Vintage Collage & Quilts

Kathy's Crew

Sunday was a Cancer Walk for "Kathy's Crew" with Lance Armstrong in San Jose.  Kathy Sullivan is my sweet cousin recently diagnosed with stage IV liver cancer.  Her 'crew' has raised almost 3K for cancer research & is still going strong. Kathy is in the center here surrounded by loved ones.  One person every minute dies of cancer. 

After the walk there was a party in her honor in Orinda.  We all love her & want her to stay positive, laugh a lot, keep the faith & hope & FIGHT!!   Her chemo treatments are not causing too many side effects.  She's on round II now.  They are wearing their Kathy's Crew t shirts which are available at cost to support Kathy & her fight. 

Kathy & I

  

 

 Kathy & her hubby Chris

Here is my beautiful Aunt Kathryn who passed away just last month.  She was my mom's youngest sister & Kathy's mom.  She was in the Waves here.  I'm working on a collage of all six sisters for mom's apartment.  Then I will tackle one of all 5 brothers!

 

...

Surprise!

I'm finally going to post some of my one day early surprise b-day pics from June 1st . My husband & I had planned to go out to dinner with two other couples.  Shirley & her husband Earl came over in the morning.  The guys were going to do some guy stuff & Shirley & I were going to garage sales & visit my mom at Assisted Living. 

When we arrived at home around 3:30 Shirley told me in the car that Don & Earl spent all day making something for me for my b-day & he was coming out to blind fold me.  He walked me through the house & out the patio door then took the blind fold off.  I was shocked & surprised to say the least.  I thought maybe a little something extra was up for dinner out but nothing like this.  He invited around 30 of my closest friends, neighbors & family.  He & Earl worked all day picking food & cleaning our patio furniture in preparation & I had no idea at all. 

THE LOOK OF SURPRISE: (If I'd known I would have cleaned the house a little better : ) 

HUGS & KISSES:

LETS EAT:   

PRESENTS & CAKE:  What would a party be without gag gifts such as toe spacers, false teeth holders, hemorrhoid cream, long poles to pick things up with, senior vitamins, etc.  : ) 

Someone made a mistake.  I can't really be 60??

 

Thank you Sweet Hubby! 

Thank you also to Sneaky Shirley (friend since 10th grade)  & Earl (the chef) , Eileen & John (drove all the way from Nevada), George & Liz, Diana (friend since 1st grade)  & Buzz (7th grade), Al & Anthony, Uncle Eddie & Carol, Donna & Ed, Enos & Brenda, Bob & Maria, Linda & Dave, Ed & Adele, Ray & Pat, Roni, Linda, Christina & Elizabeth. 

Prayers

 Prayers please for my aunt who passed away last week.  Also for my sweet cousin who found out she has Stage IV Liver cancer the same week she lost her mother.  Every day when we wake up know it is a gift to be here.  Try not to waste a single day & be kind to those around you.

 

Back from Vacation : )

We just got back from a MONTH at Lake Shasta yesterday.  It will probably take the rest of the week to unpack & have everything back in place.  Lots of friends came up to join us & we also joined some old friends for dinners & potlucks, regulars that we have been camping with there for over 20 yrs. 

One of the ladies there had a portable GPS & I fell in love so got one of my own.  I was just zipping all over Redding & neighboring towns while my little robot friend told me how to get there & when to turn. 

Here is our home away from home, our vacation home on wheels.

 

 

 

 

As you can see the water was way down.  You can only see the last 50 steps here to the dock.  There are another 50 plus above these.  With the water so low & the trees so high up there was NO shade & the last week there was boiling hot.

 They did build some new docks for us this year which was super.

 

 

One of our neighboring camper brought along his parrot.  Isn't he pretty.  His name is Max.  His owner, an elderly gentleman would play classical music & French music & dance in front of the parrot.  Max would dance along with him on the perch.  What a crack up. 

 

Aside from fishing for Bass I love reading on the boat or just floating along soaking up the sun & looking at the scenery.  I love the look of the green trees, red dirt & turquoise water. 

There were also Dogwood trees just finishing up with their blooms.

When we come to this one section of cabins it takes me back to childhood days.  We would spend summer vacations at Clear Lake  at the same cabin with my mom, aunts & cousins &  have such fun. 

When we first arrived at the lake there was a goose on a floating dock that was sitting on her nest. Hubby goose would walk around our dock keeping his eye on anyone who got too close.  She finally had 5 little goslings.  I think my husband has pics on his camera not yet downloaded.  I did get a pic of a duck with her little ducklings.

Story to be continued on my next post with some pretties I found antiquing & thrifting in Redding with Shirley. 

I'll close with a few of my summer blog themed Cafe Press shirt designs

 

Here fishy, fishy!

It's been a busy weekend.  Saturday we took the girls (Christina & Elizabeth) to the Monterey Aquarium.  Sunday was a Super Bowl Party.

Here are a few pics from Saturday. 

Christina 16, Elizabeth 13, G-ma 39 - hah!

Tide Pool

Every minute or so the water came over the curved glass like a big wave.  It was pretty cool.

Elizabeth:  It's cold out here

Christina:  Gee I haven't texted my boyfriend in about 15 mins. 

