White Christmas Dinner Guest

It's been snowing since we got up this morning and it is absolutely beautiful outside. It feels a bit odd to say this (since we moved south to escape the winters) but...I love it when it snows here!



This was a painting project with my pal Rochelle (the painter). We used light bulbs as the base and Rochelle took me step by step through the painting process. This is the only one I have left...the rest where gifts.

Merry Christmas To All

I ment to make a special mention of my 100th blog...Oh well...Happy 101th Blog!

The angel guards our front door...another Waterford ceramic piece from the late 90's.

I wish you all a safe and joy filled Christmas!!!!

Quilted Shawl Is Finished - Ready For Show & Tell

Now I have two things to bring to the next guild show & tell. I'm really pleased with the binding...will have to find some more of that fabric. Also, I'm happy that I have more of the top fabric...think I'll use it to back the runner made from the Thanksgiving place mats.



Another Waterford Santa...this one has been unfinished for years...I did paint a little on it after we moved down here, but was stymied as to the last little details. Maybe I'll just get some more gold and silver paint...silver sleeves and gold gloves followed with a gloss finish. Should I antique it first?


I've thought about putting more detail into his robe...??

Farmer Santa

Farmer Santa was also done while living in Waterford, WI. He was already fired when I bought him, so he required several coats of paint and a spray sealant (matte).



The weather here in the mountains of North Georgia is playing havoc with our new workout routine and my Christmas shopping! Things earlier this week were closed down for two days because of snow, yesterday we didn't go shopping (40 miles away) because of an incoming ice storm. This morning we left the house after 10 a.m. because the Rec. Center (gym) wasn't opening until then just to give the roads time to clear up. Our gravel road was a thick sheet of ice and when we got to the top of the first hill we could see two vehicles in the ditch, so...we just turned around and came home.

Working out and shopping will have to wait until tomorrow...hopefully everything won't be as icy tomorrow morning. It finally made it to 52 degrees late this afternoon and it's suppose to be 31 overnight.

Donation Quilt Done

I finally got around to putting the binding on this donation quilt...needed something to take to our next guild show and tell. This is the one that I made my first ever stencil for. I may have the quilted shawl done by then...what with our weather delays around here.




Love the stripes for the binding...this is my best joining seam. Hhhmmmm...I think I should have trimmed up the quilt a little more to eliminate floating stitch line.




This is the worst joining seam....but it was at the very end where you're twisting the binding around trying to join them together. Should have cleaned up those frayed threads before I took a picture.

Christmas Hostess Gift

Friday we had some of our friends over for cards. As usually when we gather, everyone brings their beverage of choice (usually wine) and a food contribution. Appetizer/finger food was to be served, so I baked a brie in dough and wrapped cocktail wienies in the extra dough and baked them up.

Saturday evening we went to friends house for dinner and cards. I baked a creamy pear pie...a big hit!


I needed a hostess gift and didn't feel like running into town to shop for one, so I headed up to my quilt room after the pie was in the oven. I don't have a big stash and have just recently added a few pieces of Christmas fabric.

Fortunately, I have quite a bit of Insul-Bright left from when I made a heat proof table pad, so I double layered the Insul-Bright, adjusted the tension, quilted it, and put the binding on with time to spare.

The hot pad was unwrapped and went directly on the table to replace a folded green tea towel!

Another Christmas Decoration Project

Here's another Waterford ceramic item. I'm pretty sure that I didn't pay more than $25 for the base and tree (including glaze and firing) and now they cost about 2 to 3 times as much (at least in Illinois), plus they're smaller.

I never was happy with the wimpy little light that came with the tree because it really didn't light up the top of the tree. So.....



...Sweetie put this light in the base...now that baby really glows!

Christmas Decorating (quilting distraction)

The day after Thanksgiving, I started dragging the Christmas decorations out of the little eve storage areas in my quilting room. It really didn't take that long since I'm not an overboard Christmas decorator. Since we didn't decorate at all last year because of the move, I felt the need to get them up as soon as possible.

The two Santa's above were made by my DD and I in the late 90's, when we were living in Waterford. Waterford is a small town in southeast Wisconsin and like a lot of small towns the shops in its little downtown areas was continually cycling through different proprietors and contents. In the late 90's, one of the larger store fronts contained a combination pet store and ceramic shop. They poured slip into their own molds and had an area in the back of the pet store/ceramic shop where you could prepare your purchased green ware for firing and painting or glazing and firing.



