It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Our home has been a buzz of activity these last few weeks, working hard to get things done for Christmas.

The Charity quilts and bags have left and were delivered to the nursing home.

  New stocking for Ma & Pa, yes I broke down and made us stockings.. Normally I would make ones for the kids and grand kids, but this year was our turn. 

 The house has been decorated with beautiful lights, and snowflakes glisten in patterns on the porch... A snowman stands out front with his little one at his side.. In the back The polar bear and some penguins stand watch as Santa rides his trusty rocking horse... Santa is my favorite and I can keep a eye on him from my kitchen window.  Some of the regulars have been retired as they just couldn't stand anymore, old age I guess.

Holiday cards and special boxes have been sent to locations of friends and loved ones near and far.

Candy and Cookies are finished, some are packaged for gifts for friends

Christmas Mugs have been filled and wrapped for those who help in our day to day lives.. Our Mail Carrier, our Trash man, the Lady at the Store, people who work with my husband.

This is a little wall hanging for Mel as she is our Snowman Collector

A beautiful Centerpiece showed up last week at our door from my Son and his family

Its so nice to have such a wonderful Son & Daughter In Law..

My Grandson asked if we were making Gingerbread houses this year and I just didn't get the houses baked, so we picked up some of those house kits at the store. We also picked up some extra goodies and Sunday we decorated.  This was my creation... Kyle's was, well lets say his looked like a angry bird.. but it was cute in its own way. 

Christmas Magic

With this being the time of Christmas Magic I am thrilled by local news Stories of Secret Santa's who are paying on Lay Aways. I have always tried to adopt a family at Christmas every year, I have bought items for a  family, Delivered with them never knowing my name. I have also coordinated local businesses as they adopted families.  We also will do random acts of kindness to strangers... We stopped at our local Walgreen's store and there was this charming young lady, she heard our conversation of stopping for a hamburger and she made the comment she was hungry and would love a hamburger.. She reminded us so much of the daughter we lost.  Well, we left the store and I said to my husband  about stopping for a hamburger for that young lady... he had the same thought and we headed to Burger King, grabbed a sandwich and made a delivery to that young lady.. She was so shocked... I told her she reminded us of our  daughter.. I just hope that the people in line who saw our random act of kindness would take it to heart and do something special for someone as well.  It doesn't have to be much, a Christmas Card with a tip to hand to the girl at the drive up window or the cashier at the store. We have won stuffed animals at those machines and handed to children in the store.. we do however ask the parent first just to make sure it is OK.  Have you ever paid the toll for the driver behind you, I have... Do you leave a special delivery in your mail box for your mail carrier..  Make a delivery of fruits or baked goods to a elderly couple in your neighborhood, most times they don't bake anymore and would love some homemade breads, cakes or cookies.      Remember its Christmas Magic to share the love this holiday season...  Have a safe and happy holiday season..

Merry Christmas

Christmas Charity Quilts are on their way

I am done, done with my Charity quilts that is.  Mel picked up the ones for the Century Care Center today along with all the wheelchair bags, walker bags, tote bags and other items our World of Charity Stitcher's group made.  Mel and I spent the afternoon putting personal care products and other small items in the bags.  Tomorrow she will be handing out all these wonderful items to the residents.  So I am done for the year with quilting for my group... I still have two baby quilts to finish and I hope to do those next week..
Here are the pictures of the quilts that I quilted... Members of the World of Charity Stitcher's made the squares and sent to Myself, Dona or Carolyn for the top to be assembled, the tops were then sent to me to quilt and finish..  If anyone would like more information on The World of Charity Stitchers group, we are a yahoo group, have a blog and are on Facebook...World of Charity Stitching


In November Peggy delivered 2 quilts to Ronald McDonald House and 2 to a abused women and children's center. 

Angel  Baby Quilt

CCS by WOCS member   sewn by Dona   Quilted by me

Mickey & Friends Quilt

CCS by Nikki, Sewn by Dona Quilted by me

      Toy Quilt

CCS by WOCS members sewn by Carolyn  Quilted by me

                                       

Toy Quilt 2

CCS by WOCS member sewn by Carolyn Quilted by me

The next 12 lovely quilts are the ones that headed to the nursing home yesterday

Sweet Treats Quilt

Top by Dona, Quilted by me

Flower Garden Quilt #2

top by Dona, Quilted by me

Garden Quilt #1

Top and Quilting by me

Teapot Quilt

Top and Quilting by me

Long legged birds Quilt 4 seasons

Top by Dona, Quilted by me

Country Quilt

Top by Dona, Quilted by me

Long legged Holiday Birds Quilt

Top and quilting by me

Birds of Prey Quilt

Top and quilting by me

Under the Sea Quilt

Top and quilting by me

Farm Quilt

Top and Quilting by me

Super Sport III

Top and Quilting by me

Embroidered butterflies Quilt

Top and quilting by me

close up of butterfly square

All these wonderful bags and quilts are on their way to Century Care Center

to be given to patients this holiday season.

Now on to the baby quilts for my Niece and Nephew

Her baby is due in Jan and His is due in Feb. 

Also today Mel and I made gifts in a jar, mugs and baskets for Christmas gifts... and I was informed that my grandson wanted to know if we were making gingerbread houses this year... I really thought they forgot about the houses, but a tradition can not be ignored so next week I will bake... warm gingerbread scent will fill the air....what a wonderful scent of the season.



