Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you all!  My time of rest and recuperation from hip surgery is coming to a close - back to work Wednesday, January 5 - ugh!  I just thought I'd leave you with some pics of my son's cat, Lacey.  She has adopted our bed as her own lately.  It's a waterbed and nice and warm.  What a life!

See you next year!

Some Christmas day pics...

My favorite Christmas gift ever is not available yet to post about but I hope soon.  In the meantime, these are some captured moments from the day:

Tara and Ezra

Uncle Brendan and Ezra

Our growing little family!

So thankful for a wee baby...

... that because of Him, the world, if they so choose, may go to Heaven for eternity, instead of to Hell.  So thankful that my family and loved ones have been given the opportunity, all because of His never-ending grace and unfailing goodness.   Merry Christmas!

Getting there, but will I make it for Christmas?

My sister seems to think, no sweat because I'm "not working" right now.  But she doesn't realize how busy you can be when you're "not working."   This quilt is for someone special who I don't think reads my blog, but one never knows.  I still have to cut and attach two borders.  My seams are not matching very well, either!  Very frustrating!  The pattern is from "Freckled Whimsey" which I will attach the link for later.  I'm still lame when it comes to knowing how to operate this posting/linking business.

Have a good weekend!  

I'm back to finish my last post...

                    My six-week-old grandson at the party!  He looks pretty bored, but awfully cute, right?

I ran out of time earlier today to show you what I wanted to show you - (and thanks, QDO, for your nice comment about my family!  I love your comments, and your blog!)  Anyway, every year we do a Yankee Swap where you bring a gift to the party, pick a number when you get to the party, and then take turns selecting a gift from under the tree in the order of the numbers, 1 through however many people bring a gift, and you can swap your gift for somebody else's if you like theirs better.  Everyone is always a good sport about it, and we put a limit on what you should spend on the gift, like $20.
So this year when we were planning the party and saying what we would volunteer to bring for food, my husband jokingly said that I would bring a quilt (because he comments frequently that that's all I do these days, is quilt - guess what?  He's right!)  So I took his comment to heart and ran with it - or should I say sewed with it!  I had a bunch of blocks already from the Fat Quarterly quilt-a-long, so I sewed them all together,  put on a border, quilted it, bound it, and wrapped it up for the swap.  And I used mostly all scraps and a sheet I scored at Target for $2.88!  So it really did only cost me about $20 if you don't count the money I spent on the intial purchase of fabric, which I could never recalculate anyway.  Well, my darling niece took home the quilt!  First my nephew and his wife chose it and unwrapped it.  I'm not sure if they liked it or not - very hard to read!  But my niece I KNOW loved it.  She "swapped" it with them and they couldn't say no!  So they got her gift, which was some pretty glass decorations.
My niece knows what goes into the making of a quilt, so I know she appreciates it and will cherish it.  So here's some pics now that I've probably bored you to death, those of you who even bothered to read all that :-)

The backing and border on front is a $2.88 buttery yellow twin sheet from Target.

The fabrics are assorted, as you can see, and I couldn't even begin to name them all.  (I need to get better at that).

And a few more pics of a mug rug I made for my darling sister, Mary Ann!  She took great care of me during my hip surgery recovery.  We go to a very laid-back quilting class once a week and we learned (or she learned and I screwed up) paper piecing.  Mine was a mess because I just couldn't grasp it, and she loved it and helped me with mine.  So I made her this little mug rug in thanks, plus I love her dearly and don't tell her that often enough!

Gnome and paper-pieced pumpkin by sis!

Back - love this fabric, but, again, not sure what it is!  Ugh!  My apologies to the designers!

Well, have a great week, my bloggy friends!

Smorgasborg of pics

My family's Christmas party yesterday - not all are present, but most are.  I've never shown a picture of myself on my blog before, I don't think, so I'm the one in the second row with the light blue sweater and glasses.  My husband is the one the back getting a kiss from my nephew.  My daughter and grandson and son-in-law are to my right.  My son is in the back row showing his teeth in a big smile!  Sister behind me, sister to my left, sister in the front with the red and black.  Brother way in the back on the top left with is wife in red plaid, and another brother way over on the right with a white t-shirt and glasses.  Then lots of nieces, nephews, sisters-in-law.  We had great fun - did a yankee swap which I made a quilt for that I'll tell you all about later.  Gotta run and get ready for church!  My, how time flies!!!  Be back later!  Have a wonderful Sunday!

Pin basting - ouch, ouch, ouch!

Thank God for the beautiful, warm sunshine today!  We're at 25 degrees now at 11:35 a.m. 

 I love how the sun is streaming in the front windows onto the quilt. 

I'm so glad to be home and able to sew .  I feel badly for those of you who have to work.  My hip surgery was October 18, a little over seven weeks ago, and I was able to get down on the floor and pin baste my Fat Quarterly quilt-a-long quilt.  (Can't say where it's going yet - I don't even know!)  I'm scheduled to go back to work January 3 :-(  but I'm thankful I have a job so I can't complain.  Now off to take the dog for a walk, something else I haven't been able to do in weeks, and then peeling the quilt off the floor and to the sewing machine to quilt, quilt, quilt!  Wish me luck!  I've only done maybe two other quilts, a doll quilt, and a couple of minis.  My fingers are sore from all the pins I used.

Till you come tarry with me again, blessings to you all!

Some WIPS

These are coasters that will be a "housewarming" gift for the host and hostess of a Christmas party we're going to next weekend - I hope they like them!  I used a pattern from Malka Dubrawsky's new book, "Fresh Quilting."  Lots of projects in there that I just love!  She's giving away her book so you should try to find her and take a chance.  She's full of inspiration and encouragement, and she makes her own fabric which is gorgeous!
Next is a flannel quilt for my son for Christmas (shhh!) .  Pattern is from Freckled Whimsy.

And the bottom WIP in the first pic is a quilt top that I'm putting together just for fun.  I've had the blocks done for a while.  I was doing a quilt-a-long somewhere along the way but priorities got in the way, so I'm just getting it together now.  

I hope you are having a productive Monday!  

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY :-)