Christmas Morning

The grandson came over early this morning and made a beeline for the presents under our tree.

We will be spending the day racing hotwheels and playing candyland

A Quilter's Dream

'Twas the night before Christmas,
And the quilts were not made.
The threads were all tangled, the cookies delayed.
The stocking weren't hung, the pantry was bare.
The poor weary Quilter, was tearing her hair.
Stacks of fat quarters, tipped over in streams.
Visions of Log Cabins, had turned into dreams.

When what to her wondering eyes should appear,
But a bus full of quilters with all of their gear.
They went straight to work with just a few mutters,
Sorting and stitching and brandishing cutters.
The patterns emerged from all of the clutter,
Like magic the fabrics arranged in a flutter.
Log Cabins, Lone Stars, Flying Geese & Bear Tracks
Each quilt was a beauty-even the backs.

Her house how it twinkled, her quilts how they glowed.
The cookies were baking, the stockings were sewed.
Their work was all done, so they folded their frames,
And packed up their needles, without giving their names.
They boarded the bus, and checked the next address.
More quilts to be made, another quilter in distress.

She heard one voice echo, as they drove out of sight,
Happy quilting to all and to all a good night!

~ Author Unknown
Found on Quiltersbee.com where you can read more Christmas poems

Wishing everyone a blessed Christmas and happy new year!

Celtic Solstice Update...

I've made a little more progress on this new mystery quilt by spending Quiltcam time cutting more blue triangle pairs!   

I've got my plan and am checking them off as I cut five of each pairing.

Here is my progress after my first cutting session

Last night during Quiltcam I marked off another 90+

This puts me at about half-way done cutting these blue 380 triangle pairs  needed for this king size quilt!  

My sewing time is very limited this year, so keeping up is totally out of the question.   I know Bonnie suggests doing whatever amount you can of each step as clues are revealed, but I find that too confusing... and I don't want to have piles of assorted parts scattered around the room... for who know how long it will take me to complete this.   I think it is much easier for me to work only one step at a time. 

More organizing!

I stopped at Goodwill on the way home from church today, just to check on more flannel shirts for the back of my Celtic Solstice.

While I was there I took a quick detour through the furniture section and found the perfect shelf to start unloading boxes and displaying my fabrics!

It is the perfect size to fit at the end of the bed and still have room to open the door!!  Instead of working on Celtic Solstice or finishing up customer work, I spent the afternoon unloading 6 boxes of fabric from the under-stairs closet and refolding to fit the cabinet.  This is some (maybe most) of the remaining yardage I collected when I worked at the LQS.  I got paid in fabrics and would "buy" 1 or 3 yds of coordinating fabrics I liked,  with no idea of what I was going to make.   I also have some pattern/fabric kits I put together for retirement work!

As you can see, my 90" roll of batting is too long to fit on the bed.  I thought about getting a heavy weight umbrella stand and standing the roll upright,  but the ceiling isn't high enough.  My daughter will eventually be "adopting" the bed to use for her youngest... so I must come up with a new method for storing and using these big rolls.

I've got some re-arranging to do and will continue my hunt for appropriately sized cabinets to store my collection of scraps and Goodwill shirts.

Celtic Solstice ... A little progress

Not much progress has been made on Celtic Solstice.  I'm still working on cutting Step 1... I've got all the orange and neutral base triangles cut and just a few of the blue triangles.  I couldn't wait to cut all 380 pairs... and began by  sewing a dozen blocks together... just to see what they would look like.  I'm glad I did.  I had trouble keeping the points and getting them to the correct size. I did a lot of frogging... multiple times!   I watched and read then re-watched and re-read the directions and finally figured out that my problem was that little notch.  My blues are mostly flannels and the notches weren't as obvious as they could be with a crisp cotton shirt.  Once I figured out that they were my problem, I was more careful about aligning the edges and the blocks went together smoothly.

Since then, I've been busy on the weekends with both grandsons (7months and 4.7 years) and again after school with the oldest grandson... crawling along playing cars and zookeeper and keeping him happy while Mom works.

I spent most of today baking cookies with Matthew.  Pfeffernusse (German spice cookies) and gingerbread men.  Tomorrow is my grandson's celebration of Christmas around the world and we are bringing these treats and will read the Gingerbread Man story to the class .... it was Matthew's favorite book when he was young!

I have also been busy working to complete customer quilts.  I finished this beautiful Orca Bay for Sara and I am almost done with her modified Trip Around the World.

Just two more customer tops must be quilted for Christmas and I will be able to get back to working on Celtic Solstice... or even quilt my Christmas quilt for me!... a swap made in January 2012 that has been patiently waiting it's turn on the quilter.   I love the Christmas dolls in the border fabric... representing my friends that contributed to this quilt.

Wishing you Merry Christmas and happy holiday season with friends and family.

Monday Linky

Monday was the day to link your blog to Bonnie's and report in on progress with Celtic Solstice. You can view and check the links to other blogs here:

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2013/12/celtic-solstice-mystery-monday-link-up-1.html 

I haven't made any progress since some cutting on Friday (see my last post     here... http://madakamom.blogspot.com/2013/11/black-friday-play.html

But that's because I drove to Indianapolis this weekend with the family to see the Colts vs Titans game.  Unfortuantely for us, the Titans lost again.  But it was a fun trip spending time with family.

We did make a couple of very important stops...

