500th Post

I want to begin by recognizing a small milestone: this is my 500th post. Wowzers. Thank goodness that Blogger keeps track of stuff like that; otherwise I'd never have known. Many bloggers do giveaways to mark special occasions of this nature; maybe I should come up with something. Stay tuned on that idea...

So, we Frienzies had our Christmas gathering yesterday and what a great time. We have made a commitment to keeping in touch and it is so worth that commitment. When we all worked together at CHS, I suppose we took for granted that we'd always be friends and stay in touch. However, as one by one, retirements began occuring, we realized that we weren't keeping in touch. So, Frienzies was born with the idea of having a once-a-month get-together - a brunch, a lunch, a dinner, whatever works. And we have made it work now for about 6 years, I would guess - maybe more!

Here is Hettie's tree with all our gifts piled around it.

 We had such an assortment of things - from wool socks to homemade muffins and marmalade, we exchanged gifts.

I promised to show the items I kept secret in yesterday's post.

Santa's workshop was overrun with Great Granny pillows. I decided about a month ago to give these as my gift, but did I work steadily on them all along? Or did I wait until the last minute and work like mad to get them done in time? Yes, I procrastinated. Typical me.

A tower of pillows awaiting their tags.

 

A line-up on the family room couch.

I enjoyed every step of the construction of these pillows. Way back in August when I began making the Great Granny squares, I really got hooked. Then as I began turning them into pillows, I nailed down a pretty efficient assembly line through the construction process. I will share that another day.

Merry Christmas, Dear Frienzies! I do love you all, and love that we care enough about our friendships to work at staying close.

Happy Quilting, Friends!