Christmas is coming...

The Santas are waiting...



The stockings are hung...or at least it says they are!

No, they really are!

The snowman is waiting for the first flakes of winter...

What is it about Christmas decorations that puts me in such a good mood? Maybe I should keep them up all year long!

Wednesday Evening

Progress is being made....




In spite of some serious distractions...

Stash Report Sunday

I realized the picture that I posted last night was of the quilt top, not the finished quilt! The backing that you see here is gone from my stash...

I've also pulled my pile of flannels and cut most of it into 2.5" strips to make Bonnie's Strip Twist as a Christmas gift. I'm working on that one tonight and hope to have the top done by the end of the week.
Once finished that will be a nice bit of flannel out of my stash. I don't plan to keep track of yardage as some others are, I'll just be happy with a little more shelf space!

The house is as festive as it's getting, I spent most of the day putting out the Christmas decorations. The tree is up and lit, but has no ornaments. That will happen when I get tired of looking at it with just lights. I've come to the conclusion that I should have made some tablerunners for myself this year...I only have one that my mother made for me many years ago and it's a little worn around the edges. Maybe that should be my next project...

Thanksgiving Weekend

Yesterday we headed off to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where we had two tickets to the Renoir exhibit. My older daughter, who is in French IV and loves the French Impressionists wanted to see the exhibit. I sent my husband in with her, as he was interested in seeing the exhibit, while I prefer artwork by the old Italian guys.



My younger daughter and I went of to investigate the Middle Ages and religious art...
I'm always amazed when I go that they have entire buildings and architectural elements inside the galleries....

Right down to the beautiful stained glass windows....
After a jaunt through the Asian Art, then the Contemporary Art (which,like Contemporary Quilts, I just don't get!) we headed down to the old Philadelphia Waterworks.We had a beautiful view of Boathouse Row....
After the museum, we met our son at Dave and Busters for lunch and a little game playing, then headed home a did a little bit of Christmas Shopping at some fun stores.

And just to make this post a little quilty, I finished this quilt which I found in my closet. The backing came from the stash...it's the last of an old Jinny Beyer backing fabric which I bought about 12 years ago, so I'm delighted to have it GONE!!!



The stashbusting continues...

Happy Thanksgiving

Blessings to you and yours, on Thanksgiving Day and always!

Seamen's Institute

This year our church Caps and Laps program is knitting scarves and hats for the Seamen's Institute in New York City. Last night I finished the hat and scarf set that I'm contributing to our group's efforts. They were very tedious to knit, but I love how they turned out...I hope they help keep a mariner warm this winter! Now back to knitting socks...and busting stash!

Stash Reduction

I'm ready to reduce my stash! I don't have a large one, but I am getting tired of what's in it and would like to use it up! I already started by making the Christmas table runner that I sold in my Etsy store. I have plans for what's next...stay tuned! Thanks, Judy, for getting me motivated!

Tuesday Evening

I'm just catching up from the busy weekend, which included several highlights...my daughter's Confirmation and my son's 20th birthday.

Grace with Bishop Councell

Happy Birthday Andrew! (with his girlfriend)

The highlight of the weekend for me? After Confirmation practice on Saturday, we stopped for dinner at a local pub. We were ordering drinks and when I asked for a beer, the waitress looked at me and said, "Do you have ID?" Shocked, I said to her, "Are you serious? I'm 46 years old and you just made my day! If you don't believe me, I'd be happy to have a glass of water instead!" She brought me my beer and has made me smile for days!

Why I don't do yard work...

It was a beautiful but chilly day, a perfect day to try to clean up the yard. I pulled out the newer leaf blower which we bought last year. I was happily blowing leaves into piles when the Stanley Steemer truck pulled up. I took a break while my carpets were being cleaned, then headed back outside to get to work.

After a minute or so of blowing leaves, the motor made a funny noise. Next thing I knew, flames were shooting out of the back of the leaf blower! I pulled the cord out and blew out the flames...

But I didn't throw the whole thing to the ground...good thing with that nice pile of dry leaves I'd just made sitting at my feet!


So I went into my sewing room and played with fabric...



