6 days, who's counting....

With Christmas less than a week away, can you believe it already, my cookies are baked.

The tree is up....

Cleos tree skirt is underneath now for the 15th year...

and Daisy has hung her favorite ornament.

Extra stockings were hung for our Oklahoma Grandsons who will arrive the day after!

Daisy has her Christmas spirit going on!

This year hubby and I saw Manheim Steamroller at the beautiful old Arvest Bank Theatre at the Midland in Kansas City. A perfect way to start the season and it was a wonderful concert.

May your Christmas be filled with happiness and many memories to treasure,

XX00 Barbie Jo and Daisy

Sum Sum Summertime!

Wow, it has been a busy summer! We spent the 4th of July week with my sis in law and brother in law in Pittsburgh PA. They are such a fun couple to be with and we always have a great visit with them. It is our tradition to go out and have a big breakfast to start off our 4th of July morning.

We always go to a little spot in the country on a par 3 course called Chubs Place. 

How yummy does this look? That Pittsburgh Italian bread... OMG I can't get enough of it when I'm there!

We also spent time with our niece and her darling little family.

 It was a good week flooded with many fond memories of growing up in Pittsburgh. 

But all good things must come to an end and before you know it we were on the road heading home to our Daisy. Our cooler was packed with some of our favorite Pittsburgh foods. We stopped for lunch at a rest area along the road and had chipped ham sandwiches, Wise potato chips and cupcakes to celebrate our 45th anniversary!

Lots of wedding events happening as the big day draws closer and closer for our cute couple.

Here is our sons beautiful bride to be at the lovely Bridal shower her sister gave her. They are going to need a bigger kitchen lol. 

Once home it was time to pack my totes full of quilts models and goodies to take to Hutchinson Kansas. I spy a protester on my tote here! 

It was such a pleasure to present trunk shows to both the Heart of Kansas guild and Evening Star guilds in Hutchinson. Two wonderful guilds that share their love of sewing and also support their community with various projects. 

Before leaving Hutchinson Hubby and I took a unusual tour we had read about. The Hutchinson Salt Mine has a museum "Stataca" which allows you to go 650 feet below ground on an excellent guided tour. I was a little nervous at 1st, but my fears were quickly laid to rest and this was a unique and really cool experience for all age groups. 

Hubby collecting a salt rock sample.

Upon returning home again to a happy Daisy, I released my latest pattern"Harvest Moon"

This runner is just so pretty for Fall, made from wool it measures 12" x 34". You can find it now on my website at www.cleoandme.com and my Etsy store: Cleo and Me Patterns.

And now it's time to get running. Next week we'll have our Oklahoma Grandsons for a visit!

It looks like August will be another busy and full month.

Happy summer!

Fall Frolics

Boy we are having a beautiful weather this week here in Kansas! Sunday hubby and I took advantage of the pretty day and visited Dunn's Cider Mill. It seems we were not alone with that thought, it was packed with everyone craving the same thing....cider and apple cider doughnuts! Oh those doughnuts, they were making them fast and furious but could hardly keep up with the demand..... they are soooo delicious! 

After getting our doughnut/cider fix, we drove further out to a store we had not yet explored- the AT Home store. My son refers to it as Home Store on steroids, and right he was! Good grief this store is gigantic! Looking for Halloween?

How about some Christmas inflatables for the yard... 

Perhaps a new tree? Every year hubby says he is going to get one with the lights already on it!

Awwww, who doesn't love this guy and the Frosty The Snowman movie.

Back on the homefront, I have not spent much time in my sewing room lately. The new kitchen counters are in and fabulous. Now we are painting the walls and hubby is refinishing the cabinets. Lots of work!! 

At night I am sewing the binding on a special gift for a special little girl. 

And then there is Daisy trying on her new Halloween hat lol! 

Next I'm getting ready for a fun adventure this weekend, I'll tell you more about it next time!

Stack of quilts

A busy week for me, gathering quilt and penny rug models, printing patterns, checking my lists once and twice. It is a lot of work to present and pack up a trunk show, but oh so worth the fun and adventure. Next week I am going to visit The Silver Needles Quilt Guild in Salina Kansas, I look forward to sharing my work and celebrating their 35th year guild anniversary with them! 

I stitched up a few pin cushions to add to gift bags.

I'll tell you, if they could only see mine lol! This is what sadly I most often do, stick pins to my sleeves and pant legs while I sew. I have pin cushions, one at my cutting table, one at my desk and one at my sewing table. But somehow all the pins seem to end up in  one or the other.

And because I was so jealous of that wrist pin cushion, why I made one for myself! 

Sometimes it's the little things that make life easy.

Ending my post with a picture of my cute girl... 

have a fun and fabulous week!

Barbie Jo and Daisy

Easter Greetings

Happy Easter to you! We had a lovely Easter brunch at home today. Our son and his cute girlfriend Emily joined us. It looks like Daisy decided to join us also and be our table centerpiece lol! 

I hope your Easter table was filled with those you love and plenty of chocolate too!
Barbie Jo and Daisy

Happy Birthday Daisy!

An exciting weekend in our house, today is Daisies 1st Birthday! It is so hard to believe a year has gone by already. And so today is all about Daisy. She got a new toy and is dining on tuna (the canned variety) tonight! Daisy has added a lot of fun and laughter to our lives, as you know... we are just gaga about her. I made a short slide show of her 1st year for you to view if you wish!

