The New Mantle

I now have three fireplaces after we put an addition on our home last spring and summer. And I love decorating mantles for Christmas so this was the first one I got decorated.I got everything white that I could find and propped them up here and I like how it looks. The large pitcher on the right comes from my aunt's farm and I treasure it. The other ones I bought at yard sales and consignment stores. This mantle is huge and the ceiling is high so after I had things set up I really wanted a mirror to prop up there for some height so I was about to go look in consignment store when I remembered the oak mirror that is part of a bureau in my daughter's old room. So off the bureau it came and up on the mantle it went and I love it. I think that's going to be a permanent resident there.
And yes, the plywood front on the fireplace is still there. When I asked my husband when we were going to finish the front of the fireplace he said, "I'm not ready yet"!! Now what does that mean? It pretty much still looks like this.
There is actually a gas fireplace in there though so at least I have that. Someday....

Let the Christmas Decorating Begin!

I love to decorate for Christmas so I'm sure you'll see many pictures of what I have done here in the coming weeks. I love seeing everybody else's decorations. But I'm going to start with a Christmas quilt I just finished.

One of the things I love about Blogging is getting inspiration from all of you out there and since I love to quilt I am partial to all the quilting blogs. Back in October I absolutely fell in love with Nicole's Halloween quilt at her blog, Sister's Choice. She referenced the Debbie Mumm book, Seasons, she got the pattern out of which surprised me because I have that book and didn't remember seeing such a wonderful quilt in it. I quickly got the book out and checked out the pattern again. Nicole's quilt is much better than Debbie's I think. Anyway, I had some wonderful Christmas fabric I was dying to do something with and Nicole's Halloween quilt got me going. So I shamelessly copied her and I love the quilt.
My long arm quilter did a wonderful pointsetta and holly leaf design for the quilting which I love. It's just a happy quilt. So thanks Nicole and I'll definitely be making a Halloween quilt sometime in 2008!

Thankful

I hope you all have a wonderful day Thanksgiving with whomever you want to be with. Despite it's ups and downs in my life, I feel like I am blessed and so I am thankful for many things. I'm mostly thankful for my husband of 32+ years, my two great kids and their wonderful spouses and especially this year for my darling grandson.

Then there are the silly things I am thankful for like my rolling pin with the red handles above that I bought at Woolworth's in Colorado 32 years ago for my first married Thanksgiving. I love my rolling pin! I'm also thankful for antibiotics that made me feel better recently, for my home that I love, for good friends including all the bloggy friends I've made, and for life in general. Happy Thanksgiving!

A Christmas Glimpse

It's a good thing I am communicating through this blog because if I actually had to talk to anyone I couldn't. I have been down with a bronchitis-lost-my-voice-illness that has knocked me for a loop. Before it hit though I had gathered some fabrics for a quick Christmas quilt I was going to make.
I have this wonderful Marcus Brothers print that I started with. It has just great images and colors to work with.
Then I had fun looking through my stash and pulling some fabrics. So here's just a glimpse of a work in progress. Now if I can stop coughing myself to death here I might be able to finish it. I'll be sure to post pictures when it is done. In the meantime, bring on the tea and antibiotics!

Another Quilt Done

I finally finished this quilt and got it to my wonderful machine quilter who got it quilted for me pretty quickly. So this past weekend was spent sewing on the binding.
I generally leave the decision of a quilting design and thread color up to her and I think she did a wonderful job.
I donated this quilt to the NH National Guard Family program to raise money so they have it now. Not sure of how they plan to use it to raise money but I'll post here once they give me the details.

As for Block of the Month, I think this will be the first and last time I do one. While I think it is a nice quilt, it is all too matchy, matchy for me and I really missed the process of picking out the fabric. There's just something about going to a fabric store and handling all the wonderful fabrics and putting together just the right combinations that I need as part of the creative process. I really like just using my fabric stash lately and re-visiting fabrics I already have so the next project will be from the stash. I have visions of a Christmas quilt dancing in my head so it's time to start pulling fabrics. Happy sewing everyone!