Quilts, Family and yet more family!

What a busy weekend this has been!  If this were a TV series, it would have all the ingredients needed to make it interesting!  You add in a little drama, beauty, and zany family and a happy ending and there you go, a mini TV show!

I guess I should start with the week before last.  As I was getting ready for the day, I got a phone call from my daughter, Jenny, in Michigan.  Ariel’s mother, Eva, was in the ICU after having had a hysterectomy and someone accidentally nicked her colon.  That meant removing part of her colon, emptying it, and her winding up in intensive care for about 3 or 4 days.  Now, Eva lives in Tulare County which is just about an hour from us, and was in the hospital there.  Ariel lives in Michigan and wanted to come and see his mother and help take care of her.  We spent a while discussing the plans and decided to take the train into town.  While here, Ariel planned to visit family, including us.  Jenny works in retail and with Easter so close, she was  unable to come.  Ariel gathered up Matthew (my grandson) and brought him back here.

And the plot thickens…… Ariel called Amtrak to make a reservation for Las Vegas, Nevada, as it costs extra to come into California with the Rocky Mountains and all.  He was in a hurry and didn’t realize until later that he had booked it for Las Vegas, New Mexico.  Who knew that there was a Las Vegas there?  I guess that NV and NM look alike in that small print!   That meant he had to book a car and drive from NM instead.

Meanwhile, the shower and the quilt show are getting closer.  I worked on baby quilts and blankets and was finally ready.  After that, I concentrated on cleaning my house and it was looking pretty good, considering it’s a small house and my hubby is a pack rat.  Can you believe it I actually got him to clean out the front room so we could actually sit down?

My sister Candis had been deciding whether to come or not.  As soon as I thought she was coming, she would change her mind!  She lives in Camino up above Placerville and they had just gotten a lot of snow.  Over the weekend, someone hit her car.  It was in the driveway, minding it’s own business and somebody’s car skidded, and slid into her driveway, hitting her SUV making it turn, smashing the headlight and the front end.  The person responsible didn’t leave a note or anything. A hit and run!  She called the police and they are looking for who did it.  It’s going to cost a bundle to get that taken care of.

On our end again, the clutch in our car decided to go out.  Doug made an appointment to get it fixed for this Monday.  This happened over the weekend, of course.  We were still able to drive it, but very carefully and not for very long periods at a time.  Good thing I had all my shopping and errands taken care of before this happened.

Thursday night–Friday morning.  Ariel arrived in Tulare and visiting with his mother.  She had gotten out of the ICU and was in critical care.  Matt, since he is only 9, wasn’t allowed to go in and visit.  They spent the weekend there and planned to see us this week.  Eva is a very petite woman, and the scar that she has goes up from the belly to the chest and makes a curve going back down again.  She said, through Ariel, that she was feeling a little better but very sore.  Eva, like every good mother, is the type who no matter how she feels, will get up and do everything for you.  We have all been telling her and Ariel that now he and his siblings need to do for her and  make her stay put in bed.  That is going to the hardest part of her recovery is staying still and healing and letting someone else do it for you.

Candis finally decides that she is coming on down to Fresno.  She stopped on Saturday at her friend’s house in Exeter and visited Uncle Ross, Vincelle and other family in Reedley.  Uncle Ross is a bachelor and is 86, so she and my dad went ahead and made up some dinners for him.  They all had a good visit.  I was working all day in between the finishing touches of cleaning before she arrived.

Of course, during this week we had lovely weather, nice, cool and with a breeze.  Sunday was the exception.  It was threatening rain on the day of the shower and the quilt show.  And boy did it ever deliver, especially Saturday night and Sunday morning.  Kathy had planned to have the party outside at Woodward Park, but wisely decided to move it to An’s parents house.  They have a large patio and set up tarps to keep the rain out.  Ooops, I’m getting ahead of myself!

Candis arrived about 1230 Sunday afternoon.  After visiting for a bit, we went to the San Joaquin Valley Quilt Show!  It was out on Clinton Ave and by the freeway.  We were laughing about finding it as it seemed to be in the middle of nowhere and I said that as soon as we stopped to look at directions, there it would be.  As it turns out, it was just like that!  We have over 200 quilters in our guild and they are all very talented.  It was a huge turnout and we had about 5 vendors there along with displays of gorgeous quilts!  Here is a sampling:

Of course, I went to the quilt show and forgot to put new batteries in my camera, so my sister took these pictures.  About 10 minutes into taking pictures, they announced that they had the disk available for sale with all the quilts displayed.  I tried to copy the pictures but since it is copyrighted, I am not able to share them with you.  My apologies, as there were some beautiful creations that I wish could share.  This was my first real quilt show and I was very impressed with the creations!  Too beautiful to describe in words alone.

