Checking off the lists...

It's been a rough year. My work has been taking all my energy, so I'm not the most effervescent Christmas elf this year. I really have not been effervescent in December for several years. I did make a new Christmas stocking for myself 2 weekends ago to demonstrate foundation crazy piecing and using some of the decorative stitches on my sewing machine that I really haven't used before. I would show you a picture, but my husband has my camera today. Sorry.

We did get down to the Walkway of Lights in a town about 40 miles away from us. They used to have a gift shop with handmade ornaments and decorations that were sold to help Habitat for Humanity. This year it was contracted out to a nearby gift shop. It wasn't really the same. But they still had hot cocoa and yummy cookies for the kids to enjoy. The lights are always a treat. If the snow sticks around, we'll probably make the trip again just for fun.

We also visited Amish country with the kids. In Shipshewana, there are some lovely gift shops and I especially like looking at the ornaments and the Byer's Choice carolers. We found a cute panda bear ornament for my younger son who likes all things panda. Again, no picture, but I'll try to fix that this week. We also had a wonderful family style meal at one of the restaurants there. We have been visiting this town with our kids for over a decade and it's fun reminiscing about all the changes that have occurred there. I think I'm turning into an old fogey.

We visited the Festival of Gingerbread in Fort Wayne. The kids and husband really enjoyed it, even though I had to drag them kicking and screaming. I love gingerbread houses and have made one just about every year for the last 20 years or so. One of my favorites referred to the silver balloon hoax by the family who said their son was inside the balloon floating across the countryside, while he was hiding in the attic the whole time. People come up with such creative ideas.

Today the kids and hubby are off to Chicago to see his dad. I have to work a couple of days and then I'll be off for 2 days. It will be a quick, full of work holiday, but I will have 4 days off over New Year's. You have to be happy for what you get. I will have some free time, so I will probably spend little time fondling the fabric. It's almost as good as going to the spa for me. Almost.

I might go see the Philharmonic holiday concert this week. I might cook up some treats to get ready for Christmas day at my dad's. I might take a nap or two. We'll see what I can put on my own personal list for the week. Maybe I'll get a few things checked off.

Is it that time already?

I seem to be "borrowing" my husband's works lately. This is a photo manipulation called "Lake" but it just suggested warm happy colors to me today.

I have a confession to make. I'm not ready for Christmas. I hear songs on the radio and I can't believe the Christmas season is already upon us. It's overwhelming to me when I think of all the things I want to do.

We don't have big families and they're kind of spread out around the country. Our jobs don't allow us to get away for the holidays, so we usually have to find other times for catching up with family. Nine years ago, when my youngest was only 6 months old, my husband's parents took the whole family to St. Lucia in the Caribbean. All 16 of us! It was truly the most wonderful Christmas and one of my favorite times. Another time we all went to Grandpa's house in Arizona. I really enjoyed the cacti decorated with lights and Santa hats.

Our family traditions include decorating with lights in the yard, more than on the house. I love seeing a blue bush there, a red tree there, all along the driveway. And the big wreath on the house. It's six feet in diameter and looks great from the road.

Last weekend, I made candy with my friend Martha. We did this last year for the first time and discovered that there are some candies which are so amazingly good that they are worth the work. My favorite is the caramels. Which is pronounced "care-a-mels" according to my husband. This year, I made a batch that I think got cooked a little too long and the caramels were so hard you couldn't even cut them. Depressing. The second batch came out perfectly. I didn't test my thermometer before cooking, so I'm partly to blame. We also made marshmallows; well, Martha did while I wrapped about 300 pieces of caramel in wax paper. My peanut brittle came out just perfect. I believe in peanut brittle at Christmas. It is just so yummy! I need to make some maple fudge, too.

I can't think of a single thing I need for Christmas. Well, maybe one of those plastic sheets to put under a quilt when you're doing free motion to help it move around more easily. Leah Day sells them on her website, I think. I'm a big fan of Leah's. She really inspires a lot of people. I would also enjoy a good massage.

