Layout options

I made 2 more Traveling Star blocks this morning and then brought them all upstairs to my family room floor to play with layout options.  Here is option 1 - offset vertical rows and no sashing.  I am definitely looking for ideas and I know I'll keep rearranging them as I add to the collection of blocks.

Here are blocks 33 and 34.  And there are 4 more on my cutting table ready to sew.

A new project for 2014

I have something patriotic in mind for 2014. . .

New quilt decor

We have all 4 grandkids here this weekend for our Christmas celebration. And since 2 of them are 8 months old we decided to pad the brick fireplace with some quilts.  Probably a good move since Olivia spent a lot of time crawling and standing there today.  She's attracted by shiny bows.  We'll open gifts in the morning with all 4 of the little ones. 

Christmas decor

I must admit that I love the seasonal things that help make my house bright and cheery.  A Jim Shore angel on my mantle was a new addition this year. She may stay out after the other Christmas decorations get put away.

And this little Christmas quilt is covering my coffee table even though it is a little too big.  

Traveling Stars

More traveling star blocks . . . and a few more ready to go.  There are 32 finished now.

Folded Star ornament

Merry Christmas from our house to yours. I made this ornament in 1990 (cross-stitch date on the back) and now I'm seeing similar folded stars all over Pinterest. It's always fun to see a favorite design come around again. 

Design Wall Monday - Playing with squares

I have the day off and I'm playing with the box of 2 1/2" squares I've been collecting.  So far this spiral is 20 inches square and growing rapidly. It's basically the log cabin technique but done with scrappy squares instead of strips.  Wonder how big this will be by the end of the day?

I'm linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.

Snowman pillowcases

The 2 oldest grandkids will be getting new snowman pillowcases for Christmas.  I love making pillowcases and have donated a lot of them to local organizations.  They are kind of an instant gratification project because they are so quick to make.  I use a tube technique for the top and use French seams to encase all of the raw edges. 

Eiffel Tower Mystery Quilt

The mystery quilt became a flimsy on Saturday morning.  Since the Eiffel Tower fabric was directional I had to cut the side borders lengthwise. Glad I bought extra!

Mug rug exchange

I realized this morning when I set my cup of coffee on my new mug rug that I had forgotten to post anything on my blog about it. For our Christmas party meeting at the Heartland Quilt Guild we decided anyone interested would make a mug rug to exchange.  Each one was numbered and we just drew a random number. Mine was made by Carol and I just love the pretty Christmas florals she used. And the back is just as pretty.  It was been gracing my end table all month. Thanks Carol - Merry Christmas!

A new ornament

I have a cute new Christmas ornament on my tree. Thank you to Cindy for the red work snowman. 

Mystery Quilt rows

Rows 1 and 2 of the Mystery Quilt are put together and I'm sure liking the light grey I used for the background.  Most of the rest of the weekend will be taken up by a holiday party and some college basketball so I may not get the other rows done until next weekend. But it's nice to have a little progress.

Favorite Christmas ornaments

I read a wonderful blog post from Wyoming Breezes yesterday about treasured Christmas ornaments from her childhood. And she recommended that I post something similar. My only childhood Christmas ornaments are the 2 little angels you can see in the photo. Both are made of cardboard, pipe cleaners, and other mysterious bits and pieces. But I do love them and hanging them brings back lots of great memories from childhood holidays.

My ornament collection is HUGE and pretty eclectic, and our tradition is to add something new every year to our tree.  Most of the ornaments have some special connection to places, or people, or events. And hanging those every year is a fun way to remember.  Some of my other favorites are these 2 photo ornaments from the 1980s when my girls were little.  I have new ones this year for grand-kid photos but I need to print smaller photos to fit before I can hang them.

I have given my girls each a new ornament every year since they were born, and now I'm doing the same with the grand-kids too.  This has been a tradition that I've enjoyed and I hope they get some enjoyment from it as well.  This year we've NOT hung many of the special ornaments because so many are fragile - and we'll have 2 toddlers and 2 crawlers at our house for Christmas. So we mostly kept the fragile things put away for another year and that is OK. But I had lots of fun looking at them as I sorted through ornaments. 

Do you have any favorite ornaments?  I would love to hear about them.

A "quilty" donation

This quilt top (with backing fabric and binding) is at the Post Office this morning ready to fly away to a new home. I'm donating it to a great cause rather than allow it to sit around my house with no purpose. Thank you to Jean at http://quiltingranny.blogspot.com/ who will take it from here.  It was a UFO that I recently finished after many, many years of neglect. I'm hoping that it ends up bringing some comfort and warmth to someone out there who needs it. 

It feels good to give . . .

The Christmas party for Heartland Quilters Guild was last Saturday and we all brought a donation of children's hats, mittens, or socks (or cash) for the Mitten Tree at the church where we hold our meetings. We gathered quite a collection to add to the tree. These will all go to the local Salvation Army next week sometime.

And the stockings were hung by the chimney with care

Don't you just love the cozy feeling you get when the house is decorated for Christmas?  Even the cat seems to like it.

Traveling Stars

I've fallen behind in making the Traveling Stars blocks, but today I had a chance to get 2 more made. These are numbers 27 and 28.  The 6" center of each block is made from the square of fabric that our guild members share when they've bought fabric on a trip - thus, my name for these is Traveling Stars. And I have a couple of them made with 6" squares sent to me by blogging friends. I love, love, love star blocks.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas in my house

A small Christmas runner for my kitchen counter.  Red, green, and grey is a different color combo than I usually think of for Christmas, but I like it. See the little silver Santa figure hiding next to the centerpiece leaves?

Snow day - Sew day

My mystery quilt blocks are all done. And I cut the pieces for something Christmasy. And I did a lot of shoveling until my neighbor came and finished my driveway with his blade. 

Mystery quilt progress

There are now 4 of the 17 star blocks needed for the latest mystery quilt I'm working on. The pieces are all cut and ready to go for the other 13. The Eiffel Tower fabric will be my main border fabric and the design should really stand out then. It's a bit lost in these 7.5" stars.