Sister's Choice Quilts

Apres Thanksgiving

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!  Ours was quiet, but just right.  I did get together with the entire mob of my family on Sunday for the occasion of my dad's 91st birthday.  Gosh, can you imagine?  He is such a wonderful man, and I am so grateful that he has lived a full and relatively healthy life.  Certainly a life full of love.

My only accomplishment was that on Friday and Saturday we got the house decorated.  My gosh, I don't know any man who loves Christmas as much as my husband does.  He goes all out with the decorating, and won't even hear of me not putting something out.  "But Sweetie, I am here in the house all by myself all week long.  Do we REALLY need to put up two trees?"  I shouldn't even bother to ask.  Of course we need two trees.

This is the library, where I put up a Santa collection.  Eva helped me on Saturday, and we got all the little guys up.  I also have a snow man collection.  I had to clear the bookshelves so I could fit these little fellows in.  Can you tell I love those little battery pack mini light sets?

This is the dining room. Honestly, the room is kind of small and if we put in one more decoration, I doubt we could take a meal in there.

The mantel.  Isn't it cool how the tree is reflected in the tv screen?  I love that.

I have to say I am loving my Paganini table topper. Pattern by Miss Rosie Quilt Co.  I really like the grey in the Sweetwater Holly's Tree Farm fabric collection, as the mercury glass trees and candle holders play well with it.

That is all for now my friends.  I hope you are well and enjoyed your holiday.  I ventured out on Sunday after Thanksgiving to check out the malls and it was insane.  I am determined to do the rest of my shopping online.  Let UPS do the driving and I will stay home and bake cookies with  my grand daughter!

Still sewing bindings.  Thank goodness there is a ton of good tv to watch right now while I do it!  Gilmore Girls, Good Behavior, Poldark, Code Black....I am being entertained while I work. 

 

Well, That Was Pretty Clear!

Goodness, thank you all so much for weighing in yesterday when I was having doubts about what to give my brother in law for Christmas.  A full size quilt like I was giving everyone else or a smaller table topper?  The majority of you by far said I should do for him as I was doing for everyone else, and give him a full sized quilt.  There were a number of reasons sited for doing so, among them that he might feel slighted getting a smaller sized gift, which was my fear.  The best reason for not giving him a table topper sized quilt was mentioned by a few of you--he probably would not have the slightest idea what to do with it!  I had to laugh, as that is likely true.  It could very well end up on a shelf somewhere and never enjoyed at all!  Several of you said men in your acquaintance just don't "decorate".  I have to say, most men in my acquaintance don't either!

At any rate, thanks so much for sharing your thoughts with me.  I was totally persuaded by the majority opinion, and my sweet brother in law will get a full sized quilt for himself.

I hope you all have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!  Let the decorating and shopping begin, right?

Men and Quilts

You all know I've been having quilts quilted to give as Christmas gifts to my family this Christmas.  My brother in law who lost his wife just a year and a half ago was posing a gift giving dilemma for me.  Just before my sister passed away I gave her a beautiful quilt, which hopefully he is enjoying.  I had made it thinking it would be perfect for their dark red living room couch, which is where I think he is using it.  So, did I want to give him another quilt so soon after the last one?  He's a guy after all, and there is a limit to what a man can think of to do with quilts all over the place, right?

I have a full sized quilt I could totally give him for Christmas, but I am thinking he probably doesn't need another one right now.  But how about a small table topper?  It would go with the quilt I gave him recently and could be used on the coffee table, under a lamp or as a mat for a candle or vase of flowers.  If he even uses candles or has vases of flowers.  At any rate, I am thinking I am going to whip up this little quilt and give it to him instead of a full sized one.  I could present it with a little basket to set on it that he could keep his tv remotes in or something.

Or do you think I should just give him a full bed sized quilt like I am giving everyone else?  I don't want him to feel slighted, but I also don't want him to have the "What on earth am I going to do with this?" reaction.  Do any of you give your quilts to men?  What do you think I should do?

 

Batik Zippy Bags

I spent the weekend preparing more zippy bags to give as gifts this Christmas.  In one afternoon I finished two more and prepped 7.  I need zippers and decorative buttons and when I get those I will go into assembly mode and finish them up.  I started thinking of all the people who I might want to give a little homemade something to this holiday season and once I counted teachers, day care staff, co-workers, cleaning lady etc, I knew I needed to get busy.  

