Feline Friday(onSaturday)

Moe is taking his job very seriously - holding down that quilt while I try to decide how I want to quilt it and which machine I am going to use to do the job.  It took me a LONG time and several sheets with the lint brush to clean all that black hair off first.

Bella is just so hard to photo for some reason.  Now Teresa and I think Bella and Weasley were seperated at birth - go VISIT HERE and tell me you don't think so too.

We have had a great, relaxing December.  For once all family members were healthy for lots of get togethers and a great amount of NaNa time with the grands, but now, slowly - everyone is coming down with the 'bug'.  I am starting to itch for the New Year and New projects. Moe and Bella are itching for Spring!

** linking up with Sarah Did It - Feline Friday **

Sewingly Yours,
Sharon 

Celtic Soltice Part #4

Well, the old gal came home all cleaned, repaired, and prime for some sewing!  What better to put her back into her paces that the next step of Celtic Soltice.

Lots of 4-patches quickly went thru her in an afternoon.  I love how this machine hums along and is so spot on with her seam allowance that very little trimming had to be done.  We are ready for the next step.

** linking up with Bonnie Hunter @ Quiltville **

The only sewing I have been doing this month has been Solitice.  Gosh, piecing on my old machine got me inspired.  So I pulled the box of units for the 'Count Down to Christmas' by Temecula Co.  I will try to get at least half of the quilt top together - already rippet a few sections as I just lose the flow of the pattern for some reason.  I love these Mid Winter Reds fabrics.

 

Remember the photos of all our snow, here is the same shots a few days later.  We went from single digits to the 60's and rain (yes, Winter Soltice felt like Spring), so most of the snow is gone - yet still that same grey sky.  We are to drop back down into 'cold' and an ice storm is predicted now for Christmas Day.  We shall see.

I will be taking the rest of the week for family, friends, food, and memories.  Merry Christmas and Season's Blessings to all.

Sewingly Yours,

Sharon

Santa Sack Swap

I always enjoy this swap that Cheryll hosts each year.  There were a few rule changes this year to make things easier with the mailing.  My partner this year was the lovely JoAnne at The Patriotic Quilter and I had lots of time to browse her blog to get some great ideas as to what to send her.  And she stalked me too -- and did a terrific job of it, too.

First I grabbed some Hot Chocolate in my Santa Mug (not in photo as I was afraid I would knock it over and spoil things) and  this tin of GREAT cookies.  My dear friend Sheila sends me these from NC every year - she lives around the bend from them - OH SO GOOD!!

This was the 'sack' - I LOVE buttons and look at them and all the pockets on and in this bag is perfect.  And not overly Christmasy, so I plan to use this as my new Guild bag - I'm VP and need to carry lots of stuff, so this is perfect.

 Pockets all around the inside and a draw string top - I love this and plan to show it off at the January meeting.

And all the goodies!!  Which to open first?  I went from the smallest to the largest.  I thought my furries would be happy to help - but they are napping.

The bag of nuts are native grown/packaged Virginia (where JoAnne is from) and I will be taking them with me when visiting my daughter's family on Christmas.  A sweet tree on a vintage play block - and she found the letter 'V' for me - and buttons on it too.  I actually saw something similar at a local show and thought how cute - now I have my own personalized one.  And the pincushion - that is going into the bag so I have it when we do little projects at guild meetings.

Thank you, thank you, thank you - JoAnne notice on my blog that I LOVE Mary Engelbreit - note pad and little journal, cute baking cups (these are just too sweet to bake in), and the great iron carrier that opens to be used as an ironing pad.  Oh, I need this!  A guild member loaned me her pattern for one of these, now I don't have to make it.  AND I have one in ME fabrics!!  Drool!!

A sweet little sewing kit for sewing machine care - perfect for my new machine.  My favorite color is blue - look at those FQs!!  And JoAnne hand dyed these herself - extra special.  These will have to go into a very special project - they need to shine.

Thank you JoAnne for so many lovely and thoughtful gifts and to Cheryll for hosting again.

It looks like a very Merry Christmas,
Sewingly Yours,
Sharon

Celtic Soltice Part #3

I had to finish up the part #2 chevrons, so here is part #1 and #2.  I am using my new machine and trying to get use to where the 1/4" is.  Also, she goes VERY FAST, so I am using a medium speed or my piecing might include one of my fingers.