After staying at the quilt show for a bit, we then headed to the double baby shower for Kathy and Youn.  We arrived and the sky was very cloudy with rain threatening with just a bit of the sun weakly showing through the clouds.  Luckily, it did not rain, but it was cold and windy.

An’s parents are Cambodian and are excellent cooks!  They served us homemade egg rolls, satay, ribs, papaya salad, and other goodies!  Kathy made 2 edible fruit bowls that were absolutely delicious!

The cakes were so cute!   This is Youn’s cake: 

And Kathy’s cake: 

We didn’t stay very long as the weather was getting pretty cold and Candis had a long drive back to Camino with only one headlight working.  Here are some more family photos:

 

An’s mother made sure that we had plenty of egg rolls and satay to take home with us as a snack.  Believe me, they did not last long.  So yummy!

Fast forwarding to Monday.  We had talked to Ariel on Saturday and they were coming to Fresno for a visit.  We had them over for pizza on Monday and had a wonderful visit.  Matt looks so much like his mother and is such a clown.  He and Sam hit it off right off the bat and were running around in Sam’s house like wild indians, chasing each other with Nerf guns and whatever.

Doug had decided that he wanted to give Ariel some money to help the cost of the train.  Ariel told him it was not necessary.  As he was driving in from NM, there was a lot of traffic on the road so they decided to stop for a bit.  There was a combination hotel, casino and play area and they pulled off.  They had some lunch and Ariel put Matt in the play area for a bit.  He gambled a little bit and won $1000 off of some  slot machines and a few other games.  Pretty lucky!

He visited his mother and she was doing a lot better.  We had a really good time and the guys sat around and talked for a while.  Here are some pictures:

Now for a happy ending; Ariel spent Monday night and we had a chance to catch up a little more the next day before he left for Tulare.  He called yesterday, Wednesday, and he is bringing Eva home from the hospital.  Now for the hard part of the recovery, staying put and letting someone else take care of her.  I had a wonderful time both at the Quilt Show and the shower and also seeing my grandson and son-in-law.  Kathy and Youn both received a lot of great baby gifts.  Our car is being picked up this morning, Candis’ SUV is in the shop.

What a wonderful way to end!

Chat later!

Donna

Playing Catchup!

Good Morning, Everyone

February 22

It is a cool, windy day here in the valley and everything is trying to bloom!  I think Spring is coming and with it, my allergies, and a lot of new ideas.   By the way, has anyone visited this site lately?  Riley Blake is giving away patterns at his website.  You go here:  http://www.rileyblakedesigns.com/newsletter/signup/?Pagesource=FaveFeb12Ad, sign up for his newsletter and you have access to over 30 free patterns to download!  I love it!  I love patterns almost as much as fabric.

Spring also leads to cleaning, which I really need to do.  Not just my housework (YUCK), but straightening out my stash closet and bins.  That may have to wait though as my guild is having it’s Quilt Show at the end of March and I still have a few things to finish for that.  PLUS, I have a baby shower for Kathy and Yoon, my daughter and daughter-in-law, on the same weekend as the Quilt Show.  I have the patterns chosen for the baby quilts, but those will have to wait until after the next guild meeting.  And sandwiched in between that, there are a few birthdays in March, my father’s, my birthday, my nephew and a few others.  Very busy month.

A little family news, my sister, Candis, is back safe and sound from Burma. Yes, the country that borders India.  She went with 2 friends and visited there for about 2 weeks and had the time of their lives.  She wrote about it and I felt that I could see where she was.  Am anxious to see pictures!  Watch out, Rick Steves, here comes Candis!  She had a wonderful time and the people were so friendly and helpful.  What a great experience for her!

March 4

A little more news on the family, Jenny had her ultrasound and she is having a girl also!  I don’t know who is more excited, me or Kathy, as Kathy is hoping that once Jenny and her family move back to California, that their daughters will grow up together!  Sew much to do and sew much fun shopping!

Speaking of shopping, our tax refunds came in early and DH and I went on a shopping spree last Sunday.  We each had a small amount plus for gas and lunch and off we drove down to Visalia and Tulare area.  Really pretty weather, almost too warm for a sweater.  We drove down to the outlet malls in Tulare and did a little shopping, actually things I don’t really need but liked.  Did buy a pair of shoes that I liked at K-Mart for a good price, calf leather with a very low heel, good for walking in.  I did walk in those the rest of the day after trading in my tennies.  Very comfortable.

