CAROLING WAS RAINED OUT!

Goody bags were distributed, but we had heavy rain begin a 5pm, and continued most of the night.  We plan to head out tonight, so I hope the weather fairy keeps more rain at bay!

I baked dinner rolls and half of the batch of ribbon cookies (refrigerated dough).  I even got a bit more quilting done on my latest project.  Since I make my stuffing from dry bread cubes, I spread the bread slices on racks to dry overnight.

This morning I cubed the bread, and left it in a bowl on the counter to continue drying.  Then I made bread crumbs in my blender, using the crusts.  Next was making cranberry sauce, with orange zest and a bit of orange juice added.  It is almost cool enough to put in the refrigerator.   I rolled out the pastry I made to make mini mincemeat tarts. 

Tomorrow I plan to cook the giblets from the turkey, to use the broth in the gravy.  I'll also cook the turnip (rutabaga), and mix in the rest of the ingredients ready to bake on Wednesday.  I've been doing some major juggling of items in the refrigerator to fit everything in!

Now off to my machine to continue quilting my version of Jewel Box Stars....

I'M STILL AROUND.......

I think I'm feeling my age more.  It certainly took longer to get settled, and back to my normal routine.  I discovered that I left my bins of strips behind when I packed, so that deleted some projects from my list for the winter months.

My quilting group is up and running, although we started a week late, as the management company decided to shampoo the carpets in the clubhouse - I still think this should be done during the summer months when the clubhouse is used much less.

I had not planned on a project for the group this year.  I always have simple projects for any beginners, and last spring, noone had ideas of what they would like.  Of course, the first week I was asked "what is our project for this winter?"

I dug through my designs, and decided on 2 mystery quilts.  One is small and is paper pieced.  Some of the new members haven't tried paper piecing before, and some others would like a refresher course.  We are also working on a lap sized quilt, traditionally pieced.  This project takes 9 different fabrics, so it will be interesting to see all the choices.  The instructions give directions for each fabric, by main colour, accent colour, and whether the fabric is a shade from dark to light.  

I have finished two baby quilts, made from panels.  When I found the panels, I picked up 2, and some of the coordinating fabrics from the same line.  Since many of the new panels are only 24 inches wide, I made 6 inch blocks to go on either side, and found flannel for the backs.  I called the quilts "Pond Friends" 

 I have one more nearly finished quilt project.  I have been embroidering 12 blocks, one per month, since January.  Since I had the December block almost complete, I went hunting for fabric to finish the quilt.  DH came along, and when I couldn't decide which one I liked best, he took some of the blocks and found a totally different fabric that was just perfect!
I plan on finishing the quilting on this one after Christmas, and I'll have some pictures to share then.

We have 3 couples to come and share our Christmas dinner this year, so I have been baking rolls, cookies, tarts, and other traditional foods in preparation.  Some parts of the meal are being made by others, but DH and I will be making the turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce as well as a rutabaga apple casserole.  We're looking forward to our evening together with people we love.  We'll be visiting our grandchildren via Skype on Christmas morning, watching them open their gifts from Santa.  Our grandson will be 4 next month, and has been enjoying his Lego Advent calendar!  He had a long chat with Santa last week, but we are worried about the gift he asked for......  he wants an animal translator, so he knows what they are saying and can talk back to them!  

Merry Christmas to everyone, and I hope to be a better blogger in 2019!

A SMALL FINISH & UPDATE TO MY STASH REPORT!

Fabric used this week 1.25 yards
Fabric used year to date  113.5 yards
Fabric added this week 14 yards
Fabric added year to date  70.25 yards
Net used this year  43.25 yards

When I said small, I really meant it!  I completed a table runner - I had finished the hand embroidery, and it had hung, forgotten, on my design wall for 2 years.  I pulled some fabric for backing and borders, and prepped it for quilting before heading south.

Of course, I don't remember the pattern designer......

It looks very sparkly in person - I used a pearl coloured Glitter thread by Superior Threads to quilt snowy swirls in the background, and red Glitter around the pointsettias.   I also forgot to bring binding fabric, so I used one of my new fat quarters.

I also spent some time completing the December BOM blocks - green this month.

There are two of the first block, similar, but using a variety of fabrics.

 There are two of the geese blocks, following the designer's suggestion to radiate the geese colours from dark to light.

There are 4 for the bow tie blocks, following the dark, light, dark green colour scheme.

Now I just have to wait for January!  If you are interested in the block of the month, here is the link.

The holidays are nearly upon us again.  I still have baking to do, and we haven't decorated yet!  DH has been helping a neighbour seal his concrete driveway, and finally, all the band members have arrived south for the winter, so many practices are coming up.  There is a Christmas sing-a-long each December in our community, and the band has been asked to entertain while everyone is arriving, and also accompany all the songs and carols.  Everyone has fun, and it helps to get everyone in the holiday spirit.  There is a decorated golf cart parade coming up, and a huge pot luck dinner on Christmas eve.  The band is entertaining there as well!  They also have several Christmas parties at local nursing homes scheduled for December, so they will be busy, busy, busy.  They all play for the love of music, and try to add some extra cheer all year.

