Chooky's Secret Santa Swap 2009

Again this year, Super Elf, Chooky, organized a Secret Santa swap. I had so much fun last year I had to sign up again. My santa was Rebecca from Homestead Quilting.As you can see from this picture I got a beautiful calander of Australian Flowers. Everyone loves pics of great flowers - especially us in the USA that are in cold rainy/snowy areas and are pouring over our seed catologs dreaming of warmer weather and our gardens. And if you read this post,you can see I also recieved 2 stunning -hand embroidered items- an adorable candy cane holder and the ornament. But never did I think I would get the so very lovely table runner. It's a thing of obsolute beauty. Thank you - thank you- thank you Rebecca- I just love it. it's almost too pretty to have on the table. But rest assured that on Jan 7th- when the last of Christmas is put away after Kings Day- it will be the center piece of my table. I will have to try and get a pic of the quilting which is just amazing.

Rebecca thank you so much for being my Santa and spoiling me so and Chooky- thank you for all your hard work in getting all of us together again for a wonderful swap- please add me for next year.





With all the hustle and bustle of making jellies, jams- salsas and prettys to go into baskets for neighbors, friends and family, I almost didn't make any roll out cookies. Wednesday night I just knew I would be so mad at myself if I didn't take my copper cookie cutters and use them. For as long as I can remember, my mom used them with us kids at Christmas time and since they were given to me 20 years ago I have used them faithfully every year. How can I kill a tradition, I ask you? So after much digging in the garage they appeared.





I've added to them over the years- and they only seem to get used at Christmas even though there are plenty that are not of the a Christmas theme. One day I hope to split them and give some to both of my children......

I see a Quilt Design in that floor

While trasping around NYC with my friend Cheryl, we stopped on one of the beautiful churches. Which one this is I have no clue,sorry. But look at the lovely design in the marble tiled floors.....I'm thinking Birds in the Air needs to be made.

This Elf has been busy.....

I've been busy canning stuff for gift baskets. Just need to make some fudge and toffee and maybe embroider a few towels. The flavored liquors are ready, I got some great flasks at the container store for them. Herbs need to be repacked in cute glass jars. Now if I could just find 6- 8 nice sized non budget killing baskets I'd be good to go.

Salsa and jelly......




More jelly






Yipee! Both wall hangings are finsihed and hanging. I also did the binding on the gingerbread table runner while watching Angels and Demons with the hubby this afternoon.








trees up and since we had a snow day the kids decorated this morning....played with long exposure -movement and tree lights. Pics will be on the other blog.

Happy St Nicholas Day

This is Sinterklaas. The Dutch Santa Claus.

Wall hanging progress and SNOW

I've been working with the embroidery machine trying to stitch out 24 North Pole buildings- so cute :) I have 7 more to do for another wall hanging. I managed to get the table runner quilted today. Just need to trim and get the binding on :)






We had our first snow fall of this season....




DD and I went to NYC this evening for a short walkabout...pics are on the other blog ( click on the yellow orchids on the right)

Secret Santa Swap :)

Chooky ran a Secret Santa swap again this year. THANK YOU CHOOKY!!! My package arrived today. Rebecca from Homestead Quilting was my Santa and just look at the two lovelies I was allowed to open. Sad to say we don't have our tree up yet. Maybe Sunday. But the ornament is hanging by my desk here bringing a smile everytime I see it. The candy canes and holder are now hanging on my bedroom door. The candy is still sealed. I'll wait to open and share that with the family. Gota find my pretty candy bowl.








I have this lovely to open Christmas morning ( if I can last that long ) Thanks Rebecca - I love everything ( well that I could open )





Moose is so tired watching all the work going on here with the holidays coming.





Christmas Troubles is quilted and bound and hanging on the wall over the microwave. Once I get my kitchen tree up it will be so cute.







I found some extra blocks from last years mystery and decided to make ds a wall hanging. I really need to pay attention more as I have one hst turned the wrong
way :( and it's a;; quilted and bound.

Finally sewing again :)

Since the angiogram on Wednesday ( no blockages- more tests coming) I was told to do nothing for the weekend- nothing. I can't drive so I decided to break out the sewing machine and the embroidery machine. I had about 5 yards of this tiny gingerbread allover patterned fabric that I get tired of moving around. So yesterday I decided I needed a wall hanging and table runner for the holidays.

I always loved how Buffalo Troubles came out and wondered if I could make another with the gingerbread fabric of the bonus hts from the table runner points. I did have to make another couple sheets worth from Triangulations ( kinda like thangles but you print sheets)I found two browns and tah dah!

I'm calling it Christmas Troubles :)






Closeup of the fabrics






I also finished a table runner top for the holidays :)






I even did a couple dish towels and a denim shirt.




No pictures this week because I'm housebound- next weekend DD and I are meeting a friend in NYC to take pictures of the Christmas decorations. The big tree should be lit by "The Rock"- hopefully Sat night mass will be over so I can take pics in St. Pat's Cathedral.The store windows...etc etc

More of the Quilt Show

Here's the booth set up for the mini quilt raffle number 4 of 5 this morning...




Look I even won 2 mini quilts I actually won 3. Two were the same quilt design ( the one on the right) I gave one to the current First VP as she wanted one too- it's nice to share :-)




Look at all the fabric I bought -WOW- you know what? I haven't been to a quilt show since the whole Buffalo move that never happened for me started and usually I spend at leasr $150 a show. I missed 6 shows so this a very small price to pay. Barb has brought me to the DARK SIDE not only applique but Civil War Reproductions *gulp* Let's start small with a pattern's worth of fqs to try a 16" block of the pattern I won last night- then I saw the blue and white kit ( my very fav combo) then I bought a book by Kim Deihl. A pieced and applique wall hanging pattern's worth of FQS. The book is called Simple Blessings...should be quite an adventure.





