The night ended with a 2 free movies. Before I go on, you should know that each day of this week, we drag into the hotel room at a late hour looking like a truck ran us over.  The first thing we do is change into our jammies.  Well, really the first thing is taking off the shoes and all the Bling.  But then it’s gettin’ comfy time.  Last night started in much the same way but since there were no cookies that needed baking we thought we’d watch TV in our hotel.  And by TV, I mean a movie on TV. We had wanted to see the movie New in Town, but when we turned on the TV in the sitting area, we couldn’t get it to go to a movie.  After 3 calls to the front desk and a visit to our room by an “engineer” (seriously) the engineer couldn’t rapidly fix the issue and said she’d pay for all night movies on the other TV.  Yay, then she brought up popcorn and soda (not diet coke, but who can complain when it is free).  We sat in bed and relaxed for the first time since Wednesday.

Another fun dinner with friends last night.  We got to spend the evening with Gina, Kaye, and Mel of the Threaded Pear and Quilter’s Buzz fame.  They are a great group of ladies and there was much laughter to be heard from our table.  We had no idea where we were going to go for dinner and as Liz was trying to talk and text Gina to tell them where to meet us, Beth was attempting to navigate to a new restaurant which had yet to be decided.  The only thing everyone agreed on was Mexican food.  Beth requested that we Google for one.  I typed a search into the map on my iPhone and came up with several choices but only one nearby and frankly it seemed a little weird.  We ended up going there anyway.  The restaurant is called the Chino Latino (or maybe it’s the other way around), check out the fun menus.  We each had different ones, but this was one of them.

We weren’t sure what to expect when we entered and it looked like a Chinese restaurant.

Liz was amused by the side dish Three Way option. The dessert menu also had amusing titles.

The food was wonderful, the service great and the company fabulous.  Check out the Lizzie B fan page on Facebook to see some of our “Unfortunate fortunes” we all posted ours together. We were also amused by the waiters’ t-shirts.

Other highlights of our day:

Simply Renee is a great company with some very unique items.  Check them out at their blog Simply Renee Inc.

Linda Lum DeBono kept trying to catch the Lizzie B Girls in the booth but had to settle for their flatter versions.

Here Liz and Beth pose with Kent, the editor of their books.  If you’ve followed their blog, you may recall that Kent has found evidence of Tuscadelphia and Whimsyland all over the globe.

Please accept my apologies for my not-so-detailed blog but the week was long and I’m plum worn out.  But check out the fan page on Facebook for more Lizzie B Cre8ive hysteria.

The Lizzie B team got to spend time chatting with some of our favorite people today. We got to visit and be entertained by Mark Lipinski (you’ll have to check out the fan page for some more scandalous photos).

While Mark was visiting, one Lizzie B Fan sneaked over and grabbed a cookie off the rapidly dwindling plate. His comment of “These are orgasmic” was heard by both Liz and myself, we looked at each other with surprise. I suspect Liz was thinking of a way to use that comment to market the new book Tuscadelphia (which can be purchased through Kansas City Star). The book has the cookie recipe for the Cre8ive Cookies that we’ve had at market each day. Today we ran out, but no one can say that Lizzie B doesn’t satisfy!

If you’ve been at market, you may have seen or heard about Elliot, who has been entertaining many of us. He made a stop off in our booth to fly on the plane.

Dinner tonight was at the same Diner we went to last night. I don’t know why they call it a diner since this food is NOT like any diner I’d ever been to before. Take a look at some of our entrees and you’ll see why we ate there two nights in a row.

Meatloaf (not your mama’s meatloaf I’d bet)

A work of art or scallops? You decide.

Chicken Roulade

We ended the evening with the Quilted Fish team and Elliot. Isn’t it great to have great quilty friends who can make you laugh so hard that any stress from the day/week, just melts away.

Quilt people are the best people in the world, wacky, fun and unique. What more could anyone want? And why, I have to ask, isn’t everyone a quilter?

