Thursday, December 31, 2015

Looking Back at 2015

Here I am at the tail end of another year.  2015 was a pretty good one for me and my family.  We have all been reasonable healthy and happy, so you can't ask for much more!  I've done a lot of sewing and have managed to create some lovely new quilts and projects.  I never really made any goals last year, but maybe that is a good thing - I seem to have stayed busy and productive without them.

This is definitely my favorite finish for the year:

This was the quilt I made for my daughter and son-in-law for their 4 year late wedding gift.  They loved it, I loved it, so we were all very happy!

I still haven't quilted my Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt, but that is in my plans for the weekend.  When it is ready I'll put it right on my bed and enjoy it!  I'm participating in a UFO challenge again this year and have a list all ready to go.  Maybe I can get the last of those long term projects going and across the finish line?  We'll see!

Here's another project that I really enjoyed this year - being an ambassador for Island Batik!  I've enjoyed being part of this so much!  I'm really looking forward to our next blog hop in February and have some projects underway for that.  Here is a teaser:

Looking toward next year, I just hope I don't spend as much time (or money) at the dentist!  I definitely plan to spend more time working on new patterns.  I don't know what this new year will bring, but I hope to have plenty of fun times with my family, and do lots of quilting!  I plan on being as happy as I can be, and enjoying each day as it comes.

I hope your New Year is happy and healthy!

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Last Working Day of 2015

Today was my last day of working at the quilt shop of 2015, and I was kept hopping!  I finished up four more kits for this Beyond the Picket Fence wall hanging, which I found my pictures of on a spare memory card this week!




This was a fun project to make, and we have sold 7 kits of it so far, so a good sample really can sell a kit well.  The flowers and leaves are three dimensional and really add to the look of the quilt.

I also worked on finishing up our block design for Quilt Run 101.  I will sew it together tomorrow, so will post a finished picture of that when it is finished.

We did some cleaning up in the back room, and brought out some bolts we had been saving for projects that are now finished.  So they will either go back on the shelves, or into the sale area.

The funny story of the day is this:  We kept smelling a wonderful aroma coming from another part of our building.  Finally Sharan went next door to see what they were cooking, and got us invited to have lunch!  Yummy rolled tacos with chips, salsa and guacamole!  We enjoyed it greatly and were happy to not be shy today :)

After work my husband and I went to see the new Star Wars movie.  Very good, though the original trilogy will always be the best in our books.  We were also tickled to have a free popcorn and soda on the theater rewards card!  Can't beat two tickets, popcorn and soda for $15.50!  It was a good night all around.

I can't believe tomorrow is the last day of the year.  It sure seems like the days fly by lately.  Don't you just wish you could slow down time?  I sure do sometimes - maybe I could finish all the things I want to do in a day!

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

How to Surprise a Quilter for Christmas

My husband has pulled off many a surprise over the years we have been together, but this one tops them all!  He conspired with my fellow quilter, Candy to create a fabulous family picture quilt!  For the last couple of weeks he has been shooing me out of his computer room continually because he had it hiding behind the door and was afraid I would see it.  When he brought it down to me during our family gift opening I had tears in my eyes.  It is so beautiful, the pictures he chose for it are awesome and the quilting is so wonderful - it is the absolute perfect gift!

Here is a shot where you can see the beautiful quilting in this:
Candy quilted the phrase "family is forever" in one area:
This picture is from our wedding in 1980!
Another picture of our Christmas at Disneyland in 2000:

 I love the flowers she quilted in the yellow!  So fun!

This is the quilt from the back:

And the label:
Candy did such a beautiful job on the quilt.  She added a hanging sleeve so it was ready to go on my wall when I got it.  It hangs beautifully, so flat and even.  Candy also has an Etsy shop:  CandyKQuilts and she has a sale going right now for  10% off any item over $15. Use code: WINTERWIN good through Jan. 3rd in her shop!  I can totally vouch for the quality of her work, totally outstanding!

Thanks so much for the beautiful quilt, Candy, I will treasure it always!

