Needles and Pens

I've been making a lot of gifts lately, so haven't been able to share as I go, but there is one I can share today for Amylouwho's Sew & Tell Friday , a gift to my husband's longtime friend and co-worker, who is courageously fighting a battle with cancer. I fell in love with this pattern during a recent CQUSA mystery (I made a baby quilt, which I can't share quite yet), and for the first time ever, I've made three quilts in a row using the same pattern. It goes together really quickly, is perfect for showcasing larger prints and is very fat quarter friendly. The full pattern is made up of twelve 18" blocks plus sashing. This one is half that, with only six blocks, measuring approximately 46 x 66 inches. Countless prayers for our friend are stitched into this quilt, and my hope is that he will feel our love for him whenever he uses it. Our prayers continue for Joel and his family... for strength, for healing, and for peace that passes un...

I really can't believe there's only one more week until Christmas. This month is flying by! I've been sewing my fingers to the bone trying to finish my non-Christmas things, so I'll really need to step it up this next week. BUT my mom's birthday quilt is done! (Her birthday is the day after Christmas.) Center tied, the border quilted, and the binding on. My sister came up on Monday and helped me tie it, after realizing there were blocks that would not survive the "crush factor" of machine quilting. (Note to self on similar projects in the future: Make sure everyone knows their siggie block needs to not only be washable, but also crushable! lol) Another big finish this week -- in more ways than one. My niece's baby girls, Brenna Faith and Summer Grace, were born on Monday and they are SO adorable! I finished their quilts and they're in the mail. It looks like they'll be delivered today. Yay! I'm taking a chance and posting this now, ...

I'm running a little late today for Amylouwho's Sew & Tell Friday , having slept in this morning and recuperated from all the Thanksgiving festivities yesterday. I'm SO not a Black Friday shopper, but as one friend said on Facebook this morning, I'm glad they're out there helping to boost the economy today! :o) Here's a photo of the crowd we had at our house yesterday. There's my mom and dad, my two sisters and their families, plus our own. Thirty-one of us in all. Missing are my two brothers and their families (which would have given us 19 more!) and one sister's daughter-in-law, who wasn't able to come. I don't think we could fit in one house anymore if we all got together at once. And this is only one side of the family! We are very thankful indeed, to be so generously blessed with loving families. :o) Sewing-wise, it was not a super-productive week. I did have one finish, only because it was nearly done last week and all I had lef...

This past weekend, my two sisters and I got together for a marathon quilting session in hopes of completing the top for our mom's 80th birthday this December. All of the family members had (awesomely) personalized their 6-1/2" squares, so it was time to piece the blocks... working from this plan I had drawn up as a possible layout: After deciding our first choice of fabrics might be a bit too busy with all the decorative blocks, we ended up going with these: (If you knew our mom, that pink rose print practically screams her name.) We got busy right away on Saturday morning, cutting and prepping pieces for 35 blocks. My daughter, Kaitlin, helped out with the pressing (and yes, Kaitlin, if you're reading this, it was a LOT of help!) My sisters pinned and chain-pieced the 280 points onto the sashing units, while I started to assemble the blocks... Jan, please don't be mad at me for sharing this picture. (We're all a little camera shy. LoL) The first ...

... was a busy one! And since I've lapsed on my blogging once again, here's a little recap in pictures: My husband and I celebrated 25 years in June... Here we are, cutting the cake... Our daughters singing for us... Our parents... Our wedding party... And our own little family... The anniversary party was just the beginning. From there, it was a non-stop, go-go-go summer. There was Tim's piano recital... A trip to the zoo... A "new" car... "New" bikes, too... And a new puppy for Aaron... We watched the flowers bloom... Went tubing down the river... Watched a parade or two (that's Tim on the unicycle)... Took in some music (that's Emily on the stage)... And still found time for some good, old-fashioned summertime favorites, like popsicles... And the tire swing... Here's the one bit of sewing I did (a project almost too easy to count), some new window...