Despite the fact that we are exhausted and have two people falling asleep on their feet (or in a chair in Liz’s case) it was a mostly good day. Those of you that are Facebook fans have probably gotten the update on this morning’s incident. If you aren’t a facebook friend, click here to become one (there could be prizes involved). You’ll get to see what happens behind the scenes. And as you can see by the following picture (taken by Beth on her iPhone) that there is generally at least one person using their iPhone. We’re all connected and there are funny sightings and items posted throughout the day.

Liz got a very special visit today from one Facebook friend Lynda Milligan. For those that don’t know Lynda, you can check out her website at http://www.greatamericanquilt.com. It turns out that Lynda’s husband Gene Milligan, Builder of stringed instruments & whistles, creates beautiful works of art that make music. Check out Gene’s website here http://www.genemilligan.com Lynda brought Liz a beautiful Penny Whistle that not only looks great, but has a fabulous sound. For those who didn’t know, Liz can often be found carrying a Penny Whistle in her purse and has been known to pull it out at times and play a little tune. There were some very teary eyes as Liz played a couple of tunes today. See it on YouTube or below (if I actually got it to work).

Lynda Milligan and Liz Hawkins

It’s coming up on midnight and I am so tired I can barely think. I did remember one thing though, when I did this from Houston, I told the Lizzie B girls that I am never doing this again. Duh, I’m not that bright since I’m here again.

I think Gina Halladay of the Threaded Pear and Fresh Picked Fabrics, a much brighter person than I am, had the right idea. Here she is taking a break (or posing?) on the cute rug on the floor in her booth.

As for me, I’m going to go attempt a similar pose, in a cozy bed with some big comfy pillows.

If you don’t go through the process of setting up a booth at Market, you may not understand what it is that the Lizzie B team goes through to be ready for the market doors to open.  I’m going to give you a little bit of a look into the crazy schedule that is Market Set-Up.

The Lizzie B Team - Liz, Beth, Mama C and Christine (me) arrived in Minneapolis yesterday afternoon.  We made our first stop at Rosebud’s Cottage to pick up booth boxes that were shipped to Roseann Meehan Kermes http://rosebudscottage.typepad.com/. Roseann was so kind to take boxes for us.  We were surprised that we only had 4 boxes to take with us and one of those boxes was Skipper (the oven). Yikes, what would our booth even look like with such a small amount of stuff?

Here are Liz and Beth with Roseann.  She’s got the perfect set-up.  And she has this awesome mini lilac tree blooming and smelling so much like Spring.  I just had to snap a picture of it.

We met up with Pat Sloan later Thursday evening for dinner at the Melting Pot.  You can read more about it on Pat’s Blog.  http://www.patsloan.typepad.com/

The night didn’t end after dinner because that would have been too easy. There was a mad rush to Target to buy ingredients for cookies.  Now you may think that you’ve had the Lizzie B Cre8ive cookies before but you may have to think again.  These cookies are featured in the new Tuscadelphia book that can be purchased from Kansas City Star.  You can also see it at booth 2017 this weekend.  It was a very late night making cookies with Liz working her fingers to the bone just so that the ladies at School House would be able to sample the yummy munchies.

This morning it was an early trip to the convention center, some set up the trips to our favorite shops to add some embellishments.  Are we done?  Nope.  Are we close?  Yep.  Here is your sneak peek.

Do you notice how bright eyed and cheery Liz and Beth look? Or do you think they are looking a little flat?

Now here it is after midnight and Mama C is trying to snooze while the Glee soundtrack is playing a little rendition of Aerosmith, Liz is baking cookies (still) and singing into the cookie mic, Beth is uploading documents to get ready for tomorrow and I am sneaking around taking pictures of them and posting them to the blog. Bwahahahahaha (as my daughter would say).

As you can see, we are a little worse for the wear but for the most part still going.  If you’re in town, come see us at Booth 2017, check out our new book and see samples of our fabric line shipping in late November.

