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Friday, December 31, 2021

December Monthly Mini

Wasn't sure I could pull it off this month, but just this week I got this put together. The stars finish at 6", so it isn't as "mini" as many I make, but I enjoyed putting this together. It finishes at 18". I am linking up with Wendy at The Constant Quilter blog for the monthly mini parade. Check them out. Is this the fourth year we have been doing the monthly minis?

This may look awfully familiar because the color scheme is almost the same as last month's mini. I just added green this month in honor of the holiday season.I had toyed with the idea of a red binding, but when I tested reds against the finished top, they seemed to take away from the gold stars.

You can see the quilting, which was a mix of diagonal lines and stitch-in-the-ditch, in the photo below.

Friend Kathy knows that I don't enjoy switching threads (which she loves). But I do it sometimes because I think it will be the best look for the quilt. So as I was auditioning thread colors, I thought of Kathy and the photos she takes of  her pretty bunch of spools laying on the quilt. I took the photo below in honor of Kathy. :)

This was taken post-quilting, but pre-binding. I had just cut the binding strips and laid them around the edges. The reds in this photo are brighter than in real life, but the other colors are truer than in the first photo.

It may be a stretch, but this quilt is for my "baggie challenge". These fabrics weren't in a baggie--they have been sitting in a project box for years. I was taking a class from Marsha McClosky and I had the reds/greens/golds (along with a few neutrals) in my project box for the class. When I got to class I learned that we had the option of making the blocks in miniature, which, of course, I chose to do. So I had a LOT of fabric leftover, and it has been marinating in the box for years.

The challenge allowed for the addition of two fabrics--a neutral and a color. Black was my neutral in this quilt, so I added the black in the center column. The color I added was the red in the front of the left column. It had arrived at my home two days before Christmas in a baggie of "scraps" from my retreat buddy, so I felt it belonged in my baggie challenge piece.

In January I will do a post where I will link up all of the monthly mini makers who chose to participate in my baggie challenge. I will draw a name to receive one of the quilts I have made from baggies of scraps in the past. I may have a few other prizes for some lucky participants, too.

I hope you had a lovely holiday, whether you were surrounded by friends and/or family, or celebrated quietly. We had a unique Christmas Eve/Day activity. Our DIL is an artist by profession. She offered to give us all a chance to try our hand at painting with acrylics on canvas. She put a LOT of work into it, and transformed our living room into a classroom. 

She had invited us to bring a picture or object that we wanted to use as our inspiration, and then she gave us a session of instructions. We were then set loose to try our hand, as she moved among us giving help and suggestions as needed.

Some family members have natural artistic talent and the rest of us were out of our element, but had a good time. We spent hours on Christmas Eve working on our paintings, and those of us who hadn't quite finished up spent a few more hours on Christmas Day.

Here we are on Christmas afternoon with our mostly finished pieces, and our proud teacher. Our granddaughter (front and center) had started two pieces, so neither was completed yet. Our oldest son (married to our teacher, and standing on the far right) was doing a more involved piece, since he has had private lessons already, and he still had more to do. Hubby is absent from the photo as he chose to spend the time with our youngest grandson who has disabilities that prevent his participation. Our oldest daughter and her family remained in Oregon for Christmas, so they are missing as well.

It was a stretch for some of us who are artistically challenged, but it was fun to try something new!

We celebrated New Year's Eve just the two of us this year. We usually have some family and/or friends over. But hubby had his second dose of the Shingrix vaccine yesterday and he has been feverish, achy and coughing. So we had no guests and hubby went to bed early. I just finished up New Year's Eve with my usual routine, watching the classic movie, "Bachelor Mother", starring Ginger Rogers and David Niven. Love that movie! As midnight strikes I can look out the French doors of our family room and see fireworks going off from one end of our valley to the other. As much as I enjoy fireworks, I always worry for all the people and animals that are traumatized by the noise.

May you enjoy a wonderful start to the new year, and may we make it a kinder, healthier year for us all. 

Until next time,

Janet O.

I leave you with the photo that was the inspiration for my painting attempt. This was taken just outside those family room French doors as the full moon rose over the Bear River Range of mountains on December 18th.

 



28 comments:

  1. ok my request is we see you pic up closer with the inspiration as I think from a small distance it looks good.........what a fun activity.......can't paint to save myself.........

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  2. OH how fun! That sounds like such a great thing to do as a family...lovely!

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  3. what a great group activity....love that mini...beautiful photo...

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  4. That was a fabulous gift from your DIL. Everyone looks like they had a great time and a Christmas to be remembered. Your little quilt immediately made me think of fireworks in a night sky and perfect for new year's eve in your valley as it turns out.

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  5. Happy New Year, Janet! May your 2022 be as lovely as your holiday celebration! Thank you for the inspiration and sharing your many talents. I'm looking forward to more this year.

