End of Year

This tattered quilt gets unpacked every year to be a tree skirt. Some insensitive Hun (sorry to any better-evolved Huns out there) was using this as a packing cloth years ago and I simply said, "you hand that right over", and I've been taking care of it ever since.


Cats enjoying some Last Day of the Year sunshine (oops there's that blankie I'm supposed to be quilting):

A Christmas gift from a long-time friend; isn't it pretty?

The latest DJ...

Here is one of my gifts this year, to a fellow quilter and good friend:

Inspired by Patti, I first made some adjustments to the sidebar, then added several To Do lists, including Ongoing, Bindings, In Progress, Tops Ready for Quilting, Fabric Groups that would Love to be Quilts, and Decorating. There are more that should be on there, and innumerable small quilts, not to mention too many pattern ideas to list, but really I do not want to weep over this, just get a little more organized and accomplish Good Things in the New Year :-).

Tonya's L-O-V-E Letters ~wild~

Here's mine, Tonya!

Jane Stickle Wait for Me, and Forsyth Fabrics

Conducted my own Jane Stickle Marathon to catch up after the Christmas festivities:


Sadly, this star doesn't show up well enough. Might have to Do-Over:

Yesterday, I drove to Atlanta's westside warehouse district to visit Forsyth Fabrics. That was only my second visit even though it is heaven to go there. How often do you need decorator fabric, after all? I need to make some slipcovers. Looked at every last fabric that was there, which took awhile, because it is an enormous place, and all of the employees are seasoned professionals and so pleasant to deal with. Got these samples:

but didn't get any of those fabrics. Got a yard of the Pennsylvania Tulips below to make something out of:

Got a plain beige for the loveseat slipcover and the most delectably faded large floral for maybe the chair slipcover, not sure, both at a great price.

Here is one of Rembrandt's early Victorian ancestors:

Post-Christmas

Here is one of the handmade gifts I've been showing corners of, which is a second version of "Noel". I'd love to make another one of these; it's fun to think up fabric combinations for it:


I put little notes in the refrigerator on containers of turkey reserved for the cats ("Cats") and turkey that humans, like sons, are allowed to eat ("Human"). I guess Timothy thought I was actually commenting on him as a life form, for he wrote in response:


I got the center done for the blue and brown version of Stars Around the Garden this morning and got the thing assembled; center is a Feathered Star, which I've never made before, so that was pretty interesting:

Now what to do around the outside. Naturally it occurs to put another round of the little points, but do I have that many points in me??

Looking for My Christmas Present...

Looking here

Looking there


Oh there it is. A mitten. With my face on it. From Grama Mousie


Does the wool kitty look worried or what?

I kept moving this more and more out of Rembrandt's reach (over to a wall, higher and higher as she kept getting it) and she kept trying everything she could think of to reach this sock. Well, Marcie's note said it was for Rembrandt, after all. Thank you for the sock, Marcie, we both just love it :-).

DS Timmy and I went on a new hike close to Helen, Georgia, on Christmas Eve. We forded a creek to reach the trailhead. The waterfall at the end was really beautiful. Even though it was a gloomy day, there were many photo ops, including a rare Georgia sighting of beautiful fat icicles, but wouldn't you know I forgot my camera. Then we stoked up on excellent German food at the Hofer in Helen.

Now it's early Christmas morning and I'm trying to make one more present before Timmy wakes up (which fortunately for me could be hours), this one a re-sandwiching and re-quilting of his ancient Blankie that long ago lost all its nylon stitching and whose batting had turned into a mooshed ball. We've had this (actually a pair of them, in equally decrepit condition) since he was a baby. They have some stains and the fabric is worn as thin as gossamer, but he still sleeps under this, wears it as a toga, and took it off to college. He said if I would fix it, he would love me forever, so this is a Must Do :-).



Merry Christmas, all!

More Gift Fragments

More peeks of gifts:

and:

Some decorations:

Remember these? I still have my Dip 'n Drape dolls. Thirty-five years later, they are still caroling away:

Christmas with Rembrandt

Journals and Link to Giveaway

Hey, the Greater Atlanta Quilt Shop Hop blog is doing a giveaway if you would like to mosey on over there and leave a comment.

