Paper Piecing and More

There seems to be a resurgence of paper piecing….or is it that I am just being called in that direction lately.
I always love seeing all of the wonderful BOMs that show up each January.  Try as I might to deny that I would love to do each one, there are so many tempting ones this year.  I have jumped on the bandwagon for a couple of them. 

The first one that captured my heart was the Charlie Brown BOM.  Although the patterns are already published (for FREE) at http://tweloquilting.blogspot.com, the goal is to do one a month.  This is a QAL that can be found at Bea’s blog.  January we were to make Franklin. 



He was so much fun that I went ahead and added Peppermint Patty to my now growing gang.



The grandkids are loving seeing these come to life and are choosing the order of appearance.  Next up is Charlie Brown.  I am hoping for a Pigpen character as that is the one they all love. 

While I am not crazy about ripping off all of the papers involved in paper piecing, I couldn’t help but start another project using the technique.  This a a Judy Niemeyer placemat pattern.  I LOVE the precision of the points with paper piecing.  I just need to quilt these up and bind them.



I guess it is close enough to Christmas for the Christmas cactus to finally bloom.  Maybe it should be called a New Year’s cactus.  This was from a HUGE plant of my grandmothers.  When they get too big and woody I break off a piece and start a new one - or two - or......



I’ve have had some productive yard work this past week by finally finishing the pruning of the over 100 rose bushes.  It is always such a great feeling to wrap up that job!  Hopefully, the rains we have enjoyed will make for a great display in a few months. 

If you are interested in a really fun blog hop coming up in March, check out www.sewwequilt.com for information.  If you love birds this is a great one to join and sign ups fill up quickly.  Lana is our cheerleader (organizer) of the Tree Bird hop.  If you have never participated in one you should give it a try.  They are so much fun and they have great sponsors.

Christmas Decorating

Thanks to a lot of help from my granddaughter, I have gotten most of my Christmas decorations up.  It is amazing how much is involved in digging everything out each year, but the kids so love to see the house festive for the month.  It is worth it. 

 

Of course the favorite is always the train under the tree.  I try to have several of the little ones over alone to play with it.  When everyone is here at the same time the space near the train is over populated!!!  That and the fact that there are many derailments makes it not as much fun.

I got a little more work done on my stocking this week.  My snowman is making some headway.  I hope to get to it more seriously next week after our big dinner party for 24 people this coming Saturday night. 

One of the grandsons called last night to ask if I could make three brown beards for the Christmas play at school.  He needed them by Friday.  ;)



You didn't expect me to model it....did you?????

I haven't had much time to work on my Easy Street blocks this week, but I am trying to make myself take 15 minutes a day to just kick back and do a little sewing.  Hopefully they will come along faster after the weekend as well. 

Now I must get back to setting tables and cooking.



Even the Christmas cactus is blooming.

Christmas is Coming

....the goose is getting fat.  Poor goose!

The blogs are so exciting with all of the Christmas decorating showing up.  I really enjoy seeing all of the creative ideas out there.  Does everyone else too?

I started to put a few things out yesterday.  I hung my Christmas Cactus quilt and I love it.  I think I have shown the completed top last winter, but here it is bound and hanging.   It will be such a nice addition to our future Christmas decorating.

To see more great Christmas quilts check out SewCalGal.

We celebrated our Thanksgiving on Saturday which is our tradition.   I had lots of help from the family - especially my dear hubby who cooked the turkeys, made the gravy, stuffing and potatoes.  It was delicious and I told him I might relinquish the job to him in the future!!!!

Lots of directing going on.

Some of the grandchildren came over and set tables and did prepping of veggies.  Thank goodness for a wonderful gang of help!

Grandpa overseeing the process.

Part of the gang for Thanksgiving.  The rest came later after a soccer playoff game and church.

Our son's new family member.

Not much quilting going on here unless a quilted jigsaw puzzle counts.  Can you tell I am bored?

It will be nice to get this cast off so I can use scissors, knives and rotary cutters again, but I am able to use the fingers more now that the swelling and pain has subsided.  Yeah!  The bad hair days remain!!!!

This was what we enjoyed this morning.  You know it's going to be a great day when it starts like this.

Keep up with all the great Christmas decorating as I am loving it!

Saturday Check In

I am still here but just busy with all of the Christmas happenings around here.  I had thought things would be a little quieter here this week, but I was wrong.  It seems as though this is how this wonderful season is each year. 

Some of you are having your dreams of a white Christmas filled a little early this year.  Those temperatures have been steadily dropping as the depth of snow keep increasing.  I can’t quite imagine what it must be like to try to get out and get done what needs to be finished when the weather provides such challenges.  Stay safe out there.  After having no summer, we are enjoying temperatures in the 80s this weekend which I find more bearable.


Our Christmas dinner last week was a lovely evening and a great time catching up with family members without all of the little ones that tend to cause lots of distractions when we get together – delightful distractions, I must add.  It is always nice to get together and enjoy the meal without someone needing to jump up and do something.


Between Christmas parties, luncheons, visits to Santa, Christmas programs, shopping and watching little ones this week I have been able to get to the sewing room for a few gifts.  I was afraid that my machine would seize up on me from lack of use lately, but all went well. 


I managed to get most of my Christmas Cactus quilt assembled.  I still need to add the outer border, but I just love it.

 

It must be time for it to be finished since my real cactus is now starting to send out blooms.  My red one still hasn’t started to form buds yet.



Some of the other projects include a journal cover for a friend of mine…



A Kindle carrying case for my mom’s Kindle…



And another mug rug.  My dear friend, Midlife Mom, cut me a couple of snowflakes with her Accuquilt GO and sent them to me.  I really like the way it turned out.  These things can be addicting.



While I was watching a couple of the little ones this week we made some wonderful cookies and I enjoyed all of my help.   The smell of the peppermint was intriguing.



The little ones got their stockings to hang.  I’m not sure they were overly thrilled with them quite yet, but they will look forward to them on Christmas for years to come.



This evening we are heading over to my mom’s to decorate her tree and have dinner.  It is always a fun evening and my sister and BIL join us for the tree trimming.

I apologize for being a bad blogger lately, but I hope to be better at it soon.