And made a new little bag for my daughter's friend.

A Quiet Evening!

Somehow I managed to have no daughters at home tonight...the older one is working and the younger is babysitting at a church event with her friend. A perfect night for comfort food...yes, I had mashed potatoes and gravy for dinner! And if there had been a chocolate chip cookie in the house it would not have been safe, but sadly, there wasn't one. I guess some baking is in order!

In an effort to take advantage of the time, I headed to the computer and listed the above two items in my Etsy store. Now I'm going to change into my comfy flannel pants, turn on the fireplace (I love my gas fireplace!), sit by the fire and knit. But first I'll run the vacuum so the carpets don't have stray threads and leaves on them when Stanley Steemer shows up tomorrow to suck the filth out of them!

Sunday Evening...

It's been a busy weekend here in south Jersey. The leaves are finally changing and jumping off the trees at an alarming rate! I'll be doing some raking this week, as well as cleaning and cooking to prepare for my daughter's Confirmation on Sunday.

A little bit of quilting has happened here. I made this adorable little snowman potholder this week. It was nice to make a project start to finish! Haven't done that for awhile. I finished the quilting on my sampler quilt, just used my Baptist Fans template on it...I really just wanted it done! Binding on that and my applique quilt are in the works. And going very slowly.

I just cleaned up my sewing room, so hope to spend some time in here this week, when I'm not behind the vacuum or in the kitchen!

Halloween!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Halloween! It will be a quiet one here in our house. Both of my girls are home from school sick, so there will be no trick or treating for us. I'll enjoy the Halloween Parade and party at school, then hand out the goodies to the kids when I come home. It's a beautiful fall day and perfect weather for the little ghosts and goblins! Enjoy!

Brilliant!

We're babysitting our son's dog this weekend while he's in NYC for an advertising conference. I locked Max into the laundry room so he could eat his dinner without being bothered by our dog, Sam. I guess when he finished, he decided he needed a cosy place to relax...but the litter box??? Not such a smart boy...the next place he visited was the bathtub!

I'm working on a few quilty things and knitty things this weekend...hopefully I'll have a finish to post next week!

Polka Dots!

I came home from the quilt show and made this little bag. It's a QuiltSmart pattern called the Smart Bag. It's too cute...I can see some changes I'll make in the pattern the next time I make it, but it was so easy!

Sunday Afternoon

Just a quick hello...I don't have any pictures to share, in spite of the fact I went to a wedding and a quilt show this weekend! It's been fun...the son of friends was married on Friday night in a beautiful ceremony. The groom is in the Marines and was told to report for training with no leave...the wedding almost didn't happen! But, the Marines kindly gave him the weekend off so he could get married, the honeymoon is on hold.

Today a local guild had their show. To my surprise, a large number of quilts were hand quilted! It was nice to see as the last few shows I'd been to, very few entries were hand quilted. I did run into a friend who owns a local shop...The Village Quilter. She's just taken the store online, and started a blog, so stop by and say hi...tell her I sent you!

I'm off to the sewing room...

I hate shopping...

Shopping has to be one of my least favorite things to do. Admittedly, shopping for yarn and fabric is fun, but for clothes? That's the worst! Last Friday morning, I decided to empty my drawers and closet and get rid of everything that didn't fit. I was brutal...when I finished, most of my drawers were empty and except for a few pairs of capris I bought over the summer and a pair of pants I bought 2 weeks ago, it was all packed into bags in the garage for DH to take to Goodwill this week. Back in April, I started going to Weight Watchers and I've lost over 20 pounds. I've gone from a size 12 to a 6 and from XL to M. I held onto a few big sweaters that I can wear over jeans. So, since I'm starting back to work next Monday, I NEED CLOTHES!

I have been all over South Jersey shopping and have only managed to come up with a few pairs of pants and 3 sweaters. Maybe it's me, but I really don't like the clothes that are out right now. Really, do we need to wear high waisted tops that make us look pregnant? Very cute on the younger, skinny girls, but I've been there and done that and don't want to look pregnant ever again! So, I'll be wearing my new, smaller pants and my big baggy sweaters for awhile! I don't want to invest too much because I intend to lose another 10 to 20 pounds.

