Last Friday, I hosted the third Snoopy Thanksgiving. For the third year in a row, my dear friends Kate and Christy brought their families and yummy food to celebrate a friends Thanksgiving. This started three years ago when we decided that Thanksgiving was not just for our families but also for us. All of us have large families in town that have their elaborate holiday traditions. We also decided that we would eat the things that we didn't get to have at the family gatherings (ham, mac & cheese, etc). It also would allow us to kick off our holiday seasons. It became Snoopy Thanksgiving last year. We haven't served toast, pretzels, jelly beans or popcorn, yet. Here's a picture of my dining room all dressed up. And here's a reason not to leave your camera unattended.... And onto my sewing. I finished the third Sugar Plum Fairies top (Three Cousin's Quilts) today. Now to quilt. I still need to make quilted frogs and pjs for each of the girls. And my friend Barb told me I HAD to make pillowcases....we'll see. Stay tuned....
Just had to share.....my 4th grader is studying the 13 original colonies in Social Studies. Last night we had to study and memorize them. Here's her list,"Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, New Hamster, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia." And I did not make a typo....bet you didn't know New Hamster is a state in the union!
Ok, I know technically I named "All About Eve" in my previous post about my favorite movies, but I just had to use that line. Thanks to everyone who left me their favorite movies. There were some I had seen and a few that I'll have to watch. And some of your posts reminded me of other oldie favorites, "The Philadelphia Story" and "Bells of St Mary"to name a couple. But I digress. I promised a post about more "modern" movie favorites. Alright I'll admit some of these are even before my time, but I count them in the "mostly" modern category.
The Great Race - If you're a Jack Lemmon fan this is a must. My sister and I count this in one of our all time favorites. The bit on the iceberg with Peter Falk and Jack's mustache, CLASSIC!
The Godfather Part 1 and Part 2 - I will admit I have a constant battle with myself over which movie I like best.
Urban Cowboy - Bud and Sissy, a love story for the ages.
Forrest Gump - I can watch this movie, laugh and get choked up every time.
Superman - Anyone who knows me, knows I'm a Superman freak. I truly believe that airlines should play that soundtrack as the plane takes off.
Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark - This defines a summer blockbuster to me. Everytime I watch it I'm immediately taken back to seeing it the first time in the dark theater.
The Departed - Leo Di Caprio and Irish Mafia violence. Great performances from Leo, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin, and Martin Sheen. Oh and Jack being Jack, not too shabby.
Well that's the "short" list. I know, I know, not really that short, but I could entertain myself for hours and hours listing movies I love to watch...again if anyone has any movies they'd like to add....
How I love being one of those "wonderful people out there in the dark." I was reminded today after talking to Kate about how much I love movies. There are so many that I love it's hard for me to list them all. Early in my life, my Mother showed me the old movies. Movie from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Movies that were in black and white and have iconic stars. Those are some that I have fallen in love with and that I can watch over and over.....
There are the classics:
Sunset Boulevard - William Holden in his prime, Billy Wilder, Gloria Swanson....how well that movie tells the story.
All About Eve - to be Bette Davis dressed in Edith Head classics.
Gone with the Wind - as any Southern Girl knows the "Bible" of how to be a GRIT (Girl Raised in the South).
Some Like it Hot - I'm still trying to find a contact in Hollywood to get a remake made with Steve Carell in the Jack Lemmon roll and Vince Vaughn in the Tony Curtis roll. I love this movie.
Basically, this is my "go to" list. When I'm sick in bed, or Sunday afternoon tv has failed me, or I'm hand quilting on a Monday midmorning and I refuse to watch daytime tv, or I'm at Kate's on a sewing Sunday, or I'm wrapping Santa gifts at 11:30 Christmas eve...these are some of the movies I rely on. During this time of snuggling in warm quilts infront of a fire and long dark early nights, think about checking out these films. They haven't ever failed me.
There are other movies that I consider classics...movies from my generation and the generation before me. That's for another post....
What are your favorite movies....I'm interested to hear?
Okay seriously I would love to win any/all of the these quilts. She always does such beautiful stuff. So pretty! They inspire me to get off my duff and go do some sewing!
Here's what I've been working on this weekend. It still needs two more borders. But first I have to start working on it's two companions. This quilt and it two friends will be called The Three Cousins' Quilts. I'm making three similar quilts with the same fabrics for my niece and my two Munchkins. I'm not a kit person but this was a kit I've now enlarged. This kit started the gluttony fabric visit of last week. I will be making each Munchkin one of these quilts, a matching patchwork frog, and pj bottoms. So I've been a sewing fool. Now that I've made this one quilt top I've figured out some short cuts. So I'll be assembly lining the other two. As an aside, I would have been much further with this one, except I had to tear it apart and resew some rows. The seams were not lining up exactly. Oh well...
Quilting Goddesses of the Universe I have a confession to make....I'm a fabric glutton.
Last night, I went to a friend's home to look at fabric. Sadly, she has decided to end her online fabric business and is offering some fabulous deals on top quality fabric. I just so happened to have purchased a kit from her in September at my Guild's show and decided I needed more fabric to make it bigger and to make a total of three quilts (that story later). So off Kate, the sewing Munchkins, and I went to shop her stash. Honestly, I had already admitted to myself that I would more than likely be purchasing more than just the fabric I needed. And the Munchkins even got in on the act. They turned down going outside to play to look through fabric....they've been infected early.
