Turky Day Adventures!

Well, it never fails to amaze me how quickly Thanksgiving comes and goes. I love Thanksgiving but, in my family, there is always some crazy adventure disguised as a mishap that takes place on this holiday.

One year my sister Jacqui and her daughter and granddaughter where visiting from southern California. It’s an 8 hour drive from NorCal to SoCal, so it might as well be visiting another state. I was excited for their visit and planned for weeks. I bought the best turkey with all the trimmings. I decorated the table with my hand painted turkey bowls that I made years ago in my Martha Steward phase. I was set to be the hostess with the mostest on this Turkey Day morning. We leisurely had breakfast as I got my large beautiful bird out of the frig and started to prep it for the big dinner of the day. As I removed the wrapper, I noticed a strong smell coming from the turkey. That couldn't be. I kept talking to my sister as I washed it and realized this smell was not going away. I very calmly asked my sis to take a whiff of the bird and tell me what she thought. The look on her face was all I needed to know: we had a rotten old bird. Tom was past his prime. Way past.

What do we do now? After we got done laughing, I had an idea. What would the pilgrims do? We would just go and find another turkey. So we triple wrapped Tommy and threw him in the back of the car. I was not about to put old stinky in my trash can.

Our first job was to get rid of the evidence. So my niece, Kara, and I went back to the store where I first laid eyes on this bad bird. Maybe they would be open and we could exchange him. Of course, the store was closed so we properly deposited Tom in the large dumpster behind the store.

He hit the bottom of the dumpster with a loud thud. I jumped back into the car and raced away with my tires squealing. I felt like we had just dumped a dead body and where peeling out in the getaway car. We laughed and laughed.

Then I realized we had nothing for dinner. We had to find a store open and see what we could find. Maybe a deli counter and we could at least get some sliced turkey breast.

Finally, we found a Safeway store open. Hooray!! We hurried to the turkey case to find all the turkeys frozen hard as rocks. I was not going to let this mishap defeat me. Plus, I had the adoring eyes of my 18 year old niece watching me. OK, to the deli counter we went. As we perused the cold cuts, I saw what looked to me like a large turkey breast and promptly told the counter girl to wrap it up. She informed me it was $35. We took the whole thing. I was thinking this is going to be great. I will slice it up and pour my homemade gravy over it.

Yes, this is turning out great. Aunt Mindy has saved the day again!

When we got home, to the cheer of my family, I was feeling a lot better.

We prepared the rest of the side dishes and watched a little football, all waiting for our delicious meal. I sliced the meat and laid it on my beautiful handpained turkey platter and placed it on my Martha Stewart tablescape with a wonderful smile beaming from my face.

We said grace and dug in.

The room was quiet as we eat our first bites. Something wasn't right but I didn't know what it was. Everyone was eating but still quiet. What was it? I commented that it just isn't the same as having a turkey cooking in the oven. Jacqui agreed. But my sweet husband spoke up, saying "This tastes like HAM!" OMG, you are right. I bought a turkey ham instead of a turkey breast and NO amount of gravy was going to make this ham a turkey. We busted into laughter and my sis called it Thanksgiving Ham-urky.

This has now become a big family joke. It seem that whoever comes to my house on Thanksgiving is sure to have a surprise. While the last couple of years have been uneventful, this year did not disappoint.

This year just my mom and dad where coming. This will be great, I thought. I have been working a lot this year and it will be great to be with my mom and dad alone. They are getting older and the time I have with them is so special and I cherish every moment. Dad wants to come up early on Tuesday to beat the holiday traffic and that way we can do some sightseeing. They are all excited because Matthew will also be home on Wednesday. You know your parents are getting older when, on a road they have driven all their life (75 years), they take a wrong turn. It took them 12 hours to get to my house instead of 7 but they finally arrived. Oh, by the way, Dad left his new GPS on his dresser at home.

The next day I was going to take them to the wine country in Plymouth and antiquing in Sutter Creek. It’s only 30 minutes from my home so it will be an easy day trip.

