Creating a Smile

I'm making smiles, and wanted to share mine with you...

I love the filtered sun through the window shades this morning...

Hope your day is a happy one!

Want another smile? My blogging friend Lynda is having one sweet giveaway to celebrate one year of blogging. She has some pretty quilts, and finds the time to say hi back, which I always appreciate. Go join in, and (she doesn't ask you to) maybe join in her followers. You'll enjoy the connection to share in her love of quilting. Her giveaway ends September 1st.

Happy Quilting,
Pokey

So Far...

Just a few photos to show progress...

on the charity Americana...

on the snowladies

and their evolution, decided to go with the applique smile, not the snaps. Decided I liked the same color outline, not the all black outline Decided in the from Accuquilt die cut to be her 'flower' on her hat, for several reasons
(Would YOU want to cut to cut those by hand? no)
Boy! Don't I want one of these!!

Also, I want to share this sweet pumpkin quilt that came in the mail yesterday. Gail of The Cozy Quilter recently had a giveaway celebrating 30,000 posts. She is a very accomplished quilter! You should see her little pumpkin patch. She also sent along a precious pin from her guild, I'm so honored!! Thank you, Gail!




Happy Quilting!
Pokey

Edited to add on 8/18/2010:
Yes, I did design the snow girl. As a matter of fact, see the blue grid drawing? That is actually my first rough draft with pencil and 1/4 inch graph paper, and then enlarged on the copier! Notice I moved the bird from one shoulder to the other in the project, since the scarf and the hat/flower were already on the left. I was going for the look of her listening to the birdie's song, but I felt it still had that feel with the girl looking at it, too. My artist husband Larry drew the final birdie. It's a cute one!

Wish I had one completed as I wanted them to be, I still have incomplete prototypes. Oh, precious time...I'm off to the classroom today, but I did get my borders on the charity quilt, yippee!

Pokey

The Charity Quilt, and Carrie's Wedding

In June, I promised a charity fundraiser quilt to my BIL Preston. He is a Prison Chaplain for a men's correctional facility in Colorado.
This is Preston in the plaid shirt, ready
to take a picture of this load of people in Papa's car.

I immediately thought of using my Americana crazy patches. These were in a baggie labeled "August '07"! Oh those UFO's, they are all over this place...anyway, they are helpful today!

I remember why these were stored. The squares have a lot of bias, and once sewn they were very uneven and lost about 1 inch of size. Frustration!
I had squared them up, and put them away.

I laid them out on my bed and saw that there were not enough to do a bed sized topper which was my goal.

So, I drew out a star. Wonky a bit, but hey, it is for those crazy patches. I wanted to keep the random feel and so I made changes in color and background. Here is the progress so far, pressed and sewn into strips...

I need to get this done, and I'm back to school to prepare my classroom this week. Stay tuned.

Here are a few pictures of the beautiful Mother of the Bride, Ginny, and a peek at her dress we hemmed on Wednesday. Carrie was gorgeous, of course, but my photos of her were either blurry or from the back!

Lydia and her third grade teacher! Ginny and Beth sharing a minute at our table.


The men in our life. Note Jerry's book... Lydia and Jeff, with a photo shoot over their

shoulder!

That's all for now.
Happy Quilting!
Pokey

My Lydia, A New Blogger!

I've shared a few of my daughter's creations over this year of blogging,
like pillowcases, towels,

table runners, little tictac gifts for her co-workers,

and a few purses, too.

Boy, when I looked back on all my posts, I realized she has so much creativity filling my pages! I've been encouraging her to start a blog, and, introducing... Lydibug Fluff!

Her first crafty post is featuring her "Do it Yourself" felt flowers for her wedding. I'm hoping to try to connect her to Amy's Sew and Tell Fridays. Come on, friends, make her feel welcome!

Happy Creating!
Pokey
aka proud momma

Ginny B's First Quilt!

