on my table and am especially enjoying them. (I have a thing about beautiful fabric!!!) I know the wedding was lovely and I can hardly wait to see the photos.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CATHY!!! And many more!