A Rare December Occurrence

Thursday - December 8

 3 warm days and the pink Sasanqua is in full bloom!

Sunday December 9

Cloaked in a 5 inch blanket

Monday December 10

Hard to tell but after a couple of inches of rain yesterday afternoon,

we are getting a wintery mix - snows for a few minutes then sleety stuff!

So rare to even have snow in December but this is the first time I can remember since I've lived here to have frozen precipitation.  

I'm ready for it to stop - even tho I love those postcard pictures of the snow.

I didn't even venture off the porch yesterday.

A nice cushion for the deck chair.

So pretty and puffy!

Not a lot of sewing going on around here - sharing my sewing room with my grand - dog Luther

and the rest of the house with Kathy and Jesse until their house is completed at the end of the month.

It's so nice having someone in the house to share in the Holiday Preparation and Fun.

Luther's favorite pose - Can I have some of whatever it is you're eating or fixing to eat?

Kathy and Jesse put together a Moravian Star that Kathy had given me years ago.

This is the Block of the month for December at Pine Tree.

Another Mystery Block

Well - 

A whole box of 2.5" half square triangles.  I do have a project in mind for them but this isn't it.  

I sorted out those that I felt wouldn't work in the future project to use here.

 I plan to use it as a veteran's quilt.

I saw a version of this while cruising around pinterest one day -   

I originally thought I would use 3.5" triangles but decided they would be too big.

The blocks are 8 inches square.   

Taking a break from my paper pieced project but will get back to it as soon as I take the paper off the backs of my segments.

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Celebrating Em's 20th! 

All the family that could make it met at Tuscan Blu at the depot in Raleigh.

Ben was trying to get the trees outside  - it was pretty cool sitting up next to the windows.  And I mean it was cold outside that night.

We went to the chocolate shop around the corner after dinner and dessert. 

 Shane treated us to yummy ($$$) chocolate bars.

Sew Day with Molly

Molly came over for a sew day before she heads back to RPI in NYS.  

Her time for sewing while at school is limited but she loves the creative aspect of it.

We decided to just jump in and pull out one of my UFO's and sew.

We threw the blocks on the wall and started from there.

Oh my - we need the lint brush before lunch out at Agave and a short trip to Ladybug Quilt shop in town.

We took turns choosing and cutting while the other sewed and trimmed.

This is where we ended and went to dinner with Tracey and Paul in Raleigh.  Maybe I'll make a few more blocks and make it big enough for a donation quilt - hmm?

Made four more blocks and I hope to get this sewed together when I sew with C & S.

All 25 Blocks Finished

I finished sewing the 100 blocks for this quilt about 3:30PM.

Actually I sewed them in sets of four and sewed them into 18" blocks. 

I laid them out in five rows.

I even had time to sew them together in one direction.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll finish this top.  I can't wait to see how it will look.

My daughter just sent me this picture she took on Christmas afternoon.

She had received a new camera and this was one of her first shots.

Christmas Sewing - 600 Nine Patches Needed!

The idea - I can use up lots of the orphan nine patches that have been amassing over the years with this block.

I like it better this way.

Four blocks  - even better.

A large bin of nine patches already made!

Only problem - many of them need to be repressed to sew together  - so each day I sort out, spritz with a little water and re - press a few.  I also have to make more nine patches as I didn't have 600!

I decided to go with  only red half square triangles. 

 All these blue quilts I've just finished has me in need of RED.

The blocks are so easy to make one all the components are ready.

And I love the effect when four are set together.

Going to try for a 90 x 90" top as a 72 x 90 seems skimpy to me.

Hurrah lots of red sewing ahead.

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Ben sent me this family photo he took while we were in the mountains in November.

Very cold weather for us this December - so I'm just going to enjoy my tree for awhile longer while I have a second cup of coffee and wait for John's brother and his wife to arrive

 from Connecticut.  They are headed to Pawley's Island for a few months.

For 2018, 

I wish you the enjoyment of friends and family, good health and lots of productive sewing.

Happy New Year!

Sewing Backs Again

I am trying to get organized again.  I had several quilt tops that were hanging behind the sewing room door or in closets so................................. time to hunt for fabrics for backs.  I'm trying to use pieces that I already have of course!

