READY FOR CHRISTMAS?

I think I'm ready for Christmas. Of course, we aren't doing much, but I did put up quite a few decorations anyway. I saw these cute mouse cookies on The Little Red Hen site and thought I'd make some for our party at work. My sister sent me the Mr & Mrs Santa Claus S&P shakers and told me to open it early! Aren't they cute?
A few years ago I got this panel and I hang it up at Christmas. I hand quilted and embellished it.

I saw a box similar to this at a craft show so I decided to try making one for a friend. I got some pages from a Reader's Digest condensed book to cover it with and I'm going to try some other boxes too.
In this picture you can see some piles of wool that I felted. I was walking by a resale shop I saw a sign that read "women's blazers - 50 cents" so I went in and bought 3 blazers! I plan to use the red for some Christmas ornaments for next year. I'm putting together some more 9 patches. I had some left over pieces of these from when I made a couple doll quilts, so I thought I would make some
When I was checking out my button situation to see if I had any other buttons I could use, I decided to get out my big button box to see what is in it. GUESS WHAT I FOUND! I found my Quilting DVD that had been missing since I was straightening up before house guests came in October. I must have tossed it in the button box without thinking about it and I never thought to look there! I looked and looked for the DVD and was beginning to wonder if I would ever find it. I started hand piecing my tumbler blocks together.
I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

PICTURES

On our vacation with our son, DIL & Jonah, we took pictures, of course, and in my last post I said that I would post more pictures as soon as they were received from our son. Well, I must confess that I didn't get them posted as soon as we received them, but here they are now.

Jonah loves his jumper swing!
Since we won't be with them for Christmas, we gave them their gifts early. Jonah seem very interested in this Shape-O ball!
But, the sack is very interesting also!
Our Son & DIL received the quilt.
Three generations of men!
We had a very informative tour of President Eisenhower's birthplace in Denison, TX.
We are busy preparing for Christmas and for the birth of our new granddaughter. Her parents are anxiously awaiting her arrival! Merry Christmas to all of you if I'm not able to add another post before then!

CHRISTMAS STOCKING FINISHED

I finished Jonah's Christmas stocking this morning! Yeah!! My car wouldn't start and we had to call AAA to get it towed this morning. My husband had a doctor's appointment, so I decided to stay home because the judge is in Mexico to transfer some US citizens in jail down there back to the US to serve their sentences here instead. I'm so glad I got this finished, because we could be called at any time to go to Florida because another DIL is due to deliver on Dec 29, but who knows, the baby could come any time now! I'm trying to get my ducks in a row, so to speak, in case we need to go earlier than expected!
Here's a doll quilt I made for a craft show on Saturday.

This doll quilt will be sent to a grand niece for Christmas. It is a cheater quilt, but I hand quilted it to make up for using a panel! I made one like this for my first GD years ago before I got too involved in quilting (she's 16 yo now).
Better get busy on some other projects! Happy quilting & decorating to all!

FIVE DAYS WITH JONAH!

After a slow start, we were able to go to a resort with DS#3, DIL & Jonah! Here's a picture of him in his daddy's hat! I will put up a few more pictures as soon as I get them from our son! We had a really good time with them just relaxing (DS had a cold & DH's back was bothering him, but it was good enough to take the trip).
Since we won't be with them for Christmas, I gave them the finished quilt and they were very happy with it!Lea at Simple Pleasures asked if anyone had a lunch box. Well, I had packed my Howdy Doody lunch box (purchased at a garage sale) with some supplies for my trip.
While Jonah napped, I worked on cutting out my tumblers from 5" charm squares and marking the sewing line for hand piecing them together.
These two stacks of left over fabric from the charm squares will be used to make some doll quilts. I'm not sure, but I'll probably make little 9-patches or 4-patches out of these scraps.

Now that we are back home, I will try to get ready for a craft show next Saturday. Wish me luck!

THANKSGIVING FOR A YEAR OF MANY BLESSINGS

We are thankful to God for his many blessings to us this year. First of all, the birth of our grandson, Jonah, then my DH's improving health, and of course the expected birth of a new granddaughter, Abigail in December.

We are going out to eat today and will celebrate Thanksgiving with our #3 son, DIL & Jonah at a resort in North Texas on Lake Texoma. We leave tomorrow and will be a whole week with them! Yippee!!!

This double nine patch quilt is for #3 son & DIL for Christmas. I took it to be quilted last week and didn't think it would be finished in time to take with us, but the quilter called yesterday and I was so happy! I sewed the binding on last night and will have to finish the hand sewing part after I give it to them. I'm so glad it is finished.

Some of the pictures are too light because we took them in direct sunlight. We'll take some more when it is totally finished. It is done in all civil war reproduction fabrics.


This is the Christmas quilt after I quilted and bound it. I used the meandering quilting design because that is about all I can do now except for straight lines & stitch in the ditch. Tee Hee!

