A Long Absence and Christmas Sewing

No excuses here for why I've neglected the blogging as long as I have. My dedication to regular posting has suffered terribly, and no worthy reason exists.

Just not much of a priority lately, I reckon. I do like that I've blogged for as long as I have, and I want to continue, so I must regain my verve for writing and more regular posting. I will try.

I owe myself a recap of November highlights, and I also have a little Christmas something to share. Let's do last month's wrap-up first. 

 

As I look at these 9 highlight pictures, I can plainly see why I do so little blogging - I do so little quilting! My highlights are more grandbabies and family than quilts and sewing.

TOP ROW: Little Cate came to stay for a weekend; we had such a fun time entertaining her - or more accurately, being entertained by her. The first two pictures are both from that weekend, followed by a picture of Reagan entertaining us while we watched the OSU-Purdue game at her other grandparents' house.

MIDDLE ROW: My one notable sewing accomplishment was the adorable Tilda hexie flowers I stitched during my knee recovery. I must do a post in which I share more of this darling little quilt. The middle picture is the best of my attempts to photograph the Northern Lights when they were visible in south-central Ohio. This is looking out one of the upstairs bedroom windows. And last in this row, another Reagan picture - she too got to stay an overnight with us, and we had the best time. She has the wildest hair!

BOTTOM ROW: We had Thanksgiving at my brother Mark's house and our matriarch Mom got some snuggle time with her great-granddaughter,Reagan, the youngest member of the family. Later in the day, we gathered all 5 siblings around Mom for a picture. I am directly behind Mom. In the red is Sandy, and in the green is Carol. Alan and Mark are behind us. Five kids in six years! I am the oldest; Carol is the baby. The final picture is Grampa Kevin and Cate enjoying a Disney movie with all the essential "stuffies" for comfort.

I truly have done so very little in the sewing room, but today, I accomplished quite a bit as Sharon was here for a full day of stitching and catching up. I worked on a secret Christmas gift, so I will share what Sharon finished.

 She put the finishing touches on this Christmas Tree wall hanging and it looks just magical! It will truly enhance her holiday decorating. I did not take pictures of some of the other items she made - finishing off several table toppers that she intends to give to family; and some Tilda 9-patches that she'd worked on earlier in the fall.

We exchanged Christmas gifts, and had a merry time this afternoon. I have a wonderful new project to dream of - I received a lovely collection of fabric by Sherrie and Chelsi of Moda Fabrics. A granddaughter quilt is certainly in order! Sharon is ready to entertain with a full compliment of charcuterie items for her holiday table. I found a scrumptious array of yummy goodies that just seemed too good to pass on. Sharon has a talent for entertaining in style, so I hope these fill out her feast table.

 As we closed down for the day, I snapped this photo that seemed emblematic of a successful day of sewing and merriment. We really did have a productive day with plenty of cheer of the season.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne 

November Wrap-Up

So far, just 4 days in, I am doing this month all higgledy-piggledy! I didn't even bother welcoming December nor did I wrap up last month with my highlights collage.

Oh, what the hustle-bustle of the holidays does to me - this year, anyway. (Maybe I'm this way every year, though!)

I explained in yesterday's post that the productivity coming out of the quilting room has been minimal at best. November's collage of highlights might explain why. I spent way more time with Cate and family and friends! Not a bad trade-off, if you ask me!

I normally describe my collage by referring to top, middle, and bottom rows. This time, however, I may as just explain by number. Photos 1, 3, 5, 6, and 8 are all of Cate, who is without a doubt the delight of all delights. From just standing there looking sweet, to sporting her first real winter coat and mittens, to napping on Grandma (me), to getting a bottle with Great Grandma (my mom), or to tearful introduction to Santa, she is absolutely the apple of our eye. We can't get enough of her.

In picture 4, the Frienzies met and made Scandinavian Stars. In picture 7, my family joined us here at our house for a Thanksgiving Feast - all 31 of us!

The only sewing is shown in picture 2 - I did minimal work on Lake Effect. That goal of completing the entire top in '23 is bearing down on me! The last picture shows off my folded (no sewing) Scandinavian Stars.

Pretty poor sewing output, but lots of fun otherwise!

Notably missing from the collage: long arm finishes. Nope. I have managed to go all month with nothing to show for myself. Dang.

Oh well. It's a new month; perhaps I can squeeze in some sewing and quilting.

Happy Quilitng, Friends!