Here is the lovely wool and twill journal I received last night at the Jo's Little Women Christmas get-together:

I'm afraid we were not a very lively group last night. Our leader said compassionately as she surveyed our sorry faces, "you all look so tired" lol. And so we were. Here is my journal. I digitized the embroidery design and stitched it out in teeny beeny cross stitch:

What, another one so soon?

But here is the story. My oldest cat, Ginger, or as we call her around the house, PoorPoorGinger, seemed to be approaching the Rainbow Bridge. Soon she would be talking things over with Dear Jane without any séance being necessary:

Then I fed her some Thanksgiving turkey. I swear she looked better almost instantly. She looked forward to her nightly turkey supply. They all did. Turkey, the miracle drug, is keeping PoorPoorGinger with us. So now I'm cooking an entire turkey for cats.

Tree-Sticks and Gift Exchange

The six new apple trees arrived from the Big Horse Creek Nursery in Lansing, North Carolina. It's always shocking to see how tiny these whips are. DS and I planted them in their prepared holes and now I keep reading their descriptions over and over as if I will be tasting the apples in a few months instead of several years. Raising apple trees teaches one patience:


Oh my, the Little Quilts Employee Christmas Party was last night and I tell you, it was so much fun. The best hospitality and a high level of chattering and laughing. It's so wonderful to have everybody gathered together in one room. We did a gift exchange of a "little quilt" in honor of Little Quilts Shop's 10th anniversary and you should have seen the miniature masterpieces that traveled the circle for all to see. This is what I made:


and here is what I received; the creator teaches two classes in these lovely embroidery and crazy quilt stitches at the shop. Isn't it breathtaking; all hand-done in the most gorgeous silks:

Be sure to enlarge it.

Tonight is our Jo Morton Christmas get-together, where we will do our journal cover gift exchange. The merriment continues! I just wish all of the classes could convene at the same time. The two daytime classes get to do that, but oh woe we dayjob folks cannot join in and must wait for darkness to meet.

Oh, the horror. After writing this post, I turned around to see this. Oh, Jack, get off the gift!

Then things got even worse:

Never fear, no gifts were injured in the posting of this blog. The embroidery is safely stashed away from Cats Who Look for Cushions.

December Goes So Fast

A quick post before going off to work at the LQS, speaking of which, do not miss the Jo Morton Trunk Show that is there, at Little Quilts (see blog); here is a close-up of one of the blocks, can you believe how gorgeous...

Rows A and B of DJ finished:

Have these fabrics gathered together for a possible quilt. I love the grays and the idea of combining the sampler, the brocade, and the ticking. Well, the ticking looked grayer online, so I might....RIT...it? Or just go with it:

Thank you for your opinion, Rembrandt:

Rembrandt is the Cat Who Reads and I do thank you for posting on the blog; a few have left no-reply comments so I couldn't thank you via email, so thank you here.

next DJ block:

Ohhhhh Christmas is coming! Maybe I'll schedule a Christmas Seance to contact Dear Jane to see if she has any encouragement for those us plowing through her DJ block rows. We need it. Speak to us, Jane.

Noel

This Renée Plains "Noël" pattern has been pinned to the "Please Make Me" bulletin board for a few years; what fun it is to have it Made Up in Real Fabric:



**Oh, and Rembrandt has read his sixth book if you would care to comment!**

DS as a House Guest

When your teen-aged children come home to visit for the Thanksgiving Holidays, it may be Pure Norman Rockwell; at my house, it's more likely things like Timmy eating carrots while he showers:


While driving home from working at the LQS on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, traffic became impassable on the expressway, so I bailed out to the surface roads, which take me past a good junk store, My Favorite Place, on Peachtree Industrial. The junk looked disappointingly worse than usual as I made the circuit, but I turned a corner and came upon dozens of very good quilt books by people such as Kindred Spirits, Nancy Martin, Harriet Hargrave, Piece o Cake, etc., for about $4. I decided on these guys:


More Dear Janies: