Holiday Season Summary

I'm behind on my blogging... I've been too busy experiencing the holidays this season rather than write about it.

First, was the Christmas food.  I pulled out my pizzelle maker that I had bought when the local hardware store close a couple years ago.   I'd never used it and decided with my SIL coming and knowing how much she loves caonoli's that now would be the time to give it a try. 

  I forgot to take pictures of them when they were filled with the chocolate chip cream filling, and they disappeared so  quickly, you know they were good!

 

I made a BIG turkey for Christmas Eve dinner and we enjoyed turkey sandwiches, turkey salad, turkey soup and turkey enchilladas for the days to follow.

The holiday and family visits would not be complete without a backyard game of football!  Here in TN we can do this at Christmas... back in MD and VA we we did it after Thanksgiving dinner.

There is the 10 hour drive to MD to visit and catch-up with the in-laws while watching the game!.....  and a must-do stop for a Maryland crab fix.

 

Then there was the post new year deep freeze and the snow... all 1inch of it!  that closed the schools for FOUR days until the icy roads were cleared and safe for buses.  We were able to purchase a saucer and had some driveway fun!

A great way to start the new year!...when you are 4!

 

Celtic Solstice Link-up

For the past several weeks Bonnie Hunter has hosted a link-up where everyone who is working on her most recent mystery, Celtic Solstice, can link their own blogpost  to Bonnie's and we can all share our progress.     I am amazed at the number of quilters who have been able to keep up with the mystery steps and have finished their quilts!  

I, for one, am way behind.... and I know there are others who may or may not link up.  This holiday season has just been to busy for me to barely begin working on this king size quilt, much less finish it. But, I am happy with the progress I have accomplished  thus far.  Progress is progress... no matter how much or little you have made.

I quit cutting those blue triangle pairs when I lost count, somewhere after 300.  I began stitching the 3.5 inch blocks together, but added a little twist to the challenge for myself...   

I am using my 1921 Singer Red-Eye treadle to sew this project!  I've had her for a while, sitting and looking beautiful in my quilting room; but I have never sewn on her.  I've watched Bonnie treadle away on Quiltcam and decided it was time to put her to work.

I used Bonnie's seam guide and a hotel key card to mark my quarter inch and got started.  I've had a few problems lining up the triangles properly to make the blocks end up the correct size.   I discovered that the flannel shirts I used are fraying a bit on the edges and that little nick on the blue triangle that is to be used to line up the fabrics is a bit fuzzy and difficult to line up with some of the fabrics.  I also discovered that some of these flannels are a bit stretchy and don't sew as nicely as I would like.  

I'm glad I didn't jump in and just sew through the whole stack, sewing all 300 on one side then the next.  I did a few at a time and checked them for size.  I had to do a lot of frogging  and restitching at first, but now I believe I have figured out how to line these things up and am making some progress. 

I've completed 100 of them so far... half white and half orange.  Now that the quilt has been revealed and I know the white ones are for the block and the orange are for the border, I've decided to sew just the white ones for now so that I can move on to the next step and work toward getting some blocks made.  I'll finish the orange ones later when I am ready to add the border on the quilt.  

I am really enjoying sewing on my treadle.  There's a rhythm to working on her and I love the sound of her beat.   I've got the added bonus of a bit of exercise as a treadle along.... maybe I will treadle away a few extra pounds this year as I complete my projects!

Be sure to check out the other bloggers and their progess here on Bonnie's blog:

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2014/01/mystery-monday-link-up-part-6.html

Totals 2013 December

December is always a busy month.  
Customer work was completed.
Shopping done and gifts wrapped. 
Some home-made gifts completed too!   
Helping with and attending my grandson's Christmas Pagent.
Baking Gingerbread men, Pfefferneuse, Pizzelle and Canoli!
A visit from my brother and his family.
Preparing special meals and treats.  
A trip to Maryland to visit my husband's family. 