Monday, December 28, 2015

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree

One of the fun things about getting together with our children is seeing the little things they say and do that remind us that they are our children, indeed!  Joellen posted on her blog this morning and from the title on I was hooked -  New Year Love is definitely from me.  I think if I had to pick a favorite holiday, New Year Day would absolutely be in the running!  I love the idea of starting with a clean slate, and empty calendar and 365 new days to fill with all kinds of fun things and projects.

If you go on to read her post, however, she talks about perfectionism, which she gets from both me and her father.  I know it affects how I do things differently, I tend more towards avoiding tasks that I doubt I can complete perfectly which leads to my battle with procrastination.  I definitely have discovered that this is where I tend to accumulate UFO's (UnFinished Objects).  Most of my projects that I haven't finished tend to have some sort of a problem, which is why they get set aside in the unfinished state!  During my 2014 UFO challenge, I had a really great time taking a dozen of those projects and facing their imperfections so they can at long last be quilts.  I think that really helped me to see that even though the project I am working on might not be exactly what I envisioned in the beginning, it is still worthwhile to take it through to completion.

Going back to planning, I am having fun with my present to myself this year - an awesome Quilter's Planner!

It has a lot of great features designed especially for quilters, so I think this will be a great tool to keep me on track this year!  If you would be interested in ordering one, they are available at the Fat Quarter shop.  I just downloaded a pattern to make a sweet cover for it, so hope to get started on that tomorrow.  Tonight I am thinking about what fabrics I want to use...such fun.

Luckily, whatever bug I had seems to have been fairly short lived.  I am getting a little bored of taking it easy and am looking forward to finishing up the rest of the week with some sewing, house cleaning and putting away the Christmas decorations.  Sad, but also fun to get started with the New Year!  What are your New Year plans?  We'll be staying in, probably will watch a good movie and eat some chips and dip - yum!

Sunday, December 27, 2015

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

We had a fabulous Christmas.  It was such a joy to gather all of our children around us and celebrate the birth of Christ!  It was hectic and crazy, but there were no huge breakdowns and a good time was had by all!

We had our large meal of turkey, ham and assorted side dishes buffet style for lunch on Christmas ever, followed by the fun of opening gifts!

It was totally crazy with 14 people in my living room opening presents, talking, laughing and having such a good time!  I think the gifts may have equaled the height of the tree if they were all stacked together!



We all were excited to see Tracy open her gift, which was a teaser for the barbell set we had all chipped in for!  It definitely made her Christmas!  Now, she will have to wait for it to arrive at her house :)

I had a great surprise gift as well!  My husband asked my friend Candy to make a family picture quilt for me! I will take some nice pictures and post more about that later.  Sorry, Candy for the picture - your smile is beautiful even if your eyes are closed :)  This was such a special gift.  You could have knocked me over with a feather when he brought it out for me!  
After that we went out to the church for the Christmas Eve Service.  My husband was asked to sing, so it was very special to all of us to see him on the worship team that night!  It was a lovely time to sit there with all of my girls and see my husband use his gift of song to bless us all.

On Christmas day we drove to the vacation home that the kids rented.  Such an awesome idea, we were able to all be together without the stress of all being crowded into one home!  This house was great for the group, with a large living room looking out onto the beach, a small dining room for the crossword puzzle fans, a small reading room for those that needed to get away from the hustle and bustle for a bit, and did I mention the view?  

We ate a delicious soup for lunch made by Joellen, spent the afternoon playing, then drove out to see the lights at Shore Acres.  Thankfully it was a good night for it, no rain!  It was quite cold out and afterwards I felt a little head-achy, but I figured it was just the cold and the busy day.  I took a couple of ibuprofen and continued on with helping prepare the evening meal of leftovers from the day before.  We all ate, and visited and played a bit more before my husband and I decided to head home as it was getting late and the temperature was nearly freezing.

