Monday, December 23, 2013

Christmas with my Mum

My sister's and my family trees are getting more and more branches, which makes it so difficult for everyone to get together at Christmas time.  (We have a big family gathering in August for my Mum's birthday as it is the only time everyone is not too busy).

Getting back to Christmas......Yesterday, my Mother, sister and brother in law came to my house for a noon-time dinner.  We wined and dined on ham, potato casserole, turnip casserole, sprouts, corn and rolls, and a dessert of mince tarts, apple blossoms and ice cream.  A nice quiet dinner before my two daughters and their families came to have a gift exchange with their grandmother/great grandmother. 

Mid afternoon I laid out a table of nibbles for the family, which consisted of the usual cheese, crackers, sausage rolls, dips and chips etc., along with some sweet tidbits.

Mum/Grandma left early evening, well laden down with gifts and lots of Christmas kisses.  It is almost an hour's car journey for her to reach her home so I am sure she was ready for an early bed time last night.

On Christmas day Mum will be at my sister's to have a meal and gifts with that side of the family. 

Mother is now 96 years, and as the years go by we have to make the most of these family gatherings as you never know when it might be her last.........


Patricia

Friday, December 20, 2013

Another UFO finished

Last night while watching TV I put the last stitches on the binding of my 18 year old Granddaughter's quilt.

 I had purchased a lot, and I mean a lot of this fabric, why?  That is a good question, it wasn't particularly attractive but, it was on sale, and as a sewer I can never pass by a sale, no matter how ugly the fabric is.  But, it did have potential, from being the ugly duckling to a somewhat beautiful swan. 

It has, however, been one of those quilts that I just could not get completed for several reasons.  I was not comfortable with the colours in the fabric as they were somewhat out of my comfort range.   And trying to place the blocks so they flowed into a pleasing pattern seemed to take forever.  Anyway it is now finished, I am happy with how it looks  and I hope my GD likes it too.  Click on the photo's for a bigger picture.    Patricia

Sorry about the photos, cannot show it in a good light today.
This is a bit better, from a different angle.
  


On the back I used some of the left over blocks and also a portion of the original fabric.
Closer look of the original fabric.

A closer look of the blocks on the back.


 

Saturday, December 14, 2013

I can't believe...

it has been such a long time since I last posted.  
Don't know why but, I have had to talk myself into getting in front of the sewing machine these days. Several UFO's needed to be completed before any new projects got started, I think that have must been the reason.

As mentioned before I make a quilt for my grandchildren when they reach the age of 18 years, and just received the latest one back from the quilter last week, machine stitched the binding on, now the label and hand stitching the binding is all that is left to do and it is finished.  My grand daughter's birthday was at the end of October, and I will be giving it to her over the Christmas holidays, better late than never, so they say.  I will post a photo when it is completed.

At our guild meeting last month members made pillow cases and donated them to Inn out of the Cold.  They are so easy to make, I must have got the pillowcase bug, so made four to add to the Christmas gifts for the younger members of the family. 
It has been snowing and blowing all day, and downright cold.  A good day to stay in, put up a small tree and decorated it this afternoon.  Tonight while watching TV I will do some stitching on the binding.
Patricia


The colours are not exactly as shown, the one on the left is more violet than blue.