quilts to wrap up

the end of the year...

The end of the year?  Already? 
Time sure does fly when you are having fun,
and I HAVE been having fun!

We have a blizzard blowing in today, so it's a Snow/Sew Day for me
(but I wanted to share some finishes before I settle down to stitching!).

Here are some pics of quilts/meandering to wrap up the end of the year:

12 of the 20 Pot Holder or Hot Pad blocks

that I Sashiko quilted:

The four gals at the LQS and I did a Hot Pad Block Swap...

we each chose fabrics and made five of the same block,

then swapped with each other
so we each have five blocks -
four for a 30" x 30" table topper

 and a smaller, single, hot pad sized topper.
(mine aren't quilted yet, but maybe this weekend :)

 

Janet's quilts for TWINS!!!:

 Aren't they cute?

You can tell by the lighting in the pics

that I finished one during daylight hours and one after dark :). 

And, oops, sorry, both are pictured upside-down!

It was a close finish on my part

so she could gift them at Christmas,

but they got done!! 

If you recall from a post of mine a couple of weeks ago,

I quilted another of this same quilt for her third nephew.  Lucky boys!

 

Next on the finish list:  Louise's!

(sorry, the pic has sunlight coming through,
making the back look textured)

 

 



She always does something cool for the back using focus fabrics and scraps.  I think this was a gift for her sister.  Another great finish for Louise.

Last up: Chris's "Butterflies" for her granddaughter:

Chris did some embroidery on this top before she put borders on. 

She did a great job, but I neglected to get a close up of the embroidery work :(

She asked me to not only quilt this,

 but also finish it for her, so I got to do some binding one night:)

 

So, back to work!  I still have one more quilt that I'm working on...

then I can get mine wrapped up!

The day before the day

The day before THE day...

There is decor:

There is snow:

There was a Jack-in-the-box:

Nevaeh-in-the-box, too!

Tree up, and gifts wrapped:

It's a wonderful life!! 

Thanks so much for being my friends

and for all that you add to my life.

I wish each of you a very Merry Christmas and

may your holiday be bright and beautiful,

  on this day before the day!!!

done/finished :)

Holy mackerel, Bat Man!

Was today really the 22nd of December???!!!

Just like all of you,
I've too many things left to do and the days are flying by!

ON THE DONE LIST:
*Tree - family excursion to choose not only the prettiest, but the "best smelling" one too...(I like the Canaan Firs 'cause they smell orange-y) Anyway, it's a family joke that I like to go smell all the trees in the field to choose one.  As of this a.m., it's decorated/done.
*Picked up daughter from airport
right before the weather closed it down Thursday p.m.
*The storm that blew across the U.S. earlier in the week hit here Friday leaving treacherous driving with 6 inches of snow and heavy winds all day - cleaned snow from porches and walkways multiple times between wrapping and cleaning.
*BONUS - got to play in the snow a little today:


Our front porch rail

*Family party here today/Saturday with 30ish for dinner -and it went very smoothly.
*Baby quilt: ready to meander, wrap and gift Sunday afternoon.
*Sweeties' family party Sunday, thankfully not here, but 50ish after church -prepped.
*Monday a.m. - quilt finishing: one left to Sashiko: prepped.
*Monday evening - multi-course dinner here (under 10 folks this year I think) groceries in.
*Tuesday - breakfast will be prepped the day or so before.
*Tuesday - lunch - hopefully mostly left-overs.
*Tuesday p.m. - daughter back to airport -about the same time as the next storm is expected to blow in.

Soooo,
My decorating?  Done.
Baking?  Minimal, but done.
Shopping and wrapping?  Done.
This past week I have also:
Made cookies with grand daughter.
Made cakeballs with 3 nieces and one of their friends.


part of the 200 snowmen, reindeer
and random other cakeballs we made

Cleaned most of the house - hit the most important parts anyway.
So, notice that I have been saying DONE.

Done is when you are out of time and

you call it FINISHED!!

What a wonderful time of year!
Don't you love it?

12-12-12

December 12, 2012 -

Doesn't that sound like a great day?

Well, it is for my brother- for it's his birthday!!!

