And the stockings were hung...

I finished Little Bear's Christmas stocking last night (just in the nick of time!).


That big blur at the top is where his name has been fancily machine embroidered. (That makes two uses of the embroidery unit this year! Woo hoo!)

Because I started this blog after I made it, I don't think I've ever shown the stocking I made for Big Bear.



I hope all of you are having a wonderful holiday season. And for those who celebrate it:


Merry Christmas!

Santa came a little early

Last week, my little 2001 Honda Civic died. Poor Pep-Pep's transmission went kaput.

Fortunately, Santa (aka, my glorious husband) made his visit a little early:


...and now I have a swanky new 2011 Subaru Outback. Woo hoo!!!

And since I can't very well have a post with no craftiness, I'll share this:


Mmm... cookies! And my very helpful decorating buddy!

Seriously-- I am a very fortunate girl.

Perpetually behind

Yep. That's me. Always a little behind. Of course, I have no one to blame but myself.

Could I have finished my father-in-law's quilt by now? Probably. If I had gone with my original plan to just do an all-over quilting design on it. And I was going to do just that. But then I was looking at the quilt and was really feeling all those hours I spent in piecing the top. And I just couldn't do it. I've decided that I really need to do it "right"-- a design specifically for this quilt in hopes of truly enhancing all the piecing in it.

Unfortunately, this decision has put me rather behind schedule. I haven't even started quilting yet. But-- now I have a plan!


I made a printout of one of my photos and tried out ideas by penciling in the lines. Of the options I thought of, I like this one the best.

My husband has next week off from work, so I am hopeful that I can take some time and focus on the quilting. I'm kind of excited because I think it is going to be really cool!

With only 4 pins remaining

...basting is complete! When I started, that pin bucket was more than half-full. There were a lot of pins. It took four hours (but that also includes a long baby feed break in the middle). Bedtime was 2 AM.

So sleepy.

And now I just have to quilt it!

Basting the behemoth

The top is 86" x 110". Since I don't have a space near big enough to lay it all out, I'm having to baste it in sections. Wish me luck on that!


Fortunately, it's too late for me to chicken out because it is currently laid out across my bedroom. So now I have to finish it before I go to bed. Unfortunately, it is already 10 pm. Methinks it is going to be a late night. And my back is probably not going to thank me in the morning. But-- I'll have a basted quilt!

Now with borders!

...and it only took 10 months to put them on!

I am determined to get this quilt finished in time for Christmas. Since it was already "given" last year (in the form of a coupon), I think it would be wonderful to be able to put the actual quilt under the tree this year.

Next up: piecing together the back!

Some more blankets

Since I have all of my flannel laying out and about, I have been feeling this compulsion to get it off my floor and use it. I managed to make a couple more blankets this last weekend for Project Linus.

A receiving blanket:



And something a little larger too:


This one is made with 5" squares so it is about 35" x 40".

I'm building a nice little pile to take to the next Project Linus workday. Yay!