QUILT TOP COMPLETED

I just put the final border on my pinwheel quilt top.

Now I'll finally begin quilting my autumn leaf quilt.

My new threads are arriving tomorrow

while we are spending the afternoon at Epcot for

Christmas Candlelight Procession.

Saturday I'll be in the mood to decorate inside and out for the holidays! 

HEXAGON FRIDAY

It looks like I'll finish the top of my hexagon quilt before Christmas!  I just checked my file of photos, and my first picture, showing the beginning of the middle row, was on April 16th.  I began cutting squares for basting just before heading north, at the beginning of April, so I'll have completed the top in 9 months of "spare" time!

All the pieces for the next motif are basted, and partly sewn together, so with luck, I'll finish tonight!  Now what will I do next?

I took my camera to my Wednesday quilt group, but discovered both sets of batteries were dead, so no pictures of the flurry of quilting worker bees making disappearing 9-patch blocks!  Some cut 5 inch squares, others placed them into blocks, 3 were sewing, others pressed the seams, 2 of us cut the blocks apart, and then they were placed into their new blocks to be sewn.  By the end of the 4 hours (with a short break for lunch), we had 3 quilt tops assembled, and enough pieces to make 1 more.  Two of the tops went home with others to be finished.  One came home with me, and I cut and prepared the binding for it - hopefully someone will volunteer to quilt it!
Now I have to get serious about my Christmas baking.  I'm making mincemeat tarts, large and small today, and a coco-krispie roll - chocolate and peanut butter - a favourite with our neighbours' grandchildren, who begin to arrive on Sunday!

STASH REPORT SUNDAY

Fabric used this week  0 yards

Fabric used year to date  184.25 yards

Fabric added this week  15 yards

Fabric added year to date  100.375 yards

Net used 2013  83.875 yards

My Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping finally caught up with me! A large parcel arrived, as well as a visit to my favourite local shop, Quilts on Plum Lane in Dade City FL. (We had to visit after renewing our tags.)  I had already reported the Christmas and Mickey prints, as well as the flannels.

I finally dragged my serger out, and serged all the raw edges, and have been putting loads through the washer and dryer.  I was waiting until I had enough fabric to make the job worthwhile!

I also baked a batch of holiday cookies.  A newer addition to my annual list is a chocolate, chocolate chip cookie with crushed candy cane added into the batter.  These need to be baked on parchment paper, and allowed to cool a bit before removing to a rack to cool completely.  DH's job is to shatter the small candy canes, and to taste test the resultant cookies.

Check out everyones' progress at Judy's blog, Patchwork Times.

DESIGN WALL MONDAY

This will be my last design wall for a few weeks.  DH and I are in full "heading south mode".  

Last week, while looking for projects to take south, I found a panel with 8 teapot blocks.  I wanted to make a simple quilt with 9 blocks, so went hunting through my files and found the pattern for this great teapot and cup!  It was a mystery block pattern from Paper Panache!  The patterns are very complex, but lots of fun to try!

I used sashing strips to make the panel blocks fit the paper pieced one.  I have the outer border cut, along with the binding, and this project is packed and waiting to travel south.



Today DH made me write Christmas cards!  It has become our annual October job - we leave the cards, ready to mail, and our house-sitter puts them in the mail box December 1st!

Our next job is to wrap presents!  We have a trip planned to Niagara Falls with both sons and their wives next weekend, to help celebrate our 45th anniversary.  DH found a great package that includes falls view hotel rooms, dinner, breakfast, winery tours and vouchers to use at the casino.  We'll be delivering our gifts when we see them, and it is up to them to decide when to open them!



Check out all the creativity at Judy's blog, Patchwork Times.

DECORATING FOR CHRISTMAS

Yesterday DH and I finally tackled the decorating on the inside of our southern home.  Our space is small, and most of my decorations are up north, but we still feel the holiday spirit.

 First we put the Christmas quilt on our bed.  This was made many years ago.  I had seen a similar design in Keepsake quilting, but I just drew the design for the pillow panel onto brown paper and fused all the applique pieces.

 Next I added a pieced tablecloth that I made on my serger one fall, when my sewing machine was in the shop for servicing!  It is a Quilt-in-a-Day pattern called Blazing Star Tablecloth.  It was simple to make following the step by step directions.

Of course, we hung the stockings, shown here.

Next I hung my newest Christmas quilt in the living room.  It is from a pattern I found in Quiltmaker magazine.  It has fun snowman embroidered blocks.
My other wall hanging was an experiment made from a Santa block and some Christmas 9-patch blocks I received in a swap many years ago.

We only have a small tree, but it is full of memories.  Many of the ornaments are home-made, some were special gifts made by family and friends.  It even has its own tree skirt.  I had made a full size one for my MIL, using the Quilt-in-a-Day pattern called Diamond Log Cabin Tablecloth or Tree Skirt.  Of course, I had fabric left over, so I made a mini skirt for my mini tree.

The nativity scene was set in its place of honour, shown here.

 Once the table was set with its red cloth and topped with a crochet white cloth, made by my Mother, it feels like Christmas.