cupcake group is a whirlwind of FUN-I am exhausted...

Here is Mel from California with her beautiful cupcake hat.
The cupcakes is a group of girls (six) who started thirteen years ago and thankfully four of us have maintained the group for 13 years...we have gone through our kids getting married, births of Grandchildren, deaths of loved ones and life as it changes from day to day and year to year. It has been lovely sharing everything with such dear friends who know you so well. We have had others come and go and now we are six strong with more stories, projects and events.

Laurie made each girl a placemat in the shape of a cupcake with their name on it...aren;'t they adorable? She used the alphabet in the book "out of the Box with Easy Blocks which Mel and I wrote. SO much fun!

Here is the table with the most delicious salmon you have ever had-the sun was still warm at dinner time and we had alot of fun talking about the projects we planned to make the rest of the week.

Each girl has one night's dinner and along with that they include fairy gifts to swap much like in my story quilt workshops. Laurie was lucky this year and found all kind of cupcake gifts for each girl...such fun! The cupcake on the left is a luggage tag for each of us and there is some lip gloss, a pen and a cool needle threader

Here Mel shows the girls how she make s star-it is included in the patterns in the Out of the Box with Easy Blocks book and Mel made many of the stars in different sizes for her new COW quilt she is doing. See my other blog "Mary Lou and Cherries Too" to see the cow....

Molly and Laurie worked on selvage strips for quilts...here is one of my old fabrics that will go into a bag Laurie is making for me and below is one of her webs she made for a full size quilt...isn't it pretty? I love it when there is color from some of the fabrics on the selvage left for more color and fun!

Below is one of the snacks one of the girls made....so good and a little basil sandwiched in- I LOVE basil with watermelon.

I plan to print some of the recipes here in the blog once I can get them out of of my still packed suitcases.

Susan made the most delicious ruby red margueritas....sweet and lovely and just the ticket after a long day quilting for all of us. I have to mention too that i cannot lift anything and my dear friends were there to bring in all of my suitcases, fabrics, a heavy purse etc., and to take my shifts doing alot of things that require your back to work. I am getting better but it is slow and I am still dealing with alot of pain off and on. I am thankful though because I know others are not able to do anything and don't have good friends to help out.

Below was funny napkins that were provided from one of my friends...we always have silly things to laugh about and it is a week of fun, relaxation, friendships that are lovely and kind, beauty of the location (the ocean this time) and creating!

Here is Susan my flight attendant friend who I have talked about for years...she always has lipstick on and will kill me for this photo but isn't this stylish and fun? She always has this kind of thing she can pull off.....I can't without all of us laughing....

Below is the beginning of Susan's woman quilt...it is going to be fabulous because everything she does is fabulous...she lives in Seattle

Below is everyone sitting at the table with their new cupcake pincushions that are adorable! It was so nice to be able to eat outdoors because we have machines and fabric everywhere in the house!

Below was the beginning of setting the table and the darling pincushions were in these boxes....

here is Mel at the table listening to chatter

Below is a bag that Mel made for shopping...she made one for each girl out of New York fabric -her sister lives in NY and Mel loves the city. She gave me the NY bag and then started to make this polka dot bag knowing that I am nuts about red and white polka dot and that it was lined with cherries which I am always a sucker for. So she got back her NY bag and I got this adorable bag for shopping trips...FUN!

Below is Laurie who is a retired teaching and she lives on Lopez island...that is Susan's hand in the photo so she is explaining something....

Next is Eilene who is also a retired teacher and she lives close to me in Spokane and we get to lunch and movies occasionally. She is alot of fun.

This is Molly who you have also seen before and she lives in Sacramento. Molly always has great projects in the works and good ideas.

Here is Susans quilt as it was coming along during the week, isn't it super? Just wait and it will be even more fabulous when she finishes it.

It was a wonderful week and thankfully I am home to sew and create and work. I have so many things I plan to do and I am thinking about what a wonderful year I have had and how many good people I have met in the last few years. So many women have made a real impression on me and I remember so many of them and how kind, fun, nice and talented they are. I feel very fortunate today.

A girl who was my age, became a wonderful nurse and had three boys who were my childrens ages passed away this week from bone cancer. There have been many tears shed in our family as each child of mine were close friends with her children-my son's best friend is her son. Her husband lived a few doors down from me in high school and my life essentially followed hers even though we saw each other infrequently.

I am so deep in thought this day as I think about life and really how short it is and how we impact others and they impact us. I believe in prayer and I can't imagine how everyone in that family must feel knowing how very close and devoted they were to this amazing woman. I am glad that they have such lovely memories of someone so dear. We all do.

Count your many blessings today and let others know you love them for this is what makes life lovely to live. We live with so much negativity and thinking and dwelling on the lovely gifts that God has given us is what makes the day or the week great and memorable. Smell the flowers, enjoy the feel of the sunshine on your face, taste a piece of fresh fruit. call a friend for a laugh, hug someone you love, open your eyes to see the colors right in front of you....make life even more worth living...

Thank you sincerely for coming to my blog today friend.....