NOTES ON A WEDNESDAY MORNING

Have you started your Christmas shopping yet? I've got one item out of the way...cookbooks for the gals on my list. "The Pioneer Woman Cooks" will be released the end of the month, and I can't wait to get MY hands on it. Her web site is amazing, http://thepioneerwoman.com, and I know the gals who receive this book will be delighted.

And that's it as far as my shopping. We don't have a large gift list, and most of the younger people want gift cards or cash, so our shopping isn't real stressful. But I miss the shopping in a way. We'd go out in the evening, have a nice dinner, and then shop the mall. But I REALLY miss the days when shopping meant you were OUTSIDE, on the streets...going from store to store. You'd pass friends on the sidewalk, everyone bundled up against the crisp, cold night air, and you'd duck into a store just to warm up and find the most wonderful gift. Sadly those days are a thing of the past.

I'd like to have a quilt hanger for Christmas. Maybe two. That's about it. I'd ask for quilt fabric or books, but I have an amazing amount of them already, and truth be told....last night I was cleaning off my sewing room table and found the stack of receipts for my fabric ordering, and in glancing through them I found one for a kit I had totally forgotten I had! It's a beautiful applique pattern called "Tea Rose Garden"...and I haven't the foggiest idea where it is. I searched for about 15 minutes last night and didn't find it. Keep in mind that I have lots of plastic tubs with different fabric collections or kits in each one....all nicely labeled...and I didn't come across this particular one. So today that is my goal...find Tea Rose Garden! And then put my Winter White schnibble together. And start a wall hanging for my friend in SC. Can I get it done by Christmas? Hope so! LOL!

Oh, and I accepted Nicole's challenge to finish something I'd started and quit...known as a UFO in the quilting world, so that means I need to get back to working on that baby quilt. Baby is due next week, I think.

So, that's my day. How's yours going?

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2009

I tried to add this photo further into the post, but it won't let me. So...it's here at the beginning of my post instead of with the quilt show photos. This photo is another from the quilt show that I particularly liked. These pretty little flowers make me happy!

This is a photo of my first schnibble, "Winter White"...finished except for the sandwiching, and binding. You can see where all those flying geese in my last post went! I didn't think the colors were going to work in my home, but after bringing it into the living room, I think it may look nice on the stair wall behind my chair. It will also look nice on the wall here in my office room. The next schnibble pattern, Cindy Lou Who,is on it's way, and I intend to make it in colors that will work for a table topper in my dining room. These are small quilts...I believe this measures 38x38.

These are some photos from the quilt show we attended Saturday. There weren't a lot of really stand-out quilts this year, for some reason. Pretty run-of-the-mill stuff. And we forgot to take our camera with us, so unfortunately the photos of the quilts we did like, were taken with our cell phones and don't do them justice. This quilt was from a block-of-the-month called "Vintage Valentine." It's just beautiful. Michael said I should make one like it. I searched the internet, and found a quilt shop that was offering it, but it's very expensive. The 12 small blocks surrounding the center medallion were $30 each, plus shipping...the center medallion was $75, the backing was $55, and the "finishing" kit which included the fabric for the borders and binding, was another $65. So....since they weren't selling just the pattern, I won't be making this quilt. But that is why BOM quilts are so popular...one can more easily afford the $35 per month, rather than paying for a whole quilt kit up front.

This pattern is an old one... "Drunkard's Path." I've not done a lot in curved piecing, but it's on my future "to do" list. (Not this particular pattern, but one with curves.)

This is another quilt from the quilt show. I liked the colors, and the "feathered" star points.