Wednesday, December 26, 2007

My Christmas

We had a quiet Christmas, although I fixed a lot more food than necessary for just 5 people. We put up the big tree this year.



I got lots of good gifts this year. A TV, DVD player and CD player for my quilting studio from Paul. Dora got me a rolling case for my sewing machine and Mark got me the latest Harry Potter movie.

I'm really happy with my presents.

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Memory Board

My daughter asked me if I had a gift for her friend, Ginger. I sometimes make quilts or other gifts for her friends and I had mentioned something about making a yellow and black GA Tech quilt and adding appropriate embellishments. What gave me the idea was an UFO project that a friend of mine found when she was going through her mother's things and asked me if I would like it. Well I attempted to finish the quilt, but things just didn't go quite as I hoped.







The one on the right is the UFO. It came with lots of black and yellow rectangles to finish it. The edges are a little ruffly and the pattern is off. I decided to start from scratch (the one on the left). As you can see, my pattern got off too, plus I added a nice little curve. I have yet to figure out what to do with this mess. I got so discouraged, I just wadded everything up and stuffed it in a bag and forgot about it. So when Dora asked about Ginger's gift and she needed it by Friday when her and Ginger were meeting for lunch. I had to come up with something quick to make. Thursday morning at my Paradise Piecers Bee meeting I saw a memory board and thought, perfect! What was even better, Dora could make it. That afternoon we made a quick run to Hobby Lobby for supplies and came home with a yd of GA Tech fabric, black ribbon and a good sized artists canvass, the kind that is stretched over a wood frame. I already had scrap batting and buttons.





Ginger with her GA Tech memory board. The canvass worked great as a base. Dora was able to staple the the fabric and ribbon to the frame and then was able to sew the buttons on, right through the canvass.



Ginger and Dora at Applebees where we ate a very late lunch or early supper. My husband got a gift card as a gift from his boss and I kind of confiscated it and took the girls out to lunch.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

December Events

I've had a busy month and Christmas isn't even here yet! Sandra's grandmother died and she asked me to ride to Michigan with her for the funeral. I said yes because I have family in the area. We left Thursday morning, Dec. 6 and drove straight through. It was around 10:00p.m. when we arrived at a friend of hers home in Granger IN. On Friday, we went to see my sister-in-law, Pat. It's been probably 15 years since I've seen any of my family.






Friday evening, my niece, Kathy came and got me and I spent the night with them. She lives about 10 miles from where we were staying. On Saturday, we had a mini reunion with my sister and 5 of her children. Two couldn't make it. We got together at another niece's, Pam in La Port, IN. One great niece and several of my great, great nieces and nephews were there. It sure was nice to see my family again.








We left Saturday around 3:30p.m. to get ahead of the ice storm that was expected to arrived around midnight. We were actually heading into the freezing rain, but figured the roads would be clear as long as traffic was on the roads. We spent the night at a Red Roof Inn south of Indianapolis just south of the bad weather. It was raining the next morning when we left, but not freezing. We drove in rain and fog nearly all the way to Tennessee. We stopped at a Russell Stover store in Tennessee and bought candy. We made it back home around 7:00p.m.


Then the Christmas parties began. On the 11th AQG had there Christmas lunch. Our exchange gift was pincushions. I received a nice home made one. I was very pleased. On the 13th the Paradise Piecers had there Christmas Lunch and gift exchange at the Tea Garden. We exchanged 5 fat quarters and an odd block. I got a very nice variety of FQs and a pretty block. On the 14th the Needle Turners had lunch after our meeting at Applebees. We arrived around 20 till noon, hoping to get ahead of the lunch crowd. Another larger Christmas party arrived ahead of us and we had a very long wait on our sandwiches/salads and soup. Our lunch was the managers treat. the 18th EVQG had there Christmas dinner and we exchanged winter themed fabric and a recipe. I also passed out the gifts I made for my Needle Turners Bee. I didn't have them done on Friday.



I made my bee members each a steno pad cover complete with pad and pen. I learned how to make them at a mini demo day that AQG had in Nov. I also made coasters and learned the freezer paper piecing technique. There was also a demo on decorating tea towels. All in all, it was a fun and productive day.



I think I did very well this Christmas. Top row: Pincushion from AQG, door stop and cookie mix in a jar from the Needle Turners. Middle row: fat quarters from the Paradise Piecers exchanged. Bottom row: fabric from EVQG.