Choice: To eat or to sew...to eat or to sew..to.....

Well, so I made for Christmas, Divinity fudge, Panuche fudge and Chocolate fudge.  Then I made the sugar cookies and a caramel cookie....Tonight all is calm...hmmm some are left...hmmm.  Fine.  I decided to sew instead.  This evening I made this bag.   IKEA fabric and some handles I found in a drawer from long ago, a little iron on interfacing and an unusual bit of will power..Bingo!!  

The two sides of the bag and a close up of the handles attached to the bag with black elastic.  I just happened to have the right size in a basket.

Christmas Disappearing Nine Patch

I have been loving the disappearing nine patch for quite awhile now..as  you can see here:  http://oquilts.blogspot.com/2010/07/camilles-quilt.html

Thanks to Jo at..http://www.joscountryjunction.com/?p=1732 this pattern can be used to make a very easy one patch with a one patch lattice.  Soooo much fun.  Well, since I really enjoyed making the one above for Camille, I thought I would do a Christmas quilt in the same pattern.  I did the stash busting thing and bought absolutely nothing for this quilt..Had such a great time...so much so that I did this lap quilt and with the extra blocks did the baby quilt below and with the last block made a trivet!!  I think I will do a Halloween one next...Oh, dear...out of season, but what the heck:)  Once again, Merry Christmas!! It is snowing on Christmas for the first time since 1947...the year I was born.  I have not even snipped the threads yet because I wanted to post these for Christmas.

I see that Amy here, has made a similar quilt:   http://www.diaryofaquilter.com/2010/12/retro-christmas-winner.html  

The more quilts the merrier, all bringing Christmas joy!

Merry Christmas to All!! And to all a Good Night!

A Special Christmas fabric painting by my sister, Charmaine..the family!!

 A present from my friend Irene, probably made 25 some years ago.  She stuffed small rectangles with batting and tied them onto a metal wreath frame.  This is one of my favorite Christmas wreaths!

Snowman collection...

Our heritage...American, Swedish and Irish

Santa and I are feeling the same right about now!!

The old candelabra from Grandma...on the piano...at least 70 years old.

The Santa collection..

Swedish Christmas paper hangings...one French thrown in for the heck of it!!!  From when we lived there.

Then there is the reason for the season....

Christmas cookies

Grandma left me with a legacy of  Christmas love.  She taught me how to make Swedish sugar cookies.  Since they had lighted candles on their trees when she grew up in Sweden, she put the candles on the cookie trees as well.  These became our traditional Christmas cookies.  Grandma is long gone, but she lives on in many ways. 

I do not think that Grandma knew about Tupperware rolling pins and rolling surfaces.  I also think she might have missed the Parchment paper thing.  But, she taught me how to make cornicopias out of typing paper.  Fold the paper in half, swirl it around in the shape of a funnel and put the frosting made of confectioners sugar inside.  She also said that flouring the surface made the cookies tough, so I should put confectioners sugar on the surface instead.  They came out perfectly today!!

Evan's potholder for his mommy or Christmas love

Evan came to visit today.  With his five year old best artistry,  he drew this Santa for a potholder for his mommy for a Christmas surprise.  He then chose the border and backing fabric.  While he played Legos with Granddaddy, I made it into a potholder.  Then, Evan instructed me where to put the hanger and he and Granddaddy snipped the threads.   I think that it is Christmas love.

We used Marvvy fabric markers...I think that I got them from Hobby Lobby.

Sandy, Queen instructor of water aerobics

Just a little potluck bowl cover for Sandy, our wonderful instructor of water aerobics.  See tut here:

http://allysonhill.typepad.com/photos/eco_lid/dsc_0088.html#tp

Some Wonderunder and a bit of freemotion quilting made her the card below.  One present made and delivered!  Merry Christmas, Sandy!

Potholder heaven

These two cotton potholders I got at an antique show for a dollar each and I really love them.  The crochet one was made by Grandma about 70 years ago.  She was from Sweden, blue and yellow are the colors of the Swedish flag.

Vintage potholders on my kitchen wall

The cat in this drawing on the potholder is walking a mouse..with a sign that says...I love mice...My girl has always been creative!!