Sunday, I went over to Kate's and spent half a day quilting. I finished my Mom's quilt and I named it Mary Kate Dannaher. It gets it's name from "The Quiet Man" starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. They made five movies together. As characters and real people, they always seemed like equals. One of my Dad's favorite movies was True Grit and that's what I named the quilt that I made for him while he was in ICU at the hospital. He never got to see the quilt in really life, just a picture. I always intended to make its companion for my mother, and now it's finally finished. It only seemed appropriate to name it something related to the Duke. The label reads:
"Mary Kate Dannaher - "Come a-runnin'? I'm no woman to be honked at and come a-runnin'!" This is the companion quilt to True Grit. Maureen O'Hara and John Wayne were always equal partners in all the movies they made together, just like my Mom and Dad."
This quilt will now live at my Mom's house with True Grit, side by side. I even included a patch of the blue fabric I used in True Grit.
These two quilts represent so much of what has happened to me in the last 4 months. They began as a way for me to cope with the stress of the fragility of the lives of my children and niece and the mortality of my father. Brown bag after brown bag of 5" squares from a fabric exchange a couple of years ago in my quilt guild provided the material to make countless half square triangles. I'll be honest, I didn't square anything up, so when I started putting the squares together some of the points don't line up(and I don't care). But it was the process of marking all those squares on the diagonal and feeding them one after another through my machine that would often run through my head as I tried to fall to asleep at night during those months. And then having the "job" of putting them all together to make a quilt for my Dad, I was doing something even as I stood by helplessly day after day watching his ups and downs in ICU. Then after he passed away, having that quilt as a memorial for him and making something for my Mom. Something that represents them as a pair. Now to quote Forrest Gump,"That's all I have to say about that."
Now to close this post with a smile. Nugget made her first quilt today. She's been bit by the Quilting Bug like her sister and I. I forsee another Hello Kitty sewing machine under the Christmas tree this year since Santa's budget for my Bernina has been cut and the trickle down plan effected. Here's Nugget and her quilt:
I've been told it's for Kit, Kit's cousin from China (Mushu), and Kit's sister(Snowball). She's so proud of herself. In fact, she just came and told me, she can't wait to sew some more and "would you please stop blogging about me and my quilt and come sew!"
The batiks were easy for her to work with. She didn't have to worry about right sides and wrong sides.
As many of the peeps around me have heard over and over recently,"When will the leaves change? When will it be fall?" You would think after nearly 40 years of growing up and living in the South I would know how this works. But this year I've been reading blog after blog of people living in places where they have actual autumns. I've been looking at all the beautiful photographs of leaves, apples, and children in jackets. Now finally, I have it.
Of course Nugget had to get in the act. "Mom what are you doing outside on the deck?" "Can you take my picture with the tree?" And since my last post we celebrated Halloween. The Munchkins started in August with ideas of being a fruit bat (yes fruit bat specific) and a lemur. A trip down the costume aisle at Target saved Mommy alot of time.... Nugget naturally fell in love with the kimono (she's China obsessed and I didn't have the heart to tell her that kimonos are from Japan). And a huge surprise to me, the oldest Munchkin picked this pirate costume. I think it was the "boots" that came with coins sewed to them that jingled when she walked. They both complained about having to wear long sleeve shirts under their costumes until the sun went down. Lately, I've been thinking alot about how lucky I am to have my Munchkins. I've been revisiting the events of my summer and how quickly it can all change. So the girls and I have been sharing lots and lots of snuggles and hugs. October 17th would have been my Dad's 68th birthday.
And finally, I haven't shared a picture of my favorite feline model lately. Here she is enjoying some sun and a pillow Saturday morning.
And here's a reason not to leave your camera unattended....
Stay tuned....
Okay seriously I would love to win any/all of the these quilts. She always does such beautiful stuff. So pretty! They inspire me to get off my duff and go do some sewing!
This quilt will now live at my Mom's house with True Grit, side by side. I even included a patch of the blue fabric I used in True Grit.
I've been told it's for Kit, Kit's cousin from China (Mushu), and Kit's sister(Snowball). She's so proud of herself. In fact, she just came and told me, she can't wait to sew some more and "would you please stop blogging about me and my quilt and come sew!"
The batiks were easy for her to work with. She didn't have to worry about right sides and wrong sides.
As many of the peeps around me have heard over and over recently,"When will the leaves change? When will it be fall?" You would think after nearly 40 years of growing up and living in the South I would know how this works. But this year I've been reading blog after blog of people living in places where they have actual autumns. I've been looking at all the beautiful photographs of leaves, apples, and children in jackets. Now finally, I have it.
And since my last post we celebrated Halloween. The Munchkins started in August with ideas of being a fruit bat (yes fruit bat specific) and a lemur. A trip down the costume aisle at Target saved Mommy alot of time....
Nugget naturally fell in love with the kimono (she's China obsessed and I didn't have the heart to tell her that kimonos are from Japan). And a huge surprise to me, the oldest Munchkin picked this pirate costume. I think it was the "boots" that came with coins sewed to them that jingled when she walked. They both complained about having to wear long sleeve shirts under their costumes until the sun went down.
Lately, I've been thinking alot about how lucky I am to have my Munchkins. I've been revisiting the events of my summer and how quickly it can all change. So the girls and I have been sharing lots and lots of snuggles and hugs. October 17th would have been my Dad's 68th birthday.
