Christmas Season

Christmas 2011 is over.  We were able to visit with both our boys but the actual holiday was spent with just hubby and me.  Empty nesters.  It will take some getting used to. 

Elizabeth loved Grandma's tree especially the ornaments.

Squeezing behind the tree was a favorite past time.



I spent time knitting and crocheting various projects -- slippers, hats, afgan.    We are looking forward to 2012 and pray that good things are in store for us.

May 2012 hold many blessings for you and your family!

Patty

Christmas time is almost here...

It seems as Christmas draws closer and closer, I always seem to find new projects for gifts for family and/or friends.  the other day I found this pattern for elf slippers and thought they'd be perfect for my grand daughter.  I spent the weekend whipping them up only to realize they might be a tad small for her.

To be on the safe side, I'm working on a second pair the next size up and I'll use these as ornaments on the tree. 

It would be easier if she lived closer so I could run over and attempt to measure her various body parts (I also found a cute dress that I plan on knitting for her).  I say attempt because she's a very high-energy active 20 months year old.  Zooms everywhere.  I'm sure her mom wouldn't appreciate me dropping in all the time so it's probably best the way it is.  Fortunately they are only 5.5 hours north of us so visits aren't out of the question.

Need to finish up the slippers and get back to cleaning out the guest room.  I've been told that they are planning a trip down over the holidays!  Psyched!!

Merry Christmas!

Graduation Quilts Page Updated!

Took a few minutes to update the graduation quilts page so you could see all the quilts I've made plus a few that I plan to make. 

I have also made baby quilts for gifts and quilts for my sons as well and might make a page to post those on. 

Below is the first quilt that I made which I hand quilted.  My sweet husband gave me a quilting hoop as a gift one year.  Later he confessed that he added a couple of stitches... I never even noticed which tells you how good my stitching wasn't.  *laugh* 

The quilt next to my youngest son is also one that I made. 

Miniature Quilts

I have a few quilts that I've made or in the process of making that I want to make miniatures of to keep for myself. 

I've made a 'cat' quilt for my sister who lives in Florida -- she loves cats and at the time she was alone in Florida. I wanted her to know that she was loved. 

Yvonne with quilt

This quilt is a WIP and long overdue.  It's one of the graduation series and because it is long overdue, I'm thinking it needs to be a full size quilt.  I began the graduation quilt series with twin size quilts, downgraded to lap quilts due to the number I had to make but now with the next three seriously overdue (high school graduations happened years ago) with two of the recipients having gotten married and had children (who received baby quilts), a full size might be a good idea.

Finished it should look similar to the following a pattern called COSMOS from Easy Quilts Magazine.  I chose this pattern because it's vibrant and the recipient is an artist.  I am hoping to machine quilt it with sunbeams radiating from the center of each block but we'll see.  I'm new at machine quilting.

Graduation Quilts -- Here are two of the graduation quilts I've made so far.  I need to track down pictures of the rest and figure out how to do another page to show WIPs/UFOs and the rest of the graduation quilts.

This is my niece Rachel with her then-fiance (now husband) with her stars graduation quilt.  It's a twin size and was hand-tied.  She was quilt #4 (out of 13).

This is Kristy in a Bargello style with my son Jared (he was just diagnosed with type 1 diabetes).  Quilt #1 -- The idea came from an Alex Anderson quilting show I watched regularly as did most of the other quilts I've made.  Kristy wanted flame colors.  I'm not sure it's still on her bed as she's now a young wife/mother with two darling children of her own and her color palate is a wee bit tamer.  *grin*

Quilts I've made

This is a disappearing 9-patch I made for my friend and co-worker Karen.  It was a thank-you gift for her being such a help to me when I was new on the job.  She likes purple and sage green.  Plus I was able to practice machine quilting.

This is a split rail I made for my Grandbaby Elizabeth.  Isn't she adorable!  I gave it to her mom when we went down for a baby shower.  My Sis came over from Florida, family sent gifts down from New England.

This is the back of the quilt with the label in the left-hand corner.  I'm still practicing machine quilting on my kenmore -- my ole reliable.

Mom-to-be and Grandma-to-be holding up the quilt. 

A disappearing 9-patch I made for my nephew's son -- Camdyn. 

This is Camdyn and his dad. Dad is still waiting for his graduation quilt.  Great Aunts have to have their priorities. 

I have two quilts (also way behind as the recipients have graduated high school and one is probably going to graduate college before her quilt is done.  Yikes!) before Mark's and had hoped to finish all three before the end of this year.  Needless to say, my WIP's grow as time goes by.

Pictures!!!

This is a disappearing 9-patch that I made for a co-worker's new baby.  I machine quilted it on my old kenmore as I don't have my Little Gracie II set up.  I have made a few more quilts with this pattern as it is quick and easy.

Upcoming Holidays

Just came back from a visit to New England to visit family and friends.  It was great to see them.  My niece hand sews (due to not having a machine) and is working on an awesome apron.  She sewed down rick rack as a divider for the pockets.  Wish I had a picture to post as it was neat. 

At the last guild meeting I attended, a member showed how to make cathedral window pin cushions.  So I showed my niece (hand sewing of course) how to make some.  Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to complete a pin cushion.

Definitely need to figure out this blogging as I have so much I'd like to share. 

Thanksgiving is just me and hubby as one son is in upstate NY with his family and the other in Cincinnati with his fiance.  Hoping to get some quilting time in but of course, that means I need to get my sewing room organized and set up.

Hope you have a wonderful holiday!