Sleeping under the Christmas Tree

I've made a little progress on my Christmas under the tree quilt center.  A strip of the tree garland and the picture on the wall are not sewn down yet.  The tree looks like it needs more ornaments but I have tried a few different ideas that didn't work out so, I'm going to wait till I have presents in front of the tree to decide what else it needs.  I tried buttons, and I cut a few small designs from other fabrics to be appliqued.  It just wasn't right.

We always do Charles Wysocki puzzles at Christmas time so when I found this scrap of Wysocki fabric. . . I had to make it into a picture.  At least it has snow and sleighs.

I'm uncertain what the rest of the quilt is going to look like.  I had thought about just doing a Double Star block in red, green, blue, and yellow but now I am feeling uncertain about that decision.  Maybe I just need to make sawtooth star blocks and call it good.  I also considered making small triangle tree blocks but that would not be the quickest option.  I'm having fun, that's what counts.

My husband got a cortisone shot for his hip last week.  Here he is reclining on the lounge in the waiting room at the pain center.  Notice he's wearing his slippers, gotta be comfortable, right?

My two youngest grandson's and I made a little snowman this week. The little boys were delighted. 

We called him "Winky" because one of his eyes fell out.  

Then we came inside because we were cold and had a real tea cocoa party.  We used my mother's old Franciscan Ware teapot and the little boys were so careful not to drop anything.  They both found out that the saucer does a really good job of catching all the slurps and spills.

                                      You can't have too many marshmallows I always say. . . 

 Another fun event this week is that my granddaughter had her first fitting for toe shoes.  

Last week she and her mother (my daughter) were visiting.  She was on her tablet in the living room and we were sewing at the kitchen table.  Her mother called to her and asked her to come in and tell me what she had coming up this week. She's quite an introvert and was reluctant to come in so her mother finally told me about the shoe fitting.  A quiet cheerful voice came from the living room, "You can come if your want to."

Well, there was no way I was going to refuse THAT invitation.  It was special to be part of something that is important to her.  She's a sweetheart!

Have a lovely week,

Robin

(310 days to get this Christmas quilt done.)

Ho Ho Ho

 I'm preparing a meal to take to someone else this morning.  It always makes me so nervous.  It's because  while I used to be a pretty good cook. . . as I have aged I don't multi-task as well.   Sometimes ingredients get forgotten or I don't stir something or the cake falls.  I think it's because I'm out of practice.  So, I picked a never-fail recipe and I'm plowing ahead.  I also added ham chunks to this recipe.

We woke up to about 2" of new snow.  It's always so pretty to see the world covered in white. But, having snow on the ground meant that I wouldn't be going for my walk.  My walking partner has had knee replacements and she won't risk slipping and falling.  I don't blame her at all.   I just looked out the window and the sweet snowflakes are fluttering down again.  Sigh, so peaceful.

I've started yet another Christmas quilt.  Here is my progress.

The background looks tan but it is white and measures 24" X 24".  My middle son (who I'm making the quilt for) used to spend weeks before Christmas sleeping under the Christmas tree.  He's behind the loveseat because that is where the heating vent was.

I need to finish the pillow, decorate the tree, and make presents.  I think the wall in the center needs a picture or shelf or something.  I'll figure that out when I get the rest done.

I was going to make individual blocks to look like my son's ornaments.  This is a really horrible picture of his missionary tree.  As each of the kids went on their missions I would collect their ornaments given to them by Grandma and Grandpa and put them on an artificial 1/2 tree that hung on the wall.  This son's tree is the only one that I have a picture of and so I have a record of all the ornaments.  

Now that I'm actually working on the quilt I shudder to think how much time it would take to make those 12 ornament blocks.  It would look fabulous but I need to come up with better idea.

Christmas is only 320 days away,

Robin

Bramble Blooms Pt. 2 done

I finished the border around the center of my Bramble Blooms SAL.  The prompt asked us to repeat something from the center.  There are obviously pink blooms from the corners of baskets liners (see previous post) but I was mostly trying to repeat the blue circle around the hollyhocks in the center by using circles in the border.  The lovely machine appliqued flowers are really a bonus.  

We were also asked to use quarter square triangles for the cornerstones.  The example blocks were just to angular for this piece.  So I chose to make hourglass blocks and put more appliqued circles in their center.  

I'm looking forward to the next prompt

 And I leave you with a peek of the peak of Mt. Olympus across the valley. 

 I am lucky to have such wonderful views.

Robin

Next Bramble Blooms prompt

Our next prompt was to take some idea from the middle section and use it to applique something on an  outside border.  Perhaps adding a coping border as well.

So I got everything out this morning and trimmed the center to 20" square.  

It was 20" X 22 1/8", an odd size.

A friend of mine bought these units (I think they are a basket liners to put warm rolls in) at a local linens shop for 50 cents each or something.  She had had them for a while and in a declutter moment handed them all to me (9 with pink borders and 6 blue with borders) and said you'll know what to do with these.  

That was about 10 years ago at least.  I was musing over what I could create for the next border.  I had a background fabric in mind and "POOF" the idea came to me to use these well aged machine appliques on my next border.

