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???