Secret Santa Christmas Swap

I got my Secret Santa Christmas Swap gift in the mail today. It came from Carol Lewis from Carol's Craft Blog. It was an awesome table runner and some cherry cordial M & M's. Lookie!

I love the sawtooth stars and the quilting is exquisite! (Done by Mary of Quilt Hollow)

Carol, I can't thank you enough! I love my gift. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Lest you wonder, my gift went in the mail today. It has a long way to travel though so I hope my deer fly swiftly!

Last night was quilting with the Canton quilters. Many are working on their Layer Cake block 3 blocks. I meant to work on mine but instead ended up helping everyone else do theirs! I am hoping to do mine tomorrow. I really need to get on that and the Jelly roll block too. I took a photo of some of the group's second blocks so you can see how they turned out.


My friend Cori went with me to the meeting and then we left early and went back to her place for our "Wine Wednesday" night. I heart Wine Wednesday and I heart Cori too! Go visit her at her online quilt shop.

The Plymouth Piecemakers party was tonight but that will have to wait until tomorrow, I'm really tired and need to go to bed now.

I Did It!!

I sure did it! I blogged every day for the last 30 days, every single day in November! Woo Hoo!!
Ok enough celebrating, you came to see the photos of my finishes didn't you? First up is the reindeer table runner that I made for my Secret Santa Christmas Swap. I LOVE it!! It will be difficult to part with it.



Then I finished this wall hanging. It is the third one of them completely finished (thank you LTW and PTM). Here is the front and back.

See how the quilting makes a great "wing" on this one? I love how that happened! Also notice the great plaid I found for the binding on this one! I still need to take a photo of the one I am keeping, hey maybe tomorrow!!

It was darkish and raining and windy when I got home tonight so I had some trouble taking photos. GRRRR I should have done it yesterday. Oh well, here are the next FIVE tops I managed to finish too.

It's really amazing that 4 charm packs and a partial layer cake could turn into 8 great wall hangings isn't it? I think I'm pretty much tired of this pattern at this point. I was talking to PTM the other day and told her I was going to give it away and I guess I'll be giving it away to her!! LOL!! She really likes the pattern so she can have it and make a few for herself or for gifts. She has been doing all my binding, because it really hurts my hands and all the way up into my shoulder. How can you ask for a better BFF?? Answer: YOU CAN'T!! So I told her to choose one of those last 5 to keep for herself. It will be fun to see which one she will choose. I think I know which one but I'll keep you posted!

I still need to make the backs so I can send them to LTW for the quilting. If I wasn't so lazy I would do that tonight. Actually I think I will do just that, although I hear Rudolph on the TV in the other room and it is my favorite Christmas show, so we will see. I went to the gym, came home and made turkey pot pie, popped it into the oven and went to the church to drop off something then home, food and now blogging.

So, I need to get it in gear and see what I can do about those backs, (one continuous piece sounds good don't you think??) I need to put away dinner, clean up, and get the ribs ready for the crock pot so they can be started in the morning before I leave for work. Have a wonderful evening and remember you can do whatever you put your mind to (like blog every day!!)
XOP

Works in Progress

I decided that I need to clear up my sewing room in prelude to Thanksgiving and Christmas, so I decided I need to make a short list of what I need to get done before the beginning of December. I sew in my living room. When you walk into my house you walk into my sewing mess room. Therefore, it all needs to be put away for the holidays. I have a difficult time doing this though, especially when I need to complete Christmas presents. It will be interesting to see how the layer cake QAL goes without a space to sew! I guess I will have to do it only on Wednesday nights, UGH! Anyway, I needed to make a small something for a gift exchange for the Plymouth Piecemakers group I am a part of. The gift had to be a ten dollar value. How difficult is that? I had this neat pattern and a charm pack laying around so I decided to make this:

Interestingly enough my DH wanted to keep this! I have a second charm pack so I will make another one, it is not too difficult to do. What do you think of it? It still needs to be quilted and bound and an eye put on the Cardinal but I like it.