I kept telling him he needs to do something fantastic for today! 

as it won't happen again for another century. 

This was also a great year for one of my nieces -

her birthday was October 11, and she turned 13!

That's 10-11-12-13.  Too cool, huh?

I'm going to have to do something special for them
when we all gather for Christmas, aren't I?
Any ideas??

Besides working the local shop hop/vendors mall

this past Friday and Saturday (fun, fun, fun),

I have done a little meandering:

The two pot holder quilts, in the first picture below, I quilted on my Sashiko,
for the shop and the Shop Hop/show,
but the great thing? 
Five of us at the shop each made a block for the shop quilt
 AND
we each made one for one another -
so BONUS!!! 
all five of us have a little quilt and table topper!!! 
Isn't that sweet?
 

Potholder Christmas -

bright: above, on wall;

vintage: below on dry sink



I also have quilted Peg's t-shirt quilt

and need to get this to her. 

Peg's "Turtle Patrol" t-shirt quilt

That's all for now, but,

 I will wish you this -

Happy 12-12-12!!!

'cause I won't be able to tell you this

again for another hundred years!!!

Hope it's a great day for you!!

quilt, quilt, quilt

Got a bug this past week - yuk!
(thank you Sweetie)
I think it's trying to live in my head :)
My head still thinks it's a barometer,
and sounds like the rain is here to stay for the next week,
so the combination of head bug and rain front is not a good combo...
Definitely slowed down the quilting process.

I did do a couple of quilts and
got them delivered BEFORE I was a sick-y,
so here are the pics...
quilt pics!

Joell's

 Joell's also!

 Aren't they both GREAT!!!?  Both were large quilts and beautifully done.  She's so great & so prolific!
Next up, Janet!
She's great, too - this is the first of three quilts that she gave me to quilt- she has three nephews and they are getting some really cute gifts this year.  I have one quilted and back to her.  I'm sure she's already finished with the binding and awaiting the final two:) back from me!

 I quilted circles in the marble-d areas.  I love this quilt!  So fun!

OK, off to bed for me.
I've heard that sleep is good for head-bugs :)!

quilts & back-pattin'

meandering away on customer quilts,

so not much to share picture-wise...

Just this little girly quilt I made...

I have another great-niece!

I used a Buggy Barn 'crazy' pattern.
If you are familiar with their methodology,
then you'll understand that I used 3 stacks of four fabrics.
That made me end up with twelve blocks -
the perfect size for a baby girl!!!
(I used mostly the line of fabrics:  Garden Gate Plaids by Renee Nanneman/Andover)

By the way - she's only four months old and I've already finished and gifted her her quilt!
That's good for me!! :) I'm going to pat myself on the back a little...

It's rainy and overcast here today...
not a good finished-quilt-picture-taking day,
so I'll save those for tomorrow.

Back to meandering for me.
Hope your day is going well and your week is FAN-tas-tic!!!

reving up & a couple of handfuls

Welcome December!!

Can hardly believe it - December already!
Where has this year gone?

First off, Happy Birthday to my daughter!  
Those memories of the first of December thirty-two years ago are great ones;
as are the memories in the years since!  Love you!

Secondly, now that Thanksgiving is over, 
and daughter (even though she's grown and lives out of state) 
has had her December 1st birthday,
I'm allowed  :) to start playing Christmas music,
pull out the Christmas decor and strings of lights!!!  
(her rules from waaay back - old habits are hard to curb:)

I've put away the Autumn dishware and inside decor,

moved out all of the squash/pumpkin displays from the porches,


pumpkins from my crop



pumpkin and squash from my brothers' crop

  and did a quick clean-up of the living areas of the house.  
SO, it's time to get going!!
It's always fun to get out the boxes of memories -
ornaments and decor - and reminisce.
Just like everyone else, I have much to do...
cleaning, shopping, baking, and the aforementioned decorating.  

I also have a couple of handfuls of customer quilts
(yes that's ten!, but couple of handfuls sounds better:)
to get done and back to them...
I hope to have them all finished by the weekend of the 10th.
That will give me time to rev up to full speed for my Christmas.
Are you getting up to speed for Christmas???

stuffing after Thanksgiving

I'm talking cotton,
not too many turkey dinners!,

though "cotton" could be an euphemism for over-eating too :)
Even if I did have THREE Thanksgiving dinners last week,
I'm still not talking about me and my stuffing...

