Goals and a Few Finishes

We had a great Christmas but not the celebration we thought we were having.  Christmas Eve day our son called to tell us his wife had come down with Covid. He wasn't feeling all that great and also worried about the kids.  But the gist of the conversation was they couldn't host Christmas for us or his in-laws.  We all enjoy the opportunity to catch up with everyone while having room for the 17 of us to fit in the house or play in the yard.  Bummer.  Our daughter and her husband came up with a meal at their house really fast.  (Hum, what does it say about me when I'm concerned about the meal?) We were trying to figure out if a 6 lb. turkey breast would feed 7. They came up with a meal before we could figure that out! 

I thought I'd share some of the presents I made and ones I received after I do the normal goals post.  As you can see below I did pretty well on the goals. 

12/18/23

✅Sing at Mall and a private gig — done until mid January

Quilt a small quilt — the back is loaded ... but no sewing done

✅Wrap presents — finished with a day to spare!

✅Attend guild dinner  — Had a wonderful time — so much fun

✅Make more placemats — turned in 6! 

✅Wash, dry and fold some more fabric — 3 of 4 boxes done and returned, 1 to go

The gals who plan our quilt guild holiday party go all out. It was a beautiful scene and we had a lot of fun. 

So far this week I have been taking things easy. I did think about skipping goals but decided to go ahead and make a list.  I may not get them done but that's ok.

12/26/23

Quilt a small quilt or two 

Clean up several horizontal surfaces in studio 

Pick something fun and easy and make a quilt top

Finish Dec. Clue for Malted Mystery

Relax, read, and have fun 

Since some of the Christmas presents I made have been given away I'm including photos of two of my grands in their presents.  Remember the goals to embroider two sweatshirts?  Several months ago Urban Threads had a sale on some designs just right for sweatshirts.  I sent emails to both grands and asked them to pick the design they would like.  Sophie, the oldest, picked out several and asked me to surprise them.  Argh! How to make that decision as they were very different. I finally chose the first one listed. And, luckily they really liked it -- thought it was cool.  (I liked it because it had only 4 thread colors and only 4 thread changes. Yipee!) 

Natalie chose one after some prodding from her mom.  And, evidently totally forgot about it. (She mentioned that to me Christmas Day which was nice that it was a surprise.) Unfortunately I bought the wrong size sweatshirt and didn't realize it until after I'd embroidered it.  That went to my good friend's granddaughter who was tickled to get it.  This design used 8 colors and 11 color changes.  What was neat about both of them is I didn't have to buy any threads -- I used what I have. 

It's been quite a while since I last did any embroidery.  There was a learning curve to remember (or look up) how to do things but I think there might be some more embroidering in my future. 

Hubby got me two great Christmas presents.  One was a new sweatshirt. I relate to this pile of books.  Needless to say it hit the wash and I started wearing it right away.  

My other present hubby made for me after I sent him the idea.  Have you been using wooden blocks to help make your blocks/seams lie flatter?  I had the opportunity to use some at two of the retreats this year and decided I liked the bigger size rather than smaller ones.  I heard a lot of cutting, sanding and such from his workshop but didn't know what he was working on although I was hoping. I was really happy to see this 10" block. If you don't know about using wood blocks they started out in tailoring as clampers.  Someone decided it might work well to make quilt seams lie flat and they were right.  I always use steam with my iron as it doesn't seem to do well without it. Now I steam my units and/or my finished block and pop this wood block on it. It seems to pull out the heat and moisture leaving a very flat seam. 

I used this while working on some Happy Blocks and some of the blocks for Malted Mystery.  I was very happy with the results.  I chose a 10" block because I have the 9" (fin) Accuquilt Cube so I tend to make a lot of 9.5" unfinished blocks. 

