Christmas Done! Back to quilting!

I love this ad featuring Joan Crawford and Whitey delivering the always perfect gift, Lucky Strike cigarettes. I found this on the back of a circa 1935 quilt pattern in an old magazine.

Colleen came in on Tuesday from Ypsilanti and Katy arrived from Chicago Wednesday night. We had a lovely Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, just the four of us. Colleen worked Christmas afternoon and Tom, Katy and I saw It's Complicated with Alex Baldwin, Meryl Streep and Steve Martin. I highly recommend it. It's nice to see romance with people my own age.

Saturday, Colleen went home to Ypsi and on Sunday Tom's family came over. I made a pork loin (brined, then dry rubbed, yum), wild rice with cranberries and pecans and roasted asparugus. After the party I drove Katy downtown to East Lansing to hook up with her old college roommates.

This afternoon Tom is going to tie up some loose ends with his Dad's estate and Katy is going shopping.
Could this be my opportunity to get in a little sewing? This year I'm determined to teach myself more free-hand machine quilting. I'll be starting on a wall hanging from a round robin with the small group the Outlaws probably five or six years ago. Colleen wants to hang it in her new apartment. So, I'll quilt the whole then free-hand, and finish another UFO.

Tomorrow, it's on to Chicago where we'll stay overnight with Katy (and possibly ice skate at Wrigley Field), then spend a night in St. Joseph having our New Year's Eve celebration a day early at the Grande Mere restaurant.

So, till next time.... Happy Quilting!

Santa is coming to town

Merry Christmas everyone. If you live in the greater Lansing area make sure and take in some of the exhibits produced by the Michigan State University Museum's very own Santa, Val Berryman. In the YouTube video he talks about his fabulous collection. He has seven different exhibits this year all around the area including these on the MSU campus:
A Merry Dairy Christmas at the Anthony Hall Dairy Store
Christmas Around the Globe at the Student Union
Crackers & Biscuits, An English Christmas at the MSU Museum
Santa Takes a Break at the Spartan Stadium Tower
and these around town:
Signs of Santa (my personal favorite) in the window of the Knapp's building, downtown Lansing
TAKAAN, Christmas from the Phillipines at the Williamston Depot
and
Where's Santa at the MSU Credit Union headquarters of West Road, East Lansing.
Val has one of the world's best collection of Santa Claus and Christmas items!
Learn more about the exhibits here.
I'm lucky to work with Val and I look forward to his displays every year.



Till next time.... Happy Quilting!

Christmas Quilt

I've been keeping up with the blogs in my list and have been inspired to post my Christmas Quilt. I called it Christmas Eve since that has some special memories for me. My Mom's birthday was Christmas Eve and every Christmas Eve when I was a girl, my Uncle Ed would come over. He was a bachelor and was my Dad's best friend, so not really an Uncle. But he would come over with TONS of gifts for me and my older sister and my two older brothers. On top of the gifts he was very funny and did a great impression of Mr. Magoo! At midnight my mother would take all the kids to midnight Mass and my Dad and Uncle Ed would stay home, drink whiskey and watch the Pope serve midnight Mass on TV!

About two weeks ago my daughter Colleen moved out. I've been a bit worried about her transition, but she seems to be doing great. When she left, she took lots of stuff, so I was able to rearrange my sewing room. I'm anxious to get some sewing done and try out the new arrangement.

Today, Tom and I bought a snow blower (we're not getting any younger) and a Christmas Tree. Tomorrow, I'll be decorating and hopefully doing a little sewing, too.

Till next time... Happy Quilting!

Jigsaw Puzzles

I went to Jigsaw Planet and made a puzzle out of one of my quilts. Very fun!

Cake and Ice Cream

Just click on the quilt to do the puzzle.

Till next time...... Happy Quilting!

Great Dane Puppies

Beware of the cute Great Dane in today's Daily Puppy!

















He could turn out like this!

Learning from Blogs and Tutorials

Here's a picture of an antique Bay Leaf quilt from my collection. I'm including just because I love to see pictures of quilts when I go to blogs.

My first blog was May 26, 2008. In the 18 months since I've started blogging I've discovered a few things.

1. I love other people's blogs and follow many of them. The first blogs I started following were my friends. They're great quilters and great photographers. I really enjoy the show and tells from the small groups they belong to. Also included in these blogs are old friends who have moved away. It's an excellent way to keep in touch.
   
