All Things Christmas Sampler

"HAPPY HOLIDAYS" everyone!  It's Christmas Eve, is your shopping done? baking? quilting/sewing projects?

It's not quite finished and it's Christmas Eve!!!! This was supposed to be ready for last Christmas! Where did the year go??!! At least it is bound and ready to hang, but still needs lots of embellishments, especially the bottom row. Nothing like naked ornaments.

The tree has red beads and still need something to sparkle up the star, and the Christmas Pudding Cake has sequins and beads on the holly berries. This little quilt might be one that has something added each year until it says "enough, no more, you are done"!!

The pattern for this was a bom from Angie Padilla's website. She has a lot of really cute ideas and applique patterns. Some are free and some are for members only. It's a fun site to browse.

Maine Christmas Wreath

Each year, our niece who lives in Maine, sends us a fresh wreath with a little bag of balsam needles. Oh-h-h-h, the fragrance is so wonderful and always brings back treasured memories of when we lived there. Yes, our niece and family make and sell wreaths each year, along with some other decorative items. Aren't we lucky to have them as family!!

The bottom picture is a basket full of the little bags filled with balsam needles. Yes, I've saved almost all of them! The red one, lower right, is the fresh one. When you give it a little shake or squeeze, the scent just fills the room!

Thanks Louise and Tim. We love our wreath

Ravioli Day 2009

Yesterday was our annual "Ravioli Making" day. Every year the family gets together to make dozens of ravioli for Christmas dinner. The first picture shows part of the assembly line with Nicole, (a friend of the girls) who joined us for the first time, Alyssa and Taylor, waiting for dough strips.

Papa feeds the dough into the machine and Nicole tried her hand at cranking the dough through, while Alyssa gives her a hand with the final pass.

Kathy is in charge of popping the ravioli out of the cutting trays and keeping track of how many we make. We broke the record this year with around 26 dozen!! That's 312 ravioli, or about 156 cheese and 156 chicken/spinach!! OMG! No wonder we were tired by the end of the afternoon.

Last, but certainly not least, we have the "Ravioli Squad". Nana, Papa, Taylor, Alyssa, Stephanie, and Mom Kathy. It's a wonderful tradition, one that I hope will continue over the years to come. Our son lives in Kansas and he and his wife make ravioli, and our daughter who lives in Florida has started making them with her family as well, so we will all enjoy this tasty treat during the holidays.

Wishing everyone a very happy holiday season and a reminder to continue sharing the traditions you may have. They make wonderful memories to share with the generations.

Fun Giveaway!

Click on over to My Brown Bag Studio to enter Kimberly's delightful giveaway!  She's made some really cute holiday items.....a little pinwheel quilt, a very cute wooden sign, a wreath, plus more.  Leave a comment to be entered into the drawing on Dec. 13th.  Hm-m-m, the more that enter, the less my chances are of winning! 

Sam's New Stuffie

Yesterday, when I looked in the "doggie toy" basket, it dawned on me that everything left in it was missing half its stuffing, chewed up, stiff from slobber, or just worn out. And....only one still had a squeeker that squeeked!! Poor dog, no wonder he hasn't been playing much. He's been going over to the basket, looks in it and walks away. So, this morning I decided to make him one with some left over fleece, plus, I had some squeekers that I bought quite awhile ago (found 'em last night!). As soon as he saw the fleece and heard the squeek, he knew that whatever was on the table was HIS! When that last stitch went in, it was throw it now or be attacked! The whole thing only took 10-15 min. from start to finish, so off to dig out more scraps of fleece to make a few more. I used some odd strips of batting for some of the stuffing which makes it just a bit firmer for chewing.

Seasons Greetings

This little mini stitched up fast and adorable. The pattern is from Cheryl Goss of "Willowberry Designs" and measures 8 1/2" x 13 1/2" . The details really don't show up well on this photo, but you can click right on it to see the stitching and beads. The hanger loops are ribbon with small jingle bells. I used "tiger tape big stitch" as my quilting guide. It's 1/4" wide tape with markings for the up - down stitch length and makes it easy to sew even stitches.

Click on the title "Seasons Greetings" to go to Willowberry Designs blog.

Knitted-Beaded Necklace

One of my friends asked me if I had posted anything new since Taylor's big birthday. Now, I know she checks almost daily, so either my life has been extremely boring, or I've just been a bit lazy with my postings! Hm-m-m, might be a bit of both, lol. Anyway, here is a picture of one of my latest endeavors. Once I understood the sequence of where and how many beads to knit in, it only took a couple of hours (I'm a very slow knitter). One of my teen grandgirls oh-h-h-ed and ah-h-h-ed so much that I agreed to make her a purple one, which means the other two girls will want one. Sure wish I knew how to knit faster, 'cause I really want to make socks, but using 4-5 needles at one time really intimidates me.