Part of what's left of this week I need to decide on which UFOs I'll put on the APQ 2024 challenge. I might also list the quilts and other items I've finished this year.  I have decided I'm going back to keeping fabric usage and purchases again.  I've done it for many years and for some reason decided I didn't want to this year.  I wish I had so I'm going back to keeping that info. I'm not sure what new projects I'll start but might I admit to having a dresser drawer full of fabric and some patterns I pulled to use together.  I need to stop pulling and start using that fabric.  I keep planning quilts but haven't work on new ones since before October.  I also plan to participate in the 15 minutes of sewing every day at Life in Pieces. Although I do tend to sew every day, I am going to include time spent cutting fabrics, or cleaning up the cutting table and the like.  It all goes into the mix and counts toward sewing time. 

That's enough for today.  Here's some different blogs that I'll be linking with.  

Midweek Makers

Wednesday Wait Loss

Im hoping to spend some time surfing the Internet.  I really don't need more ideas, but it is fun to see what is going on with quilters around the world. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Merry Christmas

I want to share the ornaments I have been working on (and off) nearly the whole year.  Every year I give my grands an ornament I've made. 

If you'd like to make some like these you can buy the patterns and kits from The Rusty Crow in Nags Head. They are scattered through the Patterns section.

I thought all my readers might enjoy this very cool decoration that my neighbor DeDe made for our book club party earlier in the week. It was fabulous but I know she took it down the day after because it was right in front of her sink.  I wanted to grab a book or two to borrow... 

 Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

Merry Christmas a Day Late!

Our Christmas was quiet with just the two of us.  We had passed on some of the presents for our son's family and he gave us most of ours.  I have to say I was tickled with my presents as was Pat with his.  We both spent time in our happy places during the day.  I was down in my studio and he was in his workshop.  I'm pretty sure he was finding room for his new tools and I was using my new Accuquilt dies. 

I got two new dies this year.  (Shush -- don't tell anyone I still haven't used one I got last year for Christmas.) The left one is Blazing Star by Eleanor Burns.  EEEK!  It is a complicated die because you have to have some fabric right side up and some right side down. And, the directions are ok but not great.  However, there is a booklet you can buy and a free video. The right side is an Ohio Star.  Both are 12" Blocks on Board -- every piece you need is on the die.  I am happy to have some specific dies for 12" blocks.  (Does this picture look odd to you?  I keep taking shots right over what I want to show and then I don't really like how they look.  Sigh.)

My time in my studio was spent finding fabric for, cutting and making the blocks.  I made the Ohio Star first.  Very easy to follow the given directions, cut, and make the block.  I think it took longer to figure out fabrics than it did to cut it out.  I'm thinking I'll make a bunch with different patriotic fabrics.  Maybe make a quilt for TAPS, assuming they have the camp this year. 

The Blazing Star was not super easy to make.  I was trying to follow the directions which had to be downloaded from the web site. (Usually the directions are included with the packaging.) So I started following the directions trying to be careful with the right side up and right side down.  Needless to say several pieces of fabric were sacrificed to mistakes.  I finally decided to watch the video.  It helped quite a bit but kept referencing the booklet that I didn't have and there was no digital download from what I could tell. (I didn't look really carefully.) Finally, I succeeded cutting out the pieces although I don't think the colors are where I originally wanted them.  The best part is the sewing was pretty easy.  Most of the points won't be cut off when I use it. 

Hindsight I would have tried to have more contrast on the front star.  But it will make a fine table runner with two more blocks. 

Just for fun I thought I would share this lesson in lighting.  Have you heard experts talk about the appearance of different colored lighting.  Take a look at our poor Christmas tree.  Yes, it is artificial and the lights were on it when purchased. However, at some point this season all of the lights in the second section from the top quit. Pat spent an hour or so trying to find the problem to no avail.  So he came up with an alternative.  He put the only other strand of lights he could find on the tree.  Yep, colored lights.  What shows up a lot are the blue lights.  And they make the tree look a totally different color than the white lights.  It's hard to see in this picture but the tree looks a lush green with the blue lights and a washed out sage green with the white lights.  We don't put up this tree very often; recently we've been using a smaller tree on a table.  This year it seemed the right thing to do.  Maybe I should look for some white lights on sale to replace the colored lights? 

