Ring in the New Year

Stitching a little cheer to ring in the New Year!

My sister returned from California, last summer, with a cute stitchery quilt pattern by Kathy Schmitz called Ring in the New! During our autumn trip to Pennsylvania, I found the perfect fabric to go with it. The fabric is Kansas Winter by Kansas Troubles. This time I'm going to be smart and piece the BOM as I go along.

Wishing you a Happy New Year!

Until next year.....happy quilting!

Karen

Merry Christmas

Christmas is forever, not for just one day,

for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away

like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf.

The good you do for others is good you do yourself...

~Norman Wesley Brooks, "Let Every Day Be Christmas," 1976

Tea with the Girls

It's been a long time since I visited the Polka-Dot Girls. So, we had tea together. You may not think so, but there sure is a lot of stitching in one of these blocks. The continuous changing of thread colours may have added some to the slow pace. I think it took me less time to applique a Civil War Bride block. Daffodil Tea and previously stitched, Count Your Blessings, completes the stitchery for Block Two, of the Polka-Dot Girls.

As the year comes to an end, a candle burns bright for the holiday season and the end of the Country Calendar BOM.

Something else I did this past week, was update my journal. Before I started blogging, in July 2008, I kept a hand written journal of my quilting journey. That stopped when I started blogging. Knowing how fast things can be lost on the Internet, I decided to get caught up on my journal. Funny how fast we forget the things we've made and when we made them. It was fun going back through my blog to get the information. My book is now caught up, but not as detailed, as it would have been, if I had continued to make regular entries. This update took me to the end of my current journal book and now a fresh journal awaits me to continue my quilting journey in 2010.

Now, some thought has to go into labels for my quilts, as I have yet to label any of them! I purchased the HP Custom Quilt Label Kit several years ago. A little more elaborate then I think I want my labels to be, but a good guide. Simple labels suit me better.

Until next week.....happy quilting!

Karen

 

 

Twist of Lemon

From an Eleanor Burns book called, Egg Money Quilts, came this quilt, I call Twist of Lemon. I wasn't much interested in 1930's fabric until I came across a display at a booth, during the Creativ Festival, in Toronto, October 2007. I fell in love with the yellows and greens and knew then I would make a Dresden quilt. I was half way through hand quilting around this time last year, when I stopped working on it. How fast the year went by, but I picked it up again and finished it!

I hand quilted around all the inner circles, blocks and Dresden's. Then I quilted up the edge of each blade to the edge of the block. That made for a very pretty pattern on the back and front of the quilt.

Up next for hand quilting will be my Farmer's Market quilt. Times Remembered really should be next, it's just so big! Once the Farmer's Market is completed, I'm pretty sure I will be ready for the big one. Then that will leave two, even smaller quilts, waiting to be hand quilted.

It's hard to believe it is December already. Last Wednesday I worked in the garden, raking up the last of the leaves, did some pruning, cleaned and oiled my garden tools and cleaning out the eaves. Then, I had to cut the lawn again!! Such a warm November we had and December started off in the 50's. Please let this be the last cutting!

I should have taken a picture, but I didn't. My sister likes to scrapbook and so she made me an Advent calendar. Instead of being chocolate filled, it is Cosmo embroidery floss filled! Isn't that the best!

Until next week.....happy quilting!

Karen