Surprise package delivery! :0)

This beautiful "Log Cabin" ornament was in a surprise package delivery! I wasn't expecting any packages to arrive and yet there was one on my doorstep. As soon as I saw who it was from I had a great big grin from ear to ear. It was for me! And it was from someone I recognized right away as a special blog buddy! I think this ornament is wonderful! I've never seen ornaments shaped in a quilting block design before. I just love it!! As you can see it was the first ornament I put onto the tree this year! :0)

Here is the box I found on my doorstep. There were lots of other goodies inside besides the beautiful ornament.
These were also inside the box. A snowman statue, a wooden plate, a sign which reads "Love. Where there is love there is life" a special very delicate Christmas card as well as a candy cane!
Look where I put them! I think they look so perfect all together here on a shelf in my "Keeping Room"! I love everything! Thank-you Sue!! I was very surprised and I'm very thankful you are my friend.

Merry Christmas, to all my special friends!!

Karen

One Thing Leads To Another

These scrappy triangles were something that I picked up that someone else was discarding. They have been on my design wall since summer. I finally decided it was time to do something with them or put them away. Since I already had them up on the board, I went ahead and did something with them. Besides, I needed the room on my design board for the Barbara Brackman Civil war block of the week that I have been trying to catch up on.
This is what I have been doing with the triangles. I got the idea from a book by Tara Lynn Darr.
The book is called Simply Charming...Small Scrap Quilts of Yesteryear.
Naughty blogger, that's 2 pictures in a row that are turned. Sorry. The pattern in the book is called Stars Over The Mountain.
Here is my version. As you can see I have done something different with the borders, and I'm not finished yet. I have something else in mind. This little quick project that was supposed to free up my design wall is growing on me! :0) In more ways then one! :o) The leftover fabric from the triangle project is going into a scrappy leader ender box that I started in order to start moving some of my scraps into wonderful cozy warm cuddle quilts. Since I forgot to take a picture of the blocks I've started I will have to show you next time.
Here are the Civil War blocks that I have been hand piecing. I think I have about 14 or 15 more to go in order to catch up to the current week.
This my friends is what I am working on when the little girl I am watching is napping. I finally started hand quilting "Michael's Victory"!!!! I just love how this one is turning out! This might be my next all time favorite quilt. I want to hurry up and finish it. But hand quilting a project almost always takes me about a year to finish for some reason.

Something Different

Hi everyone! I just finished putting the last stitch in the binding of this table runner. It is a more primitive type project then I normally do. So, "Something Different!" This is a pattern by Primitive Pieces by Lynda called Primitive Sketches. I hand quilted this one. I wanted to try out some new thread I bought called Aurifil. I love it! It works beautifully in the machine as well as by hand! Finally an everything thread! :0)
Well, on the home front, I have recently gone back to work. I started in May actually. I was asked by a nice local family to be a "Nanny" to there daughter. She is 8 months old now. The Mom wanted to go back to work, but did not want her daughter in a daycare. I am enjoying it but I also really miss sewing and sharing with my blogging friends. It has been some what of an adjustment for me. I've been a stay-at-home Mom for 21 years. I am still trying to balance my time to get housework, shopping and some sewing in. I feel that I am finally starting to get better at this juggle act! I hope to be able to fit in visits to my blogging friends to! :0)

Long Over Due Update

Hi Everyone! I have been (trying to) working on my daughter's "College" quilt. As you see I have a helper, named Emma, today and haven't gotten very far. My daughter wanted me to do some sort of butterfly motif quilting. I don't know if you can see it in this photo yet or not. When I finish quilting it I'll show you.
I've also been working on the "Civil War" blocks being put out once a week by Barbara Brackman. I have caught up on all of them except the last one which is about half done. I think I might have mentioned before, that I am hand piecing these blocks just as our ancestors would have done. I'm not using Civil War specific fabrics, but I am trying to use only reproduction fabrics for these blocks. :0)
Next up are a couple of quilts made by some of the women in my quilt "Bee" . We had a meeting this past Wednesday. The one above is done all in batiks. The one below was a mystery quilt one of our members participated in while she was in California visiting family and friends. ( It looks like yummy chocolates and blueberries to me! ;0)

You might have heard that our state of North Carolina has been bombarded with unusually strong and mighty tornados. The one came within about 5 miles of us. We had extremely heavy rain, and very strong winds as well as dime and nickel sized hail, but were untouched by the storms. I have been finding bits of house insulation in our yard from the surrounding homes that had been damaged. Every time I pick the stuff up I am saddened by the devastation it has caused for so many in our area. You may have heard about "Serendipity Drive"on the News as being hit pretty hard. My daughter has a teacher whose home was on that street. Her house was demolished. She has a son and a daughter between the ages of 8 and 10 years, I believe. My daughter wanted very badly to do something for her.
We ransacked my closet of quilts and came up with this one. It was something I had designed and made quite a while ago, but it seemed the most appropriate to give to this particular family. It made my daughter happy to be able to do "something " for her.
This is a set of basket bins that I store my scrappier fabrics in. My Kitty has claimed it as hers. If she isn't helping me quilt she's taking a nap in one of the baskets. Her nest! I think maybe Emma is trying to tell me something! "You have enough purple and pink scraps now to make a special quilt just for me!" Or maybe she is just a happy cat in a basket full of scraps!! LOL!! :0)

Prom, Table Runner and Find the Kitty?

Saturday was my daughter's Senior Prom night! Eight girls and one lucky guy! LOL! At least that's what we told him. It seems to me there are a lot of shy Senior male students in High School. They missed taking these beautiful young ladies to the Prom!! That's O.K. This group of girls including my daughter took matters into there own hands. They decided they didn't want to miss out on not being able to go to Prom and went as a group!! All I can say is good for them! They had a grand time according to my daughter! :0) (My daughter has the biggest smile and is on the far left.)
I did get some sewing done. This is the "Table Runner" that I made from the fabric that was in a brown bag. My "Bee" had each member put some fabric in a bag. We then brought the bags into the next meeting, shuffled them up and took one bag home that was not ours. We were then to make a table runner from the fabric in the bag. Sometime in the month of May we will bring in the Table runners that we made. We will then probably guess whose fabric we had, and hand over the newly made runner to them. I already think I know whose fabric this was. :0)
(I'm not sure if she reads my blog or not)

Here is a close-up of each block I made. (Well poo. The picture turned!) If you tilt your head to the right you will hopefully see a four inch center block which is a sewing machine. The main theme fabric in the paper bag I picked had sewing "Do-dads" and words related to sewing on it!
So I implemented sewing things into the blocks. This one is a spool of thread. The large over all block is called "Odd Fellows Chain".
And if you once again tilt your head, you will see a blue heart, spool of thread and red pincushion. We had to use only the fabric which was in the bag as well as a small amount of our own fabric to make the table runners. Fun Fun! But I'm glad I'm done!! LOL!

A big Thank-you to all who left ideas of what sort of "Table runner" I could possibly make with the fabric in the bag!! They were all fantastic. Thank-you!!
Can you find the Kitty?

This is the top of a corner fireplace mantel in our keeping room. Hmmm! There is a new ornament which placed itself in the side basket!!! I actually think our Emma kitty looks like she belongs up there!! LOL (Naughty girl) I'll bet it was a nice, warm, toasty spot above the fireplace.

Happy Quilting!! :0)