Tomorrow we're having a mini, outdoor celebration with our kids and grands.  We'll swap whatever presents came in on time, chat a bit and then head home.  We hope  I-95 won't be bumper to bumper with people coming home from their visits.  In the best of times we can get to our son's house in about an hour, or a daughter's in over an hour.  We've traveled for double the time or more at the worst of times.  We're looking forward to seeing everyone but the traffic... eh not too happy about that. 

I'm off for some more sewing and then present wrapping.  In the meantime I'll be linking up with these Linky Parties: Ha!  None of my normal linky parties are up and running, either already closed or didn't hold a linky party. I did find Finished or Not Friday held at Anja Quilts.  Hope you'll spend a few minutes over there today.

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Everything Done and Ready!

As promised here is a picture of Jenny's king size quilt. It hangs to the floor on both sides on this queen size bed. She sewed the binding on by machine this morning. Now she is working on hand sewing it down. I couldn't hang it over the bannister on the upper level and take a picture cause there is garland and lights on it. At least you can get a feel for the whole quilt with this picture.

And this is the little tree upstairs overlooking the great room.

I wanted to show the upstairs decorating but Raggs decided he needed to supervise. Honest, he sat there waiting for me to take the picture. He did such a good job I gave him a dog biscuit. So now ...

He wants to get in all the pictures! And he sat still while I changed to a tighter view. Hum, a photo hound!

These Santas are sitting on a small table on the landing of the stairs with a little soft angel horse. See the little cat? It is a new pin cushion my friend Judy gave me. It is made on top of a wooden spool. Too cute. The quilt to the left is a Pineapple Blossom -- directions are at Quiltville.

Kevin and Aimee arrived early this afternoon with Jenny and Brian arriving yesterday evening. We are all ready for Christmas. The presents are over flowing around the tree. Yikes, and there are no children under 26 here.

On the quilting front, I put the last two pieces of the border on my Mystery #11 from Mysteries for Relay. I am ready to piece the backing over the next few days. As I've said before, I want to have it completely done before 2010 starts! I'm on schedule for it so we'll see how it goes.

Hope your holidays are enjoyable and Happy Quilting All!

3 Days and Counting

I can't believe I am right on schedule. The house is ready -- cleaned and decorated.

The four stockings are done with names ......

And hung by the fireplace with care . . . .

The bears are trying hard not to pout . . . .

Most presents are wrapped and under the tree.

Tomorrow I roll out sugar cookies for the kids to decorate on Thursday. And, I think I'll squeeze some quilting time in there too.

I have one or two other decorations to show but the camera battery is low so I won't be able to until tomorrow. Until then --

Happy quilting all!

Cookie Swap II

Cookie Swap II is today and I am ready! Here are all my cookies ready to go in a basket. I couldn't find a big enough basket to carry all of them so I have to bring some in a shopping bag. At least it looks festive here -- red plaid.

Saturday we bought our Christmas tree and brought it into the house. So far it is half decorated. It is about 9' because we have high ceilings in the great room. We have the best tree lot -- all the trees are $29.99! Wow. No wonder we could get such a big tree. If we'd been there earlier we could have gotten a taller tree! (not sure it would have fit into our tree stand though!)

We've got two more boxes to go through to add to the tree. But that will be another day. Raggs has been pretty good about it. He sniffs it but that is about it. On the other hand, we've both been about when he's been near the tree. Wait til the whole pack shows up. (3 more dogs for Christmas!)

And, Raggs has to be spruced up too. Here he is after his bath. Doesn't he look pathetic here? Poor baby. But he smells much better and someday that fur will grow out. And, in the meantime he curls up pretty tightly when he goes to sleep.

You might be asking how I am doing on my to do list from last posting?

1 -- Hair is cut and looking oh, so much better!