At the outlet mall, there is a store that sells kitchenware and I needed a new coffee maker.  Mine is getting tired and is used a lot.  I looked in the aisles and checked the prices.  Even on sale, they were just too much for what I wanted to spend.  I hate those that have the timer on them and the coffee goes cold after 2 hours.  I want mine to stay hot for as long as I want. I started looking around and they had a clearance section.  There were 3 or 4 coffee makers for $11 each.  What a great surprise.  They were the same as the others, but they were on sale cuz they made only 10-cups not 12 cups.  They were discontinuing them for that one reason.  I bought one and even used a coupon for more savings!

We then went to the Chocolate Factory.  Yes, I know, a big NO NO for Doug and his diabetes.  They had a large assortment of sugar free chocolates and the best peanut butter fudge!  Yummy!  I bought some of both (I later put it in the refrigerator at home and saved it for later).  They had a special, buy $15 of candy and you get a chocolate covered strawberry for free.  Well, I did.  Not hard to do, considering their prices.  Doug and I shared this huge strawberry covered in white chocolate with milk chocolate drizzled on the sides! That strawberry was huge but worth it!  We hardly ever do stuff like that but it was so much fun and really sweet!

Onto Visalia.  We arrived in Visalia about noon and we were hungry.  We had probably walked about half a mile already just up and down the malls, parking lot and wherever.  Doug doesn’t believe in parking close, he likes to park as far away as possible.  Also, parking on Sunday in downtown Visalia is hard to find and we had to park quite a distance.  Yes, we were still in Visalia where we parked.  (LOL)!  I’m surprised my feet were still speaking to me at the end of the day!  We had planned to go to a little Mexican restuarant about 2 doors down from Beverly Fabrics.  It was closed.  So disappointed, such delicious food.  Well, we went two doors down on the other side and there was a brewery/cafe/bistro.  We decided to try it out.  We went upstairs and ordered.  Doug had fish and chips, his favorite, and I had a french dip, my favorite sandwich.  It was delicious and huge portions!  I had onion rings that were fresh and hot!  Very good lunch at a good price.  It’s always nice to find a good restaurant.  We will go there again.  I had hoped to go to some more fabric shops, but out of 5 shops, Beverly was the only one open on Sunday.  Saturdays are too hard as I have to work in the afternoons.

I went to Beverly’s and Doug went to the Army Surplus store just down the block.  They have a sales table in the back, actually 3 rows of tables piled high with fabric for half off, so about $4-5 a yard.  Then, there is a wall that has bargain fabric starting at about $3-4 a yard.  Sew, I bought 8 pieces of fabric, half a yard each, for under $20.  Time to head back home but not before stopping at a stand on the way in to Fresno.  It’s one of those roadside stands that sells fruit, cheese, nuts, etc plus has an antique section (very small).  We walked around for a bit and came home.  All in all, it was a great diversion for a Sunday!

The rest of this last week was pretty quiet, not much else has really happened.  I am getting ever closer to my deadline for the Guild and plan to spend today and tomorrow in there, sewing.

It was great chatting with everyone, but I will close for now!

A Tribute to Fred

Fred Vincent Spallina, son of Dom and Lou Spallina and brother to Candis, Tracy, and Donna.

Fred, I can’t believe that it has been 10 years since you passed away, the time has gone by so quickly, but we all think of you and remember the good times.  In your honor, I have posted some pictures of us as a family.   I hope this will make all  of us smile as we look back.

I wish I had more photos to upload at the moment, so if anyone in the family has some to share you can send me a jpeg.file and I can insert them here.  It would be fun to share some memories of Fred and our families as we remember him.

Donna Coppin  medtran2@hotmail.com

SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY QUILT SHOW

San Joaquin Valley Quilters Guild

Springtime in the Valley 2012 Quilt Show

Posted: 08 Feb 2012 07:54 PM PST

Playing Catch Up

Hello

Wow, what a week this has been. Or should I say, month. Since the beginning of November, I have been down, off and on, with walking pneumonia. I am still trying to get it out of my system and it just doesn’t want to leave. My apologies for not following through on emails, notes, projects, blogging, etc. Just not enough energy lately to get even the minimal amount done on the computer, except for work.

Speaking of work, I am technically at work now, but there are no jobs in the queue and that means no editing or typing, and less money. I get paid by the line, not the hour. So, while it is quiet I am catching up. I have addressed and printed out my newsletter to our family and friends and will be mailing that soon. Of course, I went to the store today to mainly buy some stamps and veggies, and of course, what do I walk away without? Stamps!

