Christmas update

I didn't follow through with my plan to get busy on my post-Christmas post right away. Part of the problem was that I didn't have pictures of one of the projects and had to wait until after the package was opened. I know, lame excuse, but it is what it is!


When the box that went to my sister's house was opened this little quilt was near the top...

I made a block like the inner block for one of the Quilt Block Exchanges and thought about how cool a Blue Willow quilt could be. Since my sister collects things that are blue and white I thought it would be a perfect Christmas gift. Not sure exactly how she is going to hang it but that isn't my problem! :-)

Further down in the box were these 4 quilts. 

You have seen them all as flimsies but not the finished quilts. These are my sister's 4 kids who received the finished products. I used hi-loft batting and did minimal machine quilting and tying to hold them together but keep them fluffy. 


My niece, Brita (third from left), did some pressing on her quilt while I was working on it at the quilt retreat and her sister, Katie (next to her), has helped me put together many quilts from this pattern. She got the one that was put together, shall we say, unconventionally, as that tends to happen at least once in every quilt we put together!


The little minis that I showed in the last post all went to good homes. I am sure I will make more of those!

We had a quiet Christmas at home with our son and his little maltese, Mandu. Here she is on my lap at the sewing machine. It seemed that whenever she found me sewing she had to come on my lap. I was working on those little minis so I didn't sit for long at a time!

Mandu is a little over a year old and a bundle of energy! Mostly Lucy just ignored her unless she accidently bounced on her or something!

On the morning of the 26th we all headed across the state to our oldest daughter's house. Enjoyed opening presents with the grandkids and then I drove about an hour and picked up my second daughter's husband from the trucking terminal so he could spend the night with us. We arrived home in time for dinner with my sister, brother-in-law, and two of their kids included. Daughter #2 arrived a while after dinner. Let's just say that house was very full with 11 adults, 2 excited children, 1 large dog, two small dogs and a cat!

We spent the next few days playing with the grandkids, painting the downstairs bathroom (it has been in the remodel process for quite some time), eating and visiting. Thursday we did some shopping and ended up at daughter #2's home for the night. Yesterday morning, after breakfast at a truck stop with our daughter (she had just dropped her hubby off at his truck for a run to Chicago), we headed back home. 

We got the car unloaded and bags unpacked and that is about it for last night! Today is the day for laundry and getting the house a little more organized again!

I hope everyone has enjoyed the holiday season and I wish you all a Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

I think the 5 weeks or so that it has been since my last post is the longest I have gone without posting. Life has been crazy with only a little sewing and most of it not 'post-worthy'.


The church is all put back together after the water damage in September and the rental is ready for new tenants so those jobs are off my plate.


All Christmas sewing is finished and will be revealed after Christmas. Christmas shopping is done and everything is wrapped. I haven't done much baking/cooking for the holiday. Mainly because of food allergies/sensitivities. Hard to make most holiday treats without cane sugar or dairy! I will make a couple things today though - peanut butter fudge and creamsicle fudge. Yesterday was lefse day - we got around the dairy thing by using soy milk and vegan 'butter' for some of them.


I have been working on owl hats recently but didn't get pictures taken. These are some I had on hand.

I got several requests for hats in the last month or so. If anyone is interested in one or more, let me know. I am charging $10 and all of the money goes to the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life.

These little cuties have been a last minute project. 

I saw the paper pieced patterns on Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville blog on Monday and decided to make some for my crafty friends at Tuesday Night Craft Night so on Tuesday I got 4 ornaments made (finished the last one minutes before I headed over). They turned out so nicely I made these yesterday after the lefse cooking party. They are 4" paper pieced blocks that I backed with a piece of flannel and bound, adding the ribbon while sewing the binding on. I am thinking it would be fun to make a bunch of these using  green for the background and then put them together for a Christmas Tree quilt. Maybe next year - yeah, right!

I finally got all the frogs made for the baby quilts so I have 5 quilts waiting for borders and four need quilting. That will be right after Christmas and then on to the girl baby quilt. All 5 of the babies I am making quilts for have been born and there are 4 boys and 1 girl. I have had the honor of holding two of them so far. Hope I get a chance someday to hold the other three!

As soon as those baby quilts are done I will get started on the drawing quilt for Relay for Life. The theme is "The Magic of Relay" so I am thinking a Harry Potter themed quilt. There are some great paper-piecing patterns out there.

I am going to get started on my post about the Christmas projects right away so I can post it as soon as the gifts are opened. 

Hope everyone has an Amazing Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or whatever holiday you celebrate!