{Post 1,455} New Picture

If you can't take all these words, there is a pictorial review at the end.

This is sad.  In 4 days it will be a month since I posted.  I had to go back to see what I did share before starting this very long and very overdue post.  

Here's the thing.  My blog page is my "home page" for my browser.  Sure was tired of seeing Katie's quilt on there.  Let's see...my last few posts were spaced far apart.  They were 11/29--new nativity set-up, 12/3--bedroom/sewing room switch, and then 12/15--Katie's quilt.

I had a doctor check up for lab work yesterday.  She asked what was new since I saw her last.  Let's see, attended a birth as a birth assistant which was an all-nighter then catered a breakfast for 120 the next AM, my eldest son married, we kept 8 people in our house during wedding week, I altered all the bridesmaids dresses and baked the wedding cake and 200 cupcakes for that, had early Thanksgiving feast (which I prepared all of the food) for 22 twice that week, real Thanksgiving, gave away a large quilt, drove 10 hours to share a meal with extended family at Benihana's for my MIL's birthday, picked up my 21-month-old grandson to keep for a couple weeks so his mom could rest up so she could give birth Christmas Eve then recuperate without him under foot, my live-in daughter had hand surgery (so I helped watch her son and took care of her), chased older grandson around for a couple weeks, Christmas, cooked and hosted for a lunch for 25 then a fellowship for 50 in my house, New Year's Eve and day, several trips to SC/GA, and here we are!

Here's the past month in pictures...

(At James's wedding):

Family pictures the day before the wedding:

(Adopted "granddaughter" whose birth I assisted at)

New bedroom set-up:

This year's children's ornaments...paper pieced:

My dear friend, Susan, receiving her quilt (we had gone out for lunch, and I surprised her with the quilt, so I gave it to her in the parking lot...classy, classy):

Dinner in Atlanta with a smackerel of the crew:

(My newest granddaughter, held by HER great-great-grandfather who is 96):

(Me and Wes in Hawaii...just kidding):

(And this was yesterday...me making my live-in 6-month-old grandson laugh hysterically):

Today I sew.  Yes.  I sew.  The last thing I sewed was the ornaments shown above.  I made 6 of them.  The little buggers were more time-consuming than they appeared.  There is a local group called the 2nd Saturday Sewers.  My children are at church at a weekend retreat, so it works out perfectly for me to go sew 9:30 to 4:00 then pick them up.  I am looking forward to finishing a quilt top for my new bedroom.  Just determined last night how to finish the piecing.  It's an oldie, but a goody.

{Post 1,454} New Granddaughter Quilt

 

  

This is my soon-to-be-born granddaughter's quilt.  It is backed with Minky which was brought to the front.  The only "quilting" is the seam on the front where the Minky and the quilt top meet.  

On a recent trip to GA, my daughter picked out all the fabrics.  I made up the pattern.  Wonky stars?  Whodathunkit?

Just talked to my daughter, and Katie's birth is very, very soon.

This measures about 48" square. 

{Post 1,452} The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

I just now realized this post didn't make it to Blogger.  I don't know why.  It should have been posted about 5 hours ago.  So these are out of order.  Just pay attention to the post numbers.

Before:

{Post 1,453} Five Hours In

Five hours later...I have taken a couple very short breaks so I didn't burn out.  I'm quitting for the day now.  Here are a few shots of the transformation so far:

From the closets before:

After:

Where my quilting machine is going to live:

From the door to the room before:

After:

Most of the "mess" along the wall over by my green-curtained cutting table is quilts or quilt tops.  Just need to fold them and put them away.  

Whew--I feel like I accomplished a lot today.  Still lots more to do.

Anyone want a package of very small bits of Thimbleberries?  

{Post #1,451} My Generous Husband

Never saw this coming.  In fact, it was the farthest idea from my mind.  Yesterday I wanted to rearrange my office/craft room.  Half my stuff was in my bedroom, half was in the office, and I don't know where the other half was stored.  Mathematically that is impossible, but it does touch on the scope of my frustration!

I asked my husband for input on rearranging the furniture/goods in my office to make better use of the space.  Then I mentioned that I'd like to move my cutting table and pressing station in there.  He said, "Why not move it all into our bedroom and move our bed in here?"  It took a while to sink in.  When my son used the office as his bedroom, it seemed cramped with a twin bed and dresser in there.  Move our QUEEN size bed in with side tables?  Um, yes.  I literally shed a few tears over this idea.  My husband is the epitome of unselfishness and generosity (yes--he has both qualities to the max).

We slept in there last night.  There are many upsides to this arrangement.  We like a small bedroom.  We don't have an exercise area, lounge area, dressing area, etc. in our room.  We just need a bed and side tables.  Our noisy neighbors whose driveway is right outside our bedroom window and enjoys sharing the vroom-vroom of their Harleys and boom-boom music are no longer an issue!  It is cozy.  It is more relaxing because there is not all the quilt stuff screaming "pay some attention to me, would ya?"

Now to rearrange my former bedroom into my quilt studio.  Diving in on that as soon as I finish this post.  To pay tribute to my Susanna, I will take before and after pictures like she taught me.

Another benefit is that Wes is going to move my quilt frame and quilting machine in there after I rearrange the pressing station and sewing machine table.  All my sewing stuff in one place again!!  Whoo-hoo!!  Oh, the changes this past year have held.  Some GOOD  :)  In case you're a new reader, I packed up my former sewing space about a year ago and have been in a state of transition ever since.  I think we have finally hit on a long-term set-up.

Moving the quilting machine and frame out of our living room will give us room for my desk and cedar chest for grandchildren's toys in there...another solution.  It's all looking great!

{Post 1,450} Newly Displayed Christmas Decorations

I love the Christmas season.  This weekend is one of my favorites in a frantic, hectic, loss-of-sleep kind of way.  We usually start the process of getting all the fall decorations down and the Christmas ones up the day after Thanksgiving.  My newly-married daughter (March of this year) asked for our lighted house display.  We had 5 ceramic lighted houses.  I had always put them in our foyer, but I was kinda tired of them, to be honest.  

Wes's grandmother gave us a piece of a crystal nativity every year after we were married.  I decided to put it up in my foyer.  Just found the perfect lights for it.  Need to find another set for the bottom level, where the wise men are making their way towards the baby Jesus with their bedecked camel.  I always set them up far away from the manger (after all, it took them two years to get there!

{Post 1,449} Long Time No Type

Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers.  Our family has been a in a phase of big changes for the past few years.  Adapting is the name of the game.

This year 2 of my children married, and we have had one new baby (so far...another due in December).

I will be updating with the quiltiness going on since the wedding (11/15) at a later date.  

Just wanted to wish you all a fantastic day full of warm memories (in relationships and pies!) and thank you for being a part of my life.

To those of you in New Zealand, Australia, and the like, I love you, too.  Wish you had a Thanksgiving holiday!