These are the perfect little token gift when you want to give something but don't want to embarrass or overwhelm the person receiving it.  I am not even sure what the gift policy is in the office where I work (they probably don't exchange gifts), but hopefully this will be ok since I made them myself.  THE PATTERN IS BY TERRY ATKINSON AND IS CALLED ZIPPY STRIPPY BAG. You can get it lots of places including Amazon.com

I dipped into my vast stash of batiks and didn't have to buy a thing except a few zippers.  I wanted to show you how pretty these greens are, but it was so gloomy I couldn't get a good picture to save my life.

It was rainy here all weekend, so it was perfect to stay in and sew.  I tried a new crockpot recipe for Crockpot Beef Stroganoff, which was delicious.  Click on the link for the recipe from "BevCooks".  I made it exactly as written and it was awesome.  Made the house smell like a French restaurant.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

A Day of Sewing

I feel pretty good about my use of time on my day off yesterday.  I got almost all the bindings attached to my Christmas gift quilts.  This landing area upstairs outside my sewing room is my staging area for quilts waiting for the binding to be hand sewn down.  And Lord love me, do I ever have a lot of bindings to hand sew.  

I was so stupid though.  I have two red and white Fig Tree quilts, very similar colors.  I had binding fabric that matched the outer border for one of them, and had to order another Fig Tree red print for the other.  Wouldn't you know I sewed the wrong binding to one of the red quilts?  How dumb.  It "goes" ok, but gosh, I could have had a perfect match.  And I am definitely not "unsewing" the one that was put on the wrong quilt.

After I got through attaching the bindings, I made a couple of these zippy bags I was into a few years back.  They are the perfect little Christmas gift for teachers, co-workers etc.  It took me a bit of fiddling to remember how I did the zippers, but after a few mis-steps with the first one I am back in the groove.  I should be able to crank out one in just over an hour.  I like to embellish them with cute buttons.  I had some on hand and put a green flower button on the blue bag and will sew on two orange heart buttons on the orange bag.  Who doesn't love getting a new little cosmetics bag every now and then?

Anybody have fun plans for the weekend?  Not me.  I have two days at home and I will spend them making zippy bags and hand sewing bindings.

Can you believe how we are zooming through November?  Christmas is going to be here before you know it, and I have not done a single bit of gift shopping for my husband, son, daughter and grand daughter.  Thanksgiving is next week!  I like to get my house decorated the weekend after Thanksgiving, but it seems like it is too rushed this year.  I want to savor the moments and not feel like I am so deadline focused that I am only looking ahead to tasks I need to complete.  

My husband and I will have to do a major gift planning session this weekend and get our ducks in a row!

Out and About

Wasn't that moon something?  Obviously I do not have a camera that does it any sort of justice, but I certainly enjoyed watching it come up last night.  When I told Eva to look through the trees at the moon she said she couldn't see it, she could only see the sun.  I explained that it WAS the moon, but an extra big and bright one.  She wanted to know why it was yellow, but I couldn't explain that part to her.

Sunday I visited my dad, which was lovely.  He is going to have a birthday in a couple of weeks,  91.  Last year on his 90th he had fallen and broken his leg, and was flat on his back in the hospital.  He has not completely recovered from that accident and now uses a cane to walk.  He is looking forward to his birthday and Thanksgiving at home this year.

The other thing I got to do was stay over and go to a doctor's appointment on Monday.  I still see my doctors that I have always gone to.  The doctors in the area where we live now are few and far between and can't even take on new patients they are so over subscribed.  I don't care.  I am good with sticking with my old doctors I know and trust.  I must be getting old.  Isn't it true that when you are old, you want to live near your doctors?  lol  I have a two and a half hour drive, so I am not exactly close, but I am not giving them up.  This visit was to my dermatologist, a lovely Korean teenager.  Honestly, he must have been around 19.  

On the way home I had to hit the shops.  JJill was having a 30% off sale.  Target had all their Christmas stuff already.  Hobby Lobby too, and it was 50% off.  I did a bit of damage, but not too bad.  I must take advantage of shopping opportunities when they present themselves.

Aren't these legging and coordinating cardigans cute for Eva?  Buy one, get the second for 50% off.  I can't resist.  Gosh, I'd wear those if they came in my size!

I have work today and Wednesday, so my next sewing opportunity won't be until Thursday.   Hope you all have a grand weekend and good start to your week.

Blocks 14 &16 The Magic of Christmas

Three more Magic of Christmas blocks have been released.  I had some sewing time this weekend and completed blocks 14 and 16.  Block 14 in the photo above was a struggle for me.  There were lots of bias edges and little points to match up, and my units weren't coming out a uniform size.  I starched the fabric ahead of time, used a quarter inch seam allowance and pressed my seams open.  Things didn't go together as perfectly as I like, but I suppose in the grand scheme of things it won't be too noticeable.

