I'll be home for Christmas...

...so I thought I'd invite you over (warning--long post with lots of pictures, but there is something quilt related at the end).

This is our dome sweet home. Yes, I live in a geodesic dome. From the front you can see the added solarium on the left and extension on the right, so it doesn't appear that round from this point of view. Trust me--it is.

Just inside the front door you are greeted by a bunch of fuzzy snowmen. They look forward to the grandchildren visiting each Sunday evening. It is always more fun when they come.

Aside from the small tree, you can see a trunk of Christmas books and a snow family on the quilt rack. And, of course, my German pyramid nativity on a little table topper quilt made from red and green plaid shirts. I love these photos of two of my grandchildren watching the pyramid spin.

In the corner is the tree and the piano is graced by a couple of my nativities.

My very small Santa collection sits atop the hutch that is to the right of the tree, but not visible in the photo.

The dining room hutch holds a few more nativities. (Sorry this is blurry.) Let's take a closer look. I'm sure you are familiar with the Willow Tree nativity. This was a b'day gift a few years ago from DH. I love it.

Inside the hutch are some other special nativities.

The little clay figures and the wooden all-in-one are from Argentina, where my oldest son was a missionary.

 This beautiful, hand-carved nativity was brought from Austria, when my oldest daughter returned from a semester abroad there.

This little hand-crafted nativity is made from banana leaves and my youngest son brought it to me from his mission in Brazil.

He also brought this nativity, which resides on the piano. The figures fit together like puzzle pieces. Sometimes I display it that way, but not this year.

This music box nativity was a gift from my mother.
DH gifted me another music box nativity. It is a snowglobe with glass figures inside. I couldn't get a good photo of it--without the flash it was too blurry. With the flash it just reflected the light.

Above the dining room is the loft. I have no mantel, so the stockings are hung by the railing with care.

Let's go upstairs. Looking down from the stair landing you get a good view of the tree and piano in the corner. If you glance to the right of the railing you can see the village. I painted this village years ago in my "ceramics" phase.

I used the technique known as "dry brush". You paint the entire piece black and then, using a dry, stiff bristled brush, you layer on color over the black surface. You can see it prevents much light from penetrating anywhere but the windows. It also makes it hard to see the colors.

Even in the light the colors seem very muted.

 I finished them off with a light touch of "snow". I think I still have a couple of unpainted buildings stored somewhere, but I haven't painted ceramics in decades.

In the sewing room I have hung the Christmas "Flurry" flimsy that I had hoped to get quilted this year, but it didn't happen.

 And I had to get a photo of my sewing room tree adorned with all of these quilty ornaments. Those pineapple blocks are about 2" square. The red and white "square in a square" was a very fun surprise from my blog friend, Grace, all the way in Maine. Along with the ornament, there was another sweet gift. Look below the tree. See the pink bow to the right? It keeps this great selvedge covered needle case closed.

 Isn't it cute? I thought it was so appropriate that the selvedge down the center is from Kansas Troubles fabric. I love that stuff and have made a few quilts from it. This little package of surprises came on a very hard day--first thing that morning I had learned that DH's aunt, who has been a good friend to me and a quilt mentor, had just died. I was feeling pretty blue and this brought the first smile of the day. Thanks to you, Grace!

And finally, I am making some headway, though much slower than planned, on the gift quilts for my grandsons. Star Wars #2 got its last stitches this morning. I have been using swirls and stars stencils for the pattern on these two quilts. But now they both need binding, and the railroad quilt is still waiting to be marked and basted. Can I finish it all before Christmas Eve? Where has the time gone?

Well, if you have had the stamina to stay with this, thanks for visiting my "home for the holidays". I'd better get off the computer and get busy! I have a funeral to attend tomorrow, and I am in charge of the family meal afterwards, for 200 people. It will be an emotional day.

Until next time, Janet O.

A surprise, flimsies, a challenge, and a winner!

This lovely little quilt arrived in the mail this week as a birthday gift from my sweet friend, Doniene. This woman knows me. Purple reproduction fabric churn dash blocks--love it!! It doesn't get any better than this! If you look closely you can see a bit of the beautiful hand quilting. I tried, but couldn't get a shot that showed the quilting better than this. Thanks you so much for this treasure!

All of the tops for my grandsons' Christmas quilts are sewn up. The baseball quilt got scrapped. I think little brother will want a Star Wars quilt when he sees big brother get one, no matter how much he loves baseball. These two are twin size.

And the youngest of my grandsons LOVES trains, so this quilt will be his. This is a crib quilt.

I need to get my November SewCalGal FMQ Challenge posted, so this seems like as good a time as any. I love to quilt swirls in random patterns, but found it a major challenge to swirl within the lines. First I practiced tracing over the printed design this month's expert, Sarah Vedeler, provided. Then I pounced grid lines on some swirl fabric left from the Star Wars quilts (seemed appropriate). I used a Design With Lines stencil from Pam Clarke.

The quilting did not go well. I tried going very slowly, but it didn't improve the swirls. On the black piece to the left I did the swirls all going the same direction. On the blue piece to the left I tried reversing the direction of the swirl each time. It felt very awkward trying to keep the swirl within the square. I had to finish up with some free swirling on the right, just for fun. I quilted one of my Halloween minis with the random swirls and really liked it.

There isn't more quilting to show because I have been doing too much of this...

...making all of the soap I need to get us through the holiday gift-giving (and supply our family's needs until I find time to make it again in the new year). For a few days after a soap making session the essential oils sure make the house smell nice.

Before I announce the giveaway winner, I want to let 5 bloggers know they are "no reply" bloggers, which means no one can respond to your comments because there is no email address attached to your account. So Dstitcher, Linda, Marcia, Carole in Nebraska and Anne Simonot, your accounts are either on "no reply" by default (that is the setting when you set up your account and it stays that way unless you change it), or you prefer not to be contacted, but that also means you lose out on giveaways where there is no way to contact you if you win. Many people don't know they are a "no reply" blogger, so I thought I would let you know.

Okay, that said, the winner of my "little" birthday giveaway is Mrs. Goodneedle! Since I already have your address, Mrs. G., I will get this in the mail to you tomorrow. Congratulations, my friend!

I will leave you with this photo I took yesterday of the moon rising over the mountains. Interestingly enough, Robin, of Solstice Studio blog (who lives a couple of hours away along the same mountain range) took a similar photo that evening and posted it here. Hers is a much closer, prettier view. Check it out.

Hopefully next post will have more quilty content. I need to get crackin' on my Barrister Sow-along blocks before Randy posts the next batch!

Until then,

Janet O.