See what a little time and sewing can accomplish? Ginny came over today for just that. She has been working on completing a quilt for each of her 7 grandkids for Christmas. I'm trying to help with advice, encouragement, and also, doing the quilting part.

This came off the frame today. It truly is her first quilt, and it all started with a charm pack! Since she's a retired schoolteacher, the theme was perfect. She's keeping this one.

Isn't she proud!?! I am, too, it's very rewarding to share the love of creating in fabric!

Our other projects today were:

1. hemming her "Mother of the Bride" dress, her daughter is getting married on Saturday. (Maybe I'll have a photo to post later.)
2. sewing her next squares together for grandson #1, accomplishing the first time she learned to chain squares together one after another. Yippee! Another lesson accomplished!
3. beginning on my next quilt top, this one with Moda's "Tweet, Tweet" cuties, and the flowers cut on the borrowed Accuquilt GO! this past week. Fun! more to come....

Happy Quilting,
Pokey

P.S. Did anybody see my orange stack here? I was tickled, and I'm still grinning! Thanks, Jodi!

Friends

We have known Beth and Jerry Pate since our daughter Lydia was 5. (She turns 31 this year, just HOW is that possible?!?) Jerry was her Kindergarten teacher, and then Beth was her second grade teacher. We all taught together for 3 years. Both of our families were transplanted to California, with no other family around, so we really became that missing family for each other. We have such good times when we go together.

Beth is fixing dinner; a sample dinner is Tilapia fish, veggie tray and seasoned, broiled squash, yum! The guys are watching a movie. We tease Jerry because he is the only one cold in the room!

This year, we went to one of our favorite timeshare condos that the Pates own. This is Worldmark in Indio, complete with a lazy river for inner tubes, a gigantic pool, and AC running 24/7. We got there at 11 p.m., and it was 98 degrees-yikes! Leave it to me to not take photos of the water fun (you are NOT getting a picture of me in a swimming suit, however modest it is!!) We sure enjoyed ourselves.

We were in the pool every day. This place has a Lazy River, and you can get in early before the inner tubes, and walk against the current. It was my goal to walk 10 laps each day, and I did. Funny how I rarely walk a lap around the block at home; I wish I could have brought that pool home with me!

But the best part is we enjoy each other's company. Larry and Jerry hang out. They read, swim, and go to the gym. This year they went and saw some new model homes.

Beth carried in a couple projects, a dress for her granddaughter...

...and a sweet little baby boy quilt for her little Logan.

Beth and I pack in our fabrics, sewing machines, projects, food, etc., etc., and it is our own sewing retreat!

Ahh, mint iced tea, fabrics and the AccuQuilt Go! A perfect combination. No, I do not own it,
but we had one on loan for the trip, yippee!!

We came home, and their kids came up for Sunday. Then Beth and her DIL Melinda, and the five grandbabies are there for a few more days of pool play and visiting.

Me? I'm back to the frame, I need to get this off for Quilt class tonight. Toodles!

Happy Quilting,
Pokey

Soupe du Jour

Has anyone been traveling along with Rachel of Not so Plain Jane ? She has us dreaming of European getaways...well, I 'll blame my title on that anyway.

Look at this pretty teaset she posted...!

My last class has wrapped up, it was a great experience for all. I tried to get these students to focus on more on similarities, than our differences.

I was blessed with working with a great group of people, too. Joyce Zhao, business leader and California Representative for the Summer Camp (aka my boss), myself, Dr. Lee, the Head of the Company from EZGO Guangzhou, and my church's children's pastor Craig Wilson.

Remember our poor car situation? Well, here is the "new" car replacement ~ it is a joy to drive!

Here is what's on the frame today, and hopefully when we return from our little retreat I'll finish it up and share a bigger view. This is my friend Ginny's first quilt, and it is adorable!

Yes , I need to run and finish packing for a few days of hanging out with these guys. We pack our food, swim suits, sewing machines, Uno cards, and boy, do we have fun. See you soon!

Oh, and now you know another reason for the title, this is just a day in the life....

Happy Quilting,
Pokey