Sister's Choice Quilts

I Feel Sniffy

Tap, tap, tap....Is this thing on?  Ahem!

"I feel sniffy, oh so sniffy

I feel sniffy and stuffy and tight

And I pity the girl who feels like me tonight"

(Think Natalie Wood in West Side Story, only older, fatter and sicker, with tissues stuffed up her sleeves).

 

Since I have been staying home this week (it was my plan, I just hadn't figured on getting a cold), I have been spending some quality time with my Bernina.  Time for a Red and White Snowball Challenge Update!

I completed all my red units, which you see in the photo above.

 

Ta Da!  I successfully turned the red units into 50 red blocks!

Then I started in on the light units.

 

Finished those too, but ran out of steam and didn't get them made into blocks.  The idea of all that pressing just tuckered me out.  Tomorrow is another day!

So how are you all doing?  I know some of you have left me in the dust and have your projects quilted and bound already, but there must be some of you who, like me, got a bit derailed by the holidays.  If you have something to share regarding your Red and White progress, leave me a comment with a link to your blog so others can click on it and go see what you have been up to!

Good Bornig

All I want to do is sew.  I had an entire day all to myself yesterday, and what do you think happened?  Yup, I woke up with a  raging sore throat and a vicious cold.  I spent almost the whole day in my bed.  Sophie didn't get all her required exercise and attention and this morning she is a candidate for doggie ritalin.  I tell you, my luck has been pretty crumby lately.

I did get the other two corners of Flowers for Clara appliqued on, and now that quilt is ready to go to the quilters.  This quilt is going to be on my bed as soon as possible!

While I have your attention, I wanted to mention the foot I use when I do applique.  It is a Bernina number 20.  The foot is metal, but is completely open at the "toe".  That way, it is easier to see what I am doing.  Bernina makes a plastic see through version also, but why not just go for the open version?

A couple of people have inquired what sort of sewing machine I use.  The one I use at home is a Bernina Quilter's Edition.  I have had this machine for a lo-o-o-o-o-ong time, and it has served me well.  The only mishap I have had is that for awhile I was carrying it in my car to take to sewing groups, and somehow it got jostled (fell over) and now the light doesn't work.  Those lights never go out, so I know it is just a matter of someone who knows what they are doing jiggling it back into place.  I have it serviced periodically, but it is way over due for a tune up.  It is a real workhorse, and I love it so much that my next machine will also be a Bernina.  (Surely there will be another machine in my future?)  Buy a Bernina, you will have it forever!

 

Today, since I am feeling more or less human again, and think I can stay awake for at least six hours at a stretch, I plan to get back to work on my Red and White Snowball quilt.  I think tomorrow we should all check in with each other to see what kind of progress is going on!

Enough Already

We had quite enough drama for our Christmas, thank you very much.  On Christmas Eve, our personal Santa (my DH) fell down and hit his head on a table and had to go to the hospital for stitches.  He is OK now, but it was very chaotic for awhile there.  You see, my daughter and son in law had just arrived around mid-night and the dogs got into a bit of a scuffle.  My son and son in law were in the midst of separating the dogs, and my husband got up from the couch where he was sitting, caught his foot in the carpet, keeled over and smacked his head on a table.  Lots of barking, shouting and blood.  I had never realized what creative swear words my children had in their repertoire.  And on Christmas too.

Everything is calm now.  The head is stitched up, the eye is swollen and black and blue, but no real harm done.

Other than that, our Christmas was lovely.  Oh, except that we kept wondering where the 86 year old grand parents were on Christmas morning.  They had phoned at 8:00 am to say they were on their way, and by 10:00, still had not arrived.  They drive slowly, but not that slowly.  Around 10:00, we got a call from a woman on her cell phone, saying she was walking her dog when she came upon two elderly folks in an older model Audi who claimed to be lost.  Yup, those were our missing elders.  I guess this is the last year we will be having them come down to visit us.  Next time we will all descend upon them so they don't have to leave their house.

On the plus side, the tree did not get knocked over.  And the dogs are exhausted and have been sleeping a lot.

Sara and Ryan brought Remy down for Christmas with them, and Santa left him toys just like he did for Ozzie and Sophie.   Only Sophie thought all the toys were for her.  See?  She is carrying all three Snugga Wubbas around in her mouth.  Remember the movie "Finding Nemo"?  Remember the sea gulls that flapped around shouting "Mine!  Mine!  MINE!"?  That's my girl.

