Goodbye November, Hello December

Wow!  Has this year flown past or what?  It seems hard to imagine we are already into December. 

Our Thanksgiving was wonderful with lots of great memories being made and waaaay too much delicious food to eat.  The only downside to it this year was that my mom was unable to join us as she had an infection.  She so loves being around all the activity and enjoys seeing the little ones.  Each year we attempt to get a photo of the family together and this year was no exception.  We were missing one grandson who is away at college in Florida.

First Thanksgiving for three of them

There has not been a lot of sewing time, but I am attempting to join in on the Easy Street Mystery quilt with Bonnie Hunter.  This is the beginning and I will get to it as time permits.  I do have my almost 400 sub cuts of pairs finished.  They just need to be sewn into four patches.

They really are not pink!!!  They are grays, blacks and whites.

I have worked a little more on my Christmas stockings in the evenings.  It doesn't seem as though I make much progress until I compare it to the previous week's photo. 

This year I am going to enter my little red Christmas Tree into the 2012 Christmas Quilt show.  If you have made a Christmas quilt, you should put yours in as well.  They are accepting links through Nov. 30th.  There are prizes to be won even if you did not submit a quilt for the show so be sure to go and visit.

The house is slowly turning from fall decor into Christmas.  I am going to have some of the granddaughters come over to help me transform it the rest of the way.  They love doing it and I LOVE the extra help. 

Have you seen the Holiday Lane Blog Hop pillows?  Oh my goodness....they are fabulous.  That is on my to-do list for next year.  It is a free pattern by Jill Finley.  You can check them out at www.sewwequilt.com and follow the link to the pattern. 

Thanksgiving Week

I know many of you are either deep into Thanksgiving preparations or getting ready to travel for Thanksgiving tomorrow, but I would like to wish all of my U.S. followers a very happy Thanksgiving. 

In between trying to get organized for Thanksgiving here, which we celebrate on Saturday, I have managed to find a little time to slip in some sewing.  I'm trying to keep up with my Just Takes 2 blocks - especially with the holiday entertaining sneaking up on us.  These are blocks 98-95.

   

I met my mom, sister and SIL for lunch and I wanted to make them a few of those cute little coin purses.  I told you that they were addicting!

During the UR Priceless I won a giveaway hosted by Sue at http://suebeesworld.blogspot.com and it arrived in the mail this week.  Look at all of the wonderful goodies - lots of great Christmas fabrics, adorable Santa panel blocks and some fantastic gift bags that Sue made.  I can tell that I am going to have to make a few more of these.  They will really dress up the Christmas gifts this year.  Thanks so much, Sue. 

The mail also brought my swap mini quilt from the ALQS7.  My mini came all the way from Alaska and I just love the wonderful job that Natalie did on it.  I love the bright colors and her application of beads and little "eyes" on the swirls.  Brilliant idea!! 

In the evenings I am working away on my cross stitch stocking for the newest granddaughter.  I'm not sure it will be finished by Christmas of 2012, but I doubt that she will care this year.

Our son, DIL and three little ones will be down for the weekend so there will be no sewing.  Instead we will be enjoying family time with them.  The weather is forecast to be around 80* which is perfect when there are a lot of little ones who want to play outside. 

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Some Stitching

I just got back from our monthly quilt meeting and I am feeling inspired.  Our guest speaker was Wendy Mathson who lectured on scrap management.  She showed the most amazing quilts which were all done with scraps - scraps that were organized.  I think I can do this, but my scrap management needs a new system.  BIG SIGH!!

 

My machine this week has been pretty boring with a lot of mending.  There comes a time when it just needs to be done, but it surely feels great to get to the bottom of that basket.

 

I've been enjoying doing some Christmas stockings for a couple of the new grandbabies. Three new babies in one year has kept me jumping with stockings. Two down and one more to go, but the last one is counted cross stitch and may not be finished this year.

 

 

The days have shortened and cooled down considerably this week. The fires in the evening have felt wonderful and make a comfortable place to sit and stitch.