With schools closed for the holidays I've also had to keep and entertain my grandson for the last two weeks!  It's been fun and challenging and exhausting and I am ready for school to start again in January!

I even managed to quilt MY Christmas quilt before Christmas (Dec 24!)  Even though the binding is not yet on, I count this quilt as completed because it would have been done if the red fabric I had for the binding didn't bleed so badly when I pre-wash it.... Thank goodness I did pre-wash!  I even ran out and bought a second red fabric in hopes of getting it bound before visiting family arrived, but that red bled too, although not as badly!  I ordered some Retayne to stop the bleeding, but it will not arrive until January.  So the quilt was done enough to put on display for family to ooh and ahh, and I will get the binding on in January.
  
Every "spare" moment I could sneak away I cut parts for Step 1 of the new Bonnie Hunter mystery, Celtic Solstice which began on Black Friday.   It wasn't until Dec 30, after all the holiday travel and festivities that I was able to sit and start sewing parts together.   For an extra challenge, I decided to sew this using my treadle!  I bought it at a yard sale several years ago and it has been a beautiful decoration in my quilting room ever since.  Watching Bonnie on quiltcam using hers has inspired me... so I decided this would be a good time to start using it.   I even started a new strip quilt (Cracker Barrel) to practice my 1/4in seam and to use as a Leader/Ender!    I should have used one of the PIPs listed below... oh well!   

As I look over the list below, I am amazed at how much I was able to complete this year.  There are several PIPs that are near completion too, so I have made a lot of progress on my UFOs.  I also reduced my stash by selling at least a dozen quilt kits that had hopes of making "someday" but would probably never get to.  That allowed me to reorganize and find other UFOs and kits that I hope to make progress on in the coming year.  I'll be making a new list in the coming days or weeks and setting goals for the new year.

WORK COMPLETED IN December
 ....04.....customer tops quilted (YTD 70)
.....01.....customer quilts bound (YTD  21)
.....00.....flimsy completed waiting for quilting (YTD 13)
.....01.....quilted flimsy (YTD 13 )
.....10.....hand-work hours (166 YTD )

MY PROJECTS COMPLETED in 2013:  16 !!!!
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)
Baby Brother quilt (3/22/13)
Baltimore Album Quilt (4/5/13)
Civil War Snowball Quilt 4/5/13)
Big Brother Quilt (5/7/13)
Easy Street Quilt (7/22/13)
Matthew's Puppy Quilt (7/25/13)
Floribunda Quilt (9/9/13)
POTC swap blocks completed and sent

30 Bowtie Ornaments for gifts (12/10/13)

Sloanie 2012 Christmas Block Swap Quilt (12/24/13)

Completed Projects Waiting to be Quilted
      NONE!

Projects In Progress 
 Spring Wall Hanging.... tulips done, 2/3 daffodils done
  Disappearing 4 patch...blocks are completed, ready for assembly
  Sweet & Sassy.....9 blocks completed, sashed and a quilt 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
  Dresden Plate placemats
  Daisy Placemats...need binding
  Red floral Placemats... need binding 
  Cracker Barrel (blue white strip quilt L/E for CS)
 
Bonnie Projects in Progress
.....00.....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, make winged triangles (175 of 175)
.....done..Orca Bay Step 6 cut 2.5in squares and assemble Ohio Stars (0)
.. done...Orca Bay Step 7 make flying geese (64 of 64)
......8........Orca Bay Step 8  sew quilt rows - (14 of 14 rows assembled)
...............Orca Bay  final border
.............. Talkin Turkey..... 2 blocks complete plus parts
.............. Midnight Flight....1 block complete plus parts
.............. Winston Ways... 2 blocks complete plus parts
....done.. 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)
.......350.... Celtic Solstice Step 1 blue triangles cut( 350 of 380 pairs)
.......100...  Celtic Solstice Step 1 star point units sewed (100 of 380)