Happy Father's Day

Spent today with my 92 year old Dad and Mom. Mom has been suffering from Alzheimers for a number of years now and Dad has trouble keeping a smile on his face as the love of his life is slipping further and further away from him. They've been together since they were teenagers. This has been a very difficult few years for us all.


And now a little catch up from January/February 2009


An annual event in Southern California is a wonderful Quilt Show - Road To California which is held in the middle of the month of January in Ontario, California. It is a 4 day show with wonderful classes, quilts, and great vendors.
This year I went for just one day and managed to cram in seeing all the quilts and even didn't do too much damage at the vendor booths.


Here is a crazy quilt that was displayed there - it's an Opportunity Quilt made by the Conejo Valley Quilt Guild, of which I was a charter member and the first co chair of the guild's very first quilt show.
What an undertaking for an opportunity quilt. I must buy many many tickets for this beauty.

Here's another wonderful Crazy Quilt displayed there that I spent much time ogling over and taking many pictures for further perusal and inspiration. I apologize for not getting the name of the maker of this fabulous quilt. It's quite possible that it was made in the 1940's, as one of the blocks has an inscription with the date: '45

And, another amazing quilt that I thought was just beautifully done.

Happy Birthday Scott
February brought a milestone for my dear son - his 40th Birthday. How did those years fly by so fast? Here we are celebrating at Benihana's for a fabulous dinner.

A Quick Catch up from December 2008

OK, let's play catch up with a few events I can still remember from the last 6 months. Last you saw me here in Blogland it was the first week in December and I was still in Gilbert, Arizona visiting Susan. On my way out of town as I headed home to Los Angeles, I just couldn't resist one more stop at my favorite BBQ place - Joe's BBQ.


Whenever I hear someone mention they're going to Gilbert Arizona, I tell them they MUST go to Joe's BBQ - it's just the best there is. They look at me like I'm nuts, but after they go, they have to agree - there's no place like Joe's. OK, I'll admit it - I'm addicted to their hot bbq sauce. And, yes, I do have a case of it in my pantry that I hauled home with me on one of my trips. Oh, and a gallon jug of their regular BBQ sauce as well. Just in case I don't get to get back there in a long time. A girl has to have a stash, you know.

Also in December, my small quilting mini group that I belong to had our annual holiday pot luck at Pat's house. All the women in this group are retired and whenever it's their turn to host a sewing day at their house they effortlessly whip up an amazing lunch for us gals. Since I'm the only "working girl" in the group - I cheated, chose to bring a dessert as my contribution to the holiday party - and I sure picked the right bakery for these little beauties. They were just as tasty as they are pretty!

The last week of the year 2008 ended with a 5 day visit from Susan, where we spent many fun hours stitching together and of course visiting a quilt shop or two! Perfect way to end the year - doing what you love with your best friend.

Have no Fear, Fran will be back soon

After taking a 6 month break from blogging, I have decided to come back. I so often struggle with what to blog about since I feel that my life is so very ordinary that I wonder why anyone would be interested in my boring everyday occurences.


On the other hand, I've also been thinking about how short life really is and how nice it is to reflect upon and share some of the precious moments of my life.


So, after giving the whole blogging experience some thought I have realized that I really do enjoy keeping family and friends updated with my daily comings and goings, (in real life I am quite a talker) so I think I'll just blog what I want to share, and have fun doing it!


So there you have it.........my life goes on. More tomorrow!

Christmas Lights in Arizona

Last night Susan took me to see the beautiful Christmas light display at the LDS Temple in Mesa, Arizona. There are over a million lights on the front lawn and all around the Visitor's Center and it is just breathtaking to experience the beauty.

If you click on the picture it will enlarge and become clearer.

Inside the Visitor's Center was a display of Nativity Sets from all over the world.

Resurfacing - in Phoenix, Arizona

This has been a wonderful week of meeting old friends, on line friends and enjoying Thanksgiving with my very best friend and her DH - all in beautiful Phoenix, Arizona.
The weather has also been delightful, hovering in the low 70's.

Yesterday Susan and Moira and I surprised Gabriele while she was teaching a class at Bearly Stitching in Goodyear, Arizona.

From left to right: Me, Susan, Gabriele, Moira

I've Been a Neglectful Blogger!