6 -- Started meal plans. Need to add to them so we have meals for all the days the kids are up here.

7 -- Cookies are ready to be taken today.

The rest are in the works or a day planned to do so.

Keep warm and Happy Quilting All!

Let the Lights Shine

Pat got the pine trees on the driveway decorated with lights this week. I thought they looked great! He thought they would be good photos to show on the blog. He's right.
No quilting getting done today -- it's party time. I'm going to a volunteers dinner for the homeowners association. Pat is going to sing two concerts today. (I refused to join as the practice was the same time as a new quilt guild I had joined. Maybe next year.)

Yesterday I didn't get as much quilted on Jenny's quilt as I had planned to. My back starts giving out and the hands start aching a bit holding the ruler in place. So, slow and easy will still get it done way before Jenny shows up. By the way, Jenny made this quilt not me. I am only quilting it for her. She gets to put the binding on -- all 456" of it.

The snow is about 4 to 5" deep and not too much melting go on today -- it's only just reached 32 now. Raggs doesn't quite know what to do in the snow. And, he doesn't have enough hair/fur left to keep him really warm. So we don't go play in the snow. We do try to have him do his business out there. I would imagine it would be pretty shocking to wake up first thing in the morning and have to go out side -- it's been in the 20's the last few mornings! Time to get Raggs out and then off I go.

Happy Quilting All!

Waa Hoo Christmas Came Early!

See my Christmas present?  Pat and I had said we weren't going to exchange presents this year.  A couple of weeks later he mentioned he had gotten me something.  Well it came while I was in the shower today.  He decided to give it to me so I can use it!  Wow, this is the chair of chairs.  It has about 4 different places you can customise -- the seat height, seat angle, back height, back angle and lumbar support.  We saw this at the quilt show in Hershey, Pa and I told him I would like one. (hey I had two office type chairs in my studio and both of them would sink down without any particular reason.) 

I got him a table saw. Nah, he asked for it and picked it out but it was from me! He's making stuff for me with it -- or at least I think he is! 

I got a lot done in the studio today.  I only have the borders to do on the bedroom wall hanging.  And, tying off all the threads on the areas I did today.  I hate that part of machine quilting. Some people don't worry about it but I always tie them off and bury the threads.  

Pat also gets great husband stars today for doing some more decorating in the house.  He's done all of the outside and has moved into the inside.  He has put lights and garlands around the bannisters.  Today he cleared off the Thanksgiving decorations and put out Christmas stuff on the mantel.  

I bought this lovely Santa at a vendor at the quilt show in Lancaster, PA many years ago.  I fell in love with it -- probably because of his old quilt coat.  He is proudly displayed on the mantel with several other Santas I have.  I don't think Pat pulled out all of the Santas but they are peaking out of lots of nooks and crannies of the house.    This one was the beginning of my Santas and now I must have 15 or so. Some are stuffed, some are floppy, some I've made and some have been given to me. Over the next few days I will try to add more pictures of our Christmas decorations.   

We will be putting up a small tree next weekend.  Since the kids were here for Thanksgiving they won't be here for Christmas. Supposedly we aren't going all out with our decorating.  Jen will be going to Brian's Mom's house in Ohio. Kevin will be going to Tennessee with Aimee. We were thinking of going to California for the Rose Bowl but, wow, airline prices are out of sight.  We'll keep looking but it doesn't look good at this point.  Pat and I went to Univ. of Southern California and lived in California ten years before we moved east.  California in December/January looks good compared to the Pocono Mountains.  And, since we get Rose Bowl tickets every year it's good to go to the games every once in a while.  USC just beat UCLA so SC will be the Pac 10 representative.  

And, just to give Pat equal time:  Here is his workshop out in the garage (heated garage). It is always this neat except when he is working in it.  He is very neat, unlike me!  I'm better than I was but I'm not completely cured of my messier nature!  

Happy quilting all.  Bonnie