Tweet

Underwater Collage

Colorful Jellies

Silvery School of Fish

Petting Pool

I see a ship!

The girls LOVE their G-pa.

I even managed to find a quilt there : )

Computer Woes

Boo hoo!  We are going to have to wait to see more button photos.  My computer is in the hospital.  Keep good thoughts that it can be fixed & I don't need a new one.  At least I had just backed up all my files.  Perish the thought.

I'm on my husband's computer & my regular photos are not available here, just family photos & guy stuff.  I hate to post with no photos so here is a pic of my one of my maternal grandfather's sisters, Anna Magdelena. 

My dad right & his brother left. 

Unknown maternal ancestors

My maternal grandmother second from left.  Love the hats!

A Gaggle of Cousins & In Laws

I don't think I've bored you yet with the photos of my nephew's housewarming.  He just built a beautiful new home in Pleasanton.    It was sort of like a family reunion. 

Here we all are at mom's old dining room table which my nephew Al now has.

Cooking are Josh (left) my neice's paramedic/firefighter  hubby & gourmet cook Al (rt).  We all know fire fighters can cook.

My little great nephew Jake peering over the sofa.

The three boys engrossed by something on the computer. 

A bunch of us

Mom was the star of the shindig.  Everyone had their pic taken with G. G. (great grandma).  Here she is with cousin Doug.

Hi mom!  92 & still going strong. 

Even the cats joined in.  Poor little cone head kitty.

Even I might could possibly be enticed to cook on that stove

... or swim in that pool

... or move into that house!

It's Been A Busy Couple of Weeks

Whew!  Glad we have a little break between Thanksgiving & Christmas.   I'm pooped : )

BIRTHDAY TIME!

A couple of weeks ago was my husband's b-day.  We went to the Fratalanza Club with some friends to celebrate.

Here's Bob & Maria.  They are the owners of Telegraph Hill Robes in San Francisco.  Bob is one of Don's oldest friends & at one time his roommate.  Bob & the other men here all worked together with my hubby for years.

Enos & Brenda

Crazy Shirley & Earl

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THANKSGIVING DAY

Don was busy taking photos of "the girls" (his daughter, our two granddaughters & my mom) we heard lots of sirens outside getting closer.  We went outside to what what was going on & discovered that our neighbor's house was ON FIRE! 

It was a half block down from our house.   The worst part was ...

It took the guys about 10 minutes to get the fire hydrant plug off.  That's a long time when your roof is in flames.  They jumped up & down on it & hit it with a sledge hammer several time & eventually   (after the roof was half gone) they got the hose hooked up.  Our poor neighbors.  They were neighbors we didn't know but what a Thanksgiving for them! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

MAGAZINES

~Somerset~

This was a surprise.  I received a copy of this magazine in the mail.  It was my free artists copy but I didn't know it.  I had sent these bottles in some time ago & they said they were saving them for a future issue but no mention of when that was. 

~Marie Claire Idees~

I always love to receive this magazine.  The Christmas issue is chock full of pretty photos.

And the new  Romantic Homes ~   YUMMY sneak peaks!

Vintage pocket watches

Vintage purse

I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this mantle display.  And there is no mantle & no fireplace!  It's just a shelf with some side pieces.  How cleaver. 

Isn't she pretty?

We all know by now I have a love for mannequins & Santos.

Another Fun Girlie Day

Today Shirley & I headed out to Livermore to visit with my buddy  Pam where she works at In Between Stitches.

PamKittyMorning

The shop was looking adorable as it always does.  Here is a sweet little bird pillow by Elizabeth.  SEW cute.   Shirley isn't a quilter & looked at the jelly roll of fabric & said "what are these called again - tootsie rolls?"  Close Shirley, close.

Some pretty new fabrics and  oh, I see one of Elizabeth's patterns. 

Just look at all these goodies with ... Elizabeth's banner. 

Another sweet pattern by you know who.

Here is one of the patterns from my book that they made up in breast cancer fabrics as a kit.

Another lovely quilt & here in the middle is Elizabeth's new book!

Next we headed to an antique store & thrift shop close by for a bit.  Then on to Pleasanton where we stopped at yet another antique store along the way. 

In Pleasanton we went into American Harvest.  Another wonderful store.  It was all decorated for Fourth of July.  Lauren Mumford  & Nicol Sayre sell   many of their treasures here. 

After that we had to go & see the new home my nephew is having built in Pleasanton.  It's almost ready for them to move in.  A few more weeks.  The last time I saw it all that was done was the basement foundation.  Wow, what a beautiful home. 

Yes, I think I'll take this one.

Nice day for a swim

A side space for the motorhome

An amazing kitchen/greatroom

Look at that STOVE!  Love the woodwork as well.  I think that is a tall pot faucet over the stove top.  Not to mention the other ovens, the warming oven shown in the previous photo &  the bar area at the other end of the great room -  whew. 

Last but not least on the way home we stopped by to see mom & show her the pics of her grandson's new home. 

All in all, it was a fun beautiful summer day! 

Father's Day Tribute to Dads

It's been 31 yrs now Dad.  I still miss you very much. 

My charming Italian & French Father.

My dad was born in this  San Francisco row house in 1911 .  Happily it's still standing & in looking very nice today, almost 100 years later.