I didn't sleep well all night, my throat was bothering me. I still thought it was just from being out in the cold and wasn't too concerned about it.  We went out to breakfast with Joellen, Catie, Mark A and the kids.  Naomi had to leave earlier because she needed to return her rental car, and Tracy, Mark C and Emelia also left before breakfast because they had a longer drive home.  We went to Cozy Kitchen and had a good time with the kids and ate a delicious breakfast.  We then said our good-byes and headed back home.  Our house seemed so quiet and empty!  We put on our PJ's and settled in for an afternoon of TV and I started catching up on my blog reading.  Around 3:00 I decided I needed to take a nap, so laid down.  When I got up, I felt achy all over and discovered I had a temperature of 101.5!   
So, I guess I get to spend a few days relaxing.  I might get out a jigsaw puzzle to work on, but I don't think I'll do any quilting until my head feels a little better!  Hopefully I didn't give any of my crud to the kids or grandkids.  Hopefully you are well, and stay well!  

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

On Being a Work At Home Mom

A little bit of deep thoughts today, when I should really be hustling and bustling...but sometimes you need to have a little down time in order to prepare yourself for the busy-ness!

This blog article popped up in my feed this morning:
   I really like reading Abby's blog.  She tackles a lot of touchy subjects, and always in a thoughtful way.  She states her opinion, not sugarcoating things, but also not in an offensive way either. I really enjoyed this post and it made me think about my journey as a mom and wage earner!

 I had the privilege of being able to stay at home while raising my children for the most part.  I did a short stint of working full time when my two oldest were small, but it only took a few months before my husband and I came to the conclusion that our family would be much happier and healthier if I were to stay home.  Three more daughters were born to make up our family and I am so glad we made that decision!

It worked out well for us for the most part.  I took on a series of jobs that allowed me to add to our income without sacrificing time with the kids, and they seem to have had a happy childhood!  I did day-care for a number of years, and while that was fulfilling in some ways, it was also draining.  After that I ran the church nursery for a few years, but I really didn't realize that I could use my passion as a way to earn an income until my oldest left home for college and I started sewing for other people.  This led to working at the local quilt shop, then to opening my Etsy shop, and finally to designing quilt patterns!

Although  am not nearly as organized and productive as Abby, I have learned to find my pace.  I find that it is hard to distinguish work time from other parts of my life as it all blends together - I think about projects while I am doing other household tasks and find inspiration in many parts of my day!  As my husband is retired and all the girls have left our home, there is no longer chaos in most of my days, so I find myself more relaxed and less pressured, which is wonderful!  Sometimes I have more things to do than time, but other times I can slow down and really appreciate how nice it is to be able to work at home.  I could choose to teach and travel if I wanted to, but I have decided not to follow that path for now.

I am enjoying watching my girls as they journey through their lives, finding their passions, and experimenting with different outlets.  They are all so unique in the way they live and I think each one of them are finding fulfillment in their lives and work.  I think we all struggle from time to time and wish our lives were different in some ways, but each one of my daughters is precious to me and I am glad we live in a world where women's work is valued - whether you are raising children, working in a lab, or getting an education.  I am excited that they have options in their lives - options that have not always been available for women in this world, like having their own bank account and being able to buy and sell property!  They can choose to send their children to public school, or teach them at home.  They can work at home, own their own business, or work for a company.

I look forward to seeing what their lives will look like in 20 years,  and I am happy I got to spend their childhood years with them close by my side.  I am glad I got to make a choice to be at home and I am grateful for a good public school system where they could learn.  I am glad they all still like to learn and grow and I hope that will always stay with them. I can't wait to spend a few days laughing and talking and catching up on their lives.

I think my favorite job title I will ever have is Mom!

Monday, December 21, 2015

Sewing up a Storm

Whew, I've been sewing up a storm today, and am officially done with my Christmas sewing!  I think it's actually a record for being done early as a matter of fact - no last minute up all night in the sewing room finishing up for me this year.  Yahoo!