2. The next group of quilters I started to follow were bloggers who were interested in reproducing antique quilts. Again, the show and tell of projects keeps me coming back.
3. Then I discovered many famous book authors and quilt teachers are blogging. I get to keep up with the latest on their work.

The best thing about having my own blog is the ease with which I can keep up with everyone. My blog list shows the latest blog entries at the top of the list. Even though I follow more than 40 blogs, there are only about five new posts each day. It makes it manageable.

I'm always adding new blogs and sometimes removing them, too. What I like in a blog is lots of pictures and just a little bit of writing. I also enjoy the links to other blogs from the list. This has led me to adding features like "The Daily Puppy." Everyday a new puppy, what's not to love. I've also decided to add a new feature with links to quilting tutorials. My latest interests have been to improve my applique and machine quilting. My skills aren't bad, but I'm looking for ways to make those processes more enjoyable. The first tutorials are one Back Basting for Hand Applique.

So, look for the tutorials list and "The Daily Puppy" and take few minutes to surf for blogs on your own. You'll be surprised how much time you can waste!

Till next time... Happy Quilting!

MSU in the Fall

I can't remember when I've seen a more beautiful fall. Not only do I have the best job, but I work at the best place, the campus of MSU. Here are a few of the trees I snapped last week.
























































Today being Halloween, I've got all my candy ready for tonight and since my husband is going to the MSU football game in Minneapolis, I've got the next two days to sew. I'm starting to add fish and plants to the Mermaid quilt.
Till next time..... Happy Quilting.

Busy Weekend

It's been one busy weekend. First we went to see the new final four banner raised at Midnight Madness at the Breslin Center. It's was great to celebrate the last season's basketball team again. We got home about 1:30am.















We got up (not too early) and went to tailgate in the Commuter lot.


















Next, was the football game. It was homecoming and we won, but my favorite part of homecoming is always the Alumni Cheerleaders. They always cheer in front of our section. This year they managed some pyramids. Making it to the top of the pyramid is a great achievement, but getting down is even more fun to watch!














After the game was the Otto's annual Octoberfest. This is the best dinner party of the year. Mark and Jennifer spend months, researching the menu, then spend weeks, working on the meal. It was a great way to end the day!


















Today was the last event, a pumpkin carving party.

















Tonight, it's time to rest up and face the work week. It will feel like rest compared to this weekend!

Till next time... Happy Quilting!

Whoo Hooo!

Wow! I went to the MSU/U of M game yesterday. Not a fan left early. Tom took a picture of the scoreboard for posterity. As the fourth quarter wore on and U of M tied the game with 2 seconds to go, the biggest thought in my mind was we need to win to shut up the 2 nutty teenage boys behind us wearing maize and blue. Now, I didn't say anything rude in response to these kids, because they are just kids. But what was really disgusting was these kids dads. At one point, one of the kids took chewing gum from his mouth and threw it at unsuspecting MSU fans. The dad's response? A big high five for the kids. I guess this is why Michigan fans are hated all over the country!

But alls well that ends well as you can see by the two happy fans pictured here. I taped the game and watched the first half this morning. I'll be watching the rest tonight, then savoring it all season long.

Go Green, Go White!

Till next time.... Happy Quilting!

Block Exchange

I just got back home from block exchange. I'm going to post only 2 pictures and direct you to Cyndee, Linda, and Ruth for more pix from the evening.

This quilt was made by Bonnnie. She did a clever take on the Courthouse Square pattern.























I pushed hard last weekend to finish the Ocean Waves border on the Mermaid quilt for tonight's show and tell.


















Now I'm ready to applique some friends for Colleen in the form of fish, sea horses and star fish.

Till next time...... Happy Quilting!

More Quilts from MQN

Here are a few more quilts from the Michigan Quilt Network's Showcase last weekend.

"A Garden For My Wedding Ring"























"Stars Around My Garden."























"Blocks of the Past."























My favorite was this "Love Apple" from the antique collection of April and her mom, Virginia.























I'm really enjoying all the quilt show pictures on our blogs. With three quilt shows in one weekend, it's great to see a bit of each show.

Till next time... Happy Quilting

MSU football

Time to get dressed, get out the tandem and tailgate! Go Green, Go White!



Till next time... Happy Quilting!