  
I love to make HSTs and usually would try to use all those bits and pieces up to make these, but with the new machine I thought it would be best to use the 'make 8 at a time' method.  Lynn at Sew'n Wild Oaks has all the math charted out and nice tutorial is you have never used this method.

25 pinwheels and 100 little HSTs done and waiting for the next step.
** Linking up with Bonnie Hunter's Mystery **

And while working Celtic Soltice we are heading into Winter Soltice.....

No, I didn't grey scale these photos - this is how it has looked since Friday - cold, snow, and grey.  The sun might come out tomorrow and we are to climb into the 50's by the weekend - we shall see.

Sewingly Yours,
Sharon 

A Quilter's Oath

I saw this on Patty's Blog and just had to add this to my NewFO and 2014 Year's list of 'to-do's.  Please feel free to share on your own blog.

2014 NewFO Challenge

Well, Barbara @ Cat Patches has decided to be our 'Enabler in Chief' for a new year.  What is NewFO?  Well, you have permission and encouragement to start a new project - no pressures, no finish - just start something!  And your choice of whether it is something new monthly, semi-monthly, or however you would like to work.  Visit Barbara and see what I mean and then I am sure you can put together a list of NewFOs you would like to start in 2014.

I have decided I am going to skip the year long BOMs and QALs - Oh, I will still keep things updated with buttons on my sidebar as there may be something that interests others.  But I have a collection of books that I JUST HAD TO HAVE and haven't touched.  

You know the ones, usually it was the cover photo quilt that caught your eye.  Well, I want to challenge myself to grab a book and make a quilt in it.

And that other shelf - it's time revisit some of these and others haven't been touched.

Yes, all those cross stitch books.  I slipped away from this and really want to get back into a schedule of handwork.  I have been stitching this month with my sewing machine off to the SPA - and it really has been a pleasure.

I bought this in the middle of the year and have been slowly gathering the materials and think all is in place for this to be a highlight piece in 2014.

And I need to dedicate time to learn this - setting time each week to learn a new step each month.

  

This arrived in the middle of our snow storm - now that's service!

2014 is going put this girl thru her paces.  I am letting her sit for 24 hrs after her long, cold travels and then reading thru that thick manual and testing every part of her before putting her to work.  No, I don't name my machines - they are either a him or her.

I will be taking part in the RSC14 to clear that bin of strings, I do like to particpate in some of those challenges, an occassional Hop, and the short term QALs do appeal to me. The Monthly Doll Quilt Swap group is always fun as well as the small 'friends' swap group (semi-monthy).  And I have three quilt shows I plan to participate in, too.  Sounds like a full year.

Sewingly Yours,

Sharon

Christmasl QAL & Challenge Finale

Our venture began back in June with the lovely Joanna as our first hostess and Hazel was our alternating months hostess. And it was nice that they ran the QAL for the weekend so you could join in either day. We also got the big Challenge given to us by the spearhead of this venue - Sue @ Quilt Times.

The Challenge

Make a quilt on the theme of Christmas without using the colours red or green.

The small print:

·         The quilt may be any style, as long as it has two layers of fabric enclosing wadding, secured by quilting or tying

·         It may be any shape, but must measure no more than 96” around the outside edges.  ie, it could be a square 24” x 24”, a rectangle  8” x  40”, a triangle measuring 36” on each side,  a circle with a diameter of 30”, or any other shape you can think of, as long as the total outside edges do not add up to more than 96”

 ·         If the design is not your own, you must credit the original designer

 ·         It must be completed, including binding, in time for your final photo to be included in our grand parade in December

·         You will be asked to send one photo of your finished quilt with a ruler along the longest edge to prove it meets size restrictions to your hostess  in December

·         To be eligible to win the prize you must have joined at least three of the Quiltalong Linky parties with a post during the weekend showing what you are working at that time.



Now I am not a huge fan of Christmas print fabrics, and I do love working minis - so this challenge was really easy for me and scraps were pulled out for play.

