Happy New Year

To all of my dear friends in blogland (and close at hand also) I wish a happy and healthy 2010! To those of you in the New Year already, hope you had a good Eve! For the rest of us, have a safe and fun New Year's Eve.....see you next year for lots of quilty and crafty ideas to share and have fun with!

Virtual Sew-In

Heidi is having a Sew In over at her blog on Friday, January 15th. A good time to work on those UFO's and to get motivated for 2010! Fun times in the winter!

Kids and Sewing

My granddaughter, Mia, loves to sew and was treated to a 3 day school from Grandma (me) this week at our local quilt shop, Little Red Quilt House. It ran for 3 hours each day....just enough time to enjoy sewing before you get "antsy"! She is starting to work on her tote bag in the above picture and the picture below is what she finished first, Maggie by Lazy Girl Designs.

Here is Mia running her bias tape straps through the top casing. First time she has put anything through a casing with a safety pin....got a little frustrated at the seams...don't we all!

I love it Grandma!

This group of girls was a lot of fun....Mia has taken classes with the 2 girls on either side of her before, but the other two, sisters, were new to her and they all became fast friends. Our future quilters/sewers....how wonderful!

More classes planned for times they are off school.....it will help the winter blahs!!

Don't you just love the big, fluffy slippers?

A Great Christmas

We had a really great Christmas at dd Laura's house. Picture above is 7 of our 9 grandkids with Grandma and Grandpa. The other 2 boys live in OKC and it wasn't our year for them to be with us at Christmas. Everyone is getting so big....even little Oliver! We had a great meal that was supposed to include turkey and ham. Well, they thought the refrigerator was defrosting the "bird" for a week, but when sil took it out, it was still VERY much frozen. So today we are going back to enjoy that same "bird" which will be deep fried!! Yummo!
Below are pictures of daughters with their crocheted dishcloths from me! I have quite a few of those.....I was on a roll the last few months!

Notice Ralphie's mom on the TV in background.....love that movie!

Merry Christmas

My first year of blogging has been an amazing ride. I have learned so much and acquired so many ideas from so many of you near and far. I consider myself friends with people from all over the world.
I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas. In Australia it is after 8:00 A.M. on Christmas and you are celebrating already....especially if you have young children!
I hope everyone has a fun day whether you are alone and sewing and watching old movies or you are with lots of family....a Blessed day to all.
Peace and Hugs, Sandy

ps. I finished this table topper1/2 hour ago from Julie's great tutorial....so easy and some of the family will get theirs AFTER Christmas! ;o)

Friends

Every year at Christmas time 10 of us from the "old neighborhood" get together for a dinner out and a lot of talking and catching up. (4 of us still live in that neighborhood) This year it was decided to go to Cheryl and Bill's for dinner in....bring a dish to share and lots of other goodies provided by them. First let me introduce their dog, Hana, a wire-haired dachshund. She is the sweetest 12 lbs of fur and cuteness. Having an animal or small child around can keep conversation going for hours!

They have a beautiful home complete with 7 decorated trees. Here are 4 of them in rooms that I felt comfortable "sneeking" into. The pictures don't show how pretty the lights are....wish there was a way to capture that. Maybe a better camera??

Wrapping presents, sewing and going to see Trans Siberian Orchestra this evening are on the agenda for today. More on the concert, which is a gift from our son and his family, in another post.

Love Delivered

I was asked by Tudy, the mother of Terry, to help deliver the first finished quilt to her from the generosity of wonderful quilters in blogland. This great endeavor was organized by Laurie and we thank her very much. It looked like this when the box was opened.

Emily, her daughter, was right there by Mom's side. This is the embroidered label on the back of the quilt.

What a wonderful quilt this is.....gorgeous blocks and equally gorgeous quilting. Terry with her husband, John.

This is the extent of my tree this year. It is only about 4 feet tall and I have it on a small stool. I really love it and have a few of my favorite ornaments decorating it. Wish the light showed up better....they are soft and pretty!

Done and Hanging

I finished quilting and binding my Gail Pan Designs free Christmas BOM for 2009 and it is now hanging in my upstairs hall. This was so much fun and now I finally have a Christmas wallhanging completed.

Decorating.....

I read somewhere recently (blogs are starting to run together in my head) about taking bunches of the same kind of decoration/ornament and putting them in Christmas containers or any pretty container for that matter. Freebie decorations from items in your home already....here is my version. I think Santa looks even jollier now!

My nativity and "Inn"......

This nativity is very special to me. My FIL made ceramics for years. He was very good in art and free hand drawing. I had had nativity sets before, but mostly made of plastic and our dogs "chewed" quite a few of the characters! The Christmas I received this set I was blown away. I had no idea he was doing this for the months before and was totally surprised and overcome! I treasure the many things from him that I use and decorate with. I hope he looks down sometimes and is pleased!

And this is my "Barney" tree. It sits on my kitchen table with all of my beagle ornaments on it. After I took this picture I saw that Barney's photo is on the bulletin board right behind it....couldn't have planned that better if I had tried!

Decorating with my Win

I am finally able to decorate with the wonderful win I got from Jodi when she did her Moda Bake Shop tutorial back in July. I won the pillow and tablerunner....I love both.