The weather couldn't have been better as we are driving on this beautiful road, the leaves are changing colors and the mountains are studded with oaks trees. It’s just a great day. This is an old, historic road from the gold mining days. We drive over this bridge and the colors are amazing. I ask my mom if she would like to take a short walk down to the river and see the water up close. I see a paved turn out and swing my Tahoe onto the path. We see a no trespassing sign and a lot of barbed wire so maybe this is not such a good idea. The thought of my mom in her cute Chico's outfit climbing over a barbed wire fence was not a pretty picture, so we decided to continue on our outing. I put the car in reverse and start to back up onto this old 2 lane road. Cars are speeding by, so I wait to get a good view of the road before I merge in. That is when I feel the truck’s wheel on the left side slip off the road. I try to drive forward and the other back wheel slips off the road and the car starts to tip (and I mean tips) over on its side into a 4 foot ravine or, as my husband corrected me, ditch. My front left wheel is off the ground about 2 feet and the passenger side of the car is getting really close to the ground. I scream "NOBODY MOVE!" My dad very calmly tries to get out of the car to assess the situation but forgot he was still in his seat belt. My sweet mother is in the backseat whimpering "Oh, my God" and I am starting to have another hot flash. Great!

I reach for my phone but we have no coverage. I can't get out of the car because the car starts to tip each time we move. Mom and I are trying to use our weight to keep the car from going over all the way. Yes, this is making the hamurky story look really good, isn't it?

Then I remember I have ONSTAR. I press the little button that I thought I would never have to use. I explain our situation to the polite young man on the other end. "We are in a ditch and need a tow truck - really just a tow truck" I said. The very conscientious young man says that he has contacted ONSTAR’s emergency team and they will be responding to our situation. He asks if we want him to stay on the line until they reach us. No, we will be fine, I answer. You didn't call the fire department, did you? I ask. Ma’am, the first responder with handle this for you he says. Oh no, I bet they called the fire department. Within 6 minutes we hear a siren. Mom is holding on for dear life in the back of the tipping SUV. I am trying to keep her calm as my father, who weights about 125 pounds is standing on the running board to help balance the truck and, in reality, to help keep my mom calm. Here they come. 2 fire trucks, an ambulance, the highway patrol, a sheriff’s car and, just for good measure, the captain of the fire department. The first 2 very cute fire persons come over to us and ask how this happened, shaking their heads at me like this was the first time they saw a person back off of a perfectly wide driveway into a ditch. I smiled and told them my pitiful story, how I was showing my parents the sights of our beautiful town and slipped off the road. Remember, mom and I are still clinging to dear life in the tipping car. The fire girl opens our doors and tells us to "evacuate the vehicle". We quickly jump out of the car and I am sure it will roll over. But it didn't, it just teetered there. Now I feel REALLY dumb.

They have called a tow truck for us and everyone checks over the car. It looks like I haven't damaged anything (thank God) other than my pride. It’s one thing to have 2 fire persons shake their heads at you but to have the whole county rescue force drive up and give you the same look can give you a complex.

Then Big Roy's Towing service arrives to save the day. He jumps in the car and immediately the car drops to the ground under Roy's 300+ pounds. He puts the Tahoe in 4 wheel drive and out of the ditch he goes. Of course - 4 wheel drive! Why didn't I think of that about 4 fire trucks, 2 cops and an ambulance ago?

We all get back in the Tahoe. I thank Big Roy and the officers and they drive away.

I ask mom and dad if they are worn out from this adventure and would like to go home.

Dad says heck no and mom informs me that this is so much better than the hamurky Thanksgiving that you had with Jacqui and Kara.

So another Thanksgiving has come and gone. Mom and Dad just left for home and said it was the best Thanksgiving they can remember.

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I have to go now and take a nap - we still have Christmas to do!

23 Greens

Well, I finally have caught up on my sleep after coming home from a great retreat in upstate New York at the Hudson River Valley Quilt Art Retreat. I added some photos but it can't do it justice - the scenery was beautiful and the weather crisp but the best part was the amazing women in my class. There is something very special about these retreats. The locations are always in beautiful places but the personalities and gifts these woman bring is unreal. It is a thrill to be able to teach them and by the end of class they have taught me so much more about life than and the soul of a woman that I could ever have thought.
Some nights, over a glass of wine, we would stay up until 1 or 2 in the morning talking. I didn't want to go to bed fearing I would miss something precious. We became The Gang of 10 and bonded like a family in ways. Helping each other, laughing and teasing and there where a few tears, but not many. Just the process of releasing your creativity to the surface makes you a little raw and vulnerable. Welcome to my world. I try always to make it a safe place for my students, so they can feel free to be themselves and push out their creativity. Then the fun starts to happen.

Connie, our story teller, would start to tell a story and we would move closer
to hear. Her stories of Marvin the Mechanic who is, in reality, Mark, her husband, made us laugh so hard we would wipe tears form our eyes. They would tease me about being from California and I teased them back about them being from the East Coast. By the way, did you know that they had Slip and Slide and watched Soupy Sales on the East Coast, too? Who knew!
There where 3 doctors, 2 nurses, a CPA, a retired quilt shop owner, an owner of a kitchen design business and an art teacher/comedian. So we where covered for anything should a disaster strike.