The Santa on the right was done by my DD and mine is on the left.



Being that they are tall and rather light weight, they are also very unstable and prone to tipping over...which they have done several times and sustained varying degrees of damage. My Santa broken in half in one fall (you may be able to see a crack running thru his star if you enlarge picture) and DD's Santa has had his bottom quarter pieced back together (minus a few chips of plaster..see darker spots of red).

I've always tried to keep them out of harms way (pets, small children, a breeze) and even used Gorilla Grip, that securing putty.


This year, while I was dragging out the decorations, and idea came to me as I was taking these guys out of their bubble wrap....they need a stand. Downstairs I went, with Santa's in hand, to find Sweetie and explain his next project. It became our next project.

Out came the left over wood from the lazy susan (more on that in another post) and we marked the oval the size that I wanted. Sweetie then cut it out, sanded the cut sides, and then routed the decorative edge. I sanded it, put on stain, and three coats of poly (with sanding in between the first two coats). The next morning, I used a little steel wool on the 3rd coat and finished it off with a coat of butchers wax. It's not one of my more stellar finishing jobs...but it still looks pretty good and is exactly what I envisioned.

Aerial Thanksgiving Photo's

The tables set, the turkeys roasting and our neighbors will be here soon. I decided the table needed more color than a cream table cloth, so I sewed some strips together. Later, I'll sew them together to make a runner....


...for here.


Hoping for a safe and happy Thanksgiving for everyone!

Hexagon and YoYo Diversion

I decided it was time to put a portable projects kit together so that I can putz in other areas of the house. When Sweetie is in the lower level killing zombies (65 and still loves video games) and the like, I would usually bring down a book and cozy up in the recliner and read while Sweetie saved mankind from the zombie hordes. Sweetie would really love it if I played video games too, but I just lose all control of my thumb when things are trying to kill me! And it's never really just me playing the game, Sweetie is right there by my side,critiquing my moves (usually he says things like "What are you doing!?" or "Aim!?" or "It's over there not there!")which only makes my thumb even more spastic.

Anywho, my thinking was that I would be a little more productive (actually finish something)if I put some portable project together.




Used freezer paper, starch, and an ironable hex template to shape these. Sure glad I'm having my eyes examined on the 29th...it sure is hard to see if I'm making a small enough stitch!

Got a few more yoyos done...what to use them on?


Just a view of the backside.

The Shawl Is Quilted and YoYo Made

Yeah...the quilting is done and with only a few mishaps (ripped out stitches).


The backside looks ok...every little bobble and wobble shows...but after it's washed and softened up they shouldn't show as much. Now to bind it and use the tutorial for inside corners that I found on another blog.



It sure is a lot smaller than I thought it would be...but it's a cute little thing!

The Quilt Shawl Is Calling My Name!

Still!

It's laying in the same exact spot as it was on Friday.

On Saturday, I was able to turn a deaf ear and enjoy a beautiful afternoon on the bike




Hopefully after a run into town this morning, I will start quilting.

Veteran's Day and Other Things

It was a quiet celebration here at our little paradise is the mountains. I was going to have the title be Happy Veteran's Day...but Sweetie really isn't very happy on Veteran's Day. While he doesn't begrudge the celebrations, the support and warm welcomes home that Vets now receive....Sweetie is from the era of being spit on, being called a "baby killer"...his airport greeters were protesters...yes, he was spit on and had "baby killer" screamed at him. Forty-five years later...the memory still brings tears to his eyes.

BIG SIGH....

Here's my reading selection...I'm a being a pokey reader. Had to go on-line last week to renew the books and I'm only half way thru one book.



This is a shawl that I found directions for on-line, but it wasn't quilted. It was a bit dicey getting the backing and the front to line up with the bigger piece of batting in between. Fortunately, the spray basting will let you reposition!

Since it is experimentation, I just used two whole peices for the front rather than to any strips together.



The first row is marked with my homemade stencil and the Bubba is threaded and ready to go tomorrow.



Has anyone put a binding on something that had an inside corner? Will have to research that.

