Christmas cookies...

Thought you might like to see what my kitchen and dining room looked like at 8pm tonight. I was supposed to do this baking today while MY HONEY was at work but I didn't have any brown sugar and MY HONEY was going to the store after work. So after supper we started. The first pic is the sugar cookies. MY HONEY is learning how to roll to help me out. He did a great job (maybe I can convince him to do the whole thing next year, HA!)

Next we have the tin of gingerbread men. I did make those this afternoon because the dough was already made and in the fridge. I will bring all the cookies to my daughter's house for Christmas eve and my children along with the nieces and nephews will decorate them. They love to do this every year and will not let me forget it.

The last pic is the dining room table with some Chocolate Pecan Clusters (OH, so Good!) and some of the sugar cookies cooling. I already have the chocolate chip cookies boxed up in the tins you see there on the table.

Not really what I expected to do this evening. I thought I would be all done by now but that is the way it is. You gotta roll with the punches. At least now all the baking is just about done. Tomorrow I will mix up a double batch of icing and color it to bring with the cookies and make some fudge, easy. I'm ready for Christmas! How about you?

BTW, the little quilt you see kinda folded up on the table was made for me last year by my very best friend and I love it just as much now as I did then. Doesn't it look great? Thank you, friend.
Til we meet again,
Terry

My Beautiful Beast

I must confess....I slept with The Beast last night. We sure were warm under it's bounty of color and pattern. After chores today it's on to the Batik quilt, cutting and cutting and more cutting.

'Til We Meet Again,
Vanessa

Batiks & The UL Quilt

I found the sashing for Wil's grad quilt. It is a black batik, but looks more blackish-blue. I pointed it out to the lady @ the quilt shop and she said that it was black. I don't know if you can see if from the picture posted. I was more than happy with it as I thought plain black would be boring. This one will be perfect because the quilt is blue & gold. I tried out some browns like I had talked to you about, but they seemed a little too muddy (no pun intended).

You can see that I found some fabric for the inset triangles on the UL quilt. I loved it on the bolt and really love it with the finished squares. I can't wait to work on it, but will probably save it away so I will have something to sew when I got to SBI meetings.

Pinned the Beast!

Yes, I pinned 'The Beast'! Single-handed, too. Laying on my stomach, curled up and squatting on the floor. The backing is the size of a king size flat sheet, with no trimming required. This bugger is BIG! My back is reminding me of the battle! I won and hopefully can get this sucka quilted over the weekend.

Details, Baby!

Here is a picture of the meandering detail you asked about. As you can see close-up that I was a little confused sometimes as to what direction to turn. It is very easy and I think that with more practice it is something I can use often.

I also posted a picture of some fat quarters. Remember the stack that I bought from the fabric sale @ SBI? I bought a small bundle (the ones stacked last) yesterday. I couldn't resist! All I need is a pattern to use them. I think I will use a pattern from one of Alex Anderson's books. I am watching one of her books on Ebay right now. I want something quick and easy--the story of my life!

'Til We Meet Again!
Vanessa

Guess what....again?

Another stack of quilts are done. There were only 3 to do this time and that completes this batch. I did a different kind of meander on one of the Halloween quilts. It isn't original and I'm sure I've seen it somewhere before. I was nervous to start but hopefully this is something I can use again.

'Til We Meet Again,
Vanessa

Guess What?

I'm finished with another stack of customer quilts. I have 4 or so more to work on but that will have to wait until next week, or maybe even after Christmas. Most of them were meander stitched except for two. I posted a picture of one that I quilted holly leaves and berries on. It was so much more exciting than just meandering around the quilt. One of the quilts I used straight line stitching (the blue and white checkered). I did it for so long that my wrists are sore and it feels like I bruised the insides of my upper arms that are along my side. I think it happened because I was holding my arms so tightly against the quilt and moving them back and forth. Who knew that quilting was such a dangerous hobby to our health?

'Til we meet again,
Vanessa

Finally!

I finished a stack of customer quilts. You would swear they were huge quilts, but the biggest one was 40-ish" x 50-ish". Mrs. I called me tonight to ask if she could bring a stack (7 to be exact) by tomorrow. I am glad I am all caught up with the last batch. These new quilts will keep me from quilting my bed quilt but I am not sad about that. The sucker is huge and I'm not in the mood for such a big project.

I've been thinking about the Symphony Challenge and my uncle's quilt when I can't sleep. I don't have many new ideas so I think I will wash the Batiks I bought for Wil's quilt and get that cut when I get a chance. I feel like I have a few too many irons in the fire but I like the push it gives me.

I wish I had more to show and I hope it's not long before I have something more exciting to tell.

"Til we meet again,
Vanessa