Finally. . .

My hubby was thirteen days before he got the one little red line instead of two. He is still coughing a bit, but back to his normal self. We have been busy with catching up.

I did tell you about three finishes. I can only put two of them here as the other is a Christmas surprise for a special person. It will be posted next week. Here are the two little ones. They were leftover panels from the large quilt already posted. The first used up most of the remaining border print of small lighthouses, plus the blue I used for sashing. The red came out of my stash of scraps.

The second used up more leftovers. Feels good. I quilted them very simply as can be seen.

The picture below these is a runner that quickly went together for our living room coffee table. It matches the blue decorations used this year. I usually alternate with red/gold, but enjoy the blue ones the most. Anyway, it used up some blue Christmas fabric scraps, so that feels good too.

Below that is a top. It goes to our guild charity division. I called the person who chairs it and she said: "Make tops. We have lots of volunteers to longarm quilt them, and you have too much to do..." I wanted to hug her on the phone. Anyway, this was four orphan blocks plus a few fabrics that matched them and only one fat quarter from my stash. It is about 50" square and was fun to make. I used strip sets to make the piano key border, just as much sewing but seems to go quicker and straighter than sewing all the "keys" individually.

While all this was happening, I decided to get serious with scrap sorting. I tried various options until realizing that I work best with color, so took the orphan blocks and patterns and sorted them according to colors that would work together to make a quilt inspired from that small piece. That is, each will be improv using what I like as a color combo. It will be easier to see when I start posting them!!

In the meantime, Christmas. Almost ready. Parcels all wrapped under the tree. Stockings getting fatter by the hour. Cookies in tins and jars. Salmon ball made (our son must have that appetizer). Roasted nuts today. Kids are making dessert but I want to make one too. Turkey is thawing. Veggies bought fresh today. Singing carols without even thinking about it. I love it that God sent His Son to be our Savior and this day coming soon is about that amazing gift -- and about being with those we love. 

It is really cold here, and really white. Yesterday way -34C when I got up with a windchill of -41C. But we have a warm house and garage, and a full pantry, and are thankful for so many blessings.

May your Christmas be filled with joy and peace.

May your Christmas be full of His joy!

Joy to the World Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the world, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

Easter

Finally, my house is starting to look normal (whatever normal is) instead of like a warehouse. The new floor is in and most things are back where they belong - or out of the house and gone to a better home! Purging unused stuff is my new favorite pastime.

Also, my big desk is in a new spot and that room is now called a "study" - with books on shelves in the closet and along one wall. 

My sewing studio looks vaguely like a basketball court (smaller, of course) with everything around the edges, but what it lacks in pretty, it makes up for in functional. There is a quilt top in place on my HQ 16, quilting motif selected. Soon, it will be finished. Feels good.

Now, if you could quilt the fabric in this picture, what would you put on it?

Happy Easter!
 

I am quilting, really

I'm getting sick of looking at the same post, but I am quilting. I've cut from four values (12-16 fabrics) the pieces for a mystery quilt. Nothing is the same size or even multiples of the measurements, so it has me bamboozled. I am looking forward to what this will be. It is a class that my friend and co-teacher is offering. She took my Kaleidoscope session, so now I'm taking hers.

Also, I'm nearly finished some elaborate swirls and shapes on Kaleidoscope 2 (K-2 for short). It has started to suggest placement for beads or jewels, so that is motivating me, but tracing the quilting designs takes forever. The lines are also hard to see on so many different fabrics. I'm doing one area at a time so my quilt pencil/chalk combination doesn't get lost! The quilting is subtle but I'm very happy so far.

I really like K-2 and K-3, and want to make more of these, then the thought came to me --- when I get to K-9, will it turn out to be a dog? (I know, that is pure corn, but it did make me laugh out loud.)

Here is a picture of "Joy Always" a small piece I did for a wedding gift. The symbol is Chinese for 'love' and the couple are very dear to us. The quilting is in gold metallic and shows up better in life. If you double click the picture, you can see it.

I picked the design from a Dover clipart book and figured out the piecing without too much trouble. The back didn't look too pretty when it was done so I gave it another backing, like a lining.