Sunday Thoughts

Those Mesa Ladies September

 Wednesday was my favorite day of the month

as I met with

Those Wonderful Mesa Ladies

for our September meeting.

Jamie's latest finish.

The ladies always bring the cutest 

Show and Tell !

 Love her border fabric

The always beautiful

Christine Cook

You may know her as cc.quilts on Instagram

 Christine is expecting a baby boy #4

in the next few months

and brought along this one to finish binding.

 The backing is a soft navy polka dot minkee

 Many of us are grandmothers making quilts for our grandchildren.

Steph brought two baby quilts to bind.

 Left Over Tater Tots

cute name!

 Love her printed labels

 For The Love of Aqua

Also made from leftover scraps.

 Love love love the blue against the crisp white.

 And especially love her creative border

Vicki and Janet 

treated us to the most amazing gourmet lunch.

These ladies can cook!

We meet at the church

where everything needs to be brought in

 and yet the ladies decorate 

as if they were hosting at home.

Even though we are not known for rain in Arizona,

the umbrella represented our recent

 Record Breaking Downpour

that made National News :)

Shop Hoppin'

When I lived in Utah

I used to go on their quilt store Shop Hops each year 

with my girlfriends.

But, now that I live in Arizona,

this is the first time I have attended the

Maricopa County Hop

Theme: Rally In The Valley

What an experience!

I was invited by my friend Denise

who coordinated 4 car loads of ladies.

Denise was amazing.

She had printed out Maps and Instruction Binders for each car.

These ladies have gone together for several years

and are quite experienced hoppers.

Judi stocked her trunk with cold drinks in a cooler

and boxes for each one of her riders to stash their purchases.

W.O.W.

I learned a thing or two :)

Some of the stores on the list 

were quite a distance from my home in Chandler.

Consequently, I had never been to them before.

Fortunately Rally In The Valley lasts 9 days

so there is plenty of time to drive from here to there.

We started with the store that was the farthest away for us

Arizona Quilts

in Surprise, AZ

is 55 miles away, and an hours drive.

A nice store with some beautiful quilts.

I especially liked this version of

Lori Smith's

Quilt Block Sampler

Our next stop (and my first time to visit) was

Sun Valley Quilts

in Sun City, AZ

Lots of fun things here too,

and everyone found a lot of quilty goodies.

With Denise's great directions and instructions

we managed to reach 7 of the 11 stores the first day.

I felt

Sew Blessed 

to be invited along with these wonderful ladies.

On Monday I was able to finish up with the last 4 stores on my end of the valley.

Rally In The Valley 

runs through Saturday the 27th

if you would like to join along.

Rally In The Valley Shop Hop Quilts

 As we traveled throughout the

Phoenix Metro

with the

Rally In The Valley

Shop Hop

each store gave us a portion of the pattern

for this years featured quilt.

After visiting all 11, you have the completed pattern

designed by Diane Ebner

I always think it fun to see the same pattern made up

in various fabrics.

Below are from 6 of the stores:

3 Dudes Quilting

Phoenix, AZ

pieced by Jeff Carr

 Arizona Quilts

Surprise, AZ

 Sun Valley Quilts

Sun City, AZ

 Quilters Bee

Peoria, AZ

 The Olde World Quilt Shoppe

Cave Creek, AZ

 ETC

Mesa, AZ

There is quite a distance between the 11 stores,

so we split up the driving through out 2 days.

This was the first time I had been to several of these stores

and it was really nice to see the offerings throughout the valley.

The Rally In The Valley continues through September 27th!

Shop Hop with 3 Dudes Quilting

 Rally In The Valley

is this years 

SHOP HOP

theme

11 stores are participating here in the 

Phoenix Metro

I went with a group of girlfriends on opening day Friday.

We piled in cars and drove through out the valley

and made it to 7 of the stores.

Of course we had to start at our favorite Local Quilt shop

3 Dudes Quilting

Owner Raymond Steeves

greeted us at the door 

as we entered.

 The back class room is filled 

with quilts made with

Triangles On A Roll

3 Dudes featured product for the Shop Hop

 Patterns by

Niser Holland of Scrappy Quilt Designs

and 

me :) Cactus Needle Quilts

Plenty of product available for sale

 Kits too!

Ray showed a short video

I helped him make

where I demonstrate

Half Square Triangles

made with Triangles On A Roll

 Once the video was over 

we rushed to get our cards stamped

did a little shopping

ate some freshly baked cookies

and then were off to the next store.

The Shop Hop 

runs through 

September 27th

Plenty of time to visit all 11 stores

The featured quilt for this year.

A portion of the pattern is given at each store.

This week I will finish visiting 

the last 4 stores

and will share pictures of their happenings too.

S'More Favors

 Saturday was my daughter's 

Bridal Shower

and I had the opportunity to 

provide the favors

as a "Thank You" for the guests who attended

Aubrey and Kevin met at a 

Church Camp Out

and immediately fell in love.

He took her back up to that same campsite

in the Arizona mountains

 to propose.

I thought it only appropriate that I make

S'More Favors 

to honor their union.

 Layers of

Graham crackers

Chocolate 

and 

Marshmallows 

Yum!