One day we needed more fabric (of course) so we all went into Woodstock about 30 minutes away. Cute shop there called Woodstock Quilting. As we are walking down the street to have lunch with our heavy bags of fabric, one of the girls, Wendy, a beautiful soft spoken blond leans over to me and says "You know, I went to Woodstock when I was 17." Wow! I know someone who went to Woodstock! Are you impressed yet?
There was a little problem with my supply list (of course). I don't know where this list came from, or what year i wrote it, but the supply list said to bring 23 green fabrics to make a small pansy. Oops! I guess I forgot the hyphen in between the 2 and 3. But really, you can never have too many greens when making flowers. OK, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Now for their flowers:

Here are students work. They are not done but you can see how close they are to completing.

Susan's orchids - she has only been quilting 6 months.

Carol's tulip. Wow!

Kathy's subject matter is from a picture she took on a family trip to the Galapagos Islands. It looks prehistoric.

Carolyn's sunflowers. She started with the picture then did her own interpretation. Fabulous.

Lori's water lily.
Her background fabric looks like ripples in the water.

Kathy's passion flower. which is perfect for the very passionate woman.

Wendy's fuchsia. This is her second background fabric and we all squealed when she pulled it out. Wendy very carefully chose her fabrics and had a lot of unique fabrics in her Clown Car she kept pulling amazing fabrics from. I want a car like that.
Sharon's lotus and lily pads. She has not yet added the detail to her petals but her choice of base petal fabrics made this flower.

Connie's sunflower. This flower bloomed before our eyes . She started with a picture her son took and then took it from there. I love the way she added her leaves that make the flower swirl.

Can't wait to go back in November, 2011. The East Coast girls ROCK! Hey, I think that's a song!

While getting ready for my up coming trip to Greenville New York.
I though I would run by the grocery store to stock up in travel size necessities. It like the toy store in the beauty isle. The whole purpose of buying these small goodies is so your bags will have more room for shoes. But again I over bought these miniature produces. There goes my new purple shoes.
As I was making my way to the check out isle. I walked passed the Halloween candy display and notices Christmas decoration all ready up. Halloween was in 2 days. What's with this!

When I got home I had and email from a shop on the east coast that wanted to do a trunk show of my Candy Cane Lane Book. Heirloom Sewing Center in Queensbury ,NY. OK, maybe its not to early to think about Christmas. I am now a manufacture, an author and Christmas dose effect you differently on this side. This is a lot different than just being a freaked out mom trying to make Christmas happen for your family on pennies and a prayer.
So here are some projects that can help get you in the Christmas spirit, that are easy and fun.
My plan is to make these stocking for the little kids in my family and fill them with goodies. They are made out of wool felt. I fusible them in place and did a straight or button hole stitch around all the shapes. Then I sewed or glued, (i like Glue) buttons, beads, rickrack and used a lot of hot fix crystals for Bling.
I made these 3 stocking for the book, in one day.



Now I have some more Christmas ideas that i will be sharing with you. Some where cut from the book because I had to many ideas.
So stay tune for more Christmas fun.

The Gift of Teaching.

I am on my way to New York to teach for a week at a beautiful retreat, in the Hudson River Valley Art Workshop. I bet it is beautiful in November. There are still some spaces available and I would love to have you there. This is an quilt art workshop which I love to do because I have the time in a retreat to help students to develop there own ideas.
I would never of thought that I would end up teaching and loving it. Its amazing thing to share your ideas with some one and watch how they use it.
My father is a teacher and a teacher teacher. So why wouldn't I think of teaching. Maybe because I had the idea you have to get good grades in school. Which I had a little trouble with because of my dyslexia. I always understood very well what was going on. i just couldn't put it into the written word correctly. I still can't as you have probably notices if you read my blog regularly.
Thank you God for my computer.
So i am getting ready for my up coming retreat and was just asked to teaching on a cruise to Hawaii. I know Hawaii! I can't wait. So this teaching thing is starting to work out.
I have been working on 3 new patterns for this next year and a 2 new book ideas.
Here are some pictures of my students work from Houston. Hope to see you in the future at one of these events.
P.S. Thanks for wanting to take my classes and teaching me so much.