I've got a big stack of cuteness ready for wrapping paper, ribbons and bows tomorrow.  My plan is to clean up the sewing room and keep the wrapped gifts there for a couple days to keep the cat from chewing them up.  He's such a little brat.  He thinks it is great fun to hide under the Christmas tree and jump out - Surprise!  This is is him a couple years ago:


And here is a cute one of him sitting on the corner of the bed.


I also got my sugar cookies baked and ready for frosting.  So I have plenty of projects for tomorrow...looking forward to the arrival of all of our family on Wednesday!   This is a fun and busy time of year, but the best part is being with our kids!

Saturday, December 19, 2015

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

The fun has begun!  I spent today working on Christmas gifts, I'm a bit behind due to my cold, but also a bit ahead of my usual schedule, so am pretty happy about that!  I had to search out my PJ pattern, plus the measurements, but it wasn't too bad of a task.  After that the process went right along while I watched Lassie (the 2006 movie).  I even cut out two pair for myself - one from the fabric I bought last year!  It's a cute brown print with teal and pink sewing machines.  I am wearing them right now...cozy!

After I got them all cut out, I made sugar cookie dough, cooked dinner and made a batch of fudge.  I'm going to try to make a treat or two a day - that should ensure an ample supply for our family get-together.  One of the cookies I plan to make is a bon bon cookie that I remember Mom making years ago!  They are filled with nuts, chocolate or maraschino cherries.  I am looking forward to making (and eating) those.

After dinner I sewed the PJ's together.  Tomorrow I'll do the waistbands and hems.  Then I have to work on the grandkid's.  I am not including pictures because I know some of the girls read my blog on occasion!

Here is a picture of a cute pin I got in the mail from Etsy this week - I collect pins, so this is a pretty neat gift for me!  Hope your weekend is going well as well - only 5 more days til Christmas!


No Rain!

Wow, we actually had a day of no rain, so we took advantage and took care of some grocery shopping!  I'm about set for a weekend of cookie baking and PJ pant sewing.  I also picked up some new curtains for my living room.  I decided that just buying some ready made panels and putting them up is going to be just fine, I don't really need custom made curtains in my living room at the moment.  It's so hard to pick out fabric and I would rather have boring curtains now than wait another 6 months or more until I can decide on fabric, then have to take the time to actually make them.  After all, if I find the perfect fabric I can go ahead and make them later.  Of course, the panels are too narrow, so I bought extra and am sewing them together to make wider panels.  I am halfway done, though, so will be enjoying fresh new curtains before the weekend is over!

I made a custom journal cover as a Christmas gift today for someone in the same town my husbands parents live in - small world!

That's all for now, it's late and time to turn in!

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Passing the Time

Not too much to report when you are trying to recuperate from a cold!  I managed to finish those sewing projects that needed to be done, the replacement fabric for the curtain panels came in so those are complete, as well as the valance that needed some of the width taken out and a pair of pillow covers that were needed at the last minute.  Other than that, I've been pretty much occupying the loveseat, drinking tea and catching up on my blog reading.

Amy Ellis had a great post today on sewing room efficiency.  I could use a little more of that sometimes!  You can read that post here.


The weather is pretty nasty outside and we are supposed to get another 5 inches of rain over the next few days.  I am looking forward to doing some Christmas baking, but may need to send my sweet husband out for some supplies!  I have the PJ's to work on as well, so as long as the power stays on I am good for a few days of keeping myself occupied.  It's a good time of the year to be indoors as much as possible!

Monday, December 14, 2015

Under the Weather

Yes, I definitely have a cold.  Hopefully it passes quickly...Christmas is coming!  I have a few jobs to finish up this week and some Santa stuff to work on, so I need some energy fast.  I managed a little sewing between naps today and have the lining prepared and three of the curtain panels sewn together.  I also did the ripping on the valance I need to adjust.  Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to do a bit more.  I know better than to push myself, though.  It is smarter to rest and recuperate than to push too hard and be sick for longer.  Plus I need to decide if I am going to need to reschedule my dentist appt on Thursday.

Here is a table runner I finished last week.  This is made from a Kiss, Kiss charm pack.  I have four more packs to make runners with as well.  It's a fun version of my Charming Heart pattern and I love the bright colors in this one!

