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.

Lots of Winter Woollies, and other festive things

This past weekend DH and I had a little overnight get away and I took a few wool projects along to finish the hand stitching. 

My Buttermilk Basin Mystery BOM is completed. Those who guessed that the blob at the bottom was a bell were correct. I was making a rather feeble attempt at replicating the bell from Polar Express. I even considered stitching the word "Believe" on the block, but decided that it wouldn't blend with the rest of the blocks in this mystery.

Speaking of which, those blocks are shown below. Originally I think Miss Stacy said there would be 11 blocks, but now I believe she said she would do a twelfth.

The Attic Heirloom Ornament of the Month patterns were, as the title states, for ornaments, but I made mine into little quilt blocks. I had chosen to just use the first 9 patterns to make a little holiday quilt, but before I could sew them together, I saw the gingerbread man pattern for November and decided to swap out the mitten and add in the gingerbread man. 



Here is the quilt top stitched together. I still plan to add a border or two.

The three cotton fabrics I have used so far are from thrift store shirts. I want to use shirts for the borders, too, but haven't taken the time to dig through the shirt stash yet to select anything.

I finished up the little HeartToHand Snowball block, too. The snowflakes and lettering don't show well with a flash photo, but without the flash it looked too dull. You can find the pattern for this here.

I'm thinking I should have doubled my floss on the branches and pine needles, but it is going to stay as is. It needs a border of some sort. I think I will audition some Snowman Gatherings fabrics for that job.

Most of my stitching took place in the car going to and from our destination, but I did enjoy stitching in our hotel room to Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell in "His Girl Friday". It was showing on TV after DH fell asleep.

Can you tell where we were visiting? (I know a few of you will know.) Click to enlarge photos.
             

                                                                       








After some painful dental work today I have pretty much been a sloth. This evening I wanted to "do" something, but I was supposed to be taking it easy. So I pulled out my machine for the first time in about three weeks, grabbed some HSTs that a friend had gifted me recently, sorted out the red and green and just did some mindless piecing. 
 
 I stopped short of doing any trimming. Can't decide if I will trim these small enough to be ornaments, or leave them this size and make a small quilt. There are so many other things I should have been sewing, but those would all take effort, and I wasn't up to any exertion, mental or physical. : )

One last thing I want to share.
Last year I was awed by Pentatonix' version of "Mary Did You Know?" I still love it, but DD#2 just introduced me to this version last night and it is pretty incredible, too.

 

Hope I did that right--I have never embedded a video in a post before. Hope you enjoy it, too.
Until next time,
Janet O.

Slow Stitching

Over two weeks have passed since my last post, and my only stitching has been of the slow variety in the evening. I enjoyed Thanksgiving with my family, spent the weekend following making my holiday soaps, and since then it seems I have just been putting up Christmas lights and decorations (shown here), and doing physical therapy for multiple parts of my body. : )

I have worked a little on this. It is a pattern called Snowball, from Kathi Campbell of HeartToHand for a recent Farmhouse Threads blog hop. Lisa Bongean also had a great block I hope to stitch up. They are blocks for a quilt, but I am making them as little wall hangings.

You can click here to see what this is supposed to look like. I still need to stitch down the hat, add the pine needles, snowflakes and words. I am removing Christmas from mine. I want it for January.


I've also got this prepped for stitching.

This is the latest Buttermilk Basin Mystery BOM. You can click the link to see what it is supposed to look like. Can you even tell what that blob at the bottom of the block is? Hopefully it will be more defined with some embroidery. It is my own addition.


And I actually made a little (very little) progress on my Stars in The Garden project. The first flower is made, and it gives you a taste of the fabric that will be the path between the stars and flowers.

That is one of my favorite tiny neutral prints. It is an early design from Primitive Gatherings.





And I have Skyped whenever possible with DD#1 so I can visit with this little sweetie. 

This is the granddaughter I have gone to visit in NH twice this year. The adoption is now official and I can finally share her photo with you! Isn't she precious? Of course, I am totally unbiased. :)





I drew the winner for my giveaway last Saturday, as I said I would. Sarah (sarahdidit blog) was notified of her win and the package was sent on its way to her, probably crossing in the mail with the package she is sending me, because I ordered some of her great zippered bags as gifts. 

Maybe by the next post I will have dusted off my sewing machine. I might even sew something with it. : )
Janet O.

p.s. So far I am liking the drag and drop feature blogger has implemented for adding photos.

A finish! (and more starts--but we won't dwell on that.)

This basket in the photo corrals the little quilts that are usually decorating my home, but must be moved to make way for holiday decorations. So they found a home in the corner of my sewing room until all of the end-of-year seasonal stuff is over.

My little thimble quilt is finished. I'm calling it "Busy Little Thimbles."

This is made from some fabrics I received from Cyndi of Busy Thimble blog and quilt shop, after I had visited her shop in Maine back in August. It is a nice little reminder of a wonderful visit to Cyndi's delightful shop!

 

I used a clamshell ruler  on Gidget to do the quilting. Shows up better on the back.

What possessed me to think I could squeeze in Pam Buda's Pocket Patchwork SAL? See what happens when you rush? I turned my star points in the wrong direction!! Why didn't I see that until it was all sewn together? It is staying!