They became the base for my project.  If you are familiar with the 'twister' template, this sqaure setting makes sense to you.  Yep, lots of scrappy 2.5" squares, then a solid border - waiting to be chopped up!

With the mini Twister only 1.5" square, I bought the small rotary which made it much easier cutting these.  No room for error inbetween those cuts as you can see - as well as that project really shrank down once cut and re-sewn.

All cut and re-sewn for a mini tree - ready for decorating.  Yes, that border fabric had a silver 'sparkle' to it - not the easiest fabric to sew thru.  And there are some really heavy seams to this, so it is going to have to be finished by hand.

Lots of tiny beads and buttons (no red or green) and metallic threads in siver, gold, and blue - all hand tied.

I went thru that package of beading needles.  As they got more and more bent, they eventually broke.  I made it thru the project and one (bent) needle left.

Since we need to show the size meets the challenge - a photo with tapes.  Finished at 12.5" x 14".

And I made sure there was no red/green on the back either.

So I present my piece for the Challenge - please be sure to visit Sue and see what others have completed for their challenge.  I, also, find it funny that this QAL/Challenge started with a tropical storm - Andrea (boy it rained) and ending with our first major winter storm (at times we are to see 1-2" an hour). And boy it's cold!!  Looks like a blue and white Christmas for us.

Sewingly Yours,

Sharon

Friday the 13th Winners

Winners of the $50 Certificates

USA WINNER

 barb said...

i was in a serious accident a few years ago and one of the injuries was a severe trauma head injury and i suffer from short term memory loss, so i am always misplacing things. yesterday, a friend took me to the store and one of my nessities was toilet paper. well today i was looking for it and it was nowhere to be found. that is until i went to get some milk from the refrigerator. yep, there was my precious toilet paper sitting on a shelf beside the milk. thank you for a wonderful giveaway.

December 6, 2013 at 8:39 AM

OUT OF STATES WINNER

Deb said...

Ooh lucky you Sharon. I would love to get a new machine. Not that there is anything wrong with my one, I just love new toys!

I found $5 in my jeans pocket the other day. No idea how long it had been there as I haven't worn those jeans in ages. And you know I am in NZ 

December 6, 2013 at 11:05 PM

Congratulations ladies and thank you to all who commented

Baby It's Cold Outside

I know most of us are cold and some snowy, too.  We are having a bit of a white out tonight, but warm inside.  Although we may curse out the window at it, it does add to the charm of the season.

This Saturday we will be linking up with Sue at Quilt Times for the final Christmas QAL & Challenge.  It will be fun to see how everyone did on their challenge piece - no red or green and less than 96" total around the outside of the finished piece.

Luckily Tuesday was a lite snow so we could hold our Quilt Guild meeting/Christmas party.  A soup, salad, rolls and tons of deserts night with some great quilters.  Instead of exchanging gifts we do pillowcases for a local children's hospital and new this year - made placemats for Meals on Wheels for their Christmas dinners delivery.  We also donated food and personal items to one local pantry and money to another.  

Our program committee had us bring one FQ to win a raffle of bundled FQs and an ugly FQ which was put in a papersack - we got one to take home with the challenge to make something with it and bring it back next meeting .  I won one of the bundles and the bright is my ugly.  I also won a pointsettia plant on one of the tables, but gave that to my Mom.  

My BIG box of thread came - rather jumbled in it's travels, but what fun to sort thru this and put all those colors in place.  AND I can't wait to use them!

My brother & SIL took Mom into the city shopping for the day, so I was home alone (sort of) to watch the shop.  And with no sewing machine, pushed the Bah-Hum-Bugs into the closet and decided to do a little decor.  It was a little difficult with this helper claiming everything in the tub as his own.  Bella hates anything 'different' , so hid upstairs in the spare bedroom.

So the tree is up and I only put my blogger swap ornaments on it.

And the mantel with just some of my snowmen along with my Dec 2012 Doll Swap.  That poor empty table  is where my New Home machine should be.
And the new machine hasn't arrived yet.  There is a long story on that whole mess for another time, but there is one on it's way.

I will be making changes on the side bar - QALs and hops and events that finish up and adding new items as I come across them.

 Just remember with the hustle and bustle of the Season - take time to breath.  See you Saturday.

Sewingly Yours,
Sharon