Did anyone go shopping on Black Friday? Doug and I did. We went to Joann’s yesterday morning and the line for the cutting table, at 8 a.m. was very long, snaking around several aisles, and the same for the checkout stand! I have been looking at and wanting a Serger for a while and Joann’s actually had the lowest price, $179 with 25%. We had looked online at other places, but this was the best price, almost $120 less than the other stores. Doug wound up buying me a Singer Serger Pro-Finish as my Christmas present. Pretty good deal, I think. They even had samples of quilt blocks that people who had taken their classes had made with the Serger. I get free classes with this machine. Looking forward to playing with it. Sad thing is I have to wait til Christmas to open it. That’s ok; I have plenty to keep me busy for a while. Now, I have to buy something really nice for him….. He’s still deciding what he wants.

Sew, what is everyone up to?  Me, I’m so far behind on everything.  I have several baby blanket/quilts that need binding so I can deliver them to the Marjoree Mason Center.  I also have several quilts for Valley Children’s Hospital and the VA to finish up.  These are gifts that I give as donations for my family each year as several of us already have practically everything we need, or will go out and buy what we need ourselves.  I’m not even going to think about my projects left over from this year, yet!  Overload! 

Right now, my sewing room is a mess of patterns, fabric, thread, and whatever all over the place.  Wish I could blame the cats for that, but no, it’s all me! 

Sunday, I will be cleaning the front room and clearing out some stuff so we can decorate.  I also need to clean my kitchen pantry out so I can see what I need for baking this year.  I will do some baking but not very much for us, as Doug has diabetes.  This will go to the kids and then I will take most of it to the Marjoree Mason Center for the children.   I put each quilt in a gift bag with a soft plush toy.  The center is for abused and battered women and most of them come in with nothing more than they are wearing, and I feel that every baby should have their own blanket.  I hope to deliver them before the 20th.  So much to do and time is running away from me.  I still have some shopping to do, but not too much left.

That’s about it for what I’ve been up to.  Sew, will close for now.  Chat soon!

COPPIN FAMILY NEWSLETTER

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family!

 

What a busy and full year this has been for all of us!  Doug and I celebrated 30 years of marriage in March by going to San Francisco for the weekend!  We had so much fun, just the 2 of us wandering around and staying in the Palace Hotel!  Doug is edging even closer to retiring from the VA, and I’m not sure I’m ready for him to be home all day long!  Next year will be 30 years there with the VA in the warehouse.   

I’m still working for Breitner as an editor/transcriptionist from home and love it, and plan to be there for a while.  I am still quilting from home and love it!  Most of my quilts go to Children’s Hospital or Marjoree Mason Center for the little ones.  My list of “Wanna Do” quilt projects keeps growing, wonder if I will live long enough to finish them!  Our five kitties love to supervise by lying on top of fabric, playing with blocks, and chasing each other around the house. 

My favorite projects are still my family and spoiling our grandchildren and it looks like we will be adding a couple of branches to our family tree.   Kathy and Jenny are both expecting!  Kathy is due end of April—mid May, and Jenny is due in July or August.  Not sure when yet.  Doug and I are both excited to be grandma and grandpa again!  This is a big surprise for Jenny as she thought she was finished with having children.  Matt will be 9 in December and is hoping for a little sister.  Ariel and Jenny are both working and planning to move back from Michigan soon.  I hope so, as it has been way too long since we have seen them! 

Kathy, An, and Sam are doing well.  Sam will be 4 in January and hopes to start preschool in the fall.  An is with GameStop and Kathy is a stay at home mom!  On a sad note, Kayla, their black lab, had to be put down as she had cancer; she was only 9 years old.

Please feel free to peruse my blog for pictures and stories from 2011. 

Chat soon.

 

Hugs to all!

 

Just Visiting

Hi Everyone

I just created a short video called Just Visiting with music called Hold Me by Jamie Grace.  I hope you enjoy it, I had a lot of fun with it.

Error
This video doesn’t exist

 

Clever New Idea for Quilters, Update, Yet Again

I was really surprised and happy to see that my hint is now in print!  Guess you can’t keep a good hint down!  It is now in Fons & Porter Love of Quilting Magazine, page 8 in the May June 2012 issue!  WOW! 

Do you remember when I first posted this, almost a year ago?  Well, guess what?  Fons and Porter contacted me last month and they are going to use this on their tips section on TV!  It will be on episode 1810 and should be on sometime this fall.  I tried looking for it on the website but it’s not up yet, not until after they air the show!  I will go ahead and tape it and provide a link when it airs!  What a blast! 

I recently had a great idea on how to recycle the gum dispensers!  You take the dispenser when it is empty, screw the top off and then you have an empty container ready to be filled with your yardage of rick-a-rack, lace, binding, etc.  Then when you are ready to use it, you open the small slot and pull through the amount that you need to use to finish your project.  It keeps your binding clean and tidy and right at hand!