Big day for Taylor!!

Happy 18th birthday, Taylor! She had to show us (grandparents) what her Mom and Sisters did to her car! All four sides have something written on it, but my camera was out of memory so only two sides are shown. Taylor reminds me of Mighty Mouse.....she's all of 4'10", a strong gust of wind could blow her away, but she makes her presence known. We always know when she's around because there's constant chatter and motion. She just makes you smile (when she's not tired...then it's grumpy, don't talk to me). I'm not sure just how she drives this big Yukon but she doesn't seem to have any problem. So, another milestone for Taylor!!

Crazy Christmas Cactus

I got this plant about 10 years ago when we still lived in MA, so it survived a cross-country move. Apparently, it loves it's home because it now blooms about three times a year....actually, parts of it bloom at different times from now until spring. There must have been two plants originally because as you can see, some flowers are red and the others have a pinkish tint to them. I'm surprised that after all these years the colors are still so separate. The red ones are starting to fade, but there are still lots of buds of both colors.

Flea Market Fancy give-a-way!!

Hop on over to Sew Take A Hike blog for a chance to win some great fabric from the "Flea Market Fancy" line, an autographed copy of DS Quilts, and more. Make sure you read all the instructions in order to qualify and grab her button while you are there.

Teton Retreat...hard at work

We had a wonderful three days of quilting. This retreat was a "do your own thing" retreat. It was fun to see what everyone was working on and gave us a chance to dig out those UFO's, or as I like to say, our PHD's (projects half done). Lots of tips, techniques, and short-cuts were shared by all. Don't you love to learn new things while having fun?

Teton Patchworks Retreat

These are just a few of the projects we worked on during our retreat in Idaho. One of our talented ladies showed us her "10 minute" tablerunner. The photo on the top left is of the 21, yes, 21 tablerunners that we all made. Of course, we had to make a "quick" trip to the quilt shop for fabric to make them!! Continuing clockwise, the next picture is a "fractured picture". The original picture is enlarged and divided into sections, then each person in the group makes one of the sections. The trick is to get all the sections to fit together! The two tops that I worked on are on the right. One is a wacky four patch, and the other is an on-line bom from last year by Angie Papadilla. Cindy was working on her pinwheels and Kaye was putting together a block exchange from another group. We really made a lot of progress on our projects even though we talked, laughed, and ate, and ate.

Angel Swap Goodies

These are the goodies that my swap Angel made for me. Debra made a journal cover with an appliqued rose, a super cute flower pincushion, and a zippered bag, all of which I will be able to use this weekend (yep, another quilting get-a-way). See the little pieces of allsorts? They are buttons! What's really interesting is that my hubby loves licorice and had actually bought a bag that morning (yesterday)!! The other little bag that's reflecting (darn) contains little Christmas Pudding buttons. Deb is a designer of cloth dolls and stitcheries, and her daughter makes the buttons. She has lots of fun patterns for sale, so pay her a visit at: www.wattlebee.com . Oh I forgot to tell you that she is from Australia.

Thank you Deb....I'm so happy you were my Stitching Angel!

Pie Pincushion Winner!!!

Here is a picture of what Cori of Chitter Chatter Designs sent me for her give-a-way last week! This pincushion pattern is the cutest "pie" that I've seen. She included the tan background fabric for the "crust", red and blue for the "fruit", green wool for the stems, and a strip of bias ready to use as the stem! Last, there's a sweet little package of beaded pins waiting for their new home! Thanks a bunch, Cori! Can you tell that I love it?

Angel Swap

Yea! Marina received her goodie package from me!  I have really enjoyed this swap, especially the e-mails to and from Marina.  It was hard to keep my identity secret until the package arrived! Her blog is now listed on my sidebar, so pop in and say hello.... www.maizieandtheboys.blogspot.com 

First 12 x 12 project

This is my first 12 x 12 project. The quilts are 12" square (close) and are designed based on a word. The word this time was "cold". I think I will call it "Cold Night in Maine" because of the birch trees and pine trees. The cardinal is there because there needed to be a dot of color and chickadees (state bird of ME) would blend in too much. Besides, the cardinal is the state bird of Ohio where I grew up. I wanted to use batting for the snow, but didn't want another layer of batting behind it, so I took a larger piece, cut the curve for the snow, put the snow piece on the top of the dark fabric and the other piece underneath the dark fabric That way there is only one layer of batting for the whole thing. You can't really see that the thread is a sparkly white mettalic and that I free motioned some snowflakes in the background.

More Make A Difference Day Photos

The first picture is us (Winnie and me) delivering some quilts to St. Anne's Shelter last Saturday. This mornings paper had an article and photo of St. Anne's showing sleeping mats covering the lobby floor in anticipation of an overflow need for shelter due to a snow storm that began early yesterday. At the very least, there were enough quilts to keep the kids warm!