Finished up the stitching on my version of Buttermilk Basin's Mystery BOM for October. I had decided early on that my signature on each block would be a little button. I was hard pressed to come up with a place to put a button on this block, until I decided to add the bat. Now he has a little round button body. : )



 And I'm not sure how this happened, but I spent a good part of Saturday evening cutting. I will be making my very first red/white quilt. I actually prefer blue and white, but in 2017 our state quilt guild is celebrating it's 40th (Ruby) anniversary and they are sponsoring a red/white quilt show to travel the state that year. The only "judging" will be a viewer's choice. Sounds very non-intimidating, so I thought it might be fun to participate in the mini division.

 This mess you see on  the design board will eventually be turned into a bunch of these little blocks.

 It is amazing how much more quickly these blocks can go together when you are only using two fabrics. You can actually strip piece, unlike when I made my Burgoyne Strikes Gold scrappy version.

I am using the same size blocks, as you can see, but I think I may only do 9 in red/white, before I am going to be dying to work with more color! So this will most likely be a square quilt. : )

BTW, I am over halfway finished binding the Floating Foxes!!

Until next time, 
Janet O.

Do you have this pattern?

I am binding this quilt for a dear friend who passed away a couple of weeks ago.  What an emotional journey. To be finishing her quilt is an honor.

She asked if I would get it bound and send it back to her husband so that he could hang it in their home. I would like to give credit to the designer on the label I am making. I found the quilt on Pinterest labeled as a Jo Morton design from American Patchwork and Quilting. The link does go to the magazine's website, and identifies the pattern as Midnight Garden from their April 2009 issue, but does not give the designer. If you have that issue and could clarify for me whether or not Jo M. is the designer I would greatly appreciate it. It looks like a Jo Morton design, but Pinterest has been wrong a time or two, so I would prefer to get confirmation from someone.

The August blocks for the Buttermilk Basin Mystery BOM and the Attic Heirlooms Ornament of the Month are now stitched. It feels good to be caught up, even if it is only for a couple of days.

I don't think I have shown the finishes on the past two "ornament" blocks, but let's look at the last one first.

This is a close up of the current one. Those were supposed to be red berries on the bow, but it seemed rather colorless, so I made bells instead of berries.Kind of tricky to get the stitching to look like I wanted it to on a circle that small.

I couldn't find red beads the size I wanted for this one. I have some much larger than these, but I wanted something somewhere between these tiny ones and the big ones. The little ones looked best, of the two.

Then we have a happy little snow angel with a garland (or maybe it is a strand of lights).











This is all of them, so far.

You may as well see all of the BB Mystery blocks so far, too.

I got a couple of "pillowcase" dresses made to send to Lori (Humble Quilts blog). She is taking them to Bolivia. Mine look more like aprons here, because I opted not to use the pattern with elastic across the top. But they will be gathered there when they are tied at the shoulders.

That sweet Cyndi at Busy Thimble quilt shop saw me petting a new line of fabric when I was in her shop, but I didn't purchase anything from it. She was cutting kits from the fabric later, and she sent me a package of the trimmings. This photo doesn't do justice to the colors, and there is more variety in the line than this, but these are the ones I chose to make a mini Thimble quilt to remember my visit to the Busy Thimble. (I used the Primitive Gatherings Tiny Tumbler template.) As I get sewing them together and gauge the shrinkage on this quilt (mini quilts shrink something fierce), I may adjust the length and/or width.








Been purging in the sewing room. It will never all fit nicely, but at least now there aren't piles all over on the floor and chairs. Still a little bit on the table, for which I cannot find homes (Denise and Mom--that sentence structure was for the two of you)), but it feels good to walk into a relatively clean room for some stitching. Think I'll step in there again.
Enjoy your day.
Until next time,
Janet O.

All Caught Up (kind of)

The Buttermilk Basin Mystery blocks that have been revealed so far are all stitched. Here we have July. I know the pattern had a butterfly, but mine was begging for a flag--so it got one.

 

These are May and June's blocks (or June and May, since blogger reversed them).

I've decided my signature mark on each block will be a little round button somewhere--sometimes more than one. I even went back and put them on the older blocks.

But I'm not sure about those buttons on the purple background. They seemed to be a good match in the quilt shop, but in every lighting I have tried them under since, I don't care for the combo. I may have to switch those out.

Here is a shot of all of the blocks so far. I have continued to add little touches as I look back at them. They may forever just be works in progress. : )

The other project that needed catching up is the Attic Heirlooms Ornaments. Mine are little quilt blocks rather than ornaments. I'm cutting the blocks 5" for now, but will trim them down before assembly. It will be a small quilt in the end. I have the first four blocks finished and you have seen them before.

The next three are only fused, and it will take a bit of stitching to bring them to life. That is the "sort of" in my All Caught Up title.

The white and yellow blobs will magically turn into a cute snow angel with a garland. The others are self-explanatory, and they involve some beadwork, too. I don't have tiny beads--this will require some shopping.

These blocks are going to a friend who is making a quilt for a friend. The large ones are 12" and the small ones are 6".

Do you have any idea how long it has been since I made a 12" block? I don't either! : )

But look what those huge blocks gave me in return.

Lots of little bonus HSTs! I trimmed these to 1 3/8", which was easier than it sounds, with my Itty Bitty Eights rulers! They will finish at 7/8", or close to it, depending on how accurate I try to be.

Parting shot--my 85 year-old Mom with her final quilt! I mentioned before that she named this her Happy Quilt. It is machine pieced and hand quilted--all of Mom's quilts are hand quilted!

She says she has no regrets and will not miss quilting. She has loved it, but she is finished! In case you doubt the finality of this, she has given away her quilt books, fabric, and tools. The end of an era that has lasted decades! She was my first quilting mentor.

Until next time,
Janet O.