End of the month wrap up

It is the 30th and time to post my progress on the Celebrating Mary Brown quilt.  I appliqued the above block in 20 minute increments.  It was making me so nervous that I could only work on it for a short time.  That and it was the Christmas season, there were lots of other things to draw my attention.

It doesn't necessarily have an Alice theme or hint to it.  But the pansies in the Disney version of Alice in Wonderland were one of my favorites.

I started working on another block yesterday but as you can see there is still a lot to be done.

Check out the others participating in the Celebrating Mary Brown SAL

Karen at Log Cabin Quilter

Jennie at Over the hill and running

Julie K at Julie K quilts

Cathy B at Big Lake Quilter

Nanette at Do it right quilter

Jan posts on Nanettes blog

Rebecca at Quilting in a Polar Bear Garden

I got caught up with the Cheddarback blocks.  I accidentally cut the basket block with the light as the basket and the dark as the background.  I decided to sew it up that way anyway and it looks fine.  I hand pieced the hexagon-like block with fussy cutting in the middle.

  I really like the black and red block.

 The hourglass block  was inside an online order I received.  You can see the original state of the orphan block below.  Since it was similar to the block I needed to sew, I took it apart, matched the center seam and cut it to size.

I made the little tree from the Temecula Christmas SAL.  It's sandwiched but I haven't quilted it yet.  It was a fun mindless project.  The little blocks took about 15 minutes to cut and sew each day.

And then I felt like sewing one day during the holidays.  You know how it is, you just feel like putting fabric through the machine.  So I got out my floral scraps and matched them up with semi-solids to make some 36 patches.  The fabric needs to be used up so I guess this will be my no pressure/when I get around to it sewing for a while.

And I'll end with the only Christmas pictures I took this year - sigh.  The first is a gift from my SIL next to one of my favorite dolls.  The little house is a lighted toy store with Santa inside.  It is a continual snow scene.  It's quite heavy and my SIL paid the postage to get it here - gasp!  The doll is a Mary Hoyer doll with a sweater outfit made by Pauline McEnery.

One of my granddaughters left her mittens in the backyard.  And someone put them on the tree in the front yard to wait for her return.  I suspect foul play here. . .

And here we are for Christmas dinner.  Not everyone is in the picture but it was fun to have them around.  They didn't stay long enough though.  They were all gone by 1:30.

It's been a busy month.  I always look forward to January because even though the days are short and it is cold. . . no one needs me to do anything for them so I have a whole uninterrupted month and I know exactly which project is going to get the bulk of my attention.

See you when I surface,
Robin

This day

began with the Winter Solstice sunrise.  What more could I ask?

It's like magic sometimes.
Robin

Christmas Greetings.

I think I forgot, in all the preparations for the holidays, that I finished quilting this cute little quilt.  It is from the first line from Urban Chics.   I think it is called Swell.  They came out with a Sweet Christmas line this fall that has the same feel but it has poinsettias instead of roses.

The star is just a split 9 - patch block.  It was so fun to piece (years ago) and went together fast.  The quilting is done with Aurafil 12 in white using a big stitch.

I wasn't intending to use it for Christmas but it is so conducive to holiday decorating.

                                                                    As a tree skirt. . .

                                                       A tablecloth for a small end table . . .

                                                       Hung over my small bannister. . .

It is not very big and just turned out stinkin' cute.  This picture shows the paisley backing and the polka dot binding.  I'm undecided whether to give it away or keep it.

Christmas can be so hectic but things have calmed down considerably with our retired lifestyle.  I was planning to go out to lunch with two friends today and one of them texted the other two of us to make sure it was still a good day to go.  I quickly replied that I was planning on it.  Then the next text was my daughter asking if I was coming to the elementary school's band concert at 2:30.  So I texted my friends to tell them I needed to be home by 2:00.  It was all doable until. . .

My cousin from 1 1/2 hrs north called to say they were on their way.  I am really close to this cousin and his wife.  My cousin is more like a brother to me.  He had surgery in September and has kept saying; "don't come and see me, I need more time to get my energy back."

He had complications with an already serious surgery and it's taking a long time to regain his strength.  So, I haven't seen him since the surgery and this is his first outing out of town.  I didn't feel like I could tell them not to come so instead I told my friends I was going to have to flake out on them (at least that's the way I feel).  They understand but I still feel badly.

My cousin said it would be a quick trip, I hope I can still make it to the concert.

Ho Ho Ho
Robin

Longing to just sit and quilt

I've finally got this little quilt from 2012 sandwiched and in the hoop.  I was planning on getting this quilted in December because I'm using a "Big Stitch" and it's not very large.  But, alas,  it is December and my attention is constantly being diverted to decorating, cooking, visiting, shopping, wrapping, mailing, . . . I sound like the UPS commercial - ha!

Robin

PS  And I'm getting a root canal on Thursday - sigh.

The one that got away

I made this quilt in 2018.  I didn't get it quilted till January of 2019 so this would have been the 1st Christmas for it to go on my bed.  I love this quilt.  It was so much fun to make and a delight to quilt.  But, I gave it to my youngest son and DIL who only have one of my quilts while the other 5 kids have multiples.

This is so silly but I am mourning the loss of this quilt.  It's not like I can't go see it if I want to (sigh) but I don't own it anymore.  Does anyone else do this?

I have/had five quilts that I consider Christmas quilts and they picked out two.  They were delighted.  It will now be part of their Christmas traditions which should make me happy - ya know?  It was so the right thing to do - share the wealth.

My husband said; "You could just make another one,"  And he's right. . . he's so right.

Who knew you could get so attached to something.  I usually have a slight detachment to the quilts I make as soon as they are finished.  I don't know why this one is different.

Some soul searching going on here~
Robin