New Favorite Fabric

I knew I was going to love this one from La Petite Ecole (it's the one I asked them to look up when we were at Quiltworks, mom) but I love it even more than I thought I would. Good thing I bought a whole yard (ha!) rather than my usual "minimum they will allow me to purchase". My favorite of the little motifs is that Enfant there in the front. I hadn't seen him in any online previews.

No idea about what I'll use this for (unusual for me to buy fabric (especially this much fabric) without any purpose for it) or how I'll ever find a project special enough to make me cut into it but, for now, I'm enjoying just looking at it.

One of Six

Well, after a bit of indirect prodding by a flickr friend (who is also making a French General quilt) I managed to (somewhat) conquer those diamonds and my new triangle-in-a-square template to complete one of the blocks for my quilt. I'm still hoping that I can make the "stars" in the corners (only half of which are there now) more prominent with my quilting but I am enjoying a pleasant overload of red, white, and beige for the moment. Five more (and 3 center block portions) to go!

Thanks for the Christmas fabric, Mom!

Because I Was Asked

I've been a bit too busy obsessing over Bitty Blocks to get very far with this project but, since I created a little bit of interest in the project, I thought I'd go ahead and share the (very) little I've done so far.

The Lumiere de Noel layer cake was a Christmas gift from my parents which I've supplemented with just a little bit of other fabric from French General (just 2 quarter-yards). The pattern was inspired by the sashing on this quilt.

As you can see, I've mostly only done the simiplest parts so far. And have a few mistakes in a few more blocks of those squares-in-squares which I need to pick and resew. Already! But maybe I'll feel inspired this afternoon to tackle a few of the triangle bits and make a completed block.

Since the Last Time I Saw You

Hello there! I'm sorry for my extended absence. It turns out that handmaking all Christmas gifts and then driving from Oklahoma City to Upstate New York (straight through) is both time-consuming and tiring. But I'm back now. And happy new year to you all!

I just love paperwhites. That's been a major event of the last few weeks is that the ones I bought from the farmer's market are blooming. And have to be continually re-staked because they are so tall!

Also in the past couple of weeks we spent New Year's Eve here at the house with a couple of friends, playing cards. The fire actually refrained from smoking and it was a cozy and lovely evening. We even had a potluck dinner between the 4 of us. ("Company chicken", toffee candy similar to 7-layer bars, and my favorite broccoli soup)

And finally, I'm happy to finally be able to reveal some of the Christmas gifts which kept me so busy throughout December. (Not pictured, I made several of Liesl's gorgeous little boats and 4 pair of Toasty Mitts.)

Perhaps the largest project was this throw quilt for my parents. It was actually completely finished (I am notorious for giving unfinished gifts, as perhaps are most crafters) and the largest quilt I've totally finished to date. I think it looks very nice in their living room so I'm happy that it got done, even if I had to go through 2 walking feet to get it there (I think the first one was just poorly made -- it only managed to quilt 3 potholders and half of this quilt before breaking).

Here I am wearing the hat I made for my husband's step father, Howard. I hope it fits him better than it fits me!

Snowmen from this pattern (found via 2MayBoys and the Trim the Tree swap). I love these little guys!

Sewing Overtime

Well, the Christmas gifts box went out the door this morning and most of the cards went yesterday. I still have a few more cards, one more batch of cookies (so far I've made these (with peach lavender jam from the summer), these, and these, all of which are quite tasty although the caramel didn't set up), and a few more gifts which I plan to carry on the plane to finish up but I felt this afternoon like I had a bit of time to sew some more on my Mystery Quilt.

I've been asked what a Mystery Quilt is and this seems like as good a time as any to explain a bit. So Bonnie Hunter posts these "hints" on her blog every Friday (basic quilt elements to put together, such as 120 half-pink-half-brown half square triangle blocks at 3.5 inches) and we all follow along blindly until we get to the last step (the past mysteries have had about 7 steps and we're now on 4) where we see what in the world it is that we're making! I know that it'll be a full-size quilt in pink, green, chocolate, cream, and red, but that's absolutely it so far.

Jessica (whose blog I found the mystery through) and I are muddling through together. Having someone to discuss with does make it a ton of fun. But I've been too busy with holiday preparations just now to get much done.

The photos above are, at top, my single 8.5-inch "neutral" block (I'm to make 60 of them but I haven't quite figured out the tricks to sewing onto a paper foundation with my machine), in the middle, 142 of 172 2-inch wide pink-and-green strips, and, on the bottom, most of the 120 pink-and-brown half square triangles (they're not actually to be pinwheels necessarily, I just like arranging them and admiring them as pinwheels). I've not even started on the 120 green-and-neural 2-inch strips and matching 2-inch green blocks. At least I've made a bit of progress though.

Holiday Shopping

I can't show a lot of what I'm purchasing or working on for holiday gifts just yet but I can show the fun little things I found at Ikea! (Which, by the way, was having a sale (at least the one in Red Hook was) on all holiday merchandise, in case you're interested.)

There were lots of wonderful wrapping papers but I picked this one because it reminds me of a fair isle sweater and that's something I'm very into at the moment. And, of course, I had to buy the (look Aryn, I'm going to call them the right name!) REINDEER ornaments (I kept saying "moose" in the store). I think they'll make some lovely gift tags. Now to find the time to get some things wrapped and in the mail!

Many Small Changes

This is a photo of our living room from last January, shortly after we'd purchased the house. All of the furniture shown was left behind in the house and has all now found new homes.

And now with our furniture. And my Christmas-Card-and-Mystery-Quilt-making mess on the table. It still needs paint and (the rest of the) curtains. And I'd like to recover that sofa. But I'm excited about the progress. Especially that the squashed-Smurf-colored shag carpet is gone.

This is, to me, one of the most dramatic before-and-afters from our house. Inspired by Patrick's work on that ceiling fan. Believe it or not, it is the very same ceiling fan in both the before and after photos. We just bought a new light kit for it from Home Depot and used some spray paint leftover from painting the kitchen cabinet hinges. And, of course, turned the blades over to their non-rattan side.