I'm talking cotton stuffing because
I love little pin cushions.
Holding them,
collecting them, 
Making and stuffing them.
And I'm sold on this stuffing:

What's your favorite?

I'm back to cotton-stuffing some little pin cushions,
not me and my face:)

what's slower than molasses

on a cold Thanksgiving week?
ME!

(And HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! - more on that later :) )
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving week!
  I had a great holiday -
Fun, laughs, lots of family - and too much food for sure! 
With full turkey dinners on Thursday, Saturday, AND Sunday,
you know what that spells:  o-v-e-r-e-a-t-in-g :)
And that just slows me down.

BUT,
that's not the "slower than molasses" part.

I'm talkin' 

what's slower than slow molasses?

ME - I'm so bad - and I admit it.
I had a give-away in February,
for my birthday.
And, because I'm slow,
I had the gifts ready to mail
in, say May.
So right there - already a quarter of the year late.
And I feel bad.  But, you know, life happens...
I'm busy and I need to learn to say no, or something...
anyway, no excuses, but I need to work on this.

I put the birthday give-away

gift boxes into this nice, red market bag,

put the red market bag into the back of my car,

ready to go to the post office.

And, WaLa! 
Done.
Finished.
Checked off my (mental) list!

 Totally forgotten - 

an out-of-sight,

out-of-mind kind of thing.

Do you remember that I shared that 

we had a home break-in

(while we were sleeping)?

If you don't, here's the edited version:

Early June.
A young man broke in, rummaged around,
ate some cookies from the pantry, and used the
half-bath facilities by the garage.
(ask me how I know that last part - yuck)
Took cash and phone.
Then he stole my car.

Evidently, he had been on a whole night roll,
breaking and entering, 
stealing, and being "just missed" by
the three different county's officials
that were following said intruder.

Our local township police force
(thankfully) saw a suspicious looking male-
disheveled, sweaty and tattered,
driving a late model vehicle (mine) at 5 a.m.,
and pulled him over.
He led them on a high speed chase,
yes, HIGH SPEED chase in my car,
video-d by police-car dash-cam,
through the local hills and dales of rural, central Ohio.
Finally,
he crashed my car,
ran through the back of three connecting neighborhoods,
and hid.
This is where they impounded my crashed car as evidence.

I got my car back from impound in a couple of days(then sent it to the repair shop), 
but had to wait for the "Stuff" in the car
that may have been something he "imprinted"
that could be used for evidence.  
I got the bag of evidence returned in October.  
And completely ignored it
for weeks...
until right before Thanksgiving.

Sorry, that was a long interlude to the

MOLASSES part of the story...

(aren't you glad it was the edited version? :)

So this past week, before Thanksgiving company arrived, I was going through all the accumulation around the house, including the Red Market bag.  There were a few things in it- a couple of  newspaper adds, coupons, gas receipts, a pair of sunglasses, a container of hand wipes...you know the junk that can accumulate in your car...well, the police had kept it all for me.
Here's the good part:
remember those checked off the list - birthday winner's packages

that were in the red market bag?
They got to go on that crime-spree-joy-ride!!!

My Birthday Winners giveaway packages!!!

Still in the red market bag...

that I had "Checked Off my List"

of things DONE, COMPLETE, FINISHED!!!

But, really forgotten...

Only one box was opened - and nothing damaged or stolen.
Just the boxes
a little worse for the wear crime-spree-joy-ride
and being impounded!!

So, ladies...

I, slower than molasses on a cold Thanksgiving week,

have taken your February prize winnings to the US post office!

 Today!!

So, only nine months late -

Happy Birthday!!!

(Also, Happy Independence Day,

Happy Thanksgiving,

Happy ALL the Holidays

I missed between February and now!!)

and so, so sorry!

From now on,
I'm going to try to work closer to the wood-burner -
it might warm up this molasses!
(and I promise to myself to work on the out-of-sight, out-of-mind thing)

Happy Monday!!!

mis-placed, not lost :)

At work early last week

I had used my camera &

I thought I had put it into my project bag

that was in the

big blue & white duffel bag.