I just read an anonymous comment on my best friend’s blog asking her to get me to get back to blogging while she was here visiting me for the past week.

Uh oh – I have been a bad bad blogger – no doubt about it – so I’m back and really trying to be more consistent in keeping up my little corner of blogland.

What have I been up to since my last post? Oh my…….I’ve been torn between trying to make a living as a realtor in this tough housing market, and helping out with my elderly parents with severe health issues.
Being an only child during these kinds of challenges is both scary and exhausting, to say the least.
I really haven’t been doing much stitching, but have spent much time thinking about all the beautiful things I look forward to stitching. Does that count?

So, let’s play catch up – I spent a delightfully delicious Thanksgiving at my son Scott’s home with his wonderful family…….wife Tina, Grandsons, Casey and Rudy, & Tina's Mom.

This is Scott and me. He's a die-hard Raider fan - still hasn't forgiven them for leaving Los Angeles.

And here’s grandson Rudy struttin' his stuff at his High School’s Battle of the Bands contest. His team won! I'm a proud Grannie Frannie!
It was so exciting – these kids spent soooo many hours practicing, it was great to see them win. There was some wonderful talent performing there that night.

The month of December kept me pretty busy getting one of my listings sold and doing all the busy things that go along with that. Finding and keeping a buyer these days is a real challenge, so I consider the successful closing of this sale a victory! It was worth all the hard work, not to mention many open houses.
Be back tomorrow with more catch up.

Hugs,

A Fun Day Visiting

Ingrid - June - Fran - Susan

When Susan was here visiting last month we met 2 CQ online friends in real life!
Ingrid just lives about 20 minutes from where I live and I'm so excited to have a CQ friend so close by.
June lives about an hour away. We all met at one of my favorite local quilt shops, "Cotton and Chocolate" - in Thousand Oaks. What a great time we all had, laughing, talking, sharing - as we shopped, ate lunch, and shopped some more in a fabulous bead shop that I forgot the name of. Shame on me!

SACRAMENTO VISIT - OCTOBER 2007

On the way home from PIQF, Susan and I spent a fun day stitching with Karrin and Candi at Karrin's home in Roseville.

Karrin - Fran - Candi - Susan
















Hugs,

Trying to Catch Up!

I can't believe it's been so long since I blogged.........time just keeps flying by!
Halloween has come and gone and I neglected to show you my very first Halloween wall hanging made years ago when those "jar quilts" were so popular. I look forward to hanging it every year on the very first day of October so I can enjoy it for the entire month!
For the past 10 years I have been buying and stashing A LOT of Halloween fabric to make more themed quilts and they are still percolating in my mind - not yet begun.
Ah yes, someday..............

Hugs,

Home Again, Home Again

The days have been flying by since Susan and I returned from our trip to PIQF. On the way home we stopped at Roseville, Calif to visit and stitch with good friends - Karrin and Candi. It was so much fun to sit and stitch at Karrin's house while listening to great music while catching up with each other's latest happenings. I got to see my RR block that Karrin had just finished working on and was sending on to the next person. Oh my, these ladies have done wonders with this block. It's lookin' good!

Next we stopped at Quilters Paradise in Clovis. It's such a wonderful quilt shop - has lots of wonderful goodies and lovely people to help you. It's just a "feel good" shop and we always enjoy visiting there on our way home from PIQF each year. The quaint little town also has many antique shops where we found some little treasures of lace and tatting to take home with us.


Hugs,

Blogging At Last - in San Francisco

I sure am lucky to have a best friend to encourage me, kick me in the behind and get me started on having my own blog. Thank You Susan! We are spending a few days in the San Francisco area where we went to Pacific International Quilt Festival yesterday at the Santa Clara Convention Center. I bought 2 of those wonderful A to Z books at the quilt show - one for Embroidery and one for Ribbon Embroidery. OK, I have a library of wonderful instruction books to help me learn - now to jump in with both feet and actually get practicing so I do a decent job on this round robin I'm in.

My Very First Round Robin Block

I am so excited to be starting my very first crazy quilting round robin with 4 friends. This is also the first cq block I have ever made. I found an antique hanky with my initial at the Santa Monica Calif. Fiber Fest show last year and decided to use it as my middle focal fabric for the block.