Next up is the Charming Secret Santa Christmas Swap gift. I worked on this last week. In fact this is what I bought the reindeer fabric for. I decided to use a layer cake of Merry and Bright to make it with since I had it in the house. The background for the reindeer was bigger than the layer cake squares so I pieced it together as I also did for the borders. I just need to finish stitching around the applique (fusible) and then off to LTW for quilting. This will be my gift to my swap partner. Don't tell though because it's a secret!

I wish you could see the fabric I used in the reindeer better. I will have to take a close up later once it is all quilted up.

I really need to finish the baby plus quilt and have decided to make an elephant applique quilt for another baby. I also would love to know the gender of those 2 babies so I could better choose the fabric. The third baby quilt will be one I am dying to make but probably won't begin until after the holidays (realistically). I could just go on and on but you would be bored so I'm going to stop right here. I think I need to put this list on paper!

XOP

Wow, It Really IS That Easy!

I wanted to try out making a mosaic to see how it would work. It was SO easy. I used the directions from Lily and the site pretty much walked me through it. I did link my Flickr account to the site just for ease of use, but it told me I didn't have to. One advantage is that once you have your mosaic created all the links to each photo are already done for you, huge time saver that!! I did spend sometime searching through Flickr and saving things to my favorite file. This made choosing the pics a snap. Now that I am an old pro (NOT) I advise you to give it a try. I will set up the group today for the Charming Secret Santa Christmas Swap and post the link to the group.

Oh yes, so here is my mosaic (credits for the pics are in the Flickr account photos)

Christmas Part 1

My DH always complains that we dont't do the things he wants to do over the Christmas holidays. He LOVES to go to certain places and Holly Mi is one of them, for the Dickens Festival. I think it was 20 degrees below zero on this day but he and I and DD1 all went to Holly with him. Here are DH and I in the refreshments tent drinking hot mulled cider. We had fun but it was very COLD! There are a lot of antique shops here and I picked out 2 really cool antique sewing implements (which I ended up getting for Christmas, but that's another story).
Also before Christmas we were asked by the CHV theater (where we quilt on Wed nights) how our craft show sales were at the STAB craft show. They were just OK, so the woman running the CHV Theater asked us if we would like to set up on the nights of the Christmas Extravaganza to sell our wares. This was the Thurs, Friday, 2 times on Sat and then on Sun before Christmas. Of course we said yes! So here are a few photos of Charlotte (I was taking the pics) at the CHV Theater.
We had lots of room and did fairly well with our sales (over $500) for a few hours each day, which was better than the craft show!
This brings me to the gift from my Secret Santa in the SS Christmas Swap. My package arrived and I saw that it was from Dawn S in Australia. I did not even open the envelope until Christmas morning. Here is the first thing I saw...
There was a very nice note and it explained why her gift was late. It really was not late as it arrived well before Christmas! Her blog is called Itching for Stitching, isn't that so cute??
She told me that she had read my blog and that I said I didn't have much time for stitchery so, bless her heart, she did a LOT of stitchery for me!! The designs were from Cinderberry Stitches which I really love (how did she know that??)

There was a beautiful bag with this cat on one side...

And a proper cat lady on the other side! Again, I think she knows that I have 5 cats! I love the bag, it is just beautiful. Her stitchery is so much better than mine! So she also included these fun coasters. I just LOVE them!!! My DH is constantly asking me to make a log cabin quilt for him and now Dawnie sends so many mini ones. AWESOME!!!
Then she sent this beautiful wall hanging. I immediately put it up on my front door. She included the wire hanger too. Isn't she just so clever? The sitiching is just fabulous. Then since she could not find buttons that suited what she wanted she used ceramic ones and painted them. (I need to be careful not to drop this or they may break!!) Oh please enlarge it and look at the beautiful detail!!
I have LOTS from Christmas to post but I need to go and do some other things for now. I will try to be better about posting from home. Most of the time when I post it is from work (weird how I have more time there than at home, huh??)

I hope everyone had a great holiday, Christmas or otherwise. I have lots more to share so will do so later.

XXOO

What Did You Do Last Night?

