Santa Sampler

Debbie Mumm pattern - 25"x 30" Made in 1993.

This Santa Sampler was one of those quick wall hangings made with fusible and very little machine quilting to hold it together. If it were hanging all the time I would have to do more stitching on it but since it hangs on the wall only about a month each year it is OK the way it is.

Are you catching a theme here? I love Santa's! I have Santa tree ornaments, figurines, fabric Santas, etc. Over the years I have collected quite a few and friends and family have given me more and more. Don't know where to put them all. Thank goodness we have a long mantel over the fireplace as that is where the majority of them get displayed.

Almost a week has gone by since I posted. Guess time has a way of doing that when you are busy.

We did get some of our Christmas shopping done last week while we were in Kearney for a convention and plan to finish this week if possible. I had a brilliant idea while shopping last week to make each of my girls/husbands and grand kids an apron for Christmas. I purchased fabric for 5 of the 8 I need to make and got 4 stitched up yesterday.

It has been fun to make the little aprons for the grand kids and to pick out the fabrics to suit everyones likes. So far the fabrics have chickens, horses, butterflies, sports balls, and Nebraska Cornhusker themes on the fabric. Need to find John Deer fabric for one of my son in laws yet, something wild and bright looking for one daughter and something a 3 yr old boy might like yet.

They go together pretty fast as I am making them one layer and turning the edges under like the one I showed before.

The Christmas party we hosted for my club on Sunday night turned out fun. It is always nice to get together with friends. Everyone brought their husbands along so the guys had a chance to visit too.

The best part about having a Christmas party at our house so early in December is that it forces me to get all my decorating done early. We can have more time to see and enjoy the decorations that are only out once a year. If it weren't for the party I would be decorating for several weeks only to have to put them away shortly afterwards.

The worst part about having a party at my house is the cleaning! I spent several days cleaning the house for company last week. My house doesn't look bad but I always feel I have to put extra effort into cleaning and putting the extra clutter away if I know I am having guests and that takes time. Feels nice now that it is all done but it is work and the older I get the longer it takes me.

We got just a few flurries of snow last night but the wind is blowing awfully hard today. Started around midnight and has kept it up. There is a prediction of some snow today but sure hope that the weather man/woman is wrong! I don't like snow with strong winds as we know it makes piles and piles of snow in places we don't want it. It can close roads, drifts into the yard and cow lots. I usually deal with the sidewalks when John is dealing with all the rest of the snow in the driveway and yards so I get more of a physical workout than he does in the tractor. He does get his share of scooping around the other barns and shops though. Thought our long sidewalk was wonderful when we put it in but not so much when I have to scoop the whole thing. Maybe we will be lucky and not get any or much - keep your fingers crossed!

Lynn

North Woods Noel

North Woods Noel ................ 11 1/2" x 12"

Here is another of the Santa wall hangings that I hang each December. I purchased this quilt at the 2001 miniature quilt auction our local quilt guild held. It was made by a member of my quilt guild and I was lucky enough to have the highest bid so it came home to live with me.

I love the branch she used as a hanger and so far have not broken any of it off in storage over the years since I purchased it. P.S. fused the design onto the background then did the buttonhole stitch around the different pieces. She does such nice hand quilting and this piece is no exception. Not that many people do hand quilting anymore so it is a treat to have a piece done by hand.

Lynn

Santa I & Santa II Wallhangings

Santa I............12" x 15"............Santa II

I made these simple wall hangings in 1993. They are both fused onto the background fabric. The red and green one (Santa I) has hand worked buttonhole stitch around the different pieces. The blue (Santa II) is just marked with fake stitches done with a Pigma Pen.

The year I made these I taught a quick mini workshop at our guild on how to use the fusible to do quick quilts. Not everyone at that time was aware of the products to use and how to do it. Was a simple workshop and everyone took home a Santa to work into quilt of some kind. I made several of these and gave all but two away.

The checked border on Santa I is pieced 1/2" squares. I hand quilted this wall hanging. Santa II is machine quilted.

I am still trying to find places to put all my Christmas decorations. I have way too many. Some I have purchased but a lot were gifts or came from my parents or in-laws decorations that were divided up between all the kids.

It is supposed to be up in the 50s today so hope to get the outside lights and decorations up today too. Missed a nice day last week and didn't want to do it in the extreme cold and windy weather we have had since.

Lynn

Kaleidoscope Christmas

This Christmas quilt was made in 1992 and I use it mostly as a table topper but do have the sleeves attached in case I want to hang it on a wall. I started it in a class taught by Brenda Groelz many years ago at our guild. We were to purchase 7 pillow panels, stacked 6 of the panels then cut them in the kaleidoscope design then sewed the 6 sections that were alike back together. Very similar to the stack and whack patterns of today. The center block is the 7th uncut panel.

Point to point measurement is 36"

The small borders around each block came from the original pillow panel fabric as did the light colored holly outside border. I machine quilted this piece and have used it somewhere in my home at Christmas time since then.

Two friends and I went to a tour of homes yesterday that the my daughter's church sponsored. The tour included only 3 homes, but wow, what homes they were.

One was right along the Platte river with views of the river from several rooms in the house. One house was built near a lake and the other just behind it. All three large homes were decorated for Christmas and were absolutely beautiful. Not one of the homes had a sewing room though. Our opinion was we would have taken over the balcony in the really large home on the river for our sewing studio as it had a nice view of the river and was very light and cheery and we would have found a nice room in each of the other homes for a sewing space too. It is hard to imagine not having a sewing space in your home as it is a necessity for us. They all had the steam rooms, hot tubs, multiple bathrooms and many TVs but no dedicated sewing rooms that we could see anyway - so sad.

We all agreed the homes were lovely but we would have to definitely make some changes if we lived in any of them.

Was a nice afternoon spent with friends topped off with a quick trip to JoAnns and Dairy Queen for a Blizzard for the trip home.

Lynn