PS:  I sent a copy to Fons & Porter.  Maybe they will share it on TV and I can win a free subscription! 

To New Good Friends!

Hello

Boy, do I have a lot to report for the last few days or so!  Most of it pretty good. 


Especially last Wednesday when I met Lynne for the very first time.  Lynne is an online friend from a group called Stash_Quilters and we met at Starbucks Coffee.  She drove up from down south of Bakersfield and wanted to meet on her way up to visit family in the Sacramento area.  I’m in Fresno, so a perfect stop.  Starbuck’s is practically across the street from my house and right off the freeway, you come off the freeway and it’s practically straight ahead with an easy ramp back onto the freeway. 

We sat in Starbuck’s for quite a while and visited.  Though we had never met before, I felt as if I had known her my whole life.  We talked about everything, life, families, quilting, whatever!  We had a blast.  Well, I took some of my current projects with me to show her plus a few little gifts for just dropping by.  She had my quilt top from the RR with her, and WOW, it is gorgeous!

 

It was a true treat and a treasure to meet Lynne and we hope to continue to visit more often.

Thursday night was my quilt guild meeting and I became a member for the first time.  I am really enjoying the meetings and even did a little show and tell.  I brought in my other RR top and my binding dispenser! 

I may even be doing a workshop on using up scraps!  I have never hostessed or given a class before, except Sunday School, so this will be outside my comfort zone.  But I’m really looking forward to it! 

 

Saturday was the day of my Aunt Maxine’s Memorial Service.  I really wanted to attend and visit with my cousins, especially Monica, but I was too sick to attend.  I was unable to see due to my eyes and the blepharitis, plus I was down with the flu, too.  Doug and Kathy went for me and they had a good time. 

Sunday, I did a little sewing, and Monday, I had to work all day to make up time from days off.  I took yesterday off as I was really ill again, and am just now feeling back to  myself. 

Not much else new here.  Hope your week is going well!

 

Same Place, New Look

Hello and Welcome Back!

Yes, this is the right place.  I decided that it was time for a new look and change and I think I’ve finally got it close to the way I want it.  At least for now……  As you may have noticed, I have a tendency to change my mind now and then, so nothing is ever completely the same all the time. 

Same with my sewing room.  I have it set up the way I like for now, but right now I am looking for a new table for cutting.  I have an inexpensive table from Joann’s that has served me well, but it has the metal legs that criss-cross under the table and that takes up a lot of premium space that I can use for storage.  Also, it is not the sturdiest of tables as I can attest to my cats who like to use it as a bouncing off place onto the ground.  Come on, I need something with more substance, like a wood table.  That’s what I really want, is a good old kitchen table with two solid legs on either end with space between the legs where I can “hide” my bins of fabric scraps!  What I would like to do is salvage the top that I have now, use that along with the cutting mat, and cut to my heart’s content.  But it has to be able to move easily as I tend to change things around as the seasons change.  Did I mention that I change my mind now and then?

Don’t get me wrong, I love it the way it is set up now, where I can go on either side of the table, in the middle of the room.  But when it gets cold here, I like to have it closer to the wall, flush with the wall.  My room is just big enough where I can have my furniture in different positions and still work. 

And talking about space, am I the only quilter out there who doesn’t have space for all her fabric?  Come on, tell the truth!  In my sewing room, which used to be the girls’ room, I have the largest closet in the house.  Which isn’t saying very much.  You can walk in about 2 feet and have a little space in the back and off to the side of the closet.  It’s a lot bigger than my closet which is the width of a regular house door and about as deep.  A while back, DH put in some shelving for me in the closet for storing my yardage.  Needless to say, it has reached the point of tipping over onto the shelves underneath and making a wonderland of finding the right fabric.  Of course, I love to revel in fabric and fondle it, but this is getting a little too messy, even for me! 

I am trying to decide on drawers that I can pull out in between the shelves or just using nice baskets.  I like the idea of clear plastic containers so I can see it a glance, but on the other hand, I like the baskets as they are a little less expensive in the long run.  Or if I want to use smaller sized bins, or if I should go ahead and create my own system such as a divider for the fabric.  Only thing is that the shelves allow for 2 piles of fabric deep per shelf, and I have 4 shelves.  It makes it hard to see what is behind each stack and then I have to move the front stack to get to the back of the shelf.  That’s the main reason I like the pull out drawers.  But then how to fold them so that they look nice and stay that way.  I have some math that I need to figure out first.

Decisions, decisions.  Maybe change my mind along the way………… again!