Ozzie doesn't care.  He is napping heavily.  He doesn't care what the heck his sister does as long as she leaves him alone.  He is in his new favorite spot on the top of the back of the sofa in the living room, where he can keep one bleary eye on everyone.  Just don't ask him to get up.

 

Sigh.  Enough for this year.  Hope your Christmas celebration was, well.....peaceful. 

Happy Holidays!

 
Best wishes to all of my blogging friends for the happiest holidays ever!  I hope the New Year will bring you good health, prosperity, and many wonderful hours of sewing.  Thank you all for giving me so much support, encouragement, and friendship in 2009.   Just think what we can accomplish together in 2010!

Down to the Wire

It is all done except for a bit of wrapping and a lot of cooking.  I love it when I can just sit back and enjoy my tree, listen to schmaltzy Christmas music and peruse my cookbooks for new holiday recipes.

It has been pretty quiet this week in Blogland; you all must be as busy as I am!  Just don't go and get sick.  That happened to me one Christmas when I was a newlywed.  I had big plans to make my parents, my grand parents and my in-laws all bathrobes.  Quite a lot of bathrobes.  Out of velour and terry cloth.  Terry cloth that left little lint balls all over everything.  I got through making three zip front velour robes for the women, and then came down with the flu.  A really bad flu.  I had two terry cloth robes to make, plus a smoking jacket (for my dad who has never smoked--don't ask me why I thought that was something he would like). 

I was down for the count.  I could not raise my head from my pillow for about a week.  The week before Christmas.  Somehow, just as I thought I might be going to live, I dragged myself out of bed to the dining room table, which was Sewing Central.  I managed to complete two white terry robes with green contrasting lapels and a really dreadful velvet brocade smoking jacket for my dad.  Gosh, that was an awful looking thing.  At least the robes were functional.

What was I thinking?  This smoking jacket would have fit a dapper little Fred Astaire sized guy.  And my dad was more sporty and substantial.  Definitely not the velvet brocade smoking jacket type.  Especially when it was two sizes too small for him to fit into.  But I finished it and gave it to him.  Can't say he ever wore it, but it did live in his closet for a few years before Mom discreetly disposed of it.  She probably gave it to the gardener, who gave it to his trash pick up man, who gave it to ......That 30 year old smoking jacket is probably still making the rounds out there as a White Elephant gift.

Making My Lists and Checking Them Twice

In the name of all of us who left things until the last minute, I would like to say "Thank God for Amazon.com". 

Don't know exactly how it happened, but Christmas kind of snuck up on me this year.  The shopping part anyway.  I am happy to say however, that the shopping got done in a whirlwind day on Saturday, and now my husband and I are Deep Into Wrapping.

I am a ribbon saver.  I love that fancy ribbon with the wire in it because it makes the most perfect bows.  It saves beautifully, and you can smooth all the kinks and wrinkles out of it and use it again the next year or even two.  See the patterned red and white ribbon on the far right of the picture above?  The one who looks to be hanging out of the box?  Sophie had just grabbed hold of the end and had unrolled about three feet of it as I took the picture.  She is such a helper.

On our whirlwind shopping trip Saturday, my husband and I were also playing Santa, by delivering wine to some of our favorite retailer friends in Carmel.  (That says something about us doesn't it?  The friends we have made here, we met through buying things at their establishments).  Our first delivery was to John and Marty who own a darling home decorating shop.  We chatted a bit, made plans to have them over for New Year's Eve, as long as they promised not to stay until mid-night (which they readily agreed to).  I had a look around their shop and look what I found!

 

An unusual peppermint stripe Santa for my Santa collection! 

And most fabulous of all---a new tree topper angel!

 

Now this is what I'm talking about.  An angel that is elegant.  An angel that does not light up and flap her wings.  I haven't figured out how to get her to mount on the top of the tree, because she isn't strictly a tree top angel.  I think I can make a sort of closed end tube to sew on the back of her dress that will fit over the top branch of the tree.  Stay tuned on that.

Now that the shopping is all done, I can sit back with my lists and make sure no one has been left out, or short changed on the number of gifts.  When you have kids, you have to keep it equal.  In my head I do at least.  Even if they are grown up now, I want everyone to have the same number of gifts.  And they could probably care less!

Oh, and the food lists have begun.  What to have on Christmas Eve, what to have for Christmas Day breakfast, what to make for Christmas dinner.....  I guess there will be one more shopping trip in the near future:  the grocery store!

