New Years

Happy New Year!

Jeff & I had the whole long weekend together

so I didn't find the time to post on my blog this past weekend.

I do have a few things to share tomorrow.

New Years Morning as I was watching the Rose Parade

I heard them talk about the float viewing.

Every year I hear them talk about it,

however this year I turned to Jeff and told him how fun I thought it would be to go.

The next day we drove the 2 hours up to the float viewing.

We are both so happy we made the trip

and just might do it again next year.

As they say each year during the parade,

TV doesn't do these floats justice.

My pictures also didn't do them justice.

I have posted all our pictures on my Flickr account.

This puppy was just adorable!

My favorite float was the Quikrete 3 little pigs.

It had so many cute and has all kinds of funny little touches. 

This bird just made me smile holding onto her eggs

as the wolf blew the straw house down.

Jeff's favorite was this girly dragon serving tea.

I didn't make any new years resolutions.

Although I have made a commitment to my self.

No new fabric during the Month of January.

Lucky for me I have plenty of projects and fabric

to get me through more then this month.

Miramar Air Show

This Weekend was the Miramar Air Show. This year we decided that we would watch from our backyard. It was perfect weather for the show, usually it is so hot.
Here they are getting into formation for a fly over. I just think this is an amazing view right from our backyard.

Here is a wonky faced pumpkin for my Happy Jacks Quilt. I started the weekend working on Dorian's Round Robin but decided to change it up for a little while and get these faces done (she is a non-peeker so I will be able to show pictures after I have finished and it arrives back home).

Go Padres!

Jeff donated blood more then 4 times this year so the San Diego Blood Bank gave him 2 free tickets to Saturday's Padre's game. It was a perfect day! The weather was amazing, our seat were in the shade behind home plate.

As we were in enjoying the game Ruff the Petco Dog came up right by our seats. He was dancing and having a great time. Whoo Hoo They won again for us!

After the game they let us all go onto the warning track. Petco park has a sandy beach area for the kids to play in. As we were walking by the "Beacher stands" we saw that somebody made a very cool sand castle.

Here is Jeff on the Warning Track.

And my by the light up sign in the outfield.

Jeff even tried to "steal" 2nd base on the way out. We a so lucky to live in paradise!

Saturday in San Diego

Sometimes I really realize just how lucky you are to live where you do. Living in San Diego is such a blessing. We like to enjoy it every chance we can. This Week is Fleet Week in San Diego. It is a big celebration of the Navy. They give tours of ships and let you see and touch alot of cool military technology. We took a tour of the USS Freedom. If you don't know anything about this ship (as I didn't before our tour) Stop by their website and be impressed.

Jeff even got a chance to try out a little fire power. After we left fleet week and had lunch at the very yummy Tin Fish. We decided to roam around downtown.

During Padre away games they show the game on the big screen and invite fans to come down and enjoy the park. I knew they did this but never have gone down for it. I have to see it was SO much fun! There were kids playing ball in "The Park in the Park." The best part is that dogs are welcome to join you. We think we are going to have to take TJ for an outing at Petco Park.

Hope you had a nice weekend too.

Where the Turf meets the Surf

Today I went to the Crazy 9 Patch's moving sale. They are moving about 8 blocks closer to my house. That would probably be better news if they where closer then a 35 minute drive from my house, but I figure closer is better then further away. I found the perfect fabrics for Dorian's last border on her Round Robin. I know what I want to do in theory. Bee is going to help me with the actual design then it will be off to her. She hasn't peeked so I know she is going to be so excited to see it. It is just lovely! I also picked up so Happy Camper Yardage on a great sale.


Jeff & I went to Free and Easy Wednesday at the Del Mar Race Track. On Wednesdays you can get free admission, free seating, 1/2 price draft beer, 1/2 price soda and 1/2 price hot dogs. We each picked horses and each of us picked a winner! Jeff bet a few times but didn't win on them, I didn't bet at all since I don't find it any more enjoyable.

Look what I saw as I left work

I work in a building that is behind another building. The building that I work behind is a company called Bilstien Shocks. Each morning as I arrive at work (before the crack of dawn) I get to see a light up Petty NASCAR in their upstairs window. It is so cool. Maybe I will take a picture and post it sometime just so you too can see just how cool it is. Sometime when I walk around the buildings during my break I will see them working on vehicles that are going to or coming from either the Baja 500 or Baja 1000. It is always a treat to see.

But today as I turned the corner heading home I saw this sitting in their parking lot! Yup that is a Matt Kenseth #17 race car. It is a car that was raced a few years ago. Matt seems like a nice guy and has even won a Championship. He isn't Tony Stewart. But still a very cool way to end my work day. They had just finished serving lunch to all the Bilstein employees and where getting ready to load it up and head out.

Matt's signature over the window.

Yup that is Jeff with the hauler

This is the little room at the front of the hauler tha the driver and crew can relax in. I was in a different Hauler a few years ago for Buckshot Jones' 00 car and they more of a dining room table set-up then the living room set-up this Hauler has.

I just liked the stickers so I took a picture of them.

Did you notice that Jeff was with me right after work? Yes that is not the normal. This morning I was heading out to my car when I found that I had no headlights. Leaving for work at 4:15 am makes having headlights a must. So Jeff had to get up really quick and drive me to work this morning. It was really nice getting into his already air conditioned car on this 100 degree day rather then getting into my car that had been baking in the sun all morning. He wasn't able to locate the broken light switch but with a desire to not get up out of bed so earlier tomorrow he just took the one from his Passat and installed it into my New Beetle, so tomorrow I am driving myself to work. It is kinda cool how many parts are shared between our cars.