Every year, we get felt stockings at WalMart and the kids decorate them with glitter glue. The kids love it. It's one of the things my husband likes to do. The kids are already upset that I have to work on Christmas. Somebody has to do it. Maybe I can come up with something fun for them to do while I'm at work.

I'm seeing all kinds of neat ideas for Advent calendars. I like the one with toilet paper tubes at maya*made's blog. Very clever.

I think I'm through with my rambling post. I know I can catch a little Christmas spirit if I put my mind to it. That'll be my project for this week.

All in the Family

Aren't these adorable? I thought I'd share the Christmas ornaments my DH makes with felt, buttons, beads and embroidery floss. He is very critical about his work, but I love the whimsy of his ornaments and I think they are wonderful.

It all started when I taught him how to sew on a button. He has made repairs on clothes for his clients like holes in pockets and missing buttons. He is always brimming over with ideas for different designs. He does fun things with photo manipulations and makes a new wallpaper for the computer almost every day. You never know what will come out of his mind.

I know he's made dozens of these, but these were the only ones I found in our photo collection. Well, I have a few more that I can share later. Now that the Christmas season is approaching, he's started making his ornaments again. It's a good sign.

This week he went shopping for a sewing machine. I'm thinking I may have to make room in my sewing room. Although, if you knew my hubby, you'd know that he likes to be secretive about what he's up to until he's ready for you to see it. He's the same way when he's cooking. I don't think he'd like me to see what he was doing because I might criticize. Funny thing is, though I have my talents, he's the real artist in the house. You'd know it if you saw his stuff.

And now you, my blogging friends, get to admire his talents as well.

I hope you enjoy them.

Letting the Colors Come Through

I meant to post this yesterday but ran out of time helping with the homework, etc., last night.

I have been thinking about some of my special experiences with creative expression. I am a singer, classically trained. Once a long time ago I sang a full senior recital while I was working on my music degree. I love classical art song. Bringing to life the words of the poet, through the musical interpretation as provided by the composer, is an amazing experience. I sang several groupings or sets of song for my recital. One of my favorite groupings was a collection from the works of Ned Rorem, a 20th century composer. He wrote this marvelous gem of a piece from the writings of Gertrude Stein, called "I Am Rose". The song takes about 23 seconds to sing. I loved this song and it suited me so well. Afterwards my faculty advisor told me it was his favorite part of the recital. It was mine, too. I could feel the connection with the music, the voices of the character, the author and composer, coming out through me. It was a powerful moment and a special one for me. It was about letting the colors of the song flow through me and letting the audience experience the feeling with me.

I studied voice for many years and loved every minute of it. It's very difficult and takes a lot of practice, just like with any instrument. But when you hit those "I am Rose" moments, it is amazing. I am no great opera singer and nobody is offering me a recording contract. So maybe I shouldn't keep on studying or practicing, because that kind of success is out of my reach. Often the deepest pain for an artist is that expression that falls just a little short of what you meant to say. But then I'd never have my amazing moments to keep. And they are so valuable to me.

The same is true of my quilting. I have made some truly special quilts and some that will get you by. I'm still learning about FMQ and if I had the money or space for a long arm machine, I'd be going gangbusters. I believe that if I keep trying, I will reach my goal of making amazing quilts, just like the ones I drool over every day. I'm just a caterpillar, inching along, hoping to get a glimpse of the butterfly I can become. The more I try, the more I see that it is attainable.

I want to convince anyone reading this that you, too, have the power to find your colors and sing them out into the world. Find your voice in what you love and treasure the moments when it all comes together.

This is a little long, but I'm glad I got to share. Thanks for listening.

Fright Night--the day after

Here are a few pics from our evening of frightful fun. The boys hung out with their best friends as we went around our hometown neighborhood. Then we had a fire in the backyard and toasted marshmallows. Good times!div>

A nerd and a headless horseman--a perfect pairing!

Just two girls out on the town! I'm in my usual mode--ready for bed.

Hope you had a safe and fun Halloween!

