Christmas Video Tour

Please take a look at Bobby Socks website for a wonderful Christmas House video tour! You'll have to copy and paste to get there but is so worth it!

http://bsqc.sasktelwebsite.net/

P.S.- The new free redwork pattern is up too!

Quilter's Night Before Christmas

Quilter's Night Before
by Brenda Groelz, Kathy Rockbugs, Marilyn Root, Cindy Swafford

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house,
The only one sleeping was Quilter's dear spouse.
The Log Cabin stockings were almost completed,
"Just a few stitches left," our sweet quilter repeated,

"Then I can hang them and head to off to finish
the pillows I'm making, fulfilling Mom's wish
For something 'quilty' to put on her couch",
as she pricked her poor finger, our quilter yelled, "Ouch!"

When from out in the kitchen there arose such a crashing,
she sprang from her work, and she dropped all her sashing.
Away to the doorway she flew like a plane,
wondering just what was happening and who she could blame.

When what to her wondering eyes should appear,
but Old Mrs Claus and her bag of quilt-gear....
With her elves bearing gifts, through the kitchen she came,
she directed and pointed and called them by name.

"Now Elna, now Pfaff, now Bernina and Viking,
the Hoffman and Mumm should be just to her liking.
To the sewing room - there, it's just back of the hall,
now dash away, dash away, dash away all!"

"My Dear," said The Claus (as she liked to be called),
"There really is no need to worry at all.
Your projects will all be completed this night,
I'm terribly sorry we gave you a fright.

Sit down. Have some tea. It's relaxing, you'll see.
My friends and I've come a long way to help Thee."
She thought she was dreaming, our Dear Quilter did,
In fact she quite feared that she'd near flipped her lid!

But the flash of the needles and twist of the thread
soon gave her to know she had nothing to dread.
They spoke no more words, but went straight to their sewing.
How the work went so quickly she had no way of knowing.

The stitches, how tiny! The corners, how straight!
This Claus-woman's talent was awfully great.
They finished the pillows, then started a quilt.
Before they all knew it, the whole thing was built!..

Now old Mrs. Claus, she knew quilters real well,
and she knew they'd need help on this night most of all
So she said to our quilter, "Just move over, dear,
I've brought my own needle. We'll get done, never fear.

I told dear old Santa about what quilters do.
How they plan all these projects but have other work too.
So he taught me his magic for doing things fast.
There, that pillow's done. Now this is the last."

They tidied their thread snips, and picked up the scraps
and chased our dear quilters six cats from their laps.
They left behind gingerbread (just to be nice)
and the whole house smelled sweetly of Christmas and spice.

As they scurried away with their thimbles still gleaming
dear Mrs. Claus paused, her cap ribbons streaming.
"Merry Christmas, my dear, now just have a ball!
Relax and enjoy. Happy Quilting to all!"

A lazy day.

Yesterday I stayed in my pjs ALL day! I was stitching on my second Vintage Valentine block. I finished it last night. Besides needleturning with the freezer paper underneath I also glued some of the pieces together before adding them to the background. Another time saver! I started on the next block and got two pieces appliqued before I went to bed. This quilt is turning out very pretty. I'm enjoying working on it despite the tiny pieces.

Edit: I hate our new digital camera. Most of my pictures turn out blurry! I'll try to take this one over and see if I do better...

Christmas goodies!

I've been busy this week! I made two Christmas aprons. One for me and one for my daughter. I used homespun towels and fused the pieces to them. I buttonhole stitched around the pieces and used purchased quilt binding for the straps. They turned out real cute!

I bought a kit for the Santa's Midnight Runner (Mount ReDoubt) last weekend. I already had the pattern. I sewed the background squares together and fused all the pieces onto it. I haven't decided if I am going to buttonhole stitch the edges or just straight stitch around all the pieces while quilting the whole thing. I'll have to add some beads or crystals to the piece after it's quilted.

The house is decorated, the shopping done and the stockings stuffed! No real baking this year year since we are all watching what we eat. I'm ready for Christmas!

PS-I finished all 50 of my 6" Churn Dash blocks! They are all ready to swap!

Retreat Weekend

I've been to my friend Michelle's house for the weekend with my small group of quilting friends. We had such a wonderful time and ate so much good food! (Mich is really a gourmet cook!) We were mostly working on our 6" churn dash blocks for a group swap. All of us but Gloria procrastinated so that we still don't have them all done even after working on them all weekend.
I guess it didn't help that we took the afternoon off on Saturday to go to the quilt shop in Granbury! Oh, boy, I was so bad there! Well, I couldn't help it. A beautiful stack of the entire line of Chocolat from Three Sisters by Moda just practically jumped in to my arms! Plus, I had to get a kit for a pattern (Santa's Midnight Runner) that I loved! Of course, I needed a pattern, some applique needles and sewing machine needles.

That other blurry picture is my mess of Churn Dash blocks. I set everything back up in my sewing room when I got home and started working on them again. I have to finish them before I do anything else!

Quilting Santa

I made this Santa a few years ago. He has a batting coat with a shawl collar. He is holding a little tree and a piece of an old quilt. In his bag are gifts for quilters. A little sewing machine and thimble are on the base.

Oh, Christmas Tree...

I got both of my trees up this weekend. The one in the living room is all gold ornaments with white lights and a star on top. It is so beautiful. I've been adding ornaments for probably ten years so there are a lot. My daughter and husband helped me decorate. They snuck out to the store to get egg nog and a cheese ball with crackers! The cheese ball had horseradish in it so I only had a taste. They loved it and almost ate the whole thing!

The tree in the den has LOTS of Santa ornaments with colored lights and bubble lights plus a little Santa hat on top. The tree skirt is an old quilt I found once when I was antiquing in LA.I made the Santa picket fence around the base of the tree when we lived in Panama City, FL.

I'd love to see your tree...