Wednesday, December 01, 2010

It's about time . . . .

. . . I showed up around here!  Wow, where did November go?  It was such a busy month!  Way too much going on, it seems.  There hasn't been time for posting, unfortunately.  I hardly even got close to the computer for much of the month.  I missed all of you!  I'm hoping I'll do better at posting more often this month.
 
I finally received all 48 of the Block Lotto wonky star blocks.  Here they are all laying on the living room floor.  This was the best I could do without getting into major furniture moving.  I won't start working on these until after Christmas . . . or at least until my Christmas presents are all sewn!

Remember these?  Here are the other 8 house blocks, finally finished.  They've now been cut in half (top to bottom) and the left halves have gone to California, where they'll be exchanged with my quilting buddies in January.  I'm so proud of myself that I actually got this done early!  This is so unusual for me.  I just wanted to be done with them, so they were there on time and I didn't lose them in the holiday mess hustle and bustle.

November saw me reach a major birthday - 60.  Wow, I can't say I'm middle-aged anymore, can I?  Yikes, that sounds so old.  I know it's not really - 60 is the new 50, right??  So, in celebration of my impending decrepitude, DH treated me to a more portable machine than my trusty Bernina.  I was having trouble hauling that hefty girl up and down the stairs and out to sewing/quilting events.  So, she has a new little Brother.  Except maybe it's really a sister, since it's PINK.  I need to go find some purple glittery "bling" to stick on it to mitigate some of that pink, which is not my favorite color . . . I would have preferred purple.  Oh well, I can live with it because I LOVE this little machine!  And it's so light and easy to move.  Now I just need to go to the free class the store offers to learn how to use that nifty needle threader.  I'm starting to feel older just because I'm having so much trouble threading that needle!  Darn tri-focals.

So, just what was I doing in November, besides getting older??  Let's see, we had a pottery show locally, had a birthday High Tea that was so much fun, went shopping (see paragraph above), went to the Puyallup Quilt, Craft and Sew show with a new friend (I behaved myself and didn't buy too much), went to Oregon for a "Pottery Party" that a friend does for us, visited with my sister the rest of that weekend, and then cleaned house like a mad woman and was hostess for Thanksgiving. Whew!  Oh, and last week we got to deal with a big snow fall.  At the end of all the snowfall, we ended up with 8 inches of the stuff!  I did manage to get to the store to buy the turkey etc. for the holiday, right before we got most of the snow.  (A week ago, our low was 8*F.  The pond was frozen until about 2 days ago.)  And our family managed to get here for the big day.  We had lots of fun and food.  It was grand!

Here's what our front yard looked like with all the snow:

Kind of puts you in the Holiday mood, doesn't it?

If you have a spare few minutes this month, here's some quilt photos to peruse when you can.  These are from the East Bay Heritage Quilters quilt show from this spring.  They're in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay area, with about 500 members.  There are about 10 pages of photos, with some truly awesome quilts.  And some fun liberated ones too!

So, now I'm ready to make my Christmas presents.  I'm hoping to be done early with that too.  But what I really want to do is sit and work on some of my quilt projects.  And visit all of your blogs.  Wish me luck!

13 comments:

  1. Wow - there are an awful lot of new sewing machines popping up on the web ring. I'm getting jealous!

    The stars are wonderful.

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  2. Hi again. Love the pics. Happy belated birthday - 60 is definitely not old btw. Keep warm and happy stitching on the new machine

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  3. Welcome back! I love the star blocks. I will be watching to see what happens with the house blocks. They look very interesting.Oh! And Happy Belated Birthday!

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  4. We've just had our first snow here in Michigan and am amazed at all of the white precipitation you got! Does snow like that "last" where you are?
    Wonky stars and house blocks are just great! Glad you like the new machine..what a nice b-day gift!

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  5. Your snow looks just like mine! I'm tired of it already and winter has just begun. Maybe a new sewing machine would perk me up. Santa are you listening?

    Love the stars!

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  6. The little stars is so cute - I made one similar from strips. LOVE your little machine - yes it needs some bling! 9-)) I have a small Janome, just for classes. Snow - wow - totally gorgeous but maybe not so handy. And best of all is the link to EBHQ! Wow - what a wonderful quilt show I just had. I've saved it for stimulation when I need it. Thanks a LOT.

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  7. ...60?????!!! WHAT!!!??? And all this time I thought you were younger than me HA!!! Isn't that funny...I never got the impression through the computer you were going to be 60!! Well darn...I'm so sorry to say you are older than me..HA HA!!!
    I love how your stars look...I'm anxious to get mine all layed out so I can have a look-see!!

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  8. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nope, 60 isn't old - I think it's the new 40, actually! At least that's what I'm hoping.
    I love your wonky stars, and your houses! And a new machine, how neat is that. I know I wouldn't want to lug my Viking around...it was hard enough to get it to the classes for how to use it.

    They make TRIFOCALS? I must investigate this. You're going to love the needle threader. Makes life a lot easier!

    Wow you got a lot of snow...so far we've had some stray flakes and that's it. Not sure I want to see more!

    Off to check out those quilts, thanks for the link - stay warm!

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  9. Welcome to Club 60! Staying busy is the key and you seem to have no trouble with that! Wow. That's a lot of snow. Congrats on the new travel machine. It's awesome! How does it sew compared to your Bernina? Great post, as usual...

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  10. congrats on the birthday and the new machine. woohoo! those stars are great. good luck getting everything done!

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  11. The stars are shining and the new sewing machine is a wonderful 'turning 60' keepsake. I have only a few weeks left in my year and then 61 is my number ;) After 55, the decrepitude is not as obvious as the first 5 years are. As long as we can get up and down the stairs, we're doing great..and as long as there are great places to visit (like yours) on the lib blog ring..I'm a happy little old senior citizen!

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  12. What a happy bunch of stars! You can make yourself a birthday quilt out of them. :- )
    And what a delightful little birthday present! I've been asked what I want for Christmas and haven't been able to come up with a good response. I don't NEED a portable machine but it couldn't hurt to have one could it?!

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  13. WOW! What a lot of snow! Love all the stars. Thanks for all the EBHQ photos.

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