Christmas!

How was your Christmas?  Mine was fantastic!  I got to spend it with most of my family and talk to my missionary son.  

 

I finished some more projects too.  My phone rang a few days before Christmas and it was my quilter calling to tell me my disappearing 9-patch Christmas quilt was completed!  Her husband has been terribly sick and in the hospital so I had told her not to worry about getting it finished before Christmas.  She got it done anyway though!  What a nice surprise!  It was also wonderful to learn he was home in time for Christmas!

I hurried to add the binding so I'd have it for Christmas morning.

I made some last minute Christmas Eve presents for Santa to fill Christmas morning.  Yes, we still do stockings.  Santa has always only brought things that can fit stockings because I've never liked the idea of something for nothing and the very-noticeable unfairness of how "Santa" brings marvelous gifts for some children and nothing to others.  My kids were long familiar with the idea that Moms and Dads help Santa.  One of my favorite Christmases was when we taught the poem, "Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus.  My daughter's cowboy boot is suede with a bit of leather around the ankle, and my son's has the horses and cowboy hats and leather.

Several years ago, I bought the center cowboy boot that my eldest twin son immediately commandeered.  I used it as my pattern for the other two.  They were immediate hits!  All 3 love their boots, and my daughter had received new suede boots for her December birthday.

I received this scissor holder from a quilting friend and thought it was so clever!!!

The back with its magnets:

I finished my daughter's Christmas quilt and am THRILLED to be able to share it now!  My inspiration was Missouri Star Quilt Company's stacks quilt along with her story about how it looked like stacks of books.  My daughter loves to read and tested above high school reading level while still very young.  I've always meant to keep a list of her favorite books but never done it in a permanent form.  Well, I did it this year.  While driving to a vacation destination last spring, she told me what books had been her favorites through her life.  Later I searched her bookcase for some forgotten tales and stitched them into a Book Stacks quilt for her.  The directions for this quilt is included in the Summer volume of the BLOCK magazine.

I did the quilting myself and had to unpick the wrong colored thread strips!

Some of the titles: (yes, she loves Shakespeare)

A few more titles.  She got to meet Brandon Mull at a church youth activity last Friday night.  What a grand finale for the year!

We always read the Christmas story on Christmas Eve, followed by my son reading The Grinch and my husband with The Night Before Christmas.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and that you have peace in your heart in this new year.

A bug has bitten me! A quilting bug!

So last night after finishing the Minecraft quilt, I couldn't resist putting up another quilt.  I bought the fabric a long time ago, and I've been itching to do it.

The layup I did last night:

This morning I finished laying up the rest of the print rectangles on the floor because the design wall was full.  Then I started sewing the ones on the floor together:

That is the bottom quarter of the quilt.

Easy.  I bought the background and the prints as jellyroll precuts so I just had to cut them down to 8" and 10" lengths.  The directions are in the Summer BLOCK magazine and the video is here.  After the last quilt, an easier one is really nice to do.

Summer is here! It came! It came!

What came?

My Missouri Star BLOCK magazine!  Summer fun can begin although I probably won't be doing that much quilting.  We have travel plans coming quickly, my husband starts a new job, and then school starts too soon in August. :P  BUT this mag actually helped me put on the fun attitude so I don't get bogged down in details.

Making it even better, it has directions for some of the quilts I've wanted to make like Stacks and floating hexagon quilts.  They also included a patriotic remake of the Friendship Star Sashing that got me excited to try.

I really like how the magazine suggests different fabrics and combinations so I can start visualizing the quilt patterns from Jenny Doan's YouTube tutorials in different colors.

Along with quilt patterns, Jenny tells stories to get me thinking of my life in terms of the high points instead of the shoulda, coulda, woulda slant.  I need that!!!

Some of the patterns include the Dresden Botanica, a quilt I never would have even watched a tutorial for but am intrigued at trying now.  Okay, so it's not going to happen first, but that's because I already have one in progress and more waiting on my shelves!

A new I Spy quilt follows with a delightful family stories that, again, got me fired up to try.  Summer in the Park reminds quilters that quilts are meant to be used and loved and looks easy.  In fact, the themes of summer and dirt and FUN resound throughout this issue!

Rhombus Cube reminds me to keep it simple, the Jelly Basket just looks like fun and seems to encourage it, Dandy Stars reminds me of the joys of children and the walks we used to take to the library, grocery store, and around the neighborhood.  Jenny didn't ignore the fact that it was often hair raising but always an adventure!

Wallflower goes into the power of remembrances and duplicating those to pass onto further generations.  I have a starburst quilt from my grandmother that I think I'll duplicate for my kids in the coming years.

Floating hexagons came with a delightful story.  This is one I already bought fabric and the template to make so I'm happy to have the written pattern.  I learned my lesson with the Hunter's Star quilt!

The magazine includes a heartwarming story about a quilty proposal that is fun to read.  And of course they end the whole issue with a continuation of the mystery story.  Cheesy but so lighthearted!

It's well worth $5.99 and my summer looks brighter with new ideas and attitudes!  Thanks MSQC!