I had a really good night last night.  I got home and went to quilting at the church with the ladies.  A few months ago a really nice man named Jack came to us out of the blue and donated a lot (I really mean A LOT!!!) of fabric and notions to our church group.  In return he had this Sunbonnet Sue quilt top that his mother had done and he wanted our help getting it finished.  So since the top was already finished I got a back sewn and took it to LTW to work her magic.  I can't believe this is how it turned out!
She stitched around every "SUE" inside the applique with clear (smoke) thread using the same maroon thread on the back as she used for the "Sam's" and the quilting around each block.  The quilt turned out just beautifully!  Two of the CHV Quilters (Lucy and Pauline) volunteered to sew on the binding and hand stitch it down for him also.  Well, Jack and his wife came to the church to pick it up last night and they were just thrilled with it!  Makes my heart glad, I tell ya!
As I stepped outside at the church to speak with DD1 I happened to look up an saw these beautiful, ice covered, berries!  Aren't they beautiful?  I went back inside to get my camera and the CL's were asking me why I needed my camera in the dark?  I told them to take a picture of the beautiful berries, of course.  Well, that meant they had to follow me outside and see them for themselves.  The photo doesn't really do justice to how beautiful they really are though.
I worked on binding the Secret Santa gift I have done now, but alas, I can't show you the gift until after Christmas.  I have quite a few things now to send overseas, I am getting excited to wrap and send my package.  I have several overseas packages to get together for friends in Europe too.  In fact I am off to buy some things for them today, if I get a chance.  

I am going on a Shop Hop to 7 different shops this Saturday with my DF Charlotte.  I have been making a list of things I would like to get for gifts and for the next year's Big Ten quilt so we will see how I do.  We are taking a bus with a lot of other women and we need to be at the bus at 7:30am and we return around 8pm.  It will be a long and glorious day of shopping!!  Hopefully I will be able to share what I buy.  I won't be able to show what I buy for gifts until after Christmas but maybe some other things.  

I have been trying to come up with an idea for a quilt for DD2's friend.  She had asked me to make her a quilt using aqua, green and purple and black.  Sure, right, that's gonna be an easy one, right?  NOT!  So I was going through some magazines a week or so ago and found this amazing pattern in a Fons and Porter magazine that I had saved.  It was perfect!  I will use this fabric for the outside border (ordered from equilter)  It has all the colors in it.

This is the pattern I found.  I will not use the batik throughout the whole quilt like they did in this quilt though because the fabric I choose is not black enough for that.  I will use plain black.  I will need bright blues, greens and purples for the strings to go with the blacks.  I love some string piecing and thought this would be an easy one to get finished by christmas.  Although I really need the focus fabric to be able to pull the colored fabrics and I am trying to wait patiently (really hard for me to do!)  According to the tracking on the package, it should be at my home on Friday, which is really good because I want to be able to take it with me if I need to to fill in any gaps from what I already have that may go with it.
I am interested if anyone else has made this quilt?  It is done with string piecing on a foundation (which is super easy, think St. Pat's and the "M" string quilts) so I think it will go quickly.  If not, I will save it for a graduation present in a year, lol!

I have been BOOED!!

Jeanne from luv2stitch has "booed" me.  Here is the sign to prove it!  I love Halloween!!  Even thought I have not decorated I am still looking forward to handing out candy tonight.  I love seeing all the little kids.  I promise to decorate next year!  Now I need to "boo" some others so I am going to list you here.  Take this photo and post it on your blog and consider yourself "booed"  (No candy though, sorry)

Kim       Saska

Faith     Natalie    Annemiek   Dot

OK guys, no go forth and BOOOOOOO!!!!

