2015 - The Year of Many Flimsies and a Few Finishes

It's the time of year for making the accounting for all of my Quilting time.

HERE is my accounting for 2014.

I won't be counting how many New Projects I started in 2105.

I did accomplish a LOT!

I'm happy to share this Collage of my FINISHED Quilts and Gifts

4 of these are my NEW QuiltingrandmaDesigns Patterns!

That was my biggest achievement this year.

I had 13 Finishes in 2015

All of which were Started and Finished in 2015

(I'm not counting all of the 33 Placemats or the Farm Girl Vintage hot pads I made individually)

There would have been at least 3 more Quilted, if Betsy had worked through the end of the year.

When Betsy is FIXED- these quilts will be in the TBQ (To be Quilted) line-up.

Only 13 TBQ (To be Quilted) added to the 8 from last year.

This is why I really shouldn't be starting NEW PROJECTS...

BUT, I just can't resist a Mystery.

Allietare' is almost done. Maybe 2-3 weeks more before the reveal.

Kathy in Canada reminded me about the Merry Mayhem Mystery on New Year's Day.

It's called "Blowing in the Wind"

Parts 1 & 2 are found HERE

I won't be working on it through New Year's Day.

Like Kathy, I have a Family Event that over-rules my Quilting.

The only Block of the Month I plan to make will be Pat Sloan's 

"Secret Garden"  will start on January 2nd.

The first part is posted HERE.
Edited: She posted the 1st Block today!
These are  16" blocks!

I'll be extra Busy on Saturday, January 2nd -stitching on 3 Mysteries/BOM's.
 I need to get my fabrics selected- here I go to raid my Stash.

My Loyal Union Sampler and 1930's Farmer's Wife will be continued through 2016.
Pictured are 26 of the 28 so far.

Happy New Year to all of my Blogging Friends!!

It's been a good year for the most part. 

 I look forward to an even better 2016!

Design Wall Monday & Allietare' Link-up- December 28, 2015

For my Design Wall I finally get to share the gifts I made for everyone in our family.

Reversible Placemats.

When I  found the Snowman faces, snowflakes and Cardinals on the fabric, I got the great idea for making them for everyone.  

Not a small task with our BIG family. 

 I changed the side the Pocket was on after I made the ones that went to Wyoming with us. They also just had a solid piece of bandana print fabric on the back.

I got lazy and didn't add the Binding when I counted up all I needed made in time for Christmas. I ran out of the bandana print so I found a red print with green apples on it for the last 10. 

I put a pkg of Cocoa or Spiced Apple Cider in the pocket with a Candy Cane. 

I hope my Son in Missouri has seen his by now.

The Cookies and Truffles will be stale if he hasn't...

I taught the class at Sew n Vac November 14th and had to keep them a secret until now.
EDITED: Pattern available from Me! 

Here are the ones made in class

 Brenda's Seahawk's

 Billie's Fall leaves

 Judy's roses

My Quiltville Allietare' Mystery is all caught up and I can Link-up HERE

Clue 5 gave me a bit of trouble.

 One row of sets is NOT like the other...

I stretched the chains of blocks up my stairs just for fun.

The sets  were just sewn in pairs when looked again at the clue and had to unsew/Frog 50 + sets!

Whew!!

 a few hours and a couple Hallmark Movies later they're all DONE!

Pressing the blocks away from the solid square made a bit of extra bulk in that final seam.
They didn't want to nest the way it should. A good pressing got them to be more flat.
It was as directed by Bonnie and there is always good reason to follow her advice on pressing.
"NOT WHINING!!!

 All the parts 1-5

I'm very curious how the neutral sets on the top will fit into the quilt.

Linking up with Judy L HERE

Post Christmas Post- 2015 Christmas Day- So Worth it!

I had a wonderful Christmas Day

Full of Family, Fun, Gifts and Food

I will only put a few of the highlights on here.

 Monday I'll share the Quilty Gifts  I gave.

Ham went in the Crockpot for later

Candy Cane Bread - Tradition

I realized today that my Candy Cane is made the 

backwards way of a "J' for Jesus.

Christmas Jammies, not new, but festive.

 I found this cute Musical, not a Santa this time.

 "It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas"

 

A few gifts for my DH

Sweets Ticket vouchers so we can go to some Baseball games next Summer, Merci Candy and a Santa Pic of ME, President Monson's new book .

  His very own Reversible Placemat. 

He is examining the stitching.

It's up-side-down, lol

Hubby found a Bargain at the Overstock store downtown.

A Fabric Cart- long story, short

Some assembly required

There's a memory here in the making.

It was a task so tiring for Paul, he had to go take a nap!

