Odds and Ends

Did you receive fabric for Christmas?  I did.  My sister gave me an odd look, and said, "Your gift might be redundant."  snort!  She'd never seen my stash.  I can't wait to do something with this.

I think the biggest surprise was that I didn't have any fabrics like these in my collection.  :)

It was fun to have my sister here.  It was her first visit since Easter, 2001.  She's not much for the drive up from San Diego.

 We hammed it up a bit, as my son played paparazzi.

Penny's package from one uncle was particularly beautiful.  And clever.

She was more interested in the pennies, than the contents of the box.

I particularly love this photo.  The robe was made for me by my Nana, when I was about 6 or 8.  By the time it came back into my possession, my daughter was in college.

I've begun some gifts for the coming year, gifts that will hopefully hold memories of this year.  Today I have been piecing this quilt, which I put on the wall the week before family began arriving.

It's made from leftovers of several Christmas quilts, made over the years.  I hear that Penny has insisted that her mother's Christmas quilt belongs to Penny.  Hopefully by next Christmas, there will be two Christmas quilts in their household.

The New Year is coming, and I'm trying to collect my thoughts on the matter.  It's always a good time to take stock of where I am in my UFO pile, and where I want to be by the end of the year.  I've certainly added quite the number of unfinished projects, and haven't crossed off many at all.  My record keeping has been particularly atrocious, when it comes to postcards and quilted cards.  Tomorrow I'll do my official counting.  Let's hope I did better than I think I did!

Until then, happy stitching!  I have a top to finish piecing before going to bed tonight.