Tuffets

Were you a little bit busy this month?? December seems to always come too fast and Christmas runs ahead of my schedule. So even though I was busy at my sewing machine, these little Tuffets were kind of last on the list.

I managed to get these three little beauties finished, as two were for gifts. I've got the fabric lined up for the other ones, but I thought I would go ahead and post my Schnibbles picture for December before the New Year rang in.

And don't you just love it when the doorbell rings and there stands the postman with this -

woo-hoo! Kelly over at Cotton Charm Quilts had a direct link to the North Pole and gave away some awesome Christmas gifts.

Can you imagine my surprise to find that my delivery was a fat quarter bundle of Blessings fabric. I LOVE this line, and can't wait to start on something in the New Year.

Enjoy your day, and happy quilting :-)

The final countdown

Have you been following Prairie Moon Quilts The Final Countdown this week? Shelly is giving 5 tasks to complete to end the year. If you complete each task, you are eligible for a prize on January 4th. The first day was finishing binding on a quilt, the second day was put away scraps, and today the task is to straighten out magazines or quilt books.

So I did task #1, and task #2 and today I straightened out some magazines that were in a pile next to my computer desk. Straightened and put away :-) Yea!

And here is a picture of my sweet daughter with her birthday quilt (with binding completed ;-)

Hope you are making the most of the last days of 2009! Happy Quilting :-D

Bound for glory

Do you enjoy doing the binding on your quilts?? That is one job that I really do not enjoy. It seems to take so long to cut the binding, press, sew it onto the quilt, and then sew it down.

When we were doing a lot of charity quilts, I found that bringing the backing fabric over to the front side of the quilt worked really great and cut down on the time invested in making the quilt. Now I don't want to re-invent the wheel, but I thought I would just show you how I do it.

If I have enough backing fabric to bring it around to the front side, after quilting the quilt I measure and trim to two inches of the backing.

I trim off the excess batting.

Fold down once onto itself -


then fold it again (still onto the itself) -
Then I fold it over the border and pin.

When I come to the corner I trim off the first part of the fold to reduce bulk

then finish folding the first row before starting the next section

again, fold onto itself once,

the second fold -

Fold over onto the border and pin

I use my walking foot to sew the binding down -

and I have also used a decorative stitch.

I don't know if you can see the nice stitches on the back side -

I'm working on getting this quilt finished for my daughter's birthday. So I'll run for now. Just wanted to share how I do this quick and easy binding ;-)

Twas the day after Christmas

and what do we see, underneath the big Christmas tree........

I hope that you all had a very wonderful Christmas day. It seems like it was a mad rush to get there, but now that Christmas is over, new adventures are on the horizon.

Did you get any quilty love this Christmas?? My sweet daughter gave me some very wonderful charm packs. I was so surprised!

Aren't they great! woo-hoo, can't wait to use them :-) Maybe a Schnibbles in the works.

And the biggest surprise of all was this present from all of my children -

Needless to say, I was speechless. I've used a very old (and faithful) digital Sony for years, but just like some of us, it is getting slower and slower. Guess some of those aches and pains will eventually catch up with ole Sony.

AND -
woo-hoo! I will finally be moving up into the 21st century. Any help and feedback on how to use this would be greatly appreciated.

So now that you have read my little Christmas tale, you've hung on every word, right?? Okay, okay........ I finally closed the giveaway, and picked TWO winners! Yeah! I hear the cheering section.

SO the first winner, who has first pick of the prizes is -

Mary St. John Nielsen
Mary has a new blog "Keep Me in Quilts". Mary you need to catch up on your blogging. We'd like to get to know you :-)

Mary, please let me know which prize you would like for me to send to you.

Meme's Quilts "All Thru the Year" pattern, four tea towels, fabric to make the Rooster towel.

***OR***

Becky's Ivy Cottage "Tea Time Tea Towels" pattern, three tea towels, fabric to make the Strawberry cottage teapot and the Rooster teapot, plus several buttons for some of the other tea towels.