Cabbage Rose 30's 2nd Saturday

We went the Padre game on Thursday. It was so much fun. I have never been to a Padre vs Dodgers game. There is a huge revialry and there are always alot of Dodger fans that make the trip town to support their team. This time they came down to see the Padres Win! We have at least 1 more game that we are going to this year.
This time we sat on the other side of the ballpark. This is looking at the convention center right from the ballpark. What an amazing view from every part of Petco Park.

Here is my July 2nd Saturday block from The Cabbage Rose Quilt Shop. This is going to be such a cute quilt.

Balboa Park Bike ride

Today was a holiday from work for me. We decided that it was a perfect day to take out the beach cruisers. So Jeff put them onto the back of his car and we headed down to Balboa Park. I don't care how many times I go down to the park and it always amazes me. Here are the bikes in front of the Koi pond and Atrium.
This is the view as you cross the bridge over the 163 freeway going into the park.

Here is the view looking over the bridge at the freeway below. I have driven under the bridge countless times but have never crossed it. Today was just a perfect day, the weather was perfect. There where so many people roaming and enjoying the park.

Before we left I finished these 2 quilt tops. I think I will add a small border on each of them and get them quilted for Quilt for Kids. These blocks were made with 2 Snippets Turnover packs and this tutorial. Once I get the quilts completed I will order a Quilts for Kids kit to completed and be companion quilt for each of these.

Happy 4th of July & Padre Game

Happy 4th of July! It is a great day to be an American. We even decided to go to the Baseball game yesterday. San Diego has an amazing downtown ball park. We sat up in the cheap seats and here is the view as we climbed up to them. We got there early and enjoyed our view. They even gave us patriotic towels as a freebie for going to the game.

And the best part is that they WON! And we picked up tickets for a game later in the month.

New Arrivals & A Vistor

Jeff's dad is in town for the long weekend. It has been really nice spending time with him. Today we met at Barona Casino. That was my first time there. What a lovely complex they have built. I am not a gambling kind of girl, but really enjoyed my day and wandering around taking it all in. Jeff tells me that the golf course is amazing, not that I would know the difference. My taste is more along the lines of going out there for some Saturday Night short track racing.

Oops I did it again! 2 more packages arrived this week. One is a kit for a quilt using Moda Fresh Squeezed fabrics. I am not crazy about the pattern but just loved the fabric. The orange, yellow and green colors are just perfect. The pattern I decided on I found on the Moda Bake Shop. I am having a hard time figuring out how she folded those Origami style stars. Mayby Bee can help with it, she is very talented like that.

The Whimsy jelly roll is going to be turned into 4 patches to complete the quilt top for the Siggy Swap blocks I am making for Jaybird Quilts. I started my blocks today and will need to get them signed and in the mail later this month. My hand writing isn't the best, hopefully I can make it look ok. This will be fun getting all these block from all over the the country, or maybe even the world!

Happy Birthday Bee!

Yup - my baby girl turned 20 today! She is growing into such a wonderful young lady. If I had custom ordered a I don't think I could have dreamed up the amazing girl that was gifted to me 20 years ago. Bee I hope you had a wonderful day!

We all went out to Forever Fondu in La Jolla. It is one of her favorite places for dinner.

Afterward we walked over the "Children's Pool" that has been taken over by the seals. Pupping season is over but there were still lots of young seals haning around. They are all so fun to watch. We stood on the walkway just before the "Splash Zone" just a few feet further down the walkway the waves would crash on the walkway and get people all wet.

Where Do you Sew?

Today is such a Winnie the Pooh kind of day, all cold and windy, that we started our day with Jeff making me a fire. As I was working on the applique for my As The Geese Fly quilt I decide I should share a picture of my sewing space. I just love to see where everybody makes their fabric magic happen. I started off using the little spare bedroom as my sewing room. It has a wonderful window. Most evenings hot air balloons take off from Del Mar and fly right over my neighbors roof and that window has the perfect view of them. I have seen up to 7 in the sky at one time! I just love to watch them. But this social girl just got too lonely in there all by myself and one day I set the sewing machine up out in our "La Fonda" room and my new sewing area was born.


Why a "La Fonda" Room? Yes that is a strange name for a room. Jeff and I found the most wonderful hotel in Mexico called La Fonda. We stayed in a rustic brick cabana that had a cozy fireplace. Every room had a fireplace. We decided that we could have our own "La Fonda." At the restaurant there was a rooster strutting around that was just so charming. When we waited in line to cross the border we found a guy selling ceramic roosters. We purchased our own La Fonda rooster to watch over our "La Fonda" room. You can see him standing just to the left out the fireplace.

Completed my May 2nd Saturday 30's Block from Cabbage Rose. I messed up cutting by cross fabrics so Bee and I looked into my stash and found a workable substitute. Welp I am off to try and finish quiling Jeff's purple quilt. I hope to get it quilted and bound this week! We shall see.

Jeff's new smoker & Jaybird Hexalong

I completed the cutting and sewing of my Hexalong from Jaybird Quilts. I think they are a little too busy, but I think that is the nature of this Hello Betty Jelly Roll. I think I am going to get a creamy yellow for my accent color. There is just a little yellow in some of the fabrics & being my favorite color how could it be wrong?

Jeff got a new smoker. It has been pinning, researching, and dreaming about it. After much research he decided on this Webber Bullet. You can read all about it on his Blog. Here is Bee helping to it ready for the inagurual cooking.

TJ started out not really interested in what was going on but he got more interested when the smells started flowing from the smoker.

Here is Jeff getting the first of 2 Costco chicked onto the grill. These chickens where about 5 pounds each and where not ready for eating until about 9 o'clock, way past my bed time. I think with more practice he will be about to time it better. I was good left overs today. I was amazed at just how much flavor the 3 wood chips created in the meat.