I got him the "Chillin" shirt while I was waiting at K-Mart for the Blue Light Special that never happened on Christmas Eve day.

Paul went shopping at Kohl's and chose some thoughtful gifts for me.

He wrapped them and had me guessing all week.

3 clothing boxes wrapped together held the shirt and dress shown and a 2nd (too Small) shirt that will be exchanged when I get up to Tri-cities sometime. 

  In my hand is #10 Kohl's cash and Movie passes.

A quick photo OP with my girls before the boys families got here.

I didn't get any family group shots or pictures of them opening my gifts to them 

or the gifts from the sibling exchange.

The Treasure Hunt was a Total Success!

 I asked the oldest to choose a younger cousin to help him put together and read the first 

Cut-UP Clue, in an envelope.

 It was attached to a bag of Salt Water Taffy and a Story that went along with it about my MOM.

The clue led them to the next clue that was in the Kitchen.

It was opened and read by another set of Older/Younger Cousins.

A Box of Gifts for everyone with Funny Christmas socks like Grandma Mary wears.

The cut- up Clue sent them to the Coat Closet where they found the Hankies from Grandpa Crowther.

 That clue led them to a place where "Grandpa rests from his weariness".

Off like a shot, they found the BIG package I'd hidden behind the door in the basement bedroom.

How many cousins does it take to unwrap a Treasure???

The Marble Game I found to share with my Grandchildren

(a reminder of the Marble game they played with at Great-Grandma Zora's Apt)

The gifts from our kids included the Nativity that we got earlier in December.

I wasn't expecting more!

 

The idea grandpa had to hang the shelf with the stockings lasted until the boys got here

 and sat in the chairs in front of the shelf.

I almost forgot about them, they weren't given out until the end of the gathering.

  

I usually buy a Book for the DAD's to read, and Grandpa gets one to read also.

This year Only Grandpa got "The Sparkly Box"

(Thanks to Denise for her review HERE) 

Last but not least a Cousin Picture

Borrowed from Kori, my picture wasn't blog worthy. THANKS!

Grandma's heart is so FULL of gratitude for all that could come!

(in spite of Tummy, and breathing troubles)

It was all worth the waiting.

Allietare' Mystery Link-up and Design Wall Monday- December 21, 2015

I had a couple Jammies days and didn't take time Blog on Friday.  

I've consoled myself that Betsy won't be fixed in time to finish anything for Christmas.
The part is on order, not in Stock so it could be after 2016 begins.

I'm getting the things done that can be finished without using "Betsy".

I can hardly keep the secrets.  It's so fun to tease about all the guesses I've gotten.

DH says, "Do I get get one, too?"

I think I have chosen a great gift to make for everyone this year.

I can't show the pictures for another few days. 5 days & counting...

Not even a sneak peek, sorry.

Meanwhile, the Allietare' Mystery parts are adding up.

Someone on Facebook is keeping count of the pieces.  

2,278 pieces so far, lol

On Friday, I woke in the middle of the night, saw the clue and went back to sleep.

I cut out enough to play with the rulers and the colors.

I sewed only 1 set on Friday

 The plan to sew at the LQS didn't happen again this week.

Life and other things got in the way for my 2 friends that wanted to sew with me.

 I wish there were more to join us,

I sewed on my Christmas projects and when I got them almost done,

I got out the Clue 4 parts to end my evening Saturday.

Here are 22 Sets of 4

They still need the dog ears trimmed.

All 4 Parts in the tote.

I'm liking this color Combo!

There is some guessing of the block layouts on Facebook already.  

I'm not making any guesses.

Maybe after Christmas we will have the first Block instructions.

Clue 5 in Saturday after Christmas Day.

Yet another day I won't need to leave the house to SHOP.

No returns to make or things to buy that Santa forgot.

Thanks to Bonnie we are being kept busy and not stressed when we normally might be.

Sewing has always been my stress-reliever!

Linking up to the Quiltville Blog HERE

Last week, I got to open a couple gifts at our Lacey Lacers Executive party.

President Edith asked to have my name, how fun.

This is what she found

 It plays "Whistle While You Work"

while the bears go around the needle.

Ann couldn't NOT give us these pretty ornaments she found at Hobby Lobby.

One Design Wall is empty for now.
I might start putting my 1930's Farmer's Wife Blocks up to look at the colors used so far.
The last block given for 2015 was Autumn- #9 in the book.

Linking up to Patchwork Times HERE

What to do with a finicky machine...

Betsy is giving me FITS again today!  

No Pressure or anything else happening in my world.

It's my first day I could devote to just staying home and 

quilting on a deadline project that isn't for myself.