Hey Liz and Beth,

There’s been some Tucsadelphia sightings to report…

Your biggest fan…Queen Elizabeth is practically BUBBLY about your new “Tucsadelphia” book! BETH, I understand she wanted to appoint you Prime Minister in the WORST WAY!! (Liz didn’t qualify with her criminal past.) Be happy she was talked out of it…you DON’T want that job.

It was nice to see Oprah’s endorsement. Now everyone’s going to see it… look under your CHAIRS!!! (Oprah, if we need to take this down, just let us know…please don’t sue us.)

Here’s that Edward guy from Twilight. I think he’s making the “Peaceful Dreamin’” travel pillow. Perfect! Simple project for a Lizzie B newby.

Here’s Marilyn, absorbed in Liz’s “Domodossola” story. She looks concerned.

Mona can’t put it down. Like everyone, she’s captivated with the “Happy Hawaii” quilt. I understand she’s looking to her friend Leonardo DeVinci to help her figure out the template puzzle. (It’s not that bad, really.)

MAYBE not the person you want endorsing your book, but HEY, any publicity is good publicity…RIGHT?? I know Liz recognizes this guy…17 years old, running around in the outfield in the middle of a Phillies game. Here he is…just moments away from the spine tingling, eye popping sensation of being shot with a taser. I heard he was going to have his MOM make the “Easy-Breezy” backsack for him. (I don’t know that for a fact.) After seeing the FACE PLANT that ended this chase, I bet he wishes he had a nice soft travel pillow.

I’ll keep you posted on any further developments.

See you in Minneapolis!

Yours truly,

Kent

We are all AGOG, we are all A-JITTER, we are just plain ANTSY with ANTICIPATION for our turn to go LIVE on PAT SLOAN’S CREATIVE TALK RADIO SHOW!!!  OMGosh!  Our turn is almost here.  Are you ready?  You absolutely CAN’T MISS IT!  Because we’re sure it’s going to be hysterical.  I mean, it’s LIVE!  Did we mention that?  Which means, no masking the bloopers baby.  If we mess up, we mess up!  It’s us in the raw (well, thank goodness it’s radio…!).  AND our bestie since Long Beach, Pat Sloan, who is a R-I-O-T.  SO.  Seriously.  Ya gotta tune in!  Be there or be square! Here are the deets:

The show is Monday Feb 15 at 4pm EST.

This is an INTERNET SHOW, which means  you can listen in live, OR come back and listen to the podcast afterwards, IS THAT COOL OR WHAT?

Here is Pat’s show page where you can listen the day of the broadcast or download afterwards.
http://toginet.com/shows/creativetalkradio

Now, we’ll let you in on a little secret…..there will be GIVEAWAY’S ON THE SHOW!!! WOOHOO!!!  Because, as you know, our new book TUCSADELPHIA has just been released by Kansas City Star!

SO…as a special for the show, the Star has agreed to giveaway not one, but TWO books to TWO lucky listeners!  AND…we will be giving away a bundle of Whimsyland fabric.

SOOOOO listen in, we have NO idea what Pat is going to ask us and NO idea what in the HECK we’re going to answer.  It should be FUN!  Or at the very least, uh, entertaining???  What else do you have to do at 4pm on Monday afternoon?  Listen to Oprah?  Psshaa….what does she have to say you haven’t heard before?  Honestly.

Here is how you get in on the giveaway.  Go to Pat’s blog on Feb 15
http://patsloan.typepad.com/pat_sloans_corner/2010/01/pat-sloans-creative-talk-radio-show-2.html

Leave a comment telling her your favorite part of the Lizzie B interview!  The comments will be open until noon Friday Feb 19. At that time we will help Pat pick 3 random prize winners… YIPPEE!

After years and years of Scouting, my son Trevor is FINALLY working for his Eagle Scout!  For those of you with Scouting son’s, you know just how much goes into getting to this point.  It takes a LOT of prodding, pushing and motivating from the mom, I can tell you THAT first hand!  And finally, after a few failed attempts at finding the “perfect” project….we landed on one!  An important component of doing a project is that it has to involve the community and give BACK to the community.  And boy does this ever do both of those!  Last fall at a special Sewing Day at one of  my local quilt shops, I met a woman who set up a special table to promote this non-profit organization.  I’d seen their signs before, and heard bits and pieces about their foundation, but had never really known the entire story.  Until now.