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Sniffle, sniffle..

Uh-oh.  I think I may be getting a cold.  I've been sniffling and my throat is starting to get a bit sore.  I don't really want to be sick, so I hope I will wake up in the morning feeling fine!  But at least if I do have to be sick I got through last week first...not so much going on this week.

I did get all my red and gray units cut out for the mystery quilt today, and about half are sewn.  Tomorrow I am supposed to work on the curtain panels that I didn't get to work on last week.  More yardage is being sent to replace the flawed portion.  I am sure glad I did check the fabric before cutting!  I have the fabric cut, so plan on working on that tomorrow, sick or not.

Now it's time to go to bed and kick this sniffle - I hope!
Just for fun, here is a picture of the lap quilt I like to use this time of year.  I made this when I was a fairly beginner quilter.  A group of friends and I formed a small quilting group and took turns bringing a block to teach the others.  I made mine into a sampler.  It is hand quilted in a baptist fan pattern.  Such sweet memories of the fun I had getting together with these ladies and enjoying learning more quilting!  This was made in the early 90's - I didn't add a label at the time (bad form).  

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Movie Theater Popcorn

Wouldn't you think for what they charge at the movie theater for popcorn that you could expect at least a decent bag of popcorn?  When we went to go see In The Heart of the Sea today the cashier not only really tried to upsell us the huge Star Wars Plastic Bucket of popcorn, but acted pretty put out that we wouldn't even shell out the extra 25 cents for a large instead of medium.  Then, when we got in the theater and sat down we found that she seems to have scraped up all the small and semi burnt pieces at the bottom of the popper especially for us!  Honestly, I felt like taking it back to the counter for a refund, but I resisted.  I settled for sending them a message on their facebook page.  I mean, you take it for granted that movie theater popcorn is a rip-off, but I really felt taken advantage of after this bag!  At least the movie was worth it - we really enjoyed it.  I never realized that whale oil was actually used for in that time.  Excellent movie, but definitely not for the younger kids.

Rant over...it was a nice relaxed day today.  I remembered to take a couple pictures of our decorations!  The quilt above the mantle came from the book Calendar Quilts. One of my goals is to make all the quilt in this book.  I think I have four or five left.  Maybe in 2016!
Our tree is looking good!  So glad I bought a new stand for it - it's such a nice looking tree for being artificial.  We should get many more years of use out of it now.
This quilt is a round robin.  It gets a lot of compliments when I put it out.

And a picture of our Scamper.  He is such a funny cat.  I keep catching him looking at the Angel on top of the tree.  Hope he doesn't get any ideas!  This week he is sleeping in the recliner.  So funny the way he changes his favorite spots around every week.  Last week it was the back of the loveseat.

Not too much sewing today, but I finished the sewing for step one of the Allietare mystery and started cutting step two.  Maybe I can catch up this week if I work a bit at it!  I've got the curtain panels cut from the good fabric, and the company is sending fabric to make up for the flaw.  I'll get those done early this week and have the rest of the month fairly free!  Tomorrow I am devoting to Allietare and possibly starting to quilt the last year mystery as well.





Friday, December 11, 2015

I made it!

I survived hosting Bunco this morning!  Now I am good and tired, but my house is clean and decorated, and I can relax and enjoy the next couple weeks!  Now for a nice nap to recuperate!

Wednesday, December 09, 2015

Rainbow Swirls and Curvy Log Cabin

I suppose it was inevitable, but I missed my first day of the 31 day blogging challenge yesterday.  I started this post, but was just too tired to finish it last night!  After a 4 mile walk, grocery shopping and cleaning house, I guess I just needed the rest.   The weather has been less than delightful - lots of rain and wind, making it a challenge to get out and do anything or take pictures!

Here are the details for the Rainbow Swirls quilt top and another look at the finished top in what light I did have yesterday.

It probably took me a total of 15 hours to piece this top.  The pre-cutting probably took an hour or two.