Here is an example of one of the wine vests that we are making for the Christmas craft show.  One of the women, Kim, is a HUGE Ohio State fan so she made some of these.  I am not an OSU fan but I like how this turned out.  Great job Kim!
Here is a little table topper I finished yesterday.  I used up some of my left overs from the FS quilt.  No the bigger version is not finished yet but it is ready to sew into rows and I am hoping to get to it this weekend and get it all put together.  LTW is going on a cruise (I don't know why she thinks she can take a vacation??)  so no hurry for another week.  I am not sure what I will work on after this one is finished.  What do you think of this little beauty?  I really like it.  It is even nicer in person, the flash washed out some of the color.
Here are the wet and dry ingredients of the Apple Hill cake I made yesterday.
All mixed together.

TA-DA!!  The finished cake!  I brought it to work today as we have a lab meeting and I thought it would be fun to share.  I will let you know how people like it.  The recipe is over at Kim's.
I hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween weekend!!  Be generous to those little trick or treaters (big ones too)!

Secret Santa Swap

I was just sitting at my computer thinking (recovering actually from a day at the lake with all DH's family) about the Secret Santa Christmas swap I signed up for this year. My partner is a new to me blogger and I am trying to decide what I should make/buy for her. I am very excited to be a part of this swap. This got me thinking about who might have me and how it might be a good idea for me to talk a little bit about some things I like (and maybe some I don't like so much too).

My favorite colors are blues and greens especially in the aqua or teal family. I like bright cheerful things. I love animals especially cats. I love water and all water related things. I am a HUGE fan of all thinks Celtic (my heritage) and love everything related to king Arthur. I love quilts, bags, pincushions, needlecases, notecards (oh heck who doesn't love all that!) I do some embroidery, although I am not very good at it yet! I love Halloween and Christmas. Anyone that knows me knows I am pretty lively and cheerful.

I hope this is somewhat helpful for my SS!! I think anyone in the swap should put up what they like too, c'mon you know you want to join in!!

Just a quick note to you all. I don't know how much quilting I will be doing for awhile. I was out in the back yard with the dog and she was running and her rope caught me and brought me crashing down in the yard (I'm fine from that) but the rope was wrapped around my arm and I have a HUGE rope burn across the inside of my arm right where it bends. I feel so silly but it hurts like crazy. It is difficult to bend it with out a lot of pain tonight. I put some Neosporin (with pain control) on it and took some Ibuprophin but it is pretty swollen and sore. I can't leave it uncovered as it burns like crazy then. Any suggestions to make it feel better? I will listen to all suggestions. Then to add insult to injury DH made steak for dinner (it was so good) and I was going to clean the kitchen but he needed help with the boat so I went outside to help with that. Well, when I opened the door the dog slunk away and that means only one thing, she put her big dog choppers all over my leftover steak and ate it ALL!!! No leftovers for us. She knows she is not supposed to do that but she does it anyway. I was so mad.

Anyone want a dog??

Secret Santa Christmas Swap

I just found this and thought it was so funny. Does anyone else watch the Simpsons? Mr Burns does this clapping his hands together and saying "excellent" and I think that is a hoot too.

Now back to the regular stuff!

I know I haven't posted for a few days but I am still alive. Chooky Blue is hosting a Secret Santa Christmas Swap and I have signed up! There are over 120 swappers and many are international. I can't wait to find out who I get to swap with. It has to be a secret though so I can't tell you. I'm not sure if I can show photos of what we are to swap, but if I can I will share peeks.

I have about 20 blocks finished with the Fresh Squeezed fabrics but have not taken any pictures, maybe tonight.

More later...

Well, it's later and I still don't have any new photos. I did go to quilting with the CL's tonight and I got 12 more FS blocks finished. I just love them! I also received that yellow dress in the mail today. HATED IT!! Yes, you read that correctly. I just did NOT like it at all. It may be because I am a little too fluffy to actually fit into it correctly, or it may be the fabric had absolutely zero give or that one arm hole was just not fitting right or maybe because it is yellow (I thought I could overlook that, but...no.) So I will send it back and use the dress I have that I wore to another wedding, *sigh*. I will go and search out new black shoes though. I was so uncomfortable in the ones I used last time. Oh well, maybe I will go and see if I can find something in the sotes. My biggest problem is that I am fat and cheap! LOL, this is not a good combination, lol. I'm going to go and read some more in my book and then early to bed for me!!