A Belated Happy New Year!!

oh, my goodness!  I can't blog and stitch at the same time.  And I have definitely been stitching.  I think I told you I set the goal of making 8 stockings.  I began the first week of November, and finished a couple of days before Christmas.  It was more of an undertaking than I realized, until I hit December 15.  Then I knew I was in trouble.  But, perseverance, and all that!  (I made 2 of them a few years ago.)

 They provided the perfect backdrop for pictures with the grands.  (The older ones were a bit squirmy.)

We had a wonderful Christmas, full of making good memories.  I think the boys and their families are all coming back next year, so I'm thinking they had fun, too.

I spent the week working on a gift for my older granddaughter, who was not able to join us for Christmas.  I just finished it, and shipped it off.  I am hopeful that it will arrive on Epiphany, which is a fitting day to receive a gift.

I have really been enjoying playing at crazy quilting.  I am hopeful that there will be more of it in my future.  Goals are good!

And with that, I'll confess that one of my goals is to blog more this year.  It should not be hard to beat last year's activity, since the blog was in the lower echelons of my priorities.  Hopefully I'll be able to fix that.

Happy New Year!!  Here's to setting goals that we can actually have the potential of achieving!!

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.

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!!

A Bit o This, A Bit o That

I'm scratching my head, trying to figure out where the time has gone.  Since I last posted, I finished another baby quilt, but did I take a picture?  If I did, I don't know what I did with it.  But I'm here now, so I'll just go with what I've got.

Block of the Month is going well.  Here are the Summer Houses blocks that were turned in on Thursday:

 For July, I've asked the participants to make at least two blocks:  one for the drawing, a second for a Quilt of Valor or whatever it is they are calling the quilts they honor veterans with at the county fair in September.  I'm hopeful that we will have a good response.

We spent the first weekend of June in Missouri, visiting my son and his wife.  We had a great couple of days, visiting the Missouri Botanical Gardens, hitting a couple of estate sales, and ending up at an Art Faire.  I should have taken pictures of the Art Faire, but I was busy enjoying it, rather than taking pictures of myself enjoying it.  We also enjoyed spending time on the porch, just hanging out, chatting, and watching the weather.

 I caught sight of these metal giraffes, and thought "What fun!!"  Then again, the neighbors might disagree if I brought one (or two) home with me.

 I saw more Mexican pottery in Missouri than I've ever seen in one place in California.  That had me scratching my head.

 The displays were quite entertaining.

 There were several Chihuly installations at the Botanical Gardens.  There was no mention of them, so I'm guessing they are permanent.

I haven't done a lot of sewing, but I've done some.  I finished a pillow, that took very little effort.

And I finished another little 6" square that was siting in the FinishMe! pile.

I also finished another pillow, but need to get the pillow form before I can mark it off the list.  Hopefully, between now and the next time I post, I will get something worthy of showing you.  But for now?  I'm just trying to keep up.  Getting things done?  Another story altogether. 

Happy Quilting!

6" Quilt...and a Baby!

My youngest son and his wife have been expecting for the past nine months.  The official due date was October 4.  Little Addison Marilyn made her arrival on Thursday, September 28.  My husband and I were blessed to be allowed in the delivery room for the birth.  It was an absolute miracle, an experience I will never forget.

 In the morning, as momma labored, I was meeting with my Itty Bitty quiltie group.  I had gone through a box of spare parts, and unearthed a leftover block from my 2012 Hoffman Challenge.  You can see that quilt here. 

I spent Thursday morning adding embellishments, as well as Friday.  Miss Addison spent two days in NICU, so she was off limits to Grammie.  Seemed like a good idea to put my extra energy to good use.  The 6" finished block is mounted on canvas.  (The green background is not part of the quilt.)

And there you go.  I have other things underway, but I suspect that my quilting time is going to be squeezed once again.  Knowing me, I would rather play with a baby than needle and thread.

Oh happy day!