Trying to be more normal by showing my vintage red potholder collection on my kitchen wall.  Center is the potholder with a drawing of a cat, done by my daughter, Emily at age 5...she is almost 28, choke..now...so guess that one is vintage too:)

Family personality??

Thanksgiving did me in....but I am now myself again...thus my newest post.  I know that you all have family members with personality???  Maybe eccentric??  Highly intelligent??  A bit obsessive??  Anyway, I have just finished below, the Christmas present for my 58 year old brother and his wife.  They have lived in a no-pet apartment for seven years.....with 18 undetected cats...Oh...I can hardly print it....and, the worst thing/ or best thing???-----Is that they just rescued a pregnant mother and now have 4 more...total 22, and I am not good in math!!!...So do I condone it??  Did they ask me??   I have decided that, since  it is all out of my control,  I will just try to make them happy.  One year I made 18 small stockings for all their cats with the names on them.  They just loved that present..and really, if truth be known, it took nothing out of me...So now, I have just made the four newest arrivals their stockings...Sigh.  Now, really, I wonder who is going to comment that they come from a normal family...come on,....let me hear it!  Merry Christmas to my dear brother and his dear wife!!!  xxoo  I love you just the way you are:)

New Casserole Cover tutorial

http://2littlehooligans.blogspot.com/2010/10/casserole-carrier-tutorial.html

Thank you 2 little hooligans...looks good...

My man on the mountain, Mt Blanc....

Finished quilt for Quilts of Valor, I was wrong!

I was wrong..This is not the ugly quilt I thought it was.  The backing and the wonderful quilting by Terri has made this quilt a lovely donation to Quilts of Valor        http://www.qovf.org/

Although I hate to be wrong, it is nice to be so in a good way.  This quilt is now all finished and ready to give to the Guild for donation.  The batik backing is perfect!

Emily and Daddy in Cork, Ireland without Mommy!!!

Fabric making frenzy or OCD

I cannot stop sewing scraps together...I cannot throw them away...It is not that I do not have enough fabric...I am just obsessed...Now what to do with them....hmmm

Onion bag

Still up late, a bit..tiny bit, wired still from the steroids..I decided to make this little bag.  I was cleaning up after our Sit and Sew today, when I saw this empty onion bag and started wondering what I could do with it. I took some of the "made" fabric and sewed up this funky bag.  It was so much fun to make! 

NOW, it is bed time....xxoo

My favorite word is D..O..N..E

And ahead of time is even better!

The Christmas stocking for our guild.decorated with bells!!  Our guild asks for a homemade Christmas stocking and two cans of food for admittance to our holiday party in December.  We have fun by putting dollar bills in our favorite ones, the money going for goodies to fill the stockings for charity.  This is the first year that I actually have mine done in advance.  That is thanks to our Sit and Sew today and the wonderful support of my friends.

Kathy Lynn's First Quilt

About 35 years ago Kathy Lynn's grandmother gave her this Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt top, hand pieced from the clothes of Kathy Lynn and her sisters.  Today, Kathy Lynn finished quilting it.  You go girl. It is awesome and perfect for Charlotte's first cold winter's night.

Ironing pad tutorial

Well, injury or not, I have finished my ironing pad..maybe it is the steroids for the asthma, but it is late and I am still at the sewing machine, bandaged finger and all....I do think that I will leave the ties till tomorrow!!!!!

Ironing pad tutorial

Thank you Liz Copeland for this great tutorial.

A little bite of nothing was so much fun

I was going to take a nap today, but I so got into this fun that it didn't happen and now it is 5 o'clock. Going into my bits and pieces last night, I found this orphan block left over from my Grandmother's embroidery. She made these cats from Better Homes and Gardens magazine in the 1970's. I made a quilt from them and this one was left over. After a few years I decided to paint it orange with a Marvy marker. I totally hated it and yet couldn't throw it away cause Grandma embroidered it. You can see that I keep things forever. But, now I see that I no longer have forever. So, I made another block medallion quilt and appliqued a fish in the mouth...It was so much fun that I was driven to enjoy and finished it right now.

The skeletons that are not in my closet!

Gotta love those grandkids....just taking a baby break from quilting!