Here is Jonah's Christmas stocking. It isn't finished yet, but I just have the outlining to do on the cross-stitching - maybe you can see where I have done some of it. It really helps to make the picture stand out. I'll work on it during our vacation.
Then I'll have to get the cuff sewn onto the stocking. I really like the plaid fabric that I found for 40% off!
Hope you all have a wonderful holiday and maybe get some time for quilting! Thanks for all the comments. I try to respond, but I know I miss some. I appreciate all the visitors to my blog and enjoy checking out your blogs also.

CHRISTMAS QUILT; TRADE FROM TASMANIA

I found a blog friend in Tasmania, Australia and we traded some fabric.  Below is some of what   received from Leanna in exchange for some fabric from me.   I plan to use the charm squares in a tumbler charm quilt.  It still amazes me that we find friends on the other side of the world by blogging.  It is so fun!

Here are some of the other charm squares I have collected for the tumbler charm quilt.  I will be using mostly reproduction fabrics - or fabrics that can pass for reproduction types, Tee Hee.  I will be hand piecing it, so needless to say, this will be a long term project.  No deadline here!
Here is one of the finished doll quilts that I made last week.  I sold one to a friend at work and she was real happy with it.  I hope to sell this one (if not, I will give it away).  The pillow is kind of strange (long & skinny), but I had some blocks left over and this is how it turned out.

I have been wanting a Christmas quilt, so I decided to use these charm squares to make a lap quilt for us.  It's a really fast project.
I'm kind of addicted to charm squares!
I found another charm pack of  Christmas fabrics and I think I will make this one with alternating fabrics, such as the ones I laid out below.  We'll see if I get this finished in time to give as a gift.
The LQS is having a sale - 40% off everything in the store!!!  I went there yesterday and plan to go back today.  The store will be changing hands the first of the year, so the owner is trying to clear out the inventory.  I love it!!!

BABY QUILT FINISHED & SENT

I finished the baby quilt and mailed it yesterday!  We decided we would not make the trip to Florida for the baby shower because of DH's bulging disc.  The 11 hour drive would be pressing our luck too far.  

I decided to do a meandering quilting on it and I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.  It's not a perfect job, but it's he best I can do right now.  I have a Patsy Thompson quilting DVD which I want to view some more & do the practice mini quilts - if I can find it (I "put it away" when cleaning up for company and now can't find it)!

On to the next project!

WORKS IN PROGRESS

It's been a while since I blogged.  I was planning to go on a little trip with my sister & cousin, but my DH had a bad spell again.  To make a long story short, we found out that he has a bulging disc and he was in the hospital for a week.  He will be getting a shot in the disc on Monday that we're hoping will help the pain situation.  So, I had to cancel another trip.

Of course, I have kept working on various projects and right now I'm quilting the baby quilt for the new GD expected in December.  I hope to finish the quilting today and then will sew on the binding.

A friend at work has asked me to make a doll quilt for her GD, so here is a picture of what I have started.  The backing is on top of the quilt top.  The second picture below shows 2 doll quilt tops together.  

While DH was in the hospital, my DS#3, DIL & GS came to visit.  I asked my DIL if anyone was planning to make Jonah a Christmas stocking (kind of hoping his other GM was planning to do it), but no, noone else was going to do it, so we found a cross stitch pattern and I  have started working on it.  I like to have handwork handy that I can take with me to places like - umm - hospitals, doctor's appointments, etc.  Hope I finish it in time for Christmas, but actually, at his age (5 months), he won't know the difference.
This morning I went for a walk in my neighborhood.  It was 46 degrees and felt sooo good!  I came across a garage sale and bought a few items of lace, etc.  (below).  I will probably use them for some craft projects, like Christmas ornaments or doll bed linens.  Besides the doll quilts I'm making now, I am planning to make doll bed linens for the new GD, however, won't need them for a couple years, since she's not even born yet!
Have a great weekend, everyone!

DOUBLE NINE PATCH

The Nine Patch is a great, easy block and the Double Nine Patch is even better!  I decided to make a quilt for DS#3 and DIL because when they got married, I only made them a small 60" square throw because I was relatively new at quilting.  Since then I have made both DS#1 & DS#2 large bed quilts, so I thought I better get one made for DS#3.  My DIL loves reproductions, so I picked them mostly.  I need 80 of the small 9-patches and I have most of them finished.  They are coming tomorrow, so I wanted to be able to show my DIL that I have been working on it!  :-)

Here are 3 of the double nine patches put together.
Here's my sewing machine where I am chain stitching.
I just finished a quilt for my GS who is turning 13 in November.  He wanted a new quilt for his bed (since they moved into a bigger house) and he also loves "old things" so is getting a quilt made with reproduction fabrics with a pillowcase to match the backing and border.

More Vintage Doll Clothes

My mom made the doll dress and coat in these pictures probably during the 1950s.  I have them hanging in my front hall.

See the wood spools on the little shelf?  I got them from my mom's sewing box.