Later when I looked for it, 
my camera wasn't there in my project bag.
And I was bummed...
I looked and looked for it. 
To no avail. 
(I even looked around work/parking lot a few days later when I worked again.)

So I packed for the retreat,
sad that I wouldn't have a camera.
I packed some of my many UFOs
and the above mentioned hand-stitching project bag.
I gathered all this STUFF and put it into my
big blue and white duffel bag, and
shoved it into the car
along with the sewing machine and clothing suitcase. 

Then a few days into the retreat last week,

I was digging around in my

big blue and white duffel bag

and guess what I found at the bottom???!!!

My CAMERA!!

I'm no longer bummed!  :)

I didn't have it early in the retreat to take pics around town, but

I was able to have it for show and tell! YAY.

Here's a pic of some of the 100 gals "retreating":

Anyway, Luann (who has a blog) was there (with her camera:)
and she has early-in-the-week Shipshewana pics.
Jump over there and check out her pics...
And tell her I said HI!
Luann @ loose threads

Thank you,

big blue duffel bag

for holding my camera for me!

RETREAT: old & new friends, & quilts

Dear Jane/Shipshewana

RETREAT!!

Yep, last week I got to go to

THE Dear Jane Retreat!!!!

in the Amish town of Shipshewana, Indiana!

SOOOO much fun!

So little sleep :)

old and new friends

 Above: Michigan folks, Ohio folks, and Minnesota folks

at my table.

Fun shoes:

old quilts:

New quilts!:

It was amazing seeing all the great quilt works!! 
I'm off to work on Thanksgiving day food prep -
more later,
Happy Monday!

Happy Wednesday!

bummer - lost mis-placed my camera:(

bonus - get to retreat this weekend!! :)

Another smile: I have a few pics
(saved to the SLOW desktop) to share...
Just some little table toppers:

but I think that they're cute!
All in reds and greens and quick to make up!

Happy Wednesday!
And thanks for stopping by.

ps I'm still having those dratted computer issues, so I'm having trouble replying to comments - please forgive me.

Pumpkin Pie Cake and Bonfire

Crumb-topped Pumpkin Pie Cake

As we all know, the weather across the country

during the past few weeks has been,

to say the least - bad.

And that includes the Halloween/beggars night time period.

BUT,

this past weekend was beautiful here in central Ohio.

So, last hour (really two days ahead of time),

after I saw the weather forecast, 

I sent out e-invites

for the Annual Chili Cook-Off and bonfire

that I usually host on beggars night.

 
And we had a great turn-out!

Not as many chili entries

(that's what happens when I don't plan ahead :)

but what was here was Tast - y!!!

Yum, yum!!!

The "blind" taste test was close,
but the "Turkey Chili - medium hot",
was the winner!!!

I have to say, to my taste buds, 
the "medium hot" was a 
little under-rated in the heat department...
To my thinking, medium hot shouldn't make your nose run!!
But it sure was good!

I think the pot was licked clean!

No, it was NOT me licking the crock pot!!

  Anyway,

I had a request for a recipe that I thought I had posted before,

but I couldn't find it, 
and it definitely is an Autumn dish,
so...

Collin - this is for you!

Crumb-topped Pumpkin Pie Cake 

Crust:
1 yellow cake mix - dry (reserve 1 cup of dry mix for topping)
1/2 cup melted butter
1 egg
Mix those three and pat into 9 x 13 greased pan
Filling:
16 oz. canned pumpkin
3 eggs
2/3 c. evaporated milk
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ginger
Mix the above ingredients and pour over crust.

Topping:

1 cup reserved dry cake mix

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup soft butter

Cut soft butter in with dry ingredients until crumbly, then stir in:

1 cup chopped pecans

Sprinkle topping over filling and bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour and 5 to 10 minutes.  Cool and serve with whipping cream.  Refrigerate leftovers.

A beautiful and clear November night, a crackling bonfire,

great food, and some Pumpkin Pie Cake...

that's what I call the a WONDERFUL night!!