The ruler for the 6 inch curvy log cabin ruler is available at your local quilt shop or here.  The pattern is a Cut Loose Press pattern.  They only cost around $4.00 and are also available from your local quilt shop, or here.  The pattern is printed on lightweight card stock and can be saved in a binder!  I have really liked the patterns I have tried in this format.

I am making good headway on my list for the week, but have a lot of work to do tomorrow to get ready for Bunco on Friday, so I will call it a night for now.



Monday, December 07, 2015

Neither Wind Nor Rain

shall keep us fanatics from our regular exercise routine!  Today the weather was far from delightful - sideways rain is never much fun.  We still went out to the track and did our regular laps.  It was very stormy, but I am glad we did it.  I always feel better when I keep up on my exercise routine, even if I really don't want to.

As I started to tackle my list today I ran into a problem.  The fabric for the curtain panels has a very obvious flaw and there is no way to cut around it.  So I had to leave a message about the problem and we will see where we go from there.  I had not cut into the fabric yet, so that is a good thing as it can still be returned if that is the choice.  That left me free to work on another item that didn't make it onto my list, but needs to be done this week.


This is a quilt made by a customer at the quilt shop. The long arm machine had to be sent in for repairs, so I've been quilting the smaller quilts at home so they will be done for Christmas.  This one was 62 x 80.  It is actually a two sided quilt, so there quite a few seams on the back as well.  I'm glad I was able to finish it today, so it can be delivered this week.

I didn't get all the squares for the Allietare mystery done, but I did get another 60 finished and 20 cut out and ready to sew.
 I like to press them with a spritz of Best Press so they lay nice and flat!
60 finished triangles.  I am using some white and some off white.  I hope it works out all right!

I also got the Christmas tree up, so I can decorate it tomorrow.  Now I need to figure out what I need to buy for the lunch menu so I can add everything to my grocery list.  I'm happy with my progress for the day - hopefully I can make more tomorrow!

Sunday, December 06, 2015

Rainbow Swirls Top Finished!

Despite part of my afternoon being hijacked by an errand that went badly, I got the Rainbow Swirls top finished today!  I won't go into detail on the errand other than to remind you that you can't have reprints of photographs made at Wal-Mart unless you have taken them yourselves.  We ran into some copyright problems, and I totally understand, but my poor husband has to rework his project a bit to make it acceptable.

I was glad to retreat to my sewing room and work on sewing 64 blocks together into a quilt top.  Other than a little fussing to keep the colors random enough to suit me, this top went together like a dream.  First you sew them all in sets of 4 like this with the outer curve at the top and the inner curve at the bottom -

Then you sew those together into 4 sets of those units.  You can see the swirl now!

Then sew those four units together to make the center of the top

And you add the borders to finish it up!  Easy as pie!

After that I started working on sewing together the units from step 1 for this years Bonnie Hunter Mystery, Allietare.  I got 59 triangles done, and hope to finish step one tomorrow so I can get busy on step 2!  This coming week is a bit busy.  I have 4 curtain panels to make, 3 pair of pants to hem, 1 valance to adjust the width on, and an appointment to alter some blazers.  Not to mention that I have a Bunco party at my house on Friday and need to clean and decorate the house, shop for gifts and prepare lunch for 12 on Friday.  Oh well, life would be boring if it wasn't busy, right?


Saturday, December 05, 2015

Happy Birthday Party for Jesus!

Whew - today was the Ladies Christmas Lunch - we had the theme of Happy Birthday, Jesus.  It was a lovely event.  Our attendance was down, but it was fun and we had tons of good food.  I am going to have to be very good about my eating after two potlucks in one week!

This is our Women's Ministry Team.  We have a great time putting on these events for the ladies in our church (Hauser Community Church)  The pretty lady in the white blouse in the center in my dear friend, Brenda.  She's had a rough few months and just finished her last Chemo treatment.  I hope she gets to feeling better really soon, and it lasts a good long time.  She has a small cell lymphoma and has been through a lot, but always has a smile on her face and time to chat and encourage the people around her!  All of these ladies are special to me and I enjoy serving with them!