And more wrapping when that Amazon box is delivered!  It wouldn't be fun if all I had to do was sit back and look at the tree!  I have to keep busy until the last possible minute!

The Bowl

I forgot to show you a picture of The Bowl.  I stopped at Pottery Barn on the way home from work yesterday and picked up some do dads to put in it.  I love the simplicity and shape of this bowl so much.  Seriously, this bowl must weigh over five pounds!  And Mary Ann carried it on the airplane and schlepped it all over the place until she could place it in my hands.

I love the gift, but I love the gesture even more!

Tree Quilt

This quilt was so much fun to make.  Bev Stookey, who I mentioned in a previous post, used to teach this class at Eddie's Quilting Bee.  I am guessing that I put the top together about 12-15 years ago!  And, nope, it isn't finished!  You see, I decided to hand quilt it myself.

Mista--a--a--a--ke.

For one thing my hand quilting skill level is low.  I will say this though, if you keep at it, your stitches do get smaller and more even.  My problem was, I kept putting the quilt away and when I picked it up again months or years later, I had to start all over again building up my quilting dexterity.  It feels so clumsy and awkward when you first start up.

I've heard many people say that they "don't like tree quilts", but I think this one is kinda cute.  I love the way each tree block has its own black containment border.  It was also a kick to collect all the different fabrics for the trees.  And I remember how the women in the class all laughed and joked and had such a good time.

The texture of this quilt is so different from a machine quilted one.  It is much much softer.  So inviting to snuggle under for a bit of a nap.

When I started searching for this quilt to post on it, it was literally on the very bottom of a stack of quilts in my bedroom closet, way high up on a shelf.  I had to drag out the ladder and climb up to wrestle it down without disturbing the rest of the piles.  Imagine me looking up thinking "Oh, man, how am I going to get that down?"

 

Now that I have it in hand, I am thinking that I need to finish this one.  Who cares if my quilting is less than perfect?  There is something appealing about making the effort.

 

Yuletide Blessings

My next (and probably last) UFO giveaway is pictured above.

This fabric collection is called Yuletide Blessings.  The only Christmassy collection Fig Tree has done for Moda.  I made 68 blocks for a quilt called Fall Frolic in the Evelyn Sloppy book 40 Fabulous Quick Cut Quilts.  It is one of those patterns that call out for a simple all over quilting design.  It could be super cute.

I do not know what happened here with these blocks that caused me to stop construction.  The fabric is great, I have a ton of blocks---who knows?  For whatever reason I lost the love.

Nevertheless, these blocks will make up into a good sized holiday quilt for someone out there in Blogland, who would like to make them into a quilt.  If you think that could be you, leave a comment here and I will announce the winner on Thursday.

I just have to say, I am a bit distracted as I write this.  My son is home for Christmas break, and his long time "pen pal" from Ireland has come out for a visit to get to know him in person, so to speak.  She is lovely.  Just lovely.  And he is so happy.  I have the next three days to get to know her better, and must say, I am really liking what I see.  She brought me a gift.  A gorgeous Waterford bowl that she had to hand carry all the way from Galway,  on the air plane, and all over San Francisco, until she was able to present it to me this evening.  Oh my goodness.  I love it.  What a thoughtful, amazing present.  I will fill it with something suitable and take a picture of it to share.  

I made the right decision to put the family Christmas quilt on the bed in the guest room.  Yes I did.

Mary Kastner

Hi there, Mary Kastner, you won my snowman UFO!  Now that I have found the pattern (thanks Karen and Rebecca), my plan is to get the borders on it and send it to you as a complete top.  Send me your address and give me a week or so and it will be on its way to its new home.

Yesterday the family made its annual excursion to the Dicken's Faire in San Francisco.  In the photo above you see Jacob Marley confronting Ebeneezer Scrooge.  See the fear in Mr. Scrooge's eyes?  He is beginning to doubt some of the choices he has made in his life.

This pretty lass is a live mannequin in the window of Dark Gardens, a Victorian lingerie shop.  Pretty underthings are for everyone, no matter what your size.

Or gender.

It's San Francisco, people.

Every now and then, there would be a parade through the "streets" with Father Christmas leading the way.  Here are some of the people I was able to snap as they passed by.

 

One of the Three Blind Mice.

 

The Queen of Hearts.

Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough to get a picture of the chimney sweep who offered to "clean my stacks".

Happy Holidays Friends!  I will be back tomorrow with another UFO giveaway!