Quilt blocks

I picked up one of those sampler packs of 5" squares at a quilt shop in Boise last spring. It didn't take me too long to figure out that I wanted a bigger quilt from these fabrics than I could get with 40 5" squares. A few weeks ago I finally decided to sew the little squares onto bigger squares of muslin with perle cotton, so I've been sewing these little quilt blocks while I watch the backlog of Simply Quilts on the DVR. I have some 2.5" strips from the same fabric line that will make a nice border. It's nice to have something to just sew without too much thinking...

I love hosting Thanksgiving because...

1. I love to cook.
2. We don't have to drive anywhere.
3. The house is clean, the fridge is FULL of leftovers and now I get 3 days off!

I started the morning with the pie baking:



Dave and Pistol were very busy "cleaning the house"



Once the guests arrived, we all jumped right in to the traditional division of labor. Here are the boys, very capably handling their job of watching football on the giant tv:



Meanwhile, the girls were busy in the kitchen. Silly boys, they don't know how much fun it is to cook with family:



Here's the Thanksgiving spread:



Traditional and oh so yummy!

Here's the hostess gift, also quite yummy:



I think I'll have to find some nice chocolate-y browns to go with these. But not today. Today is a Stay Home and Goof Off Day. Now that's something to be thankful for!

How 'bout them apples?!

There is great joy in the Rey/Gamon household this weekend as our much-loved Washington Huskies football team beat their cross-state rivals, the WSU Cougars in the annual Apple Cup. Go Dawgs! Winning the Apple Cup can makes even a disappointing 5 win, 7 loss season not so bad. We hosted all the parents plus AshLee for the game and there was quite a bit of loud celebrating to go along with the yummy beef stew I made for our halftime dinner. Unfortunately, I was too busy pacing and yelling to take any pictures.

More yummy food tonight - steak and baked potatos are on the menu - Ash is home from the University of Idaho for a long weekend and she requested "real food - chunks of meat!"

A couple of folks asked about the small quilt I posted a couple of weeks ago. It started with this picture, taken in my aunt's yard back in October:



I printed the photo on ExtravOrganza and layered it over a commercial fabric that had script printed on it. The embroidery is done on a yellow handdye that I stamped with a diamond pattern to add a bit of texture. And Caity was right about the other commercial fabric - those Jennifer Sampou swirls that I wish I'd bought in every color.

I've spent most of today fiddling with my blog with not much visible effect. I switched over to beta and I figured out how to make a custom header. I played around quite a bit with updated templates, but I don't know enough HTML to figure out where to insert my custom header or my Artful Quilters blogring code into any of the fancy new templates. Anyone have any wisdom to share on that topic?

Fun with paint

I gave a program on stamping on fabric to my local quilt group, Cheney Frayed Edges last night. At the end I turned them loose with a box of paint and stamps. I think the results are wonderful!

What's so hard about touching your nose with your tongue?

Now if I could only get someone to pat my head and rub my tummy...



Finished this today. Just in case anyone was wondering if I'd ever get around to making a quilt again.