Happy New Year, friends!

Lots of family gatherings, and health issues for me and my Mom have made my time for blogging recently rather sketchy. Not much time to stitch, either, but I finally got an evening to spend sewing, so I'll share what came out of it.
First up, there was that mindless sewing of HSTs a friend had given me, that I showed in my last post. This is what I did with them. Kind of fun and festive.

The star blocks finish at 4". The quilt finishes at about 15". Did this very hurriedly and cut off lots of star points, but I needed a finish for sanity's sake, so I'll live with it. : )

Got my last block made for the Buttermilk Basin Mystery BOM completed. Chose not to put the snowman in the mitten, but used a free pattern Stacy had shared back in November (click on link above), and made it a little larger to fit the block. I added twig arms and snowflakes to the chilly fellow.





Here are all of the blocks together. Wonder how Stacy will be setting them? Wonder if I will do it her way?

My little snowball block from HeartTohand is ready for quilting. I wasn't sure, last time I shared it with you, what I would do for the border. Sandra (textiletimetravels blog) suggested a simple snowball block. I thought about doing tiny ones, but based on the size of the block itself, I settled for 3" finished snowballs. I really like how it turned out. Thanks, Sandra.




Remember I thought the tree's needles looked a bit spindly. I was going to leave it be, but finally caved and fixed it. I doubled my floss and went back and added needles in between the ones I had already stitched.

                                                     






I do like the end results better.
Compare it to the tree in the top photo.

I'm not usually a participant in after-holiday sales, but there were two things I couldn't resist this time around. All of the Christmas fabrics and kits were 50% off at my LQS. Though I went just to see the fabrics, and I don't tend to buy kits, I couldn't pass this up. This Kim Diehl pattern is free online at Henry Glass and I have loved it and pinned it. When I saw the shop had kitted it up with Kim Diehl fabrics in holiday colors, but NOT holiday prints (that is how I like my holiday quilts)--and it was half off, I snatched it up. It was the last one and I felt pretty smug.

The other thing I couldn't resist was buying a tower of Dark Chocolate Peppermint Roca on clearance. This is not just a guilty pleasure. It is a vital part of my keeping my most important Quilting Goal from last year (which I plan to continue into this year)--keeping dark chocolate in the sewing room. Any time you can combine that dark chocolate with a subtle peppermint flavor, the synergy of the two is undeniable. This is probably the only quilty goal from last year that I actually kept, and may be the only one I carry on into this year.


 

Last, but definitely not least, I have been the recipient of some lovely gifts from quilting friends the last few months. 

To the right are a pair of pretty crocheted coasters from Mary (quiltingrandma blog), and lovely purple mittens and scarf from Doniene (nowitsjustquilts blog). 
In the left photo are quilts gifted to me by Joy P. (top quilt--no blog), and Sandra D. (bottom quilt--kwiltnkats blog). Don't they look pretty hanging together? Each one of these gifts is a beautiful handmade treasure that has warmed my heart and the Christmas season. Thank you, my friends. 

As you all know, blogging takes time and now and then I think I can't do it anymore. Then I ponder the priceless friends I have made, and I know I can't walk away from it. This is about more than quilting. It is a connection with people that have enriched my life in so many ways, prayed with me and for me, laughed with me, shared with me, and widened my scope. I would never have dreamed I would feel so connected to so many quilters around the world.
Bless you all as we enter upon a new year of sharing.

Until next time, 
Janet O.

Heads up to all of you that read blogs without a Google profile. 
From Blogger Buzz posted Dec. 21, 2015:

...starting the week of January 11, we’ll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other OpenId providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. At the same time, we’ll remove non-Google Account profiles so you may see a decrease in your blog follower count.

We encourage you to tell affected readers (perhaps via a blog post), that if they use a non-Google Account to follow your blog, they need to sign up for a Google Account, and re-follow your blog. With a Google Account, they’ll get blogs added to their Reading List, making it easier for them to see the latest posts and activity of the blogs they follow.