 

I did get some time to try a jelly roll quilt.  I have wanted to do "the race" for some time and I was interested in how quickly it would go.  I had two 20 strip jelly rolls so it had 4 strips of each fabric.  I thought it might be too repetitive so I added some little 4 patches for between each strip.  It was one VERY LONG strip when I had it finished. 

 

 

 

Many of the fabrics ended up next to each other and it gave it a block look in the end, but I rather like it.    I think I will add a narrow orange border and then a wider border to finish it off.

 

 

 

Sunday we had the pleasure of attending a piano concert which included our grandson.  He was a gold medal recipient in the 2012 Contemporary Music Festival and the concert featured the gold medal winners.  There was such wonderful talent. 

 

 

 

Since today marks the end of the UR Priceless blog hop, I threw the 127 comments into the random number generator.  The winner came up #19, My Sister Made Me Do It.  Congratulations.   (I surely wish I could figure out how to put the little box into my posts.)   How many of you tried making one of the little coin purses after seeing all of the gorgeous and clever ones on the blog hop?   

 

 

 



UR Priceless Coin Purse

A million thanks to Madam Samm and Katherine for sponsoring the UR Priceless Coin Purse Blog Hop.  I know that a ton of work goes into making these hops so successful and I am sure that we all agree that Madam Samm is the best at doing it. 

 

These little bags are quite addicting to make.  You start off with the little 3" handles, which I purchased from Kelly at IHAN, and a pattern which can be purchased here.  From there the choices are nearly endless.

My first attempt was to use some Kaffe Fassett fabrics.  After learning the ropes of making the first one, I had to try a few more just for fun. 

This one is a little brighter and would make a great teacher's gift.

Then I added some machine embroidery. 

 

Needless to say, I am not the only one hooked on these.  Please check out these other blogs for today's creations. 

Day 1 - Nov. 5th

Quiltin' Jenny
Hill Valley Quilter
Loopy Lou's Adventures Into Handicrafts
Just Let Me Quilt
Lixie Makes It
Beaquilter
Sunshine, Handmade
Buzzing and Bumbling
ANNIEOFBLUEGABLES
Needled Mom
The Slow Quilter
A Quilting Sheep
I Have A Notion
Quilt-n-Queen

 

 Just to make things even more fun as we kick off the great blog hop,  how about a little giveaway?  Since I know many of my followers are not quilters,  this giveaway will be something that even they could use.   I always love to have seasonal towels in my kitchen so I thought a couple of towels to help with Thanksgiving cleanup would be appropriate.  Just answer this question. How many people you will have for your Thanksgiving dinner?  We tend to have between 40 and 50 here. 

I will random number generate a winner at the end of the blog hop and, as usual, my followers can leave a second comment for a second chance.

An Extra Hour

I feel so rested with my extra hour of sleep last night!!  How about you?  I know that I will not be happy tonight when it is dark by 5:30, but I guess I can deal with it. 

Halloween has come and gone.  We had very few trick or treaters again this year in spite of nice warm temperatures.  Our kids always come over for a quick dinner of lentil bean soup, fresh bread and salad before heading out for trick or treating in the neighborhood.  I love seeing the little ones in their costumes.

I continue to work away at the Just Takes 2 blocks.  I think we only have a few more blocks to do before we are finished.  I have close to 90 blocks completed so far.  These are the latest.

My DIL asked if I would make a Christmas stocking for their children's school auction which is coming up in a few weeks.   Although it looks blue in the photo it is a lovely shade of regal purple. 

Last evening we had the thrill of attending our granddaughter's 16th birthday party.  They had the nicest group of kids and we had a blast.  There were several who played different instruments and entertained us with their wonderful music and fantastic voices. 

Several years ago our granddaughter had fallen in love with my pinwheel quilt.  I told her she could have it when she turned 16 and she has reminded me of the fact ever since.  Last night she finally got it and, although she knew she was going to receive it, she loved it. 

Don't forget to check back tomorrow for the kickoff of the UR Priceless Blog Hop.  Again, I get to show mine on the first day.  Yeah.  I think we will see a whole lot of wonderful coin bags and I am looking forward to it. 

 

I am off to enjoy the day now before it gets dark.  It is also 88* outside right now so those of you who know me know that I am loving it.