Meet Ryan and his mother Cindy Kerr.  The Kerr family, live in my town.  When Ryan was 12, he was diagnosed with cancer.  He fought the disease for over 6 years, he fought through 5 recurrences, 30 months of chemotherapy, 15 surgeries (including the amputation of his right leg), over 150 days of physical therapy and two broken bones in his healthy foot.  Despite all of that, Ryan never let it slow him down!  He was adventurous and never let his disease dictate his life.  Most of all, he lived his life with such joy and courage that he inspired thousands of people in our community and around the country.  Ryan is no longer with us and we are very sad to lose one of the best friends we will ever know, but are thankful for his memory, his inspiration and the light he brought to the world.   During his battle, his mother Cindy (a quilter, of course!) started making him bright happy pillowcases to brighten his hospital room.  Before she knew it, ConKerr Cancer was born!

ConKerr Cancer is dedicated to Ryan and the thousands of children like Ryan who bring such courage and light to the world, despite their life changing illness.  ConKerr Cancer is a way to keep their light alive.  Ryan was a year older than my son Trevor and went to the same High School. He remembers the effect Ryan’s passing in 2008 had on the kids at school.   So when I mentioned the idea of making pillowcases for his Eagle Scout Project for ConKerr Cancer, he got excited.  It sounded like the perfect way to give back to the community.  Luckily, his Scout leaders thought so too!  Trevor met Cindy Kerr, and was amazed by her stories.  In just two years, Cindy and thousands of volunteers have provided over 150,000 pillowcases to sick children in hospitals across North America and in South Africa.  School groups, sewing circles, church groups and fabric stores have all pitched in and are making pillowcases for the kids. She even told of a story of inmates at a high security prison making and donating pillowcases!

You may have noticed the “Pillowcase Challenge” from American Patchwork and Quilting.  Challenging quilters to make pillowcases to donate to their communities.  Can you believe they didn’t even know about Cindy Kerr when they started their challenge?  But they do now!  And guess who’s at the top of their donation list??  Because ConKerr Cancer has a system to get these cases to hospitals that need them, they have chapters all over the US now.  And of course, hospitals have very strict rules about what comes into those cancer wards, because they don’t want anything to make those children more sick.  American Patchwork and Quilting put out the challenge, but didn’t really tell people HOW to donate all their pillowcases!  Well I’m here to tell you exactly how.

On Monday, January 18th 2010, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we will be making pillowcases for Trevor’s Eagle Scout Project.  We will be at my local quilt shop, Steve’s Sewing Center at 156 West Dekalb Pike in King of Prussia, PA, who have kindly offered to let us use their classroom for an afternoon of sewing.  We’ll be working on pillowcases from 2:00-5:00 that afternoon.  If you live nearby….COME HELP SEW!!!

Don’t live in my area but would love to help??  Fantastic!  WE NEED FABRIC.  Lots and lots of fabric!  Our fabric company, Henry Glass, has generously offered to send us some fabric for the cause, but we want to get LOTS of people involved!  Trevor has a goal of only 100 pillowcases, but I think he has sorely underestimated the quilting community.  I would love to FAR exceed that goal!  So I’m calling on all of  YOU, my quilting friends, dig into that stash, find some happy fabric and PLEASE send it along!  Even better….how about MAKE A PILLOWCASE?  Although we only have one day to sew, we will be accepting pillowcase donations until the end of the month when, hopefully, Trevor will get to go to a local hospital to make his donation with Cindy Kerr, and meet the wonderful children who inspire her.

Please send any donations to:

Trevor Hawkins

978 Heatherstone Drive

Berwyn, PA 19312

Pillowcase instructions:

• Use cheery fabrics for kids – colorful and fun as possible
• Remember many patients are adolescent boys and girls, we always need pillowcases appropriate to teenagers
• Cotton or flannel only!