And the second winner is -

Bonnie of "That's Life"

So ladies, if you will send me your addresses, I will get these little packages out in the mail.

I was pretty overwhelmed with the response to my little giveaway! I can't tell you how much I enjoyed reading everyone's comments. I love to read your comments. It's like visiting with a friend, but many of you are from around the world. Thank you for taking the time to visit my little blog. I hope that those of you who are new will come back to visit often.

Have a great weekend!

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas

May the celebration of our Savior's birth inspire us all to rejoice and to serve Him with humble hearts. May we always remember the "reason for the season". That our Heavenly Father loved us so much that He gave His beloved Son to this fallen world, to die for our sins so that we may live forever with Him. It's a gift that cannot be earned or worked for. It's free to all men.

May your hearts be filled with love and joy this Christmas season.

Christmas Memories

Wow the past 4 days have really been a challenge. As many of you know, we live in Florida, so my dear hubby was thinking this would be a good time to do this, as it's normally very nice weather in December. However, the weather decided to turn cold this weekend, so we started off Monday morning with 48 degrees. The workers thought they could get everything removed, and installed in one day. But that was not to be. So we ended up having to move to my in laws house to spend the night. Today the inspector finally came, and we are up and running with heat and/or AC whichever is needed. I'm so happy that it's all done, and now I have to get my house back in order so we can enjoy our Christmas.

Even though I was not able to do any blogging, I tried to keep up with some of my blog reading. I came across Charming Chatter's Christmas Memories Giveaway. We are to "shop" her store and tell what we'd like for Christmas and then post a Christmas memory. Well her shop is filled with all kinds of wonderful stuff, so it's hard to shop and be good ;-) However I think the Blessing Fat Quarter bundle would be an ideal addition to my fabric stash. What a beautiful line of fabric.

As far as a Christmas memory goes, I think the Christmas that stands out in my mind was the year I was expecting our first baby. I was given a due date of December 28th, so we knew that anything could happen. On Christmas Eve I felt that I was starting to go into labor. Contractions were not consistent at that point, but they were happening. We were thinking that we might get a Christmas baby. But Christmas eve came and went. Christmas Day came and went. All the while I was still having contractions. On the day after Christmas my Doctor wanted me to come into the hospital. I was making very slow progress and things were happening. At 6:45 AM on December 27th our beautiful dark haired, blue eyed baby girl greeted us with a wail. She was the most precious baby that I had ever laid eyes on, and of course she wrapped my hubby around her little finger the moment she was born.

Stop by and take a peek at Charming Chatter's giveaway. She is giving away the "Stella Blue" pattern and fabric by Minick & Simpson from Moda! woo-hoo! Wouldn't you enjoy that great Christmas present?

And remember to sign up for my giveaway. I'm so excited to see all the comments that are being left. And what if I sweeten the pot just a little more? If I get at least 100 comments, I will add a second prize and pick TWO winners! More tea towels and a different pattern.

The first person drawn will have first pick. Same rules apply. Be sure to go here to leave a comment to be entered. If you are a follower, leave me a second comment and I will add you in a second time.

Ready for not - Christmas is coming!

The weather outside is -

------- COLD!

Okay, so I am not a cold hearty person. But this is what is going on in my house today......

Yes they are tearing out all the duct work and replacing all the duct and a new AC/Heat unit is going in. But today it is in the low 40's. Yes, wimp, wimp, wimp. You guys up there in the minus temps, I am a wimp. We turned the heat up before the workers came, and actually got the house pretty warm. But they have been going in and out and there is no heat left in the house right now. So our house is as cold inside as it is outside.

What do you think about having your house look like this four days before Christmas?


sigh..............

And they will be working in every room replacing the vents. There is dust and fiber everywhere :-(

SO being that I can't do much of anything, I thought I would have a quick little giveaway. Here are the goods -

How about Meme's Quilts All Thru the Year Applique Towel Pattern

and four towels to get you started

and just to sweeten the giveaway, I'll include a little bit of fabric so you can start the New Year right. You should be able to start with the Rooster applique.