The blue moon fabric is a piece that I have been hoarding for years and fortunately I had six yards so it was enough to give me two lengths for this big top - it's 96 x 96".  

I used some leftover blocks to enlarge the back width wise.

I think I have started calling this top Ziggy Double Four Patch.

This is a portion of the top  - it is way to big to put on any design surface I had.

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Two of my sisters and myself had a great time last week meeting up with cousins on my Mother's side of the family and their children and grandchildren in upstate New York.

My cousin had this picture of herself (Patty), her brother (Dougie) and me.  Taken at our Grandmother Krom's house in the early 1950's.

I think Grandmother was planning to take us to pick berries. Where was my hat???

Fast forward 65 years - here we are after breakfast at the diner in Ovid NY before we departed  for our respective homes.

Doug, Pat, Barb, Janet and Patty.

Heading out tonight to our Community Thanksgiving Music Service hosted by St. Eugene's.  Our choir will be singing so I'll pick up a couple of friends on the way.  

Have a great evening and give thanks.

A Nice Surprise

Al, Howard, Joyce & John

We had a nice surprise this week.  Half of the children in John's family were together for a visit.
Howard & his wife had been in Myrtle Beach for the Golf Tournament last week and planned to spend a few days here this week.

Joyce's daughter, who lives in CA, has tickets to the DNC convention on Wed & Thurs.  So she picked up her Mom in Chicago and brought her along to visit while she is in Charlotte.

Sunday we had an impromptu party at Tracey's with all the cousins who could make it.
We took Joyce back to the lake with us and have been having lots of fun catching up.


Meredith & Tracey

We have lots of things planned all week.  Movie night, game night, etc. Today, was a perfect day for a ride on the lake. 

Tomorrow Joyce and I will make casseroles for the church festival on Saturday and then we will have Game night in the evening.  Catan anyone?

Family Time

This afternoon the girls and I went to see the Rockettes in Durham.  It was a great show!  There was a wonderful Nativity Number to end the show with live animals (and we're talking CAMELS here!)  They had snow machines set up outside even with the temperature in the 60's.  Fun.

Kathy, Shelly, Emily and Marcia



If you look real close, you can see some of the snowflakes!  We went to Pei Wei afterwards.  John, Jesse and Daniel went to the Hurricane game against the Maple Leafs.  Hurricanes won!  So all in all we had a fun, busy weekend.

Hope to fit some sewing in amongst the cooking and shopping this week.

Family Time

Molly and Daniel graduated from their respective high schools Friday evening.  Saturday they held a pool party at Aunt Shelly's.

Daniel will be attending Wake Tech for the coming year .

Molly will be going to NCSU.  She was awarded a scholarship to the School of Textiles .

As for the other grand kids -  Hannah's home from Drexel for the summer, Shane is on a six week internship in Minnesota, Evan is off for a month at Camp Don Lee where he will be in the Leadership Training Program and Emily is looking forward to going to the lake with Papa and GPat this summer.
The west coast boys still have another week of school but are ready for summer to begin.

The Best things in Life are Free

When I woke this morning at 2AM, I thought it was dawn the moonlight was so bright, shining down through the branches of a large oak tree. The first thing I wanted to do was capture a picture of it but I knew You were looking at that same captivating moon. When I went back to bed (pretty much awake now as my batteries had been partially recharged.)

I remembered walking home from the movies on a summer evening in the 40's with my older sister and brother. The moon was full that night - we had just seen the movie with June Allyson (I think) singing "The moon belongs to everyone, the best things in life are free. The stars belong to everyone they gleam there for you and me. The flowers in spring, the robins that sing. The sunbeams that shine, they're yours, they're mine and Love can come to anyone, the best things in life are free!"

As I looked again at that big oak tree with the moon shining through the spreading branches I thought of a family tree. So whether we are in Altamont, Arkport, Lake Gaston, or Oxford, Sarasota,or Audobon, we are connected by our memories, as well as our ancestors. And we,along with all our children and grandchildren, represented by the branches, are looking up at that same moon created by God, along with the stars, the sun and His Son. Created for you and for me.

Yes, The Best Things in Life are Free!