Christmas Quilts

I did do a bit of Christmas decorating this morning. I put up my Christmas Sampler in the living room.

Believe it or not Tonya helped me pick out fabrics for this (which included a Mary Jo's roadtrip!) and Bonnie did the quilting...makes it a good friend memory quilt. Also it has lots of my favorite blocks...

This little table-topper was made from holiday fabric scraps. The blocks finish at 3/4 inch.

Right now I am trying to finish up an 2009 Bonnie Hunter Mystery quilt. My color pallet is a bit clearer in this one. It will go well with my Pennsylvania quilts!

Last Post Before Christmas

Well I am almost packed, the cookies have been delivered, and Macbeth, Brownie and Goldie have opened their gifts. That last part was not on purpose - while I was out delivering cookies it appears one of the cats found their stockings and knocked them off the shelf. Once on the floor it looks as if it was a free-for-all...

I played with my Carolina Christmas blocks before packing them away until after the holidays. I love how the scraps are coming together...and there are a lot of scraps!I did get some questions from our International quilters on what this cookie thing is all about...it really is just a chance to bake cookies. I know some folks take it very seriously (someday I will post about my friends search for edible gold leaf like she saw in a cooking show...) but for the most part I stick with traditional. I make cookies for some young servicemen that work with my husband, for my veterinarian and his staff, our priest, my nieghbors, and some members of the MS group at the clinic I go to. It is just another way of saying Merry Christmas. This year I used these fun chinese take-out boxes but was a bit disappointed in how few cookies fit in them...only a half dozen of the mixed and 8 if they are the same shape...maybe I should make smaller cookies?
Of course this little blue willow cup only fits three biscotti but I think she will like the cup better than the cookies anyway!

Have a Merry Christmas!

Starting to look a bit like Christmas...

I finally got myself in gear and got a few holiday decorations up...the front door is pretty much done...
much to Macbeth's bewilderment (the pine scratches against the door and he thinks it is the cats are asking to be let in...let's hope this passes!)

I dug out a Christmas sweater to wear to the first Quilter Guild Christmas Party tonight (and yes, it does have a scotty dog on it! all good fun...) I made a batch of spanakopita (greek spinach and feta cheese pastry) for the party which makes the house smell good...maybe not christmas-y but festive non-the-less. Spanakopita was my Dad's favorite appetizer only he wanted them all folded into the little triangles - sorry quilters I only did that for my Dad.

I worked on my Bonnie's Carolina Christmas Mystery a bit more this morning. Usually by this time I have a clue on what the heck it will look like. Guess you can tell by that last sentence that I am totally in the dark. I laid the pieces so far out on the rug and tried mixing them around but to quote Holmes "there is insufficient data to come to a conclusion." Either that or I am totally without imagination! Maybe the next step will get me there.....

Another project...

I know, I needed to start a new project. Those bags and boxes of half done quilts and random sewing stuff just aren't enough to keep me busy...that is my story and I'm sticking to it! Anyway, I have been on a finish it kick for several months so pulling out fabric to do something new was just too tempting.
So when Bonnie started posting her Carolina Christmas it was just what I needed to justify a day of fabric rummaging (amazing what I unearthed but that will be in a future post!) I live right on the border between Georgia and South Carolina. When I walk Macbeth along the river I can see S.C. on the other side so a Carolina quilt makes all sorts of sense to me. But of course there is a twist...I am doing it in Pennsylvania colors. My quilt will be in reds, greens, yellows an pinks seen in so many antique quilts from the Pennsylvania area.This quilt was my inspiration for pulling fabrics...no pink or green there you are thinking...well, I put this quilt out every Christmas and think the same thing! In my mind though it is a Christmas quilt. So I thought if I made a quilt that used similar reds and yellows and then added some green then "they" become Christmas quilts. Why the pink...well I like it that is why! And, every quilt needs a bit of surprise in it...

During the past weekend we have been invaded by strange herds of reindeer...hundreds of them. My neighborhood has gone crazy decorating for Christmas. There are large reindeer, small reindeer, some made of wood while others are made of wires, some deer look more like misguided moose, and there is even one that is supposed to be nodding its head grazing but instead does a sort of exorcist head twirl and shimmy that scares the heck out of poor Macbeth. There are so many light I think they could see us from the space station. Now I generally like Christmas decorations but a 15 foot blow-up snowman when it is 70 degrees outside just seems wrong. So I haven't done any decorating outside an only put up a few things indoors...I'm hoping this Christmas quilt gets me in the mood!