No hoops to jump through. Just leave me a comment (be sure I have a way to contact you), and I will pick a winner the day after Christmas. If you are a follower, leave me a second comment and I will add you in a second time.

Maybe this will give you a fun and easy little project to start the New Year off right :-)

Let it Snow

Every post that I am reading today is all about snow! My goodness a lot of you will be having a White Christmas this year.

So to help you with some fun blog hopping, check these out! My sweet friend Micki all the way over in Ireland is having a wonderful giveaway. I told her I would send over my followers. So please take a really quick trip over to Donegal County and sign up for her giveaway.

And did you know that Shelly from Prairie Moon Quilts is having a Twelve Days of Christmas giveaway too? If you have missed the first part of the giveaway, you still have time to sign up. Just go back to when she started, and leave a comment.

And lastly, Fabric Artist 21 is adding something new everyday to her giveaway! So hurry on over and leave a comment.

Okay, I am not really one who likes the snow, but it is such a lovely time of year to have giveaways. So here is my advice to you -

Opinion please

Ok-ey! I've been computerless today. My wonderful (18 yo) son built me a new computer (early Christmas, yea!) because our old one had ISSUES!!! And let me tell you, if the computer people tell you it is your internet, and the internet people tell you it's the computer, I'd believe the internet people. After all, my son and daughter both have used our internet provider and they never had any ISSUES with their computer. Not naming any names here, but just sayin'!

We also have workers coming in on Monday to tear out our duct work and replace the whole AC system. Okay, happy Christmas ;-) But it is the right time of year to do this kind of work, and it's been needed for a while.

I took a few pictures of my handmade ornaments, although I did not make them, I just think they are very cute.

I found three of these CUTE little bears at the thrift store last summer. They have been sitting in my sewing area waiting for Christmas.

I can't remember who gave me this yo-yo ornament, but it's a simple little project that could be added as a gift tag.

I have to thank all of you for your really sweet comments on my Christmas quilts. I have always said that I am a "piecemaker" and the quilting part always falls behind. So with that, I'd like to ask your advise about a wall hanging.

I've been working on this wall hanging and can't really decide on how to finish it. Here is the base of it.

The pattern -
I know you can't see it in this picture but the pattern calls for key tags that you find in an office supply store. I was thinking of putting yo-yo's or buttons.

What do you think?? It really looks cute with the key tags, as they had written Merry down one side and Christmas on the other. But I'd like to get a second opinion. That's you :-)

Moments of inspiration

Sometimes I find the Ladies room in Quilt shops and Tea rooms to be so fascinating. They often times offer some inspiration.

Tea rooms lean towards a slightly elegant flavor in their Ladies room They will have cloth towels and lovely art work on the walls.

Very ornate wash bowls

Quilt shops tend to be a little more laid back in their decor. But they do sometimes have some very cute


or interesting projects on display.

So as a good rule of thumb, it might be profitable to keep a camera in your purse. You just never know when you might be faced with an inspirational opportunity :-)

Have a happy quilty day!

They say..........

..... that confession is good for the soul.

I showed you my Christmas UFO in yesterday's post. Well, truth be known, there is another one that I have not quilted. Well maybe two??

One of my quilting buddies (Hi Becky!) gave me these Christmas Alphabet blocks several years ago.

We made these quilt tops and even made an embroidered label in the bottom left corner. I never got around to quilting this one.

And this one was a kit that I bought at the Amish Shop Hop.

I made it with my BFF.

So I guess I will have plenty to do before next Christmas. Hopefully no one will remember when I show them again next time ;-)

Christmas, at last

We have finally started putting up the Christmas decorations. It seems that we were all going in different directions this year, and there was never enough time to decorate for the season.

Tree up, lights on, ornaments hung!

Village completed (at least with what we could find. There's still another box missing)

My little collection of clay snowmen.

I couldn't wait to put this cute little doll out that I won last August from Barb's Creations.
And my Christmas quilt that is still not quilted. I love this quilt and thought about maybe (MAYBE) hand quilting it.

hummm..... maybe by next year??