Tick Tock

The lights are hung and the deer are on display.  Hubby took care of the outside of the house.  He got it done over the course of two days.

I, on the other hand, am in charge of indoors.  I'm working on it.  The living room is still in disarray, but the Christmas quilts are on the wall.  yay!

 I took time to visit an estate sale that resulted in an over-indulgence of Longaberger baskets.  After seeing how many I chose, it was completely appropriate that I also purchase the little sign.  Apparently it's one of the maxims I live by.  Who knew?

I continue to work on stockings.  I finished this one for my daughter-in-law yesterday.  I have one left, of the original 8 I had planned to make.  I have begun the embroidery, so I think I might actually have it hanging before the end of the weekend.

 It's going to be a tight squeeze, when the out-of-towners arrive with their stockings, too.  I am more than happy to try to make space.

 The tree is partially decorated.  It is much smaller than usual, so most of the ornaments are remaining boxed this year.  So sad, but also a good idea.  We will have 4 babies in the house this Christmas, which will more than make up for hanging fewer ornaments.

We put the tree on pallets, since we were too late to purchase our usual tall tree.   The extra height from the pallets is a good idea.  I might want to do this every year.

We've made time for a few Christmas parties.  This is the Itty Bitty Christmas brunch.  We have a yearly tradition of meeting at Valhalla for fellowship and gift exchange.  Notice the cute packet of fat quarters, folded to look like a Christmas tree.  Isn't it clever?

 Sew Eclectic also got together.  Our group quilt, "Broken Shell Beach," was accepted into Road to California.  It is our first group quilt, so it's pretty exciting to be part of that show, come January.

I don't have pictures of our guild Christmas party, but we had a bazaar.  I was the lucky winner of this darling wool quilt, made by Itty Bitty Leslie.  I love it so much, I think it will stay up year round.

In a couple of days, the out-of-towners will begin to arrive.  I have many things that need to be finished/wrapped up before they get here.  I highly doubt I will be posting anything more before Christmas, so I will leave you with this:

Merry Christmas, and may God's blessings be with you, throughout the coming New Year!

Stitch Faster! Stitch Faster!

The days of December are drawing closer and closer to Christmas.  This year, I set a grand goal to make stockings for those children and grandchildren who were still using store bought.  I'd made 5 stockings in previous years.  That meant I had 8 to make this year.  And that's just if I want to make stockings for my kids/grandkids.  Husband?  I guess he can wait.  After all, he's been waiting for 38 years.  ;)

Fiona was first on my list.  Not because she's first, but because I'd already made stockings for her parents.  I worked on piecing some of these stockings at retreat last month.  Hers was the only one I finished.

 With her family stockings complete, I moved on to the next smallest family.  Kind of a Dave Ramsey sort of stocking snowball attack of the list.  My grandson was first,

 followed by his mama.

 Daddy was last.  Why the Rudolph print?  When my son was 2, I would hear noises in the night.  Invariably, I would get up, walk out to the living room, and find him running the VCR and watching Rudolph.  This happened almost every night, for months.  He loved his Rudolph!

Next on the list was the family of four.  I haven't finished yet, but I did finish the stockings for the girls.

 I guess I neglected to get a picture of this one hanging alone.

 This is what my work station looks like, when I'm in the middle of the embroidery.

I went ahead and hung the completed stockings, though there are still more to finish.  I'm hoping that they will inspire me to get back to work and finish the rest.  Goals are good!

I hope that all of your plans are coming together as well.  This is a wonderful time of year to treasure friends and family.  I hope that God blesses you, one and all, throughout this season of Christmas.

Here Comes Christmas!

I spent the past 24 hours in the kitchen, cooking up a storm.  The boys and their families arrived in time for a bit of feasting.  These are our local "kids," though the youngest cannot be seen.  She's safe in a "bouncer," on the floor between her parents.

 I caught this picture of my favorite 2 year old, modeling her latest sweater-wear, knitted by dear friend Ann H.  Beautiful!!  She has been wearing them since their arrival.  Favorite clothes, we all have them!

 Last weekend, my husband was at a Men's Retreat.  I fired up the Tiara, figured out how to fix the tension, and got this quilt quilted.  It had been basted for months.  Not only quilted, but completely finished.  Hurrah!

 It's nearly invisible, but I quilted Scripture in the green strips.  It is for a friend, who has been terribly ill.  It's yet to be delivered, as she's been too ill for visitors.  Hopefully a snuggle with quilted prayers will help a bit.

Other than that, I continue to work on some special items for Christmas.  Once they are finished, I'll do the "big" reveal.

I pray that you all had a Thanksgiving filled with blessings, and that you are preparing for Christmas with hope and joy.

Now, back to the Studio for me, for the rest of the day.  yay!

I Forgot!

I also completed my challenge quilt, for the guild.  The challenge was as follows:  Make a 12 x 12" block depicting something you see "Around Town."  The initial description had been something one would see along a street downtown, but the parameters seemed to loosen with each passing month.  There were 8 quilts completed.  Here are the beginnings of mine.  I needed something simple, yet to the point.

 I'm not sure you can see it, if you just glance at the quilt, but the background shows the Sierras.  They are always there, looming 30 miles away, but with the haze of most days?  You can barely make them out.  I've taken quite a collection of pictures over the years, but this one?  Definitely showed that I was in town when I took it.  The name of my quilt is "A View from 198."

And that's all I have for you at this time.
Back to stitching.  Stitch faster!  Stitch faster!!