So I pre-shrunk the units.  They came out great and just needed a little ironing.

I cut out the appliques using circle templates.   I wanted to repeat the circle shape that is behind the hollyhock blossoms in the center.   I had to cut into the blue flower - sigh!

Then I auditioned them for placement.  I really like the way it looks.  I don't think I'll be able to use the blue applique at all  

I'm not sure yet how wide to make the border or whether to add cornerstones or not.  The prompt suggests we put quarter square units as cornerstones but I'm not sure the straight edges will go with all the curves.  

More decisions to be made.

 And evidently my DH thinks this is the right amount of whipping cream for his pie!!!!!

Robin

The things we do. . .

 I finished the "Build-a-quilt" top this morning.  I brought it upstairs, put it on the floor in the living room and started to put the 4-patches around it so I could get a good color placement before I started sewing.

It looked horrible!  It was so busy that it just looked like mud.

So, I auditioned some fabric for another border and added a few of the 4-patches to the corners and Voila!

It is 44" X 56".  My oldest daughter came this morning and I showed it to her.  She thought it was terrific.  Of course she would~ 

She ended up taking it home with her. She liked all the busy-ness.

 I was trying to use up the fabric "Blitzen" from the quilt I made her a couple of years ago.  I wasn't successful with using it all up though. . . 

This is what I still have left over.  That snowman piece measures 3 yds. so it might become a backing.

And I still have 253 4-patches leftover.  I will probably work on that next.  Good Grief!

I usually gather all the empty spools I've used during the year and take a picture.  It's for my own satisfaction, it makes me feel like I'm making  progress.  It's not as many as last year but it's a good showing.

I haven't joined the Declutter 2024 with Karen Brown but I've been watching her videos.  I have gone through my patterns and the lid fits on the box now.  I also went through the patterns I have on the computer and deleted about 1/3 of them.  It feels good to declutter.

I'm going to go through my two shelves of books next.

Robin

Winter all week

This is the forecast for this coming week.  It makes it look like we will be pounded with snow.  What it will be like for us will be snow sifting down gradually and melting in between times.  But, the mountains will get at least 40" by the end of the week.

Look how the snow sparkles in the moonlight.  These are not an enhanced photos.  And it's much more dazzling in person.

                             A sweet little crescent moon and Venus reflecting light off of the snow.

 I'm still working on the "build-a-quilt" from my previous 2 posts.  I've got 60 4-patches for another border.  I only need 102 more.  The fabric is getting used up. . . the whole point of this project.

Have a great frosty day.

Robin

If I didn't do so much unsewing . . .

 I would sure have a lot more done.

I can see why beginning sewers get so discouraged.  I have unpicked the pinwheel blocks so many times!

But, seasoned sewers know that there are going to be mistakes and they look bad and amateurish if you leave them in or they haunt you every time you see your quit.

So, we unpick them and try to make it right. 

But, I have to admit, after having sewed since I was 12 and quilted for 30 years. . .      I STILL CUT OFF POINTS AND IT DRIVES ME CRAZY!!!

Here is the center for the quilt I have been working on (previous post).  The light colored rectangles looked empty so I fussy cut snowman heads and added them.  I decided on just a plain first border.  I needed somewhere to rest my eyes because the Glitter blocks can be so busy.

You'll notice the borders aren't the same width.  I did that on purpose so I can surround it with 4.5" blocks.  

Then came the pinwheel border.  I really like how it turned out but I've been working on the pinwheels  a lot and as I said before. . . unpicking is necessary but it sure take a lot of time.  

Next came an easy border.  It repeats the snowmen and also the aqua color of the first border.

This looks so bad!  GASP!  The photograph doesn't show how bright the fabrics are.  It just looks like a jumble of blocks and actually it's quite cute.  I'm sure it doesn't help that the photos are taken inside on a snowy day.  (Did I say how grateful I am for any snow at this point?)

Now that it is done the quilt measures 36.5" X 48.5"  I realized that instead of making a whole bunch of 4.5" blocks (hourglass, 4-patch, or 16-patch with 1.5" squares) I could make 12" blocks and things might move along more quickly.  

Hmmmmmmmm!  I'll have to give that some more thought.

I bought a fat quarter stack of "Blitzen" in 2013 and even though I have already made one quilt, I still have a lot of fabric left over so my options are wide.  My goal is to use up all the fabric I have left.

My daughter and I put the Santa Fe quilt on the frames.  It is a donation quilt and so I am just going to tie it.  My grandson really liked it and I'll take that as good news because I was trying to make something more masculine.  It does have some butterfly scraps in it but I don't think there are any florals.

My husband is unwinding all the lights he wrapped around this tree.  He bought a sound system this year that continuously played about 8 songs and the lights kept time to the music.  It is snowing outside but it melts before it hits the ground.  All I can say is that at least we're getting some moisture and I'm grateful for that. 

One of my geraniums is blooming.  You can see some of the sifting snow outside the window.

Hope you're year is starting out bright.

Robin