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  6. You sure have lovely views from your French doors. I can see why you used this photo as your inspiration, nice job. What a fun idea for a family activity. I love love love your new mini. The colors and design with the big stars is just perfect. My husband and I just spent a quiet time at home for New Year's Eve except for the visit of my youngest son and his two boys (4yrs. and 2yrs.) earlier in the evening. I hope the new year brings you happiness, lots of quilting, and peace.

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  7. Happy New Year to you Janet! What a wonderful way to spend the holiday with your family and a quiet New Year's is the best if you ask me. As always, looking forward to seeing what you and the Monthly Mini ladies do in 2022!

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  9. Love the colors of this months mini. 6 inch blocks are a mini for me! LOL Your baggie challenge has been such a successful challenge to many us. Now doing a painting might not be quite so successful for me. It looks like you all had a great time and that's what it's all about.

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  10. Well your baggie challenge was fun for so many of us, and yours is so pretty, with the bright stars perfect for the season. What a creative and original way to spend Christmas Eve! You really have a gem of a daughter in law to put that activity together. I like a quiet New Year's Eve too and I feel the same way as you about fireworks. We didn't have any in MA/NH but here in Texas where I am this year, there were fireworks in the neighborhood. Your new header photograph is spectacular! Happy New Year!

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  11. Happy New Year to you and yours, Janet! The painting lesson was a genius idea, how fun and what a great family activity.

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  12. Great mini! Love the classic design and, of course, it’s a favorite color scheme, as you know😊. Your family painting activity looks like so much fun! Thanks again for creating the “baggie challenge” which was a great success and my fingers are crossed for a win in the drawing 😊!

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  13. Love your version of the view out of the French doors. I clicked to make it bigger and zoomed in. Been playing with tiny blocks. No baggie challenge for me. Busy doing Quiltville Mystery. Got your package on the last day of 2021. THANKS!! I do celebrate all month, lol

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  14. Oh, WOW!! I LOVE this mini!! And now, instead of Janet O., I am going to start referring to you as Janet Van gOOOOO!! :-) Love ya!! Kris

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  15. You nailed your painting!! So pretty! I love your December mini quilt!! Happy New Year!!

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  16. Your mini is stunning! Your painting activity is a great idea and your painting looks amazing, you are a talented lot!

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  17. Happy New Year...love your mini, those star points really pop...for someone who thinks she is artistically challenged I think you may be underestimating yourself in the painting stakes, what a fun activity for the family...

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  18. You are to be commended on your dedication and loyalty to your monthly minis- they're all so well done and inspiring; as are you! I think the paining session idea for Christmas is SO MUCH FUN! You did such a wonderful job, Janet, in portraying that beautiful moon over the mountains. You certainly have abundant artistic talent in your family! Happy New Year!

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  19. Love your mini! Those stars are gorgeous! And what a fun idea your DIL had, you all did a great job! Your mountains are gorgeous (the painted ones I mean). Is your home a geodesic dome? It's very interesting! Jan in MA

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  20. Beautiful mini! Happy New Year! :0)

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  21. That looks like so much fun! One year I had a wool craft family project for all of us to do at Thanksgiving. It made a memorable year. I love what your family did!
    I didn't realize the shot for shingles was a doubly whammy- ugh!
    Is that an old courthouse in your header? Its beautiful!

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  22. Enjoyed this post so much. Lovely mini and I loved the painting lesson- what a treat your lovely DIL is! Beautiful photo of the family to be treasured now.

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  23. Beautiful mini, Janet. I think it looks like a New Year's Celebration! Love the colors and the star blocks. So fitting! That was a great idea for a family paint-in and it looked like you were all budding artists! Bravo! What a perfect moon-over-the-mountain photo :)

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  24. Beautiful little quilt, Janet. And what a fun experience for your family.

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  25. Funny, I think I finally solved my comment isssue, and now I can’t think of anything to say! Great mini, beautiful and so striking. And what a generous and fun idea, the painting class. Cheers!

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  26. I think there is something wrong with my Blogger account. I missed a dozen or more posts last week. I only found this one because I was worried that you hadn't posted for a bit and was going to e-mail you to see how you were. I will have to see what is up and hope I can fix the issue! In the meantime - wow! Another superb Janet mini. I'm sure you've guessed that I adore the colors in this one. I think your "Baggie" challenge was so much fun and I was happy to see so many people join in. Your art night Christmas Eve looks like so much fun. Thanks for another super mini!!

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  27. What an amazing family activity! I love your inspiration and your painting is fabulous. Great job for everyone.
    Your mini is just great. I like how the red and greens chain along on the quilt. Stars are perfect for December too.
    Happy New Year!!
    xo

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