Notice the presents on the table?  That was the cake!  It was just as delicious as it was beautiful, too!

 We decorated with lots of balloons in red, green, white, and silver.
 Cindy painted crowns from Burger King for our centerpieces!  Gorgeous!
There were fun glasses on the table that made the tree lights look like reindeer.  We had lots of door prizes and a group of children came in to sing and play their instruments for us.  I was gone till mid afternoon after cleaning up and putting things away.
When I got home I spent some time watching the birdies outside with Scamper - there were several kinds out in the backyard!  I guess they were enjoying a respite from the rainy weather we've had the last few days.  After that I went into my sewing room and finished up my curvy log cabin blocks.  I'll be putting that top together tomorrow!  Yay!

This evening I've been working on upgrading my husbands laptop to Windows 10.  I did mine last week and am happy with it, so decided to do his as well.  My poor mom and dad have have terrible trouble after their upgrade, so I hope his goes all right as well!

Friday, December 04, 2015

Microwave bowls, Compassion and Decorating

Super busy day today!  I got up this morning and got to work getting four microwave bowl holders made to give as door prizes at the Christmas Lunch our Church Ladies put on every year.  I found some cute Christmas fabric and got those started before making breakfast, then finished them up after.  I searched out a couple boxes to put them in and just have to wrap them up now.  They came out really cute, I used one fabric for each side so they can be reversible.



Then it was time for us to go help out at the Compassion Experience that our church is hosting this weekend.  It was a pretty neat event - we walked through it while we weren't busy and got to see how being sponsored changed two different children's lives.  It's really sobering to realize how many children (and adults) live in poverty in many countries.  We really live in abundance here in the United States, and though my husband and I are by no means rich, we have so much more than these families do.

After that I spent a few more hours decorating and preparing for the Ladies Lunch tomorrow.  I'm keeping it short tonight because I still have to make deviled eggs to take, and wrap my bowls.  Oh - if you haven't made any of these yet, you need to!  Here is the tutorial I used.  Super easy and fast.  They make great gifts, and you'll need one too.  Perfect for those hot bowls of soup.  Just don't microwave them for longer than a couple minutes...safety first!

Tomorrow is the Lunch, then sewing time!  Looking forward to some stitching to relax me after a busy couple of days.  (Guess I should start my Christmas decorating, too.  But definitely need to do some sewing!)


Thursday, December 03, 2015

Christmas Party

Tonight was the Coos Sand 'N Sea Quilters annual Christmas party!  It was a lot of fun - first we had a delicious pot-luck dinner with the guild providing turkey and ham.  I brought home-made rolls.  There were so many yummy dishes!  I love a pot-luck because you can have a taste of lots of different things.

After that we had a member lead us in singing some Christmas songs.  We sang Silent Night in Spanish and she told us a little about celebrating Christmas as a child in Chile.  Then we had our usual gift exchange.  We make a large circle, and as a funny story is read we pass our gifts around the circle.  With this story we passed the gift to the right or left each time the respective word is mentioned.  We are supposed to do two fat quarters, but some people add other goodies.  I received a whole yard of a lovely floral, right up my alley!  Plus a bag of hershey kisses and a small container of holiday coffee.  Yummy!

We always do show and tell at the end.  I showed the angel wall hanging I finished this weekend and a valentine table runner I made out of these fabrics.  I used my Charming Heart pattern - hope to get the finished runner in my Etsy shop as soon as I can get some good pictures of it.

I finished a few more of the blocks for my next shop sample.  I only have 5 more to do and I can start putting the top together!

I really like working with the Curvy Log Cabin tool.  Great ruler from Creative Grids, love the non slip areas on the back, they really keep the ruler from moving when you are trimming around it.  Wait till you see how these blocks go together - I know it's going to be great!  

Tomorrow is a busy day, probably no sewing, but I really want to get the rest of these blocks done.  We'll see.  For now it's off to bed and get some rest!