Look who won the doll bed and quilt. After all her hard work I think she deserved it :)




I am exausted after all the the following of Barb's lead. She wrote more on the door prize raffle this morning on her blog...too funny. You can read about it here : Tomorrow is veg out day ....

Barb thank you for such a fun learning experience and a bunch of laughs. I will be begging for help with these new projects....don't leave me alone on the dark side of Repros and applique w/o help- I beg of you......

Brownstone Quilt Guild's Show

After a long time w/o a show venue, Brownstone Quilt Guild started their show today. What a long - but fun day it was.....And it's still going on tomorrow at Allendale, NJ's Northern Highlands High School. If you're in the neighborhood please come see me. I'll be at the mini auction with Barb We're in room two. We still have over 50 mini quilts for 2 drawings tomorrow.....
Part of the NJ Quilt book challenge- Grandmother Stars - my interpertaion of a GMFG. My design based on floor tiles I saw in Philley.....





I entered Musical Geese - didn't get a ribbon but I entered it just the same......






We have alot of great vendors- some like this one I've never seen before. Very nice people for Red Sox fans :P







Barb and I are running the Mini Quilt auction- OK Barb's running it and I just do what she says :) I won a bunch of mini quilts today- bottom left is hubby's fav and mine fav is bottom right. I wanted that quilt so bad when it was sent last year for the show - I almost kept it - see it pays to be a good girl :) I won 2 more that I made :( and gave one to Talin and one to Barb- neither is my style but they were fun to make .









The door prize gals over did themselves and had over 700 prizes of all shapes and sizes. Anything from gardening gloves and a gardening book- foot massagers (LOL)-spools of embroidery thread ( thanks Barb) patterns- fqs etc etc, It was like an addicting drug you could not walk by w/o playing and play I did....look at all this stuff. I also won a ceramic house of some kind - hubby's getting it out of my truck so I can see what it is....a pic for another day :)








And hubby,prince he is brought Barb and I some real food for dinner- what a guy!!! Thanks Dave it was yummy. He even made sure I had some cold wine when I got home- I may keep him another 20 years *VBG*

What the House Test Says About You

You consider yourself important, but no more important than anyone else. You love attention, but you don't feel like you deserve more of it than anyone else. You aren't against being community oriented, but it's not really your thing. You tend to prefer to focus on your family and not the neighborhood around you. You are creative, expressive, and bright. You are always in the middle of some amazing project. You take good care of your physical appearance. You dress well, stay in shape, and do your best to look great. You are moved by romance and love. You are optimistic about people, and you love hearing about happy endings.

The House Test

Blogthings: Waste Time at Work!

It's back in the work circulation

Look at what I dragged to work on last night....this is my third year of working on it...not sure why I can't stay focused enough to finish it....






and it's Moose approved :)

Look another post in the same week

Last year Brownstone celebrated it's 25th anniversary. Pauline had a challenge of 25 repeats - around 25" to include silver. Lacey gave me hers afterwards- we're such yoyo heads from the land of YO as she says ......

Anyway next week is our guild's quilt show. And everything needs a label. How does one label a wall hanging of yoyos???Well I made myself crazy by sewing on a hanging sleeve to my gmfg quilt and 2 labels - my 25th anniversary challenge and my entry.






Then it dawned on me what to do.........................

Pretty clever if I do say so.....

Miss Me??

I miss blogging- I miss reading what everyone is up to.
Face book is quicker and easier and all on one page....

To tell the truth I haven't done much in the way of quilting in the last month- I finished hand quilting a 30's baby quilt for a cousin's newborn daughter, Emma Faith. Pretty name huh?

I've started taking photography classes to hone my skills and am loving it. I'm in my second one for the year. This will be it till after the holidays. Then it will be photoshop classes......

Can't find a pic of the baby quilt- so I'll leave you with one from my "homework"




whoops found the baby quilt.....
But here's one of my homework anyway :)

Quilting Still lifes

I'm taking a series of classes on digital photography and photo editing. We had to take still life photos using different settings for the next class. So of course you wouldn't expect me to take pics of fruit bowls or the likes of that - would you????

Monday's Mini Quilt Top

This cutie measures 8x9" An insane amount of paper piecing for such a small piece.
It had me in fits a few times, I can wait to finish this one for the auction.....



After I fixed the one border....I would have been so mad if I started quilting it....

Call the Press I'm actually sewing

This is a wall hanging I started quilting last weekend. It's a Christmas present for a dear friend. I'm almost done hand quilting it (:


Here are two mini quilt tops I finished this weekend. I have a third started- paper piecing *yikes* They are for a mini quilt auction that will run during our quilt show in November. You know you buy books because they're cute. These are from 2 books I bought last year.

This one is from American Doll Quilts 16 Little Projects that Honor a Tradition by Kathleen Tracy


This one is from the book,Paper Pieced Mini Quilts by Wendy Vosters. I didn't paper piece this one though. It was an easy enough design to just enlarge using 2" squares.


There are two more mini quilts I'd like to make. I started one and I need to make a million hsts for the other

I started a photography class last week- been playing with some setting on camera. I tried taking a few of the cats
Nancy is a ham and doesn't mind her pic taken. Something with the flash bothers Moose and he moves







And DD and her date before the wedding they were going to this afternoon- such cuties. He was an hour late picking her up and wasn't a happy camper....

And how about those Jets???