Sewing Socks

Last month, when I went to Dahlonega with the guild, I bought a pair of socks at one of the downtown shops. They have aloe vera embedded in the yarn and are suppose to soften your feet. Since I don't sew with shoes on, I keep them by Bubba and slip them on when it's time to sew. I better get more sewing done because my tootsies sure could use the pampering.


The last two pipers are done for the Twelve Days Of Christmas ornaments going on a tree at the library. Funny how seeing a picture of something really draws your eye to an items shortcomings. One piper looks like a "no neck" football player and the other is holding his pipe in a unique manner.



This afternoon, I pinned the last fabric bits on this Christmas Pinecone...still needs bow and hanging loop. This was from a guild demo over a month ago. This morning, I bought a couple of foam balls a Wally World to make some bigger ones.

Again...Where Has The Time Gone Since Last I Blogged!?

Time flies when you're having fun and retired!

Right after the kids headed back to Switzerland, I headed out on a four day shop hop excursion. It was the Mystery Harvest Quilt Shop Hop, a tri state hop with shops in southern Ohio, West Virginia and eastern Kentucky. The hop officially had 16 shops but we hit 3 extra (one or two in Tennessee) and we zigged and zagged over 1,400 miles on Interstate roads and back roads (turn right at the goat farm)to get there and back.

What did I learn while on the trip: West Virginia and Virginia are beautiful states, there are some really scary motels out there, I loose my sense of adventure (really sense of humor) after eating mediocre/bad food for too long, I would do a shop hop again.


I signed up for a 2011 BOM quilt (above) at a shop in Ohio (I think) and should start receiving the blocks in a month or so.


Sweetie's SIL bought this book for me when they were here. Since he and his father like a lot of the same authors that I do, he was sure I would like these authors. He was right. The good thing about their books is that most of them don't have to be read in sequential order...this one falls in the middle of the list.


The Guild christmas blocks are done and will be turned in on Tuesday.



I've been working on making HSTs and pinwheels. It's still a work in progress...trying a variety of methods to make HSTs. Also, I made a couple of square in squares.


This past Tuesday, some of the Guild ladies and I headed over to Dahlonega, GA to visit two quilt shops and check out the downtown area. What a cute little town!!! We had lunch at the Oar House, a restaraunt outside Dahlonega, on the banks of the Chestatee River....would love to tube that river some day!

The Kids Are Back In Switzerland...Back To Blogging

It's come to my attention that I was having a problem with readers trying to post comments to my blog. A while back I had made some changes in Settings in an attempt to eliminate comments from the orient that were just links to sex sites. That may have been the start of the problem. Also, upon investigating comment issues, I learned that Blogger has been having issues for awhile now with the embedded comments section. So, I followed the recommendations and selected the pop-up comments page feature. It seems to have taken care of the problem.

Now to the post topic...

Sweetie's DD and SIL were with us for most of the two weeks that they were in the US and it was a most enjoyable time.


Our first excursion was to Fort Mountain.


Next, we tubed the Coosawattee River (pictures are still on Sweetie's cell). Then we went up to Copperhill, TN for a trail ride. Even though we had a mix of rain and sunshine, we all really enjoyed the ride.


The next day we took the waterfall hike on the Wildcat Tract in Dawson Forest. What a beautiful place! They felt the need to climb even higher up (have movie of it) while we discussed the chances of getting a medivac helicopter in if one or both of them slipped.


We were more than content in the little pool at the base.

Going in(first 4 miles)the trail was rates white (easier) and the last 2.5 miles was rated blue (harder)...ALL UPHILL!!!!! OMG!!! Again, at times, I was wondering what our chances were of getting a chopper in to lift our old behinds out of there!!!

Tomorrow morning at 6 a.m., I leaving with three other ladies from the guild to go on a Shop Hop in eastern Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia...should be a great time.

My Home Made Stencil Is A Success

I had to get the Dremel out again to make the holes into slots and the Pounce Pad just wasn't giving me enough chalk. A cotton ball dabbed in the chalk worked just fine.


You won't have to look real hard to be able to see a few problem areas, but all in all, I'm pleased with the results.


I'm liking the look of the back.

I also experimented with the quilting direction on my machine, turning it so that it was perpendicular to me and not paralell to me. It preserved the marking lines better that way. However, as with most newer machines, the needle sits at least 3 to 4 inches in under the machine and does limit visabililty somewhat.