Christmas 2016

I'm not always "up" for the holidays...this was one of those years...but I did manage to make things a bit festive...and I have my rituals that I enjoy...one being watching White Christmas and quilting away in my studio:

I managed to get the tree up and the stockings hung.  Apparently I'm not a Hallmark Grandmother because I only have stockings for my kids and their partners...none for the Grands!!!  I'll try to remedy that by next year....maybe...

And everything got wrapped - we're headed down to Charlotte NC on the 27th to celebrate Christmas with the Grands and then Steve & Katie are coming for the New Year weekend. I'll be so happy to have all my little chickens in one place...

I got this great tee shirt:

(@Deep.Creek.Quilter)

And the set of Hunger Games DVDs - I love watching movies while I quilt!

Birthday Flowers!

My son sent me flowers for my birthday!  (I don't want to know what he did...)

Life Happens

I could whine.  I kind of want to whine actually...I think it would make me happy if someone felt sorry for me a little....but at the end of the day, we do what we have to do and I'm a big girl, so let's just start blogging and pretend it's December 21st:

I'm going to retire on December 31!  I've been around since the Paleolithic Era and felt a bit like the Last.Man.Standing. - everyone else I started out with had already retired.  I would have been happy to just sneak off into the night but the "kids" I work with wanted to do lunch and say bye.  I picked a nice restaurant near my home so I could just finish the day in sweats rather than go back to the office.  I didn't want a "retirement party/present" so I decided to give THEM presents instead!  I made a holiday (or in one case: winter) tablerunner for each of them.  They knew I quilted but I hadn't ever even made a baby quilt for anyone ('my bad...).

Since I was mass producing, they all got the same pattern but different fabrics.  On the design wall:

This one is finished:

And the stack!

And of course I spared no expense on the gift wrap!

And here we are at Facci's for lunch!

I did get a lovely surprise - Cierra baked this beautiful cake!

100% edible!!!

Workshop with Cindy Grisdela

I went to a workshop with Cindy Grisdela on curved piecing with Milltown Quilters.  I really enjoy her work - I've seen her many times at the American Craft Council show in Baltimore.  There was a lecture the day before - I managed to snap some pictures:

Her workshop was very relaxed and free-form ... just a really nice day!  Here are a couple of class samples:

It was so simple to do the curves because the end result doesn't have to match seams!

When you pack up to go to a workshop, it's always so hard to anticipate what you might need to have later and honestly, I can only carry so much stuff.  I brought fabric I thought would work for the background but nothing really struck me.

And now that the holidays are here I'm so busy with other things that the poor strip of curves is still just hanging around on my design wall all by itself!  Maybe I'll put it on my 2017 UFO list...

After Thanksgiving....Thanksgiving table runner....story of my life...

While I finished 10 (TEN!!!) Holiday tablerunners before December 1, I did NOT manage to finish my Thanksgiving tablerunner in time for Thanksgiving...seriously...

In progress:

Finished top:

Basted and ready to quilt...after Thanksgiving....

Happy Birthday to my angel...

I miss you, sweet pea…

November UFO and more Holiday quilting...

No surprise here - the October UFO wasn't even touched.  So, now we have November and the number is 12...and this top is to be quilted.  And once again, I don't see that happening...the biggest reason again this time is that I don't already have a back.  It could take me the whole month to get a back together and squared!

I'm still working on my Holiday tablerunners - realizing not everyone celebrates Christmas:

...along with season 2 of Outlander!

2016 UFO Challenge - October

I've pulled the top and set it on the HQ16....but there's simply no way on this Earth that I'll quilt it before the end of the month...No.Way.At.All.

If I already had a back, it might have been possible....

Bus Trip to Pennsylvania...

On Friday I went on a shopping (and EATING!) bus trip with Milltown Quilters and Faithful Circle Quilters to Pennsylvania.

First stop was Burkholders Fabrics in Denver, PA.  My first time there - the place seemed huge to me.  Actually, I didn't really have a list of stuff to get so it made it almost impossible to really look at everything.  I found myself just kind of doing laps and randomly picking up odd things.  I like to use stripes for my bindings so I did manage to get some fabric to bind some tops I have made. 

The highlight of the trip for me was - the Shady Maple Smorgasbord!!!  Seriously...as long as I got my lunch I would have been happy to not even see quilt shops!

Last stop was the Kitchen Kettle area in Intercourse, PA.  The weather was absolutely perfect and there are lots of shops and things to look at.  I walked around, in and out of stores, and just enjoyed the afternoon.  Got myself a snack and sat at a table outside and did some serious people-watching!

Still Working on Christmas Gifts!

Still October and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!  I'm working on Holiday tablerunners and I just finished quilting them!  Next up (and last up!) is the binding...Can.Not.Wait.

Quilting:

And a finished stack:

September UFO Finish

I managed to finish the September UFO for Spring Water Designs....today.  Seriously, why do I wait until the last day so often? 

This was a Hearts to Holly quilt pattern using their Holly Bunch fabric bundle. I saw the bundle at a quilt show and liked the fabrics...any of their patterns can be used for any of their bundles.  A nice, quick, easy charity quilt.

Is it Christmas already????

Hell has officially frozen over - I'm working on holiday tablerunners!