Two Finishes

Since I returned from retreat, I've been busy, busy.  Last week, I was able to finish binding two baby quilts that I quilted while at retreat.  Here is the first:

 Here is the second:

Both quilts were made from leftovers of other baby quilts.  If you think I've made a lot of baby quilts, you are correct.

I also put together the block of the month for December, inspired by the leaves at Wonder Valley.

Here is the block for December, made in "Fall" colors.

The block for November was a crazy quilt block.  I was concerned that the amount of handwork included on the block would decrease participation.

 I was quite pleased to find that I was mistaken.  Look at the wonderful blocks that were turned in!

Since then, I've been doing more crazy-quilt-type work.  I can't show you what I'm working on yet, not until I am finished.  I have a few weeks of work ahead of me, if it's going to be ready before Christmas.  Goals are good!

I hope you all are looking forward to a meaningful Thanksgiving next week.  I doubt I'll be posting much.  My days seem to be overly full with things not related to computer work.

And with that, I'd best get back to stitching.  Goals are good!!

Successful Retreat

 This past weekend was our Valley Oak Quilt Guild retreat at Wonder Valley.  wonderful!!  Four days of sewing...no laundry, no cooking.  Absolute bliss!  Fewer people than usual attended, so that meant that those of us who were there had plenty of space.  Here is my workspace:  an 8' table, plus my Sew-Ezi table to hold my machine.

 I always have trouble deciding what to bring.  I brought 4 boxes of thread, along with BINS full of fabric and projects.  Deciding what to work on is always a challenge.

The first thing I did was finish three postcards that have been half-done on my sewing table for  months.

 The above card was made using a linen purchased at an estate sale.  I think it came out very cute.

 These next two were leftovers from various projects.  I love using the scraps, rather than tossing them.

I also finished Day's End, my umbrellas quilt.  I redid the facing, and it looks square now.  It's still too small for any AQS show, but it makes me happy, and that's the main reason for quilting, right?  right!

 The quilt was based on my photo, taken in Oceanside, CA, a few years ago.  I was very careful with my machine quilting, but in the close-up?  I suddenly notice a tension error.  grrr.  It's just going to have to be fine, because I'm not going to take it apart again to fix it.  That's just too much work.  It is what it is.

Here is the close-up.  I am particularly happy with the chairs.

And that's it for now, though several other things were worked on and finished over the weekend.  Stay tuned.

Not Much to Show

 The above picture shows that I've done a bit of stitching.  Not much, just a bit.  This is a birthday card, made for a friend.  I used to try to make them for everyone, but the past couple of years?  I just don't seem to make the time.

Instead, I do crazy stuff like clean the rain gutters, hoping that this will be another bonanza year for rain.  hahaha!  Anyway, when I was in Missouri, my son had just finished cleaning out his gutters and filling them with Gutter Stuff.  It is a triangular wedge that keeps leaves from entering the gutters, and allows water to rush through and flow as it should.  I bought some at Home Depot, then found it to be much more affordable on Amazon.  Of course it was.

 This is the "before" of my gutters.  They'd been cleaned about 2 months ago, and it's not yet time for leaves to drop.  Then again, the camphor tree drops leaves year round.

 Here is the "during" shot.  I have one high area that I just couldn't reach with the regular ladder.  After I hoisted the extension ladder up against the house, I realized that it was just too heavy and awkward to use.  My son had to help me attack this part of the gutter system.

 Here is the result, with the gutterstuff newly installed.  I am hopeful that the days and dollars invested into this project were worthwhile.  It also says it discourages mosquito breeding.  We've had more mosquitos this year than the past 5 years combined.  Anything to combat mosquitos is worth a try.

As to the quilt I was quilting for Daytona?  It shrunk so much that it no longer fit the size requirements.  Isn't that the way of it?  The quilt is finished.  Or was, until I realized that one side swoops in.  I need to take out the stitching and try again, to make it square.  Perhaps, eventually, I'll have a picture worth sharing.

In the meantime, I've been cleaning, cleaning, trying to prepare for the holidays.  hahaha!
or perhaps I should say ho ho ho!

Lots to do between now and then.  Stitch faster!  Stitch faster!

Still Quilting

In my last post, I mentioned a quilt I am trying to finish to hit the 10/18 deadline for AQS Daytona.  I am still quilting.  I average about 2 hours/day on this quilt, and I'm just about halfway through.  I'm going to have to ramp it up if it's going to be finished before the end of this week!!

In the meantime, I've done a few other things.  Like Block of the Month, for guild.  I designed a pumpkin block for October.  The response was delightful!

 Look at that pumpkin patch!!  The blocks are about 8.5" unfinished.  The winner is going to have a lot of fun with these!

 For November, I gave them a foundation square and a piece of red silk.  We're going to try crazy quilting.  I sold all of the silk/foundation pieces that I brought with me.  If everyone brings their block back?  Someone is going to have a wonderful project!!!

As I said, I've been quilting steadily on a quilt.  But the crazy quilting messed up my space pretty quickly.  As I was trying to put things to right, I ran across a project from a Jean Wells class at least 2 or 3 years ago, if not longer.  It was done, except for the facing.  No time like the present to finish it, right?  Right!

I put the little quilt face down, right sides together, on the facing fabric, then cut.

 I pinned the edges, then stitched it in place.

 I drew around a box lid, then cut out the space, leaving a 1/4" seam allowance.  I turned it right-side out, pressed, and stitched down the raw edge.

 Once the stitching was done, I flipped it over.  Cute!!  It's approximately the size of a piece of paper.

And in other news, I cut my hair and donated it.

And I guess that's going to do it.  Back to working on that quilt.  Quilt faster!  Quilt faster!!  Goals are good.