November Wrap-Up

I won't let November get too distant in the rear view mirror without sharing my collage of highlights. With a 1-month-old granddaughter to delight us, the collage leans heavily in her direction.

TOP ROW: The pine tree quilt has begun but not gotten very far. This block and 3 others have been constructed, and I stopped. I am back in the pondering stage as I am not so sure I'm loving this excess of greens. Next we have Auntie Emma holding a very newborn Cate. And last, Grampa Kevin and I planted a tree at our house in honor of Cate.

MIDDLE ROW: I quilted a baby quilt and gifted it to nephew Donnie and his wife Elisa as they welcomed their third baby boy in August. Baby Cate is resting on a Granny-made quilt that I whipped up at the last minute just before her birth. Read about it here. And yes, that's another Baby Cate picture, this time with me.

BOTTOM ROW: My mother, fondly known to all the grandkids as Granny Jeannie, met Cate at our house when we hosted Thanksgiving. Mom has three new great-grandbabies this year. How special! Another adorable picture of Cate - she is definitely changing fast! And at the end of the month, I quickly quilted up this colorful quilt, which I've yet to blog about. (That's coming soon!)

We enjoy weekly visits with our daughter and granddaughter which has cut into my sewing time, for sure, but I do not mind in the least! A baby is only tiny like this for such a fleeting moment - I want to enjoy as much of her as possible.

Have no fear, though! I continue to stay busy in the quilting rooms. I am thrilled to report that I've quilted another quilt to get December off to a good solid start. That long arm machine is intimidating me less and less all the time.  To see the quilt I worked on yesterday, click here.

And here is a quilt I hope to load on next - Snowflakes At Dusk. It's a Thimbleberries pattern, and I recall it as the first quilt completed after retiring from teaching. Made in January 2010, it goes back quite a ways. It's a whopper! I will have to build my resolve and determination to do it.

I am off to Frankfort for a morning of socializing and stitching with the Frankfort Girls. It will be so nice catching up with all of them!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Welcome December!

 

A day late in welcoming December, yes. Blogging has not been my top priority the past couple of days, honestly. I hosted my Frienzies for lunch yesterday, and during all the preparations for that I was coming down with a sinus infection. Man, it is a doozy, too. I went for a test for "you know what" and the result, thankfully, was negative. So I am on an antibiotic. 

I thought I'd share my November collage in the absence of any substantial sewing/quilting updates. I did quite a bit of sewing and quilting last month, from the looks of my collage. Let's get into it.

TOP ROW: I finished the Cobalt Stars quilt top. I quilted a top made by a friend. Last, I started a quilt with my Temecula Fabrics that I am calling Temecula Baskets. Both Cobalt Stars and Temecula Baskets were items on my 2021 Goals List, so I am happy to be making progress on them.

MIDDLE ROW: Another item from the 2021 Goals List is Lunch Box Social, a Kim Diehl pattern. I only need to finish the borders and the flimsy will be done.The Christmas star in the center is an impromptu pillow I made. I quilted it on my older Bernina with a free-motion foot. The final sweet picture in the middle row is from Thanksgiving when DD Emma got to meet her newest baby cousin Archie. 

BOTTOM ROW: Another picture from Thanksgiving Day, where over 30 family members broke bread at my sister and brother-in-law's home. The middle picture is an all-the-way-finished quilt with multi-generational attributes, which you can read about here. And finally, late in the month, I quilted another quilt (that's 3 in November!). It still hangs over the long arm rod, needed trimmed and bound.

I have several quilts very near completion represented in that collage, so I won't have to work hard to come up with goals for December. And once I kick this sinus infection, I will get right to work on doing just that.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Hello December!

The welcoming committee for December is decidedly late. Ahem. Well, I will claim the last week of classes as my excuse. Finished up today, and all that's left is to give a final next week. 

So here's to a new month, even if I am a couple days late with my welcome. Let's take a look at the November wrap-up first.

Top Row: A quick finish with an embroidery project. The stitching goes fast when it's this simple. I hung this in my long-arm room. And speaking of the long-arm room, I quilted Wishes for my sister, shown in the middle. Last, I painted the little rocker that my kids used as toddlers. It was weathered and worn; colored on and had stickers all over. Now as a white rocker, it will display a pretty little quilt or pillow.

Middle Row: Our great-niece Eve sits in her jammies with her grampa's new dog, Rusty. We visited family on DH's side the weekend before Thanksgiving. In the center, a pretty fall decoration for my newly finished kitchen countertop. And last, I finally started making the churn dash blocks for our group exchange coming up near Christmas.