First, on the way to Indiana was a stop at the Goodwill in Bowling Green, KY where I snagged another handful of blue plaid shirts for my backing, one yellow, one green and a couple of neutral shirts for my stash.

But, even more exciting... on the way home we stoped at an antique mall boasting over 600 booths! (exit 76B off of I 65)  I promised I would just make a quick run through to see if there was anything of major interest. An hour and a half later I hadn't  seen even half of the booths, but I did spy many antique quilts and sewing machines... several Singers.. some in bentwood cases, 3 treadles, one iron Singer treadle table, a Morse, several Whites and.... be still my heart... TWO featherweights!  They were both in excellent shape and locked behind glass doors.  I thought long and hard, consulted with hubby and finally decided one just had to come home with me!

I paid a little more than I would have liked, but it was in excellent shape and I've been wanting one for some time.  Her serial number is AH 435380 which indicates she is a model 221-1 born January 1948...she looks real good for a senior citizen!

2013 Totals - November

November has flown by!  The beginning of November we decided to finally replace the upstairs carpeting.  I spent several days packing up china and moving, sorting and organizing into boxes items that have accumulated in in all corners of the upstairs rooms.  Those boxes are now neatly stacked and stored in the guest room.  The new floors are in, the furniture is back in place just in time for Thanksgiving dinner!  Now I am taking my time sorting through the boxes of stuff to decide what we really need or what can be given, sold or donated!  Before I replace and reload the china cabinet in the dining room, I am going to finish painting the wall that was hidden behind it!

I spent the week before Thanksgiving preparing for and working at Santa's Workshop with the Cookeville Jr. Womens Club.   It is a lot of work, but all funds raised go back to community service organzations like Mended Hearts to buy defibulators, Happy Haven Home to buy coats for the orphans living there, and many other worthy causes.
Thanksgiving week was spent organizing, preparing, and hosting the family dinner.  

On a quilty note... 
I completed the remaining parts necessary for Orca Bay and assembled six of the fourteen rows for my half-sized quilt.
I shopped Goodwill and my stash to find 37 shirts in suitable colors for Celtic Solstice.  All the shirts were deboned, pressed and ready to go,  just in time for the Black Friday Step 1 reveal!


WORK COMPLETED IN NOVEMBER
 ....04.....customer tops quilted (YTD 66)
.....02.....customer quilts bound (YTD  20)
.....00.....flimsy completed waiting for quilting (YTD 13)
.....00.....quilted flimsy (YTD 11 )
.....10.....hand-work hours (156 YTD )

MY PROJECTS COMPLETED THIS YEAR:  12 !!!!
Lucky Charms wall hanging (1/21/13)
Basket Sampler Welcome wall hanging (2/15/13)
Knitted afghan  (3/20/13)
Scrap Mania quilt (3/19/13)
Orange/Blue Jelly Roll quilt (3/18/13)
Hope Academy Banner (3/27/13)
Jaxson's quilt (3/22/13)
Baltimore Album (4/5/13)
Civil War Snowball (4/5/13)
Big Brother Quilt (5/7/13)
Easy Street (7/22/13)
Matthew's Puppies (7/25/13)
Floribunda (9/9/13)

Projects Waiting to be Quilted
 Sloanie Christmas Star Swap

Projects in Progress 
  Spring Wall Hanging.... all my tulips are now stitched down, daffodils next.
  Disappearing 4 patch...blocks are completed, ready for assembly
  Sweet & Sassy.....9 blocks completed, sashed and aquilt corner assembled
  Becky's Barn basket wall hanging...assembled, needs final border
  Novelty Quilt... blocks cut, need assembly
  Happiness Key...background complete, needs applique/embroidery
  Floral & Pinwheels.... made 4 pinwheels then renamed.... Florals&9patch
  POTC swap blocks completed and sent..next swap will be in January
  Dresden Plate placemats
 
Bonnie Projects in Progress
.....06.....cheddar bowties blocks hand-pieced (YTD  6  of  81)   ...  (81 of 162 in 2012)
.....00.....cheddar bowtie rows stitched (YTD  0 .... 9 of 18 in 2012)
...done....Orca Bay Step 1 hourglass blocks made (YTD 49  plus 21 in 2012) total  70 of 112 
....done...Orca Bay Step 2  3.5in string blocks made (completed in 2012 )
....done...Orca Bay Step 3 2in HSTs (YTD 55 plus120 in 2012)  total 175
.....done..Orca Bay Step 4 5.5in string blocks (YTD 08 plus 24 of 32 in 2012) total 32
.....done..Orca Bay Step 5 cut 350 triangles and stitch to part 3 to make winged triangles (175 of 175)
.....done..Orca Bay Step 6 cut 2.5in squares and assemble Ohio Stars (0)
.. ..14...Orca Bay Step 7 make flying geese (64 of 64)
.half done..Orca Bay Step 8  assemble quilt- 6 of 14 rows assembled
..............Talkin Turkey..... 2 blocks complete plus parts
..............Midnight Flight....1 block complete plus parts
..............Winston Ways... 2 blocks complete plus parts
......21...... Celtic Solstice... Goodwill shirts deboned (37 of 37)
......140... Celtic Solstice Step 1 orange base triangles cut (140 of 140)
......120... Celtic Solstice Step 1 neutral base triangles cut (120- 240)
.......00.... Celtic Solstice Step 1 blue triangles cut( 0 of 380 pairs)
.......00....  Celtic Solstice Step 1 star point units sewed (0 of 380)