Beauty in Nature

I am becoming a compulsive blogger. I can't wait to get home to read my blog news and when I tear myself away it's to run to the sewing room to try out something new.

Well, yesterday I managed to drag my kids away from screens of any kind (except the digital camera, of course) into the great outdoors. We took a walk in a nearby state park late in the afternoon. It was a little cloudy, but I was glad it was not raining. I also included a picture of a colorful tray of stones from the rock show. The pic was on my mind and I wanted to include it today.

I stopped into my LQS today and found this cool ruler that I saw demonstrated at a recent club meeting. It's the perfect solution to my raffle basket table runner. You can take any border fabric and make a neat table runner in no time at all. I didn't have time for pictures today, but i put together a sample and it's fantastic.

Gotta go. I'm getting tired and brain dead.

New project list

I haven't gotten back to my goals for sewing and quilting. Let's see what I had on my list:

1) "new fabric" backpack -- Well, that was to be the practice piece for my FMQ goal and the backpack pattern I hadn't done yet. I have finished the quilting on that block of fabric. But I went back to an earlier panel of beautiful orange/brown/red fabrics that I had created to make into a backpack. I quilted this panel in no time using the techniques I have been practicing on the "new fabric" piece. I plunged right into finishing the backpack and, voila!, it is done.


Here's the picture of my beautiful new backpack in my signature color, orange. I was waiting for a project that would put this fabric in the spotlight and I think it was a good choice. It goes with everything I'm wearing this season. I will finish the "new fabric" one sometime, but there are other projects looming.

Here's the back:



And a close-up of the FMQ:




I love the button on the front, too.



2) snowman table runner -- That piece kind of fell to the side while I worked on my practice piece. I'd better pick it up again and just get it quilted. I have a lot of projects that are mostly waiting to be pin basted. I just need the space and time to get it done. Piecing is easier because you don't have to do it all in one sitting.

3) casserole carrier -- I don't even have a pattern yet. This one may not happen.


4) hexagon rosettes for the Australian challenge -- I brought this up at my quilt club and now I am scheduled to do a demonstration on this technique at the November meeting. I have a lot of prep work to do to get ready.


Well, that's the update on my previous list. Now I need to list the newer projects I've been working on.

1) Venetian dream -- I saw this neat pattern in a recent Fons and Porter "Easy Quilts" issue and decided I would just pull fabrics from my older blues and greens just to move some of my fabrics off the shelf. I cut out the pieces in no time. Now it's a great little project to just piece on when I need to fondle fabric for my mental well-being.


I also picked out fabrics to do a Christmas version. Sometimes the planning bogs me down, especially when I don't have the right fabrics on hand. I'll do the sashing in white again, too.




2) Christmas panel quilt -- I picked up this cute snowman panel by Deb Strain at my LQS along with some coordinating fabrics. They had a cute little lap quilt someone from the shop had created to showcase the fabrics, so I decided to try to recreate it. This week I cut out the blocks and sewed strips log cabin style around them. Now I'm ready for sashing and whatever I want to do with the borders. It will work up quick.


3) "Ray of Sunshine" quilt -- This was originally a quilt intended for someone else. It's kind of a large baby quilt. The colors weren't right for the original recipient (my decision), so I've substituted another quilt. This was from a pattern in Quiltmaker, I think, that I wanted to get some of my quilt club members to use for a charity quilt pattern. It uses 2 1/2 " strips and would be perfect for a jelly roll quilt, even though the pattern was written before they introduced jelly rolls.

4) We're having a basket raffle in November at my work. Each of our 5 departments will make up a themed basket. I thought I'd get another Christmas panel and make some placemats or a table runner to put in. They should work up quick.

That's a pretty big list. I haven't even mentioned the piles of WIP's and tops waiting for quilting. It took a lot of work, but I'm pretty pleased with this list. I've had a pretty productive week for a person with limited free time. But my DH has been patient with my burst of creativity. Well, I guess I better get back to the laundry, etc. Got to get ready for Monday.