These two pictures were taken at Archway House.  Thanks to the generosity of all the quilters who donated quilts (and their time), we were able to meet our goal of one quilt for each child who spends some time there.  The young staff is great with the kids and provide counseling along with a fun sense of humor.  All in all, it was an eye-opening yet gratifying day.  Now to start all over again for next year.  If you have any extra quilts or fabric or batting that you'd like to contribute, leave a comment on this blog.

Make A Difference Day Update

A previous post shows lots and lots of quilts that were collected from many generous quilters here in Utah, and this was the last stop. Saturday Winnie and I delivered 22+ quilts to Archway House (for teens), and 10+ quilts to St. Anne's Shelter. Today I took 8 or 10 to the Children's Justice Center and this last bunch of 21 quilts to Catholic Charities.

We all hear of the many places that try to provide for the homeless, families in need, distressed children and on and on, but until you actually visit these places, it's hard to fully understand just how much they depend on volunteers and donations. I'm not talking about just cash donations, but baby food, diapers, toiletries and too many things to list here.

Big, BIG Givaway!!

No, not here on my blog, at least not yet.  Check out the Pumpkin Patch Primitive Quilt Shoppe's blog for a chance to win!  The prize is A Fat Quarter Bundle of Red Rooster's Pumpkins & Spice Fabrics!! How neat is that?  Go to: http://pumpkinpatchprimitivequiltshoppe.blogspot.com or click on the title of this post.  Good luck!!

Angel Swap 2009

Here is a picture of the items I'm sending to my swap partner in Australia. There is a ditty bag, needlekeep, mug wrap and pincushion. It has been really fun to get e-mails from (can't tell you until she receives them) her and to lurk on her blog! The gal at the post office said that it would take about two weeks to get to AU from here. Sure hope she like everything. If you get a chance to participate in next year's Angel Swap, don't pass it up! Happy stitching everyone.

Quilts, quilts & more quilts!!

Just look at this load of quilts!! Three armloads and a car full!! We (Winnie, Sue, and I) have been getting together to work on charity quilts for "Make A Difference Day" which is a week from Saturday. Today we were at the Senior Center working away, up to our eyeballs in fabric and batting, when in walks one of our friends, Kaye (she's on the right in the picture). Kaye has been collecting quilts from local guilds for distribution and brought more than 40 quilts for us to take to a local youth services center. We chose the youth center because it is for kids from 11-18, most of whom are awaiting placement in foster homes or in need of counseling. Most quilts that are made for charity are crib size and girly. It seems that the boys and especially teens are kind of forgotten, but not this year!

Kudos to Winnie and Sue, who started this quilt-a-thon about 12 yrs. ago. With all the quilts that Kaye brought today, we will be able to give love and warmth to lots of kids, big and small. Thank you to all of you out there who have donated these quilts throughout the year. Working together makes things like this possible.

Sleeping on the job!!

Is this called "sleeping on the job"?? This morning I decided to cut batting for some charity quilts that a group of us are making. As soon as I got up to get the tape measure, Sam decided that this stuff might just make a comfy bed. After several attempts to keep him off, I had to stand the roll of batting upright. Maybe he wants a quilt of his own?

Blogger's Quilt Festival

Head on over to Parkcitygirls blog to have a peek at some of the quilts entered in the "Fall Quilt Festival".  There are hundreds of quilts to check out, so grab your favorite cuppa something, get comfy, and start clicking!  Yep, I've got one entered,too. There is a Quilt Fest button in the left column which will take you right to it, or you can click on the title of this post.  Have fun.

Who's in My Pumpkin Patch

This pattern is actually called "Grin In The Night" from Kim Diehl's book, Simple Seasons. Kim taught this class during our annual Quilt Fest a couple of years ago, just before the book came out, so we got to test the pattern. It was a fun class and for me, a new way to machine applique. This wall hanging measures 28 1/2"x 36 1/2" and is quite bright. I hung it in the kitchen (dining area) on the only large wall, which you see when you walk in. I also put a fall table runner and placemats on the table and counter. Wanna guess what he saw? Not the bright wallhanging, but the two small placemats!!

New Bag

New bag

Check out my new bag! It's a Bunny Hill design using a "honey bun" roll. I haven't decided whether or not I want to add ribbon ties to each end like the pattern or just leave it as is. The bag is designed with the knitter in mind as a project bag (18" long), but it's just the right size to carry a 12"x 6" ruler, rotary cutter, and a small quilting project. There are five pockets inside which makes finding things easy. I actually got most of it sewn while we were on vacation in Midway. Yes, I took my sewing machine![Photo]