Maybe I should knit a sweater? I finished the socks shown above on Saturday night. Within minutes of coming off the needles and having the ends woven in, my 13 yo daughter had snagged them and put them on her feet. Apparently she likes them. Yes, those are her feet in my new socks! I think I'll let her keep them. :o)

Still Challenged...

And this is what happens when you use the "baby blocks" setting!

Challenge

I played around a little, it's amazing what a difference color makes! Since I don't plan on making it, I chose some more challenging borders. This was fun to do and I'm sure I'll play again when I have a chance! Thanks Judy!

Top Finished

This quilt was a bear to wrestle through the machine while putting on the borders, it's quite big! The quilt top is on my queen size bed and I have plenty of room on the sides for it to hang over and even can do a pillow tuck!

I had planned to use all the leftovers for the back, but it's not nearly enough. I'll save that for the binding and maybe some pillowcases. I have a bolt of light purple fabric that I've wanted to use up...I'm thinking it would be fun to have on the back. What do you think???

Southern Summer of Socks

Yes, I know that I'm heading into winter, not summer, but this seemed like too much fun to pass up! I've joined a Knit Along called the Southern Summer of Socks. I have a pair of socks that I started back in January and didn't touch again, until I found this knit along. Now I've finished the first sock and I'm knitting the heel flap on the second! My personal goals for this are:

1. Make a pair of socks with each of the 3 skeins of sock yarn I bought last November. I bought 6 all together and I'm almost done my 3rd pair.

2. Knit socks in a different pattern that the 3 pairs I've knitted! I started with an online tutorial and have made all of my socks the same. I like plain socks but don't want to make another boring pair!

3. Learn to make toe up socks.

In other news, I had my follow up at the doctor and everything is fine, so I can return to all the things I used to do...cleaning, grocery shopping, gardening...guess my vacation is over! :o) My doctor suggested that I try a low dose estrogen pill to see if it will take the edge off the menopause symptoms. She said it was my decision whether to stay on it or not, but I should at least give it a try. So I will. Next week...

Sneak Peek...

I've got half of the center of the sampler quilt together...here's a preview!

A Very Mary treat...

Yesterday the most delightful prize package arrived in my mailbox! I'd been visiting "A Very Mary Design" and had entered a contest on her blog. Mary Ann is a very talented lady, you should check her out! She had a drawing and I was the lucky winner...she sent me a variety of treasures. I love them all, but my favorite has to be the paisley letter C...I'll have to find a great way to display it in my sewing room!

I'm putting together the sampler quilt, I can't wait to how it looks! Hopefully pictures of that in the next day or two.

I have a question for you...I'm seeing the doctor this coming week and have to make a decision on whether to go on Hormone Replacement Therapy. For those of you who have been through this, is there anything specific I should know? I've done a lot of research and although I was leaning toward trying not to take it, I'm reading that it may be beneficial to me to go on it. Any insight, thoughts or comments would be appreciated!

Warning: Actual Longarm Quilting Content!

The time has arrived and I stepped back to the machine today...it felt so good! This quilt has some serious issues which need to be worked out with the quilting. The piecer wasn't a beginner when she pieced this, but she had never made a quilt that was this challenging. She also taught herself applique with it. She had trimmed all of the quilt blocks when she realized that she trimmed them all to the finished size! So she added a narrow black border around each one.
None of the blocks seemed to fit in the way they should have. There is a lot of fudging on this quilt! While quilting the diagonal lines, I noticed that there are a lot of intersections that don't quite match up. She originally planned to hand quilt this, but decided her hand quilting skills weren't quite up to it.
It's not the most technically sound quilt that she has made...and she's made many since. But it is the one she's most proud of and I'm glad that I'm finally going to be able to finish it off for her...because she's me!

Glorious Weekend!!!

The weather was beautiful which made a trip to the Jersey shore a delight...

Atlantic City was off in the distance...

A day spent with friends around the bonfire...making s'mores!

Time spent with my daughter and her best friend...

Roses in their final blooms to greet us at home...

And the Phillies won the National League East!!!!!!!

Does it get any better than this????