A Country Baby

The other day I made another fleece blanket for Baby Jay--my grandson. He's 3 months old now and weighs over 12 lbs! Don't you just want to pinch these cheeks?
And check out those blue eyes too! He reminds me so much of his mom when she was this age.

I'm headed up to the "country" aka Utah to see this cute little "country" baby soon. So this is fleece blanket #3 for him. Can a baby have too many blankets? I found this darling John Deere fleece at JoAnn's and it made me think of him. I did some freehand clouds on it...similar to the pantograph pattern by Keryn Emerson, "Oriental Cloud." My freehand version went way faster and didn't turn out so bad. So...it's a "country" blanket for a "country" baby!


Now, get back to work Grandma! Lots of quilting to do!

A New Member of the Club

...which club? The "Grandma Club"!

On Dec. 30, 2009 I became a grandmother for the first time! Jay William Barnes entered the world at 2:22 am, weighing in at 7 lbs 4 oz.

Below is the first picture I saw of Jay. It came over on my cell phone (via text) from my son-in-law. It was love at first sight! (check out that blonde hair!)

Jay was born a few weeks early. He had a little bit of a rough start and had to be under the bili lights in the NICU. I called them his "disco dancing" lights!

Daughter #1 and her Sweetheart, Jay's parents, live in Utah, near the Idaho border. As soon as we heard the great news that our grandbaby had arrived, we jumped into our car and drove as quickly as we could. 12 hours later...the picture below is my husband meeting his grandson for the first time. Notice Jay holding is grandpa's finger!

Here he is looking at his mom. "Are you my mother?"

Two new happy parents with their little baby, ready to leave the hospital.

I returned to Utah 3 weeks later to spend a week with the little family. Here they are with Jay. Look how much he's already grown!

He's now almost a month and half old! He weighs over 11 lbs! (yes, I'm one of those grandma's, who shows everyone pictures of the cutest baby ever! I show everyone...the people at the grocery store, the bank tellers, the ladies at the quilt shops...everyone!

And what kind of quilt did his grandma make for him? A fleece blanket to keep him warm up there in the snow. I chose a fleece with surfboards...to remind him of his grandma down here in sunny California!

Now back to quilting! Lots of little boy quilts to make for my grandson!

Fleece, You Gotta Love It!

You gotta love it! At least I gotta love it!

Look at what I did for a customer this week.

Two of the eight years I've been longarm machine quilting, I've been making these lush fleece blankets. One of my customers has had me make like a hundred. You think I'm kidding, but I'm not! One Christmas she had me make them for everyone she knows...family, friends, her manicurist, her gardener, her massage therapist, her housekeeper, the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker, etc, etc. I think her mailman even got one!

Well, it's spring isn't it? Not even the Christmas season and I'm making more of them for everyone she knows! Check it out:

How about this cute one for a little boy...

Here's a pretty tropical one...

Here's one for the fall...

And here's another cute kid one...

Here's a cute doggie one...(she has a Purse Dog too!)

Here's one all ready for the Christmas season...

This one was my favorite! Sunflowers...I love it!

In June I will opening my Etsy shop where I'll be selling some like these. Be on the look out for them.

Don't you want one for your butcher, baker, candlestick maker, too?!!

Party With The Purse Dog!

"Today I turn 4 years old. According to the DogYear Conversion calculator, that makes me 29! I have been partying all day and enjoying all the attention. " "But my owner won't leave me alone. She's always taking my picture!"

"Maybe if I hide, she'll go away and leave me alone!"


"Hey, she's still there! Always snapping away. She must be the paparazzi! It's hard work to be so beautiful all the time. I feel like a movie star!"
"What did I look like four years ago? Pretty much the same. Everyone thinks I am a puppy. Shhh! We won't tell them my real age! My owner keeps her real age a secret too!""Here are some pictures I'd like to share with you from my Purse Dog Family Album. Here is my first owner, Daughter #1 who first brought me home. She lives in Utah and has her own Purse Dog named Ruby."
"Ruby is my Country Cousin. Don't you love her fleece blanket? My owner made it. I helped...ok, I took a nap while she made it."

"Here I am kissing Daughter #2. She moved to LaHabra. I miss her. I used to sleep with her every night. Now she sleeps with her husband! What's the deal with that?"