Bottom Row: The kitchen!! I believe you have seen the pics in a recent post. I also put together a video for Instagram, if you want to go over there and have a look at before, during and after photos. I started another embroidery project since I enjoyed the earlier one so much, I traced out this much more complicated one and have started plugging away on it.  Finally, I end with the beautiful snow fall we had on the final night of November - it created a backyard sculpture.

That snow was what they call a wet snow - very heavy and look how it hung on the branches of our sweet bay magnolia. So pretty and unusual. We had quite a bit of snow overnight and through the next day.

On December first, DH and I ran a few errands in town, and coming back into our driveway, I had him stop for me in a few places so I could capture some of the beautiful snowy scenes. Isn't it pretty? I think the first snow of the season is the prettiest of all, and having it come in December is all the more wonderful. Both DH and I remarked that it helped to put us into the Christmas spirit! How nice!

Well, first up this month, I get to finish up my class work by the 10th or 11th, then it's full-tilt to Christmas! I hope there is lots of time for sewing! Heck, with Covid rearing up it's ugly head again, what else is there for me to do, right??

Let's have a great month!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Hello December!

Here we are, folks! The end of the year, the first of December, and this month will just fly by as we are busy as can be.

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, though, let's wrap up last month.

November was a month of family gatherings - three big one. The group in the top row is a group of cousins on Thanksgiving Day at my sister's house. The group in the middle row are my husband and his siblings. We were in Coshocton in the middle of the month for my father-in-law's funeral. Jim is pictured in the center photo. The two groups in the bottom are members of my mother's side of the family - her first cousins Dave, Steve and Scott (first picture) and her Uncle John, Aunt Nina, and another first cousin Marilyn (middle picture).

So that covers the family pictures. The quilting pictures show two flimsies - the Christmas panel quilt and the Chock Full O' Charms quilt, and then two stars I've just recently made. I am seriously entertaining a new year's goal of stars, stars, and more stars. We'll talk more about that as the month wears on.

So, let's see what I can accomplish this month. I doubt there'll be a whole lot of sewing, as we are hosting 3 different events here this month. With all the shopping, decorating, cooking, baking and wrapping, I will be busy enough. I can't forget the end the fall semester for my three comp classes. It'll be nice to have that off the radar for awhile.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Ending A Productive Month

November has been very good to me as far as finishes go. One never knows when the month begins just how much can be accomplished, but as I look back, this month's efforts have been quite satisfying.

I created this collage of the highlights of the month, and still I don't have everything. The first shot is of a china cabinet at my mother's house. Several of my siblings and I helped her decorate her house for Christmas last Saturday. This is just one highlight pic of our efforts. Next is expectant-mama Elisa with the baby quilt I gifted her. Then we have a cute couple - my great Uncle John and Aunt Nina. We had a fun family-reunion-type weekend with them in Columbus. The first pic in the second row is a surprise that I have yet to write about. I will divulge more on it as we enter December. Center stage is my little Thanksgiving wall hanging. Another cute couple round out the middle row - brother and sister Matthew and (another) Elisa; the occasion for the fancy dress is Matthew's wedding, which was on the 11th. In the bottom row we have DD Emma and her boyfriend's sister with the baby quilt we made. Next is the wall hanging I made for Emma (which still needs to be quilted), and finally, the November UFO finished to the flimsy stage.

In addition to the collage highlights, these past few days I have worked on using up my Roman Holiday remnants. You saw in yesterday's post my 30" square HST flimsy. Since then, I have worked on smaller HSTs, this time with the goal of making Broken Dishes blocks. After all the HSTs are finished off, I will still have some rectangular pieces remaining in the tub and some very scrappy strips. It remains to be seen what will be done with those.

As I look ahead to December, I definitely plan to finish my last UFO for the year. I will be so glad to be done thinking about UFOs for awhile! The tub of Kaffe Fassett fabrics, above, will figure heavily into finishing that UFO. Yes, another KF quilt.*smile*

In addition, I have a quilt top needing to be quilted for that groom you met above, and his beautiful bride, Lindsey. When these are done, I think I will just play. Picking up whatever I want and doing something fun with it - now there's a luxury I haven't been able to enjoy all that much this year. With no pressing deadlines hovering over me, December seems like a perfect month to simply play.

Hope you find some time to play, too!
Happy Quilting, Friends!