This is why I DON'T Quit for others.

When the machine isn't working I can't help that. 

It is supposed to be FIXED!

After playing with Betsy for a couple hours this AM I had to make the dreaded call to my LQS.

 Betsy stitches perfectly in horizontal straight lines.

If I tried to go Vertical, no stitches.

I used two pieces of scrap fabric to test her out at first.
 Don't want any extra oil on my real quilts.

I tried to finish my Bow Tie Quilt just to make sure it's good to quilt my SIL's friends quilt.

It stitched the pattern with a couple Y Errors and skipped stitches across the center of the design.

See those big stitches?


So I tried a different pattern in a separate pattern box on the borders area.
I just ordered this Funky Fan pattern from Intelligent quilting.
I made it really small just to fit in the space.

I really feel for the guy that bought the LQS!
He's trying so hard to get me up and going.
2 House calls and Betsy is still not right.
I am not a patient person in the first place so this is a REAL frustration to me.
Sorry for the VENTING!  I had to write it down.

I didn't get a CALL from APQS...I wonder who did?
 I really need some good news right now!

I've turned off the comments for this post!

Design Wall Monday & Alleitare Mystery Link-up- December 14, 2015

Today I write my 1,400 POSTING here.

Who knew that I had that much to SAY?

I started Blogging back in August 2008.

I didn't start linking to Patchworktimes for Design Wall Monday until the August 2009.
There have been a LOT of Quilts shown on this BLOG in that time.
Thanks to my ever-faithful followers who leave me comments and come back week after week.
I wish I had something to GIVEAWAY.
I'll try and plan ahead for something quilty for a Birthday Giveaway in January.

I am posting my Quiltville "Allietare" Mystery Blocks again this week.
The Clue 3 was pretty Simple- 4-Patches and some additional pre-cutting

The Neutrals are scrappy, Gold is not so Gold, but not as Yellow as last year.

I loved having all day Friday to make them.

Here are all the parts

I needed to cut the rest of Clue 2, that got done but no picture of the Black and Grey squares.

I decided to make my Black a constant also.

I spent most of Saturday in the Quilt Zone too!

I made 2 more 1930's Farmers Wife Blocks between the stitching of my Secrets for Christmas.

I can hardly wait for the chance to reveal what I've made this year.
I feel like a big kid at Christmas the anticipation is killer for me.
I'm not known for keeping good secrets when I was a child.
Thankfully, I've gotten better. It was meant to be...
 Getting them done with all the interruptions has been a challenge.

Temecula did a cute Christmas Mini QAL. HERE
I haven't made any of the blocks but it sure is cute!  There was 3 ways to finish it.

Linking up with Judy L HERE and Bonnie HERE

Christmas @ Quilt Guild

I thought a block called RIBBONS would be good for the December Meeting.

It's not in Christmas colors since it will be returned in January 2016.

Click HERE for the Pattern.

The chosen Fabric is for Color B in my block

It's always a yummy Potluck and I made my Calico Beans in the crock pot.
I'm hoping there will be leftovers.

We had a Fun Gift Exchange like last Year, playing the Left/Right Game.

I brought home this cute Ornament.

 It came in a cute bag too!

Tonight was our President's Birthday so her Thank you Blocks and this Quilt were presented to her
Sorry the picture is blurry. I left my camera in my car and had to use my phone.

She had nice Thank you cards for her board
She gave some of who have helped at Guild the past year one of the coveted Guild Bags.

I will carry this proudly to my Guild Meetings.

No Ugly Sweaters contest. LOL

Here are the Turkey Giblets Blocks turned in.

Jessica M won them.  Hope she has fun making a little quilt.

2 people said they would bring their block parts later.

I finished up the rest of my Clue #2 for the Mystery while making the Lotto Block.

DH is off work 3 days again this week.

It kind of cramps my Quilty Time. 

He takes a lot of Naps & when he is on his computer sometimes my Internet doesn't work upstairs.

He noticed that when I have the iron on the lights blink and his internet is spotty.  

My $50 FREE Fabric came from Fat Quarter Shop.

I love this NEW line from 

"Little House on the Prairie"

I had to take two pictures to show all the variety!

I don't have a quilt planned for this fabric YET...

There is a QAL that I could join but we shall see.

I'm just not ready to add another project to my long, long list right now.

Maybe after the New Year.

I hope the fabric fairies treat you well this year.

I told my DH I don't need anymore.

I may regret that.

All I want for Christmas right now is for my "Betsy" to WORK!!!
 There 's one more week until the LUCEY is given away HERE
I've been diligently entering every day.
Singing the song..."Why not me"