Best comment of the day from my 6 year old daughter....mommy are you playing with daddy?!

No, daddy is playing with mommy!

Oops, major double entendre!

Alzheimer's Quilts

Hi all,

This is off topic but you could still get a great workout for your Janome from it.  I've seen articles in the quilting magazines before and thought I should look into this site.  Ami Simms is a well known quilter and author. Her mother had Alzheimer's.  She founded a 501(c)3 charity called Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (http://www.AlzQuilts.org).

Initially they had a display of 52 quilts that is a traveling exhibit called "Alzheimer's: Forgetting Piece By Piece".  The second component is that they raise funds for research and raise awareness through the auction and sales of donated quilts.    Here's the kicker - the quilts must be 9" x 12" or smaller.  Not so bad hmm? 

They are trying to collect 1000 quilts to take to Houston for the Quilt Festival.  The specifics are here.  http://www.alzquilts.org/houston.html

I had promised to post about this a few days ago and I forgot.  This morning I was reading a heart rending tale in the news about a woman undergoing a clinical experiment in California.  It involves two pencil sized holes being drilled into her skull and she may or may not have received the test medication.  As I read about her and read her husband and son's comments, I couldn't help but cringe. 

There are so many worthy causes that quilters help out with:  Project Linus, Quilters against Breast Cancer, the ConKerr Cancer Pillowcase projects, Hancock's & St. Jude's Quilt of Dreams, and so many more. 

As I gave a few yards of fabric to a new quilter this morning, I quietly set aside a few extra pieces.  I know what I'm going to be working on this weekend. Best of wishes to all of you and hopefully some of you will choose to send in some quilts as well.
http://www.alzquilts.org/houston.html

Jewel Box Quilts

There is a small neighborhood quilt guild where I go every month.  Several of the members wanted to do a jewel box style quilt.  Natalie and I took a similar pattern and re-sized, rewrote and basically re-constructed the whole idea.  We were pretty happy with the end results. 

Maisy Quilt

Last fall, I was downtown at Happiness is Quilting and found the most delightful fabric.  It had Maisy the mouse all over. Unfortunately, there wasn't a pattern to go with and so I designed something simple and made up a fun throw.  Laura Kay down at Happiness liked it and they hung it up in the store for a several months. 

Paige's Birthday

Well, we were supposed to have Paige's birthday at Chuck E Cheese this Sat. morning. Unfortunately, Paige went to a birthday there on Sunday - she hated Chuckie. Terrified of him actually. I thought it would pass and she would get used to him. It didn't and she didn't. So, needless to say, we are having the party at our house this weekend.

It should be pretty fun. We are having a butterflies and bugs theme. I went to a Dollar General today and it was my first time in one of those stores. For less than $20, I got decorations, invitations, balloon holders and more. I was thrilled.

We are going to pick up BBQ fixins and potato salad from Red, Hot & Blue. We also have hot dogs for the little ones.

I was really excited last night when I searched Dallas and pinatas. I came across this place called Pinata Blast (http//www.pinatablast.com). They are out by the airport and I emailed them (on a Sunday night.) Well, Liz emailed me back an hour later and said they could make a butterfly pinata by Friday and that it would be $25. She said to send some pictures of butterflies we liked and let her know colors that we liked or wanted. I sent an email back around 11 pm with some pics and vague color ideas. Today, I received an email with an early picture of the pinata. It is gorgeous and very exciting.

Fun Dip Fabric

I just wanted to mention that Kaboodles has also received the new line from Blank Textiles called Fun Dip. I picked up the peach, sky and yellow colorway to start. This is a fun twist floral. It has enough color to appeal to a younger girl, but just enough hint of retro to really appeal to older tweens and more. Very eye-catching and adventurous for a kaleidoscope pattern.

New Fabrics Sunny Patch from Blank Textiles

I just wanted to mention that Kaboodles has received the new line from Blank Textiles called Pixie Patch. We have both the bright, turquoise colorway and the amber, autumn colorway. They are really fun and selling quickly.

I also decided to order the Barnyard chicken and rooster fabric and barbwire fabric. Absolutely adorable!