"Here I am with BabyBoy. He's the one I sleep with now. Here he's dressed up for Halloween. He is fun and always teases me. See, it looks like he's going to eat me. He's always kidding around."
"Here is an extra piece of fleece my owner says she will make into another Purse Dog fleece blanket. It can be yours if you leave a comment below and wish me a Happy Birthday. Maybe you have a dog you'd like to give it to."

"Happy Birthday to Me! Happy Birthday to Me! Happy Birthday dear Purse Dog! Happy Birthday to Me!"

***Leave a comment below to win a little Purse Dog fleece blanket. Contest open to US & Canada residents only. Drawing will be: Mon. Apr. 21st 8pm PDT****

Happy Groundhog Day!

Did Punxsutawney Phil see his shadow?

"As I look around me, a bright sky I see,

and a shadow beside me.

Six more weeks of winter it will be!"

(Ok, it's just the Purse Dog in disguise! Did she fool you?)

Don't forget to watch "Groundhog Day" today! You know I will! Notice the lovely quilt Bill Murray is sleeping under? You see it every morning he wakes up on Groundhog Day!

Great flick!

One more thing...

Here's a picture of a prize to send and a prize received.

The prize to send: Poor Beth, winner of my Blogiversary giveaway is finally getting her fleece blanket. (sorry, it was a little more costly than I had anticipated to send a package to Australia...but it's on it's way!)

The prize received: I won a beautiful postcard made by Summerset Banks (don't you love that name?) at her blog Pins and Needles. She was a winner at Road to California for her beautiful embellished garments.... Such a talented artist! Go visit her website!

We Have A Winner!

Using a random number generator, (true randomness, indeed!) I'm pleased to announce that a 'blogiversary' fleece blanket goes to Beth in Australia! Please email me your address and I'll get it shipped off to you right away!

Thanks to all who posted. And thank you for all your very kind words and emails! Have a great weekend!

Vivian

Happy Blogiversary to Me!

100 Posts??? And I thought I had Writer's Block!

In celebration of my 100th post blogiversary, I'm giving away a fleece blanket like I made for one of my friends. I made a few extras. Yep, submit a comment to this post and you will be entered in a drawing for a fleece blanket made especially for you by me! ...like this one:

One entry per person. Drawing will be held this Fri. Jan. 11, midnight...yes I'm up that late every night. :)

Good luck,

Buena suerte for my Spanish friends,

and Buona fortuna for my Italian friends!

...do I have any Italian friends?

"Everyone is a friend, until they prove otherwise."

Britney Spears is not my friend. If she were I would call her up and tell her to let me take care of those darling little boys for awhile. It's so quiet here at my house and I think I could hide them from the paparazzi. Then I would tell Britney to go and hide out for awhile and get her head back on straight. What happened to that girl? Poor little boys.

Do you know who is my friend though? :) Tim Allen. I was thinking about him the other day. Over the holidays, I enjoyed films, such as "The Santa Clause 1, 2 and 3", "Toy Story 1 and 2" and a surprisingly, enjoyable movie "Galaxy Quest." Anyway, I have referred to Tim Allen as my friend for years now. Here's why. You see, if I have seen someone famous more than once, I consider them my 'friend'. Remember how Marie Osmond is my friend? I think I've seen her four times. Here's why Tim Allen is my friend.

The first time:

I saw Tim (we're on a first name basis now, you know) at a Starbucks in Studio City. When Daughter #2 was 16 she took acting lessons in that area, so one morning we hopped over to Starbucks to get a couple of hot chocolates. The line was long and we waited and waited, along with other aspiring actors and movie people. Then all of the sudden a man walks in and he just goes right up to the front of the line and gets his coffee. The girl behind the counter looked like she was just waiting for him and on cue she said, 'Good morning, Mr. Allen.' He took his coffee, said 'Good morning' and left. Daughter #2 and I looked at each other and smiled. We didn't want to make a scene, but Wow, That was Tim Allen!