Go to ConKerrCancer.org for more information
Supplies:

• 3/4 yard of fabric for pillowcase
• 1/3 yard of fabric for border of pillowcase

Sewing Instructions:

1. Cut the body of the case 26 1/2″ x 40 1/2″ and the border 10 1/2″ x 40 1/2″.
2. Fold the border in half lengthwise, with the wrong sides together, and press.
3. Place the right side of the border on the right side of the body of the case. Stitch together using a 1/2″ seam allowance.
4. Place right sides of the pillowcase together. Stitch down the side and across the bottom. Turn to the right side and press.

We have one last name to pick to complete our list of 12 winners!  It’s Cari… send us an email!

Enjoy the rest of the holiday season.  We won’t be blogging tomorrow (SLEEP!!!  YES!!!!).  It’s relax time, bring out all the leftovers and spend lots of time with family and maybe even do some leisurely quilting.  Thanks so much for making our holidays merry…. AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!

This is the 4th year in a row that ONE of our four boys is away from home over the holidays.  My oldest son spent two Christmases in South Africa, so having him 10,00o miles away  was a bit hard.  He’s now a cop here in Tucson, and this is the first Christmas that he has a house of his own.  But he’s here, tonight… I told him that if he wanted Santa to come he had to be sleepin’ at our house for Christmas eve…!  Our second son is in Mexico this Christmas… again.  I talked to him on the phone a couple of days ago, and tomorrow… we’ll call him and everyone that’s here will get to talk and laugh and hear his voice again. Our two boys still at home are both teenagers… but still, they love Christmas and all that it brings. (Especially ALL the home-baked cookies that their grandma brought with her!) Maybe next year all 4 of my boys will be here, sleeping under one roof, waiting for Christmas morning.

I LOVE seeing my boys grow up… but on Christmas eve?  Man, I sure miss those freshly-bathed little boys and footie pajamas.  But still, they are tucked into their beds now, dreaming of…sugarplums?  I’m not sure, but I know that I too, need to get to bed, so Santa can make his visits over the warm, sunny Southwest!

This marks our 12th blog post in a row (during the holidays for goodness sake!), and for THESE Lizzie B girls…well, we’re just about as tired as Santa after his long trek around the world.  When we came up with the idea of a 12-day presentfest, we thought it would be a fun way to end the year and THANK all of our friends and fans and customers with some fun gifts in the mail.  We had NO IDEA how much we would be inspired, touched, and tickled by all of the comments that were left on each post.  So THANK YOU, friends, for making this a fun way to connect with each other and share Christmastime traditions and stories.

Our winner tonight is Julie B (who drove til the wee hours of the morning to arrive for her Christmas eve festivities!).  JULIE…please send your address to  LizzieBgirls@gmail.com so we can get you on the big Santa shipping list!

So there is one last chance to win a present!  Comment on this post and we’ll pick our 12th winner tomorrow, on Christmas day.  What’s been YOUR favorite holiday moment this year?

This day started out pretty funny.  We sent a singing Elf telegram to our friend the Chiropractor!  He’s turning 40 on Sunday, and well, we didn’t want it to go unnoticed! He was completely embarrassed!  But hey, to make up for it I baked him that yummy cake you see there…it’s our favorite Hummingbird Cake that we talked about like crazy while we were in Houston….just about the best cake EVER!  Banana, crushed pineapple, cream cheese frosting.  What’s not to love?  I threw in a handful of mini-chocolate chips too…just ‘cuz it sounded like a natural addition!  Here he is with the singing elf in the background….he’s trying to figure out what to wish for!  (I think he was wishing we’d all disappear!)

I had to do all the food shoppin’ today too, because there’s going to be a LOT ‘o cookin’ in the next couple of days!  On Christmas Eve we do a progressive dinner with family that live in the area.  This year it’s MY turn to cook the main course!  We’ll go to my sister’s house first for appetizers, then my house and finally my parents for dessert.  While we drive from house to house we take a meandering route and go down all the streets that put out luminaries and make sure we take in as many pretty lights as possible.  It’s a fun tradition!  But before I could think about my main dinner tomorrow, I needed to finish all my baking!