Christmas Show

You can always tell when Christmas is right around the corner... as Darlene at SewCalgal hosts her annual Christmas Quilt Show. If you are a quilter you can enter your Holiday Quilt, If you don't have a quilt ready, you can still enjoy the show and see what all these talented quilter's have entered.  I try never to miss entering one of SewCalgal's show, as I am kind of new to quilting and most of the quilts I make are for my Charity Group, they go to nursing homes, ill children and a abuse center.  Now while these people love the quilts I make, I am not one of the extremely talented quilter's who enter the Big Quilt Shows, I will never be that talented to have my quilts in one of those shows. So by entering my quilts in SewCalgal's shows, I feel like I am one of those special quilters.

This year I almost missed my entry in the Christmas Show as I have 18 quilts in the process for my charity group.. You see I not only quilt the tops I make, but there is a lady in WA State that makes tops and sends to me to quilt and our Children's quilt maker had a medical problem and she wasn't able to finish the quilts she started so I had her send those quilts to me as well.  All these things meant more time being spent on the charity group, less time for other quilts..

Then one day while checking out SewCalgal's site I realized that the Christmas show was fast approaching, and I had to get something made to enter as this is my chance to show my work. I had planned a Christmas quilt but there wasn't enough time to make the planned one, so into the sewing room I went. I opened the dressers and pull some holiday fabrics, grabbed my Accuquilt GO cutter and dies and I did a design as you go type quilted wall hanging. When that one was finished I found a Christmas panel in my Christmas fabrics and quilted it for my Mother In Law as well as another Christmas table runner like I made her last year. 

So without further ado  here is my entry in this year's SewCalgal's Christmas Show, I hope you like them...

Don't forget to visit all the other quilts that are entered in the show.

http://sewcalgal.blogspot.com/2011/11/2011-christmas-quilt-show-welcome.html

My Christmas Tree made with Accuquilt Feathers Die and Star Die

hand cut applique banner is embroidered using Brother machine and Brother Alphabet card

background is done with tight meandering quilting on Bailey's 15" quilting machine

My Christmas Panel,  free motion quilting using invisible thread

A holiday table runner made for MIL, Quilted using Janome Embroidery Machine Quilt Designs,

Well, that's my Christmas Quilt Entries in this years show, hope you enjoyed visiting my Blog  # 19 on the list

Watch this site in the next few weeks for all the charity quilts to be posted.

For those of you wondering, YES my Christmas tree is up, it went up Thanksgiving day.  Most of the grand kids were here and they decorated it for me, of course the Moms had to do some rearranging as we had clusters or ornaments in places.

Happy Holidays.

Another Dolly Mama is Done

Finished yet another Lovely Dolly Mama...  of course I just had to stitch the Quilting Dolly Mama.... Now on to Counted Cross Stitch Mama... oh and if you are wondering just where I got the Quilting, Counted Cross Stitch and Crafting Queen Dolly Mama that I am now working on... would you believe MY HUBBY bought them for me... He always comments how ugly my Dolly Mama's are and yet he bought me these on his own...

Make sure to stop back tomorrow to see my entries in this years Christmas Quilt Show... I did manage to take a few moments away from my charity quilt work to get my entries made.... They  are not quite what I had planned on entering, but time got away from me and I had to come up with something in a hurry..

Christmas Show is coming

Darlene over at SewCalGal blogsite is getting into the holiday spirit. She is making her list and checking it twice to make sure things are ready for the Christmas Quilt Show.   If you look on the right side of this blog you will see the show's tag, between November 28th and December 2nd, just click on the tag for a magical ride to a wonderland of quilts.  If you just want to take a look see, well you have to wait till  November 28th for the show to open.  So get busy ladies if you have a Quilt ready take your pictures, if you are thinking about entering the show, well then you just need to get the sewing machine humming and get that quilt finished.  I can't wait to see what you all enter... See ya at the show.

one more charity quilt

I finished the Farm quilt top for the nursing home this week, the WOCS members did a excellent job on the cross stitching. This design is not what I had planned on making, but sometimes things just don't go the way you want them to. So I walked away for the night and the next day I made this one, which to me was a plain border, so out came the embroidery machine and I did a Machine applique pumpkin and two embroidered chicks.  I have one more top to finish for the nursing home and that's the butterfly quilt top. I sent the cat pillows to the nursing home this week that Dona and Pam from WOCS had stitched, my part was to stuff the pillows, add their bows and send them on their way.  The pillows were a really big hit at the center and the group has offered to make more.

Last night I started on the frog and dragonfly quilt for my niece's baby... She is due in January so I have some time to get it done.. Her Brother will also be welcoming a new member to his home, they are expecting a little boy in February.  Looks like my husband's brother will have his hands full next year with the new grand children to spoil.  Oh yea, spoiling is what a grand parent is supposed to do and I think we all do it so well.

Another Dolly Mama finish

I finally finished the High Maintenace Dolly Mama..  I did have a excuse as I have been trying to get caught up on the quilts.. I started Quilting Dolly Mama last night...
Today, I am making Apple Butter with a old Amish Recipe... Lot of work, but oh so worth it... gotta go and stir the apple butter..