Houston Quilts

This is my friend Alice and her beautiful daughter. I always see them every year in Houston even though Alice lives near me in Sacramento. This time they introduced me to their friend that just happened to win First Place for Roses of Shenandoah - RITA VERROCA of WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CALIFORNIA . You will be seeing a lot more of Rita. Her designs are great and she is a really nice person.

The 3 quilts above are from Prize winning quilts from International Quilt Week Yokohama 2008. They where fantastic. I wish I had taken more pictures.
This pear was really cool. I still can't figure out how she did it.
These are just some of the different quilts that caught my eye in Houston at the IQA show.
I didn't take as many pictures as I wanted because I bought the new CD that had all the quilts on it. Well, not all of the quilts, it only had the winners. That was disappointing because we will get our fill of them over the next year including my own but I wanted to see all the other quilts on the CD.
Oh well, here are some that I really liked and was wise enough to take a picture of with my phone. Love the iPhone.
I loved the installation piece from the German guild that lives in the Black Forest. It represents a fabric forest.
Then there was this Baltimore Quilt all done by hand. It just happens to be the same one I am doing. In fact, on the bottom row is a vase with a flower. That is the same block I put on my Baltimore Album Vase quilt. Mine doesn't look anything like hers. She was a lovely lady and she had done this all by hand. Wow, is right. Can't wait to get mine done. Only I will be machine quilting mine.
I loved this whimsical quilt. I don't know the maker or the name but those birds are so cute.

Houston and the Shuttle Bus!

How do I explain the experience of being in Houston? It's an overwhelming experience that has so many fun and interesting turns.
So I will start at the beginning. For those of you who have gone, you know, but for those of you that have never been I will try to paint a picture of the Worlds Largest Quilt Festival.
My journey started with a flight at 0 dark hundred Sacramento time. (I now speak in all military lingo since the kid is a Marine). You go to bed the night before knowing that the morning is going to come too soon. Thinking you could actually get any sleep is a joke. You just lay there in despair. One year I slept with my clothes on. It didn't help - I woke up tired AND wrinkled. The Sac airport had some familair faces but I was so tired I just wanted to get on my flight.

When I arrived in Houston my eyes were somewhat open and now the excitement hits as I wait for my very oversized and now expensive, due to being overweight, bags. I look around and see what I think are other quilters. I don't know any of them. They just look like quilters. 6 of us jump into a shuttle bus that takes us to our hotels. We introduced ourselves. I was right, they where here for the show. One was from corporate Bernina, 2 where setting up the Quilts of Valor exhibit and one looked very familiar. I think she was an editor of a quilting magazine. I am in some very nice company.
As we drive through the airport we stop at another airline to pick up 3 more people. This slim well dressed lady opens the van door and hesitates to get in the van. She not sure she wanted to be squished in between this group of strangers. I didn't blame her, but her husband said "get in" and we said, "we promises not to bite". So she got in.
I can tell right away as they begin to talk , they are probably from New York. We quilters start talking and laughing and soon she become more relaxed. She asked us what we are in Houston for. We excitedly explained about the International Quilt Festival. She had no idea about this quilting thing. I guess knitting is the big thing in New York, but quilting? she says. I explain that quilting is a $4 billion industry. She is blown away. We ask her why she is here in Houston? She is giving a lecture to the Cancer Society. WOW!
We all stopped, looked at each other, then all at once we share that the quilting industry raises big bucks for Susan G Komen breast cancer research. She is blown away again. She also raises funds for their cancer group and never thought about quilting as a fund raiser. I tell her about the quilt auction and how big it is in Northern California. I think I saw a light bulb go off above her head.
While this is all going on in the front seat, in the back seat with her husband, are the operation officers for the National Quilts of Valor project. They are explaining about their project to honor every wounded veteran returning home from war with a quilt. She then tells her husband, "we have to see this show." I handed her an extra program that I just happened to have. Then we start up again laughing and telling stories. We are just a bunch of stranger in a minivan.
Then the van stops at a hotel and to our surprise, out of the very back of the minivan, is this lone man that has been with us the whole time. We didn't even see him there, poor guy.
I was starting to think this wasn't a shuttle bus at all, but more like a circus clown car. Who else is back there?
We finally arrived at our hotel and all the quilters got out. The once reluctant New Yorkers gave us all big hugs and promised to see the show. I have no doubt in my mind that they did.
In that short 20 minute bus ride from the airport to downtown Houston, 8 strangers and a mystery man became bonded by quilting, war and cancer.
And to think, its just little bits of fabric and thread (and the clown car) that brought us all together. More adventures to come.