How to eat an Elephant .....

One bite at a time!  That is such an old joke but appropriate for this post.  Remember this BOM pattern that I won from Paula the Quilter?

I decided to make my own BOM.  I am happy to report that I am totally on schedule with this one!  I have finished the September through December rows.

 

September

October

November

December

I am using all Thimbleberries fabrics.  Lord knows, I have plenty of them.  The original pattern had much more detailed trees that were made with templates.  Honestly, I was just too lazy to do that.  In honor of Lynette Jensen (Mrs. Thimbleberries herself) and her love of the Flying Geese block, I decided to make simple Flying Geese trees instead.  If you have ever made Thimbleberries patterns, you know how much Lynette loves to use those in her design!

The Santa row is a little hard to see right now without any detail.  That will be added later.

I have 5 more rows, then sashing and borders.......another little diversion from the pattern.

Blessings, Cathi

Merry Christmas From Our House to Yours.....

Blessings, Cathi

Rowing With One Oar.....

That's how I feel quilting right now!  Some how, one of my Machinger Gloves went missing a few months ago.  

 I'm pretty sure it's one of the boys........probably this one.

He has this thing for dirty socks.  I'm pretty sure that my missing Machinger is with all the missing socks. 

So the HoHoHo quilt is on hold for a few days.  I tried quilting with just one glove but it was like rowing a boat with one oar.  I felt like I was going in circles!  No, circles was NOT the quilt pattern I wanted to use on this quilt.  The other quilts I have finished lately were just straight cross-hatching but I wanted to try my hand at meandering on this one.

On the plus side, I sent a detailed Christmas list to the kids.  TurfBoy lives 2 miles from one of my favorite quilt shops in Central, SC.  I even called them to make sure they had what I wanted before I sent him a list.

So maybe Christmas afternoon, after the paper is thrown away and the dishes are loaded in the dishwasher and the obligatory afternoon nap (!), I can start quilting on HoHoHo.

Blessings, Cathi

December Charming Girls .....

I finished the first of two challenges for this month.  Here is the baby quilt that is going to Dear Hubby's cousin.  All quilted, washed and fluffy for baby Gabe.

I still have a week to get the HoHoHo quilted.  Maybe I can do it!

Blessings, Cathi

3 Little Sno'heads All In A Row.....

I made this Buttermilk Basin stitchery several years ago but never did anything with it.  They have just been hanging around my "current projects" box.  How current is a current project anyway? LOL  This week I finally made a wallhanging out of it!

Blessings, Cathi

Long Distance Friends .....

I finished this cute little stitchery in time to send off to it's new owner for Christmas.  She reads my blog sporatically so fingers crossed she doesn't figure it out before she opens it.

It's a pattern by JAM (Jo Ann Mullaly) .  I first saw the pattern on Darlene's blog and just had to have it.  Of course, I changed a few things.  The original had just used one color.  I suppose to give the maker a chance to use their imagination.  I added the cross-hatching and french knots to the dresses to give them a little more character.

I hope she likes it!

Blessings, Cathi

I love my mailman.....

Really I love my bloggy friends.  They are such warm, generous people.  And here is a picture to prove it.....

The pillow in the back right is a pillow cover from Mary at Quilt Hollow.  It's a Christmas toile with some coordinating fabric.  I didn't know they made a Christmas toile. I just love it!  Mary also sent a packet of cinnamon spice tea but I can't show a picture of it because I brewed and drank it within an hour of getting it!

Carrie at A Passion for Applique sent a cute appliqued (of course) snowman ornament that is on the left laying on a Christmasy fat quarter that came in the packet also.  Thank you, Carrie!

And the biggest surprise came today......a wonderful 36-patch (is there such a thing?) from Darlene at Quilting Daze made of Civil War fabrics.  It was such a surprise because I didn't know that she knew my snail mail address.  What a sweety she is.  I know exactly where it will go once the Christmas decorations come down.

Bloggers surely are special people.

On a sad note, Teresa at Stitchin' Friends lost her dear mother this afternoon.  She had temporarily stopped blogging back in November to spend more time with her mom.  Anyone that knows Teresa personally will agree with me that she is the most giving, generous, unselfish person around.

Blessings, Cathi

Charming Girls December Challenge.....

First, I want to say a BIG Thank you for all the prayers and words of encouragement since my big announcement on Monday.  I personally think I have held up pretty well.  With the exception of Wednesday, but that wasn't my fault.  It was cold and miserable and rainy and I just didn't want to do anything so I'm blaming Mother Nature!

Since I seem to have so much time on my hands these days, I am jumping back on the Charming Girls Challenge wagon.  I somehow missed last month.

This month, I want to quilt this cute little baby quilt.  It is going to my husband's favorite cousin.  She just had her first baby at age 37 in October and he is a cutie!  I need to have this finished before we go to the in-laws at Christmas.

And just for kicks and giggles, I am going to throw in the HoHoHo quilt that is STILL not quilted.  I'm not promising that it will be done before Christmas but I really would like to have it finished before I put the Christmas decorations away the first week of January.

 

 

I'm sure you guys are tired of seeing this picture.  Next time I post it, it will be quilted!

Blessings, Cathi