Personalize your own slideshow design

Next up is Valentines Day tomorrow!
I hope you have some sweet plans. Hubby is taking me out to lunch and I am really looking forward to a little adventure! 

Last but not least, I have a new embroidery design for you, just in time for Easter!

"Clover and Sam", two cute bunny designs to stitch up quick. Pattern includes pillow finishing instructions. Now available on my web site if you want a peek.

And thats it for me tonight dear people. I am going to finish making my pizza for dinner. I love to make pizza, and of course I love pizza too! After dinner I'll play with Daisy, she loves to play! 

Hope your weekend is fun and full of treats!

Start your leaf blowers..

Fall is here again, the leaves are showing off for us. We turn our heads every which way when leaving the neighborhood, one tree prettier than another, Mother nature sure does produce one glorious show!

Doing a little Fall decorating, my new pumpkin head dollie arrived from Valerie Weberpal at Harvest Moon designs. I just love her work, isn't she fun!

I have a new pattern design for you! "Oh Holy Night"...the stars are softly shining.

My wool wall hanging features a shepherd tending his flock on this most special night. You can find it now on my web site at www.cleoandme.com.

A lambie close up... they are just the sweetest!

And speaking of sweet.. my Daisy is growing up, she doesn't fit in her favorite cozy dish anymore, but she still tries LOL! She has her winter coat right now, she's super fluffy!

Glad you stopped by to check in on us, we hope your week is super great!

4th of July Fun!

We're back from a little getaway. Hubby and I drove home to Pittsburgh for the 4th of July week. That's a little haul from Kansas, the roads were super busy, everyone was on the go!

!st time we left our little Daisy and as you can see she was not too happy for us to leave!

My beautiful home town! My heart always pitter patters when we burst through a tunnel and see this beautiful city on the rivers! 

A lot was going on during the 4th of July weekend, the Boat Regatta,

and Furries were everywhere downtown for the Furry convention.

We stayed with my brother and sister in law, they spoil us rotten and make sure we get all our favorite Pittsburgh foods and activities crammed into 1 short week! While the boys golfed, Julie and I went to visit the Sarris Candy store and factory in Cannonsburg Pa. I order this chocolate on line for holidays and have it shipped, so I was in chocolate heaven! This carousel is made out of chocolate, it is so large I could not get an entire picture of it.

A close up of it's chocolate cuteness!

After leaving Sarris we drove around Cannonsburg looking for a lunch spot. I had to take a picture of this house all decked to for the 4th. Streets were lined with chairs for the parade 2 days early. Cannonsburg has the 2nd largest parade in Pennsylvania.

We drove around downtown Pittsburgh doing some sightseeing and shopping. One of our stops was the fish market Wholey's in the strip district. Clams and other goodies were purchased for the big picnic. Lots and lots of eye candy in this store, so fun!

We ran in to Mancini's Bakery next door. Now... I just freak out over a real bakery!! We don't have that here, and Pittsburgh Italian bread is to die for! I had several loaves wrapped to bring home with me, they were so nice in there.

Our trip was made extra special getting to spend time with our nieces and nephew, babies and their dogs lol! 

I also spent an afternoon with my Daddy who turns 97 in 2 weeks! He had us so busy running all over   town I did not get a picture this trip. He took us to his favorite restaurant for dinner to end our day.

Hubby and I went kayaking with our brother in law and niece at North Park lake. Neither Hubby or I had kayaked before, it was so fun!! I think we may have found a new interest. The hardest part though is getting in and out of the kayak, believe me, that was not a pretty picture on my part lol!

And now after this wonderful trip full of family and fun we are home again. Daisy was so very excited to see us, she still is a baby after all. 

I introduced a new pattern this week: "An Apple A Day" If you love apples this runner is fast and fun to make!

Still catching up on laundry and all that comes with being away. 

Also writing instructions for the next pattern which should be ready soon, best hurry, Santa will be here before you know it!

Meet Miss Daisy!

A busy week, as you know on Thursday we made a trip to Clay Center Kansas to pick up our kitten Daisy from the breeder. A long day there and back but a beautiful one at that, the sun was shining and the scenery was beautiful! Tall grass prairie most of the way west of Kansas City, hard to capture it's beauty as it is so vast. 

The drive home went well, Daisy cried a bit but soon settled down and napped all the way home. 

Once home she ran and hid under my chair and sofa for a day :( I could tell she was very interested in this sparkly fish but no way was she coming out! 

Day 2 Daisy gave in and ventured out. She became acclimated to Hubby and I very quickly hopping from one lap to another. She purrs and purrs and is very sweet. She has been very busy exploring her new domain, she likes the top of my computer chair. 

I forgot how silly kittens could be until she jumped down onto my desk, stuck her head right in my tissue box and got it stuck... who would have ever guessed! I suppose I will have to cut the plastic opening on tissue boxes both ways in the future! She is soft and fluffy as a bunny, we are happy she has adjusted so quickly to us, we just love her! 

Tonight I made Indian Tacos from the Indian Fry Bread Mix I showed you in my last post. 

They were so delicious!!

This week I also mailed off two tops to Brenda for quilting, a table runner and wall hanging. 
Can't wait to see what she does with them as always. 
In the mean time I will be writing the patterns and trying to keep up with Miss Daisy!