My brother John came over (he’s visiting from Miami!), I donned my “A Christmas Story” apron, we had the movie playing in the background and we got to work.  Do you see some of the shapes on that pan? Here’s a closer look:

It’s the “fragile” (must be Italian) Leg Lamp from A Christmas Story!!!  The all time classic Christmas movie!  And….

Who could forget the bunny suit???  Are these hilarious or what?  They came with the apron and DVD in a commemorative tin!  We just HAD to have them.  Can’t wait to frost these babies tomorrow!

What I should REALLY be doing is wishing you all a Merry Christmas Eve Eve!  Again, back in France, we had neighbors who held a yearly Christmas party on Christmas Eve Eve.  Every year we’d go and each year we were supposed to bring a memory, story, or talent to share.  Well, this got a bit taxing year after year and I’d find myself wondering if we couldn’t just do the same thing every year?!  I mean really.  Anyway, one year we all sat around to share stories.  I shared some of my favorite childhood memories like the year someone did the 12 Days of Christmas to us.  Ringing the doorbell every night and leaving treats on the doorstep.  We’d try to catch them every night, but never ever even saw them!  On the 12th day, Christmas morning, we found a box full of food for Christmas dinner.  A whole ham, potatoes, veggies, dessert…you name it and it was in the magic box.  I saw tears in my mother’s eyes when she found that box!  We didn’t have much money and she’d been worrying and worrying about what to feed us on Christmas Day.  I still don’t think we know who our Secret Santa was, but they sure brought joy to OUR house that season!  After I shared my story, Doug’s turn was next.  He told of a Christmas when all he wanted was a Red Flyer wagon.  You know the one I’m talking about…the classic toy!  On Christmas morning he was SO excited to find it in a box under  the tree!  But it wasn’t put together.  He needed his dad to help him get it ready for use.  So he asked him for help.  But he was busy putting other toys together.  So periodically, Doug would ask again, “Dad, can we put my wagon together”  Pleeeeaaase???” He kept getting the same reply, we’ll get to it, we’ll get to it.  Well Doug got tired of waiting and eventually, months later, the wagon in its box and all, got shoved underneath his bed where it stayed all year.  Until the following Christmas when he woke up to see what Santa had brought.  And THERE under the TREE was his long-forgotten wagon!  PUT TOGETHR this time!!!  The gift that just kept on givin’!

After we finish up our progressive dinner tomorrow night.  We come home, open presents from each other and watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” together.  Every year, we also like to read from a beautiful book I picked up from The National Gallery, London. Years and years ago when I used to actually do my Christmas shopping in London! (that’s a whole other story….)

Inside is the story of the birth of Christ, depicted with paintings featured in the National Gallery.

It’s so beautifully illustrated with Renaissance paintings of the First Christmas.

My kids LOVE this book!  My son, who is now 17, is the one who first noticed the cow in the background of this painting.  He was almost 2 years old at the time.

And that’s it for MY contributions to the 12 days of Christmas blogging.  Thank GOODNESS there are TWO of us!  We’ve plum worn ourselves out, but it’s been fun sharing our memories with you and reading about all of YOURS.  Thanks so much for participating!  And lest you think I’ve forgotten to announce our winner today, it’s…….

Karen Holland!!!!  You’re the next Lizzie B winner!  Emails us at lizziebgirls@gmail.com.

Do you have a Christmas Eve Eve tradition?  Or one last Christmas memory to share?  Leave a comment!

With all the hurry and hustle this season brings, it’s nice to stop and remember the true reason we celebrate it.  Whatever your religious beliefs may be, whether you celebrated Hanukah this year, or will be celebrating Christmas or Kwanzaa; I hope that you find the time to truly feel peace and joy. Wishing you a VERY Merry Christmas from the East Coast Lizzie B!

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