Block 16 was somewhat better, but that little 2 1/2 inch star in the middle of the block was a doozy to get right.  My little stars reminded me of the Buggy Barn Crazy Stars, are any of you familiar with them?  lol  They are pretty wonky in an amusing and whimsical fashion.  That's what mine are as well.  Right....

Here are all the blocks I have made so far on the design wall.  I love the combination of red and green for this quilt.  I think I will make six more red blocks and five more green ones.  I like the diagonal setting and will separate the blocks with a narrow lattice.  I am thinking of doing scrappy setting squares in various background fabrics and if I can fine a nice red and green border fabric I will go with that, otherwise I will use a red small scale print.

Hope you all had a good weekend.  I decompressed from the Disnleyland trip and occupied myself with tidying, laundry and a bit of sewing.

Cozy Christmas

I bought an Advent calendar!  Last year during the holiday season, I discovered a YouTube channel by Elle Florence, a delightful beauty guru from Vancouver, Canada.  She had purchased the David's Tea Advent Calendar, and I was so desirous of having one as well.  I was too late last year, as they sold out, but this year I was ready!

Every day in December, leading up to Christmas, you can pull open a little drawer in the Advent calendar and enjoy a different holiday themed tea.  How cute is that?

The teas are a wonderful variety of flavors, white, black, green and red teas.  Some are fruit infused, some have nuts, some even have peppermint candy or chocolate!  All that I have tried in the past have been delicious.  I am pretty sure you could get two cups of tea out of one of the little containers.  Each one is labeled on the bottom, and the calendar comes with a description of each of the teas that it contains.  This Advent calendar is a wonderful treat for yourself, and would also make a terrific pre Christmas gift for someone special.  It sells for $40.

Last year I bought one variety that had minuscule little peppermint candy canes in it--"Santa's Secret".  That was my favorite, and Eva loved it too.  If you miss out on getting the Advent calendar, you can purchase some of the varieties in little tins, which is what I did last year.  Check out the David's Tea website, you might just find something you love.

 

What a Week

Well for Heaven's sake.  We go away for a few days family vacation and the whole country falls apart.

We were in the Happiest Place on Earth, which, truth to tell, wasn't.  It was our worst Disneyland experience in the 30 some years we have been going.  The weather was hot, in the low 90s, which I cannot hold The Magic Kingdom responsible for, but pretty much everything else was sub par as well.

It's November, right?  No school holidays going on, all websites stating that the park should be a "ghost town".  Hah.  The only time we have seen crowds like this was that time back in the 80s when we went on Memorial Weekend.  And simply terrible crowd control.  They kept us standing out in the 90 degree temperatures waiting to get into the park, to go through the security stations.  Thanks to the terrorist attacks in large venues, now you have to go through metal detectors and bag searches at Disneyland.  One hour in the hot sun.  Before we even set foot past the entrance.  Brutal.  "No unfortunately M'am you cannot stand in shade under this tree.  It is a hazard don't you know.  Due to the tree and all".  I am not kidding.  I actually heard a bone head security guard say that to an older woman who was overcome by the heat due to a medical condition.

We couldn't get on many of the attractions we were interested in.  I won't belabor the situation any more, except to say that it was a mess.  I seriously don't know if I ever will go back.  I feel so bad for my husband because he spent a ton of money and it just was not worth it at all.  And he is such a big Disneyland fan.  Sad.

Here are a couple of girls who made the best of things.

Hope you all are doing well and with luck we will all get through the next four years, right?

More Christmas Basket Blocks

I had a few hours to play in my sewing room this past weekend so I made four more basket blocks to slip into my Primitive Gatherings The Magic of Christmas quilt.  With the red and green color scheme I am doing, plus my plan to do a diagonal set, I need some additional red blocks, and since basket blocks are my favorite, they were a natural choice!  I have exhausted the 6 inch basket block patterns in Judy Hopkins 501 Rotary Cut Blocks book, and was in a quandary as to what to do next.  I want as much variety as I can get.

I was at my daughter's house for dinner the other night, and on her table was a table topper I had made for her using this Picnic Schnibbles pattern by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company.  Turns out those little basket blocks are six inch finished, just the size I need.  Plus, there are five variations!

My plan is to make six more basket blocks, and I managed to complete four.  Two are the same, darn it, but that's ok.  The darker 
Cake Stand block looks as if it is all one color, so it is different enough from the one below it that has more contrast in the two fabrics I used.  I will just spread them far apart in the quilt top and no one will be the wiser.

I may not be posting much this week, as my family is planning something that is going to occupy me with little time for blogging.  I will check in again hopefully on Thursday.  Have a great week.