One Dollar

I don't know about you, but I LOVE estate sales.  I don't know what it is about them, but maybe it's the chance to take a trip back in time.  You never know when you'll see toys you had when you were a toddler, or clothes that you wore in high school.  Other people's stuff triggers all kinds of memories.  And when some of those positive triggers are for sale?  Well, guess who grabs them up and takes them home?  That would be me.

I'm like a magpie.  When I see something I like, and the price is right?  I bring it home.  Doesn't matter if I need it like another hole in my head, I get it anyway.  I have a big house, right?  har har, not so much any more!!

Anyway, on Saturday, we swung by an estate sale.  They had all kinds of fabric items on a table in the garage.  There, in a grocery bag, were some wool blocks for a crazy quilt, all embroidered, and ready to piece together.  I flipped through them, and asked, "How much?"

Well, when she said, "$1?  For all of them, not a piece?"  I said, "Sold!"  and then found a second bag with another 5 or 6 blocks.  She threw them in for free.

They're a bit musty, so they're outside airing.

All of the fabrics are wool, with the exception of a strip of navy blue polyester put into two blocks.  I'm not sure why the maker did that...maybe she ran out of wool?

In other news, the first iris are thinking of blooming.  Stay tuned, because once one pops, the rest can not be far behind.

Not much sewing going on around here, but I have been trying to dig out a path to my sewing machine.  Goals are good, and all that!!

This n That

wow.  Where has the time gone?  It seems like I blink, and I lose another week!  If this is the way 2016 is going to be, maybe I should start writing my Christmas letter.  Seems like before I turn around, it will be December!

I've been busy doing a lot of things other than sewing.  Like working on the hall bathroom shower.  My sons took the glass doors off when I broke my leg, to make for easier access.  They are still off, and I haven't been broken for months now.

Hubby thought we should replace the caulk, so he peeled some off and never got back to it.  On Saturday, I peeled out all of the old.  Yesterday, I replaced it.  On Sunday, I asked him to take the doors outside for me, so that I could really scrub them down.  oops.  One of them broke, so finishing that project has now been delayed for another 2 weeks, as we wait for a new door to be delivered.

We have house guests arriving next week.  Good thing we still have that shower curtain, eh?!

Yesterday, I made more postcards for our Postmark'd Art exchange.  The theme for this batch was "Crazy Quilt."  I had a lot of fun doing the embroidery.  I really should do more of it.  I really love it!

 Each one is slightly different.

 I made this one second, thinking I would use different trims around each, but I disliked this one so much, I went back to the first trim for the last card.

And then there are the backs.  On the first one, I used commercial fabric.  But then, I was moving the mess on my tabletop, and noticed an old, well-used handkerchief, that had wear marks and a cigarette burn.  The embroidery was too worn to use for the top, but for the back of the postcard?  It was perfect!

I'm not sure why the pics got tipped, but oh well.  You get the idea, right?

This coming week I have plans for a bit of a sewing getaway.  We'll see if I get anything done, but plans are useful, and goals are good!!

More Postcards

I haven't been terribly productive this month.  All kinds of plans, no kind of action.  *sigh*  oh well.  Tomorrow is another day, and September is another month.  And at the rate I'm going, it will be tomorrow and then September, before I even blink!!

Yesterday I took a class from Lura Schwartz Smith.  She's an amazingly talented artist, who weaves a magical spell with fabric.  If I had half the talent hiding in her little toe, I'd be thrilled.  :)  The class was learning to distort traditional blocks, using her pattern.  By lunchtime, I'd finished mine.

 After lunch, she guided us in some free-form curved piecing.  I was already familiar with the technique, though she did give a helpful hint that makes a big difference in helping the finished piece lie flat. 

Each evening this week I've worked on the tops for some postcards for this latest exchange of Postmark'd Art.  The theme is Hand Stitching.  Mine should go out on Monday.  There are 5 others in my exchange group, so it looks like I've made a few extra.  I'm sure they'll quickly find homes.

When I was done with these, I bumped into another almost done postcard.  So I finished it.

Somehow I knew that one was going to flip.

And there you go.  Clap my hands together, and celebrate that at long last I've finished something in August.  yay!!