The second time:

Daughter #2 and I were Culver City for an appointment one day. Later, we had some time to kill, so we went over to Hollywood Blvd to do some window shopping. We were near Mann's Chinese Theater and we noticed a crowd across the street at the El Capitan Theatre. We wondered what was going on. I asked a passerby and they said that earlier that day was the premier of The Santa Clause 2. The reason there was still a crowd was because the film was just finishing and the stars were leaving to go home. So Daughter #2 and I decided we better go check it out. And low and behold, walking right in front of us was none other than Tim Allen. The picture you see below was the only shot I was able to get. I had a camera somewhere in my purse and fumbled around to try and quickly get that shot. Not very good I know, but there he was. (I'm sorry my friend, Tim, but you were shorter than I had imagined. But you looked nice, for sure.)

And speaking of friends...sometimes I'm not a very good one:

This past week I finished a fleece blanket on my longarm for the friend (and Miracle Worker) who did Daughter #2's flowers. Don't the flowers look awesome?Since I've always know her family to be big UCLA fans, I made a UCLA fleece blanket.

Yesterday I delivered the fleece blanket. As I handed it to her she said, 'Oh thank you, my husband will love it.' You see, it was her husband that attended UCLA! She went to BYU! If I had been a better friend, I would have known that!

But look what I found at Joann's! So I'm making another one. This one is for her! It's almost done and I'll take it over to her right away.

I'll work harder to be a better friend, I promise.

Happy 2008!

Today I had a chance to sit and enjoy a quiet day. Ok...truth be told, I don't like to just sit. I don't even like to sit and do bindings! I'd rather be up and quilting on my longarm. So today I worked on fleece blankets for The Miracle Workers from Daughter #2's wedding. Here are a couple. Shhhh! Don't tell them I'm making them. (I don't think they read my blog anyway.) Here's one for my friend who did the flowers. She's a big UCLA fan.
And here's one for my friend who did the cake.

And of course, what would New Year's Day be without The Twilight Zone marathon on Sci-Fi channel. I am huge fan of the show. And I even enjoyed it in black and white...since that's what I grew up with. Black and white TV that you had to get up off your chair and go change the channel! Oh, those were the days. :)

Happy New Year's blogging friends!

The "Purse Dog" Wants to Share

The Purse Dog wants to share how to make her pretty fleece blanket with a longarm quilting machine: (Purse Dog's owner sews with a Gammill Classic.)

Needed: 2-1/2 yds each of 60'' wide premium anti-pill fleece in coordinating colors that you like. (no batting necessary for this project.) The "Purse Dog" likes this bright green fleece for the back and a cute Tinkerbell fleece for the top (available at The Fleece Lady. )

1. Rack up both panels of fabric horizontally, pinning the selvage edge top and bottom. This will minimize stretching...although you must still be careful while sewing so the fleece doesn't stretch too much.

2. Sew a horizontal line about 2 inches down from the top. If you have a 'horizontal channel lock'...that works best for this step.

3. Next sew a vertical line 2 inches from the left side about 12 inches down or so.

4. Do some free motions designs of your choice throughout the blanket, being careful not to stretch the fleece. The Purse Dog's owner chose some swirls, leaves and then just sewed around the pretty designs of the fleece print.

5. Sew another vertical line 2 inches from the edge on the right side. Only go about 12 inches down or so. (Note: The Purse Dog's owner doesn't have a vertical channel lock like some longarms have. She uses a ruler to help guide her.)

6. Keep quilting along until it's done. Continue sewing your vertical lines on the left and right as you go. Cute fleece print, don't you think? The Purse Dog thinks so!

7. Now it's all done and before you get to the bottom, just sew a horizontal line about 2 inches from the bottom edge.

8. Next take the fleece blanket off your longarm and trim all edges 2 inches all around, using your horizontal and vertical lines as a guide.

9. Cut a square in each corner.

10. Lastly, cut the fringes about in inch apart.

(The Purse Dog's owner just 'eyeballs' it, and she is very careful not to cut in too far. )

And here's the Purse Dog's fleece blanket. She loves it! Very comfy!

And her owner finished it in about 2 hours...start to finish...no batting...no binding....all done! (She doesn't even tie the fringe. She thinks it looks nice just the way it is.) Last Christmas the Purse Dog's owner made over 30 of these for her customers, friends and family. Fun and easy! Check out some of the others she has done below.

The Purse Dog's owner welcomes all questions and comments. Thanks for stopping by!