A block a day ...

... keeps the doctor away? Well I don't know about that! But it is one way to ensure the quilt gets completed in short order. I started making the blocks for my latest quilt on 11/22 and I finished the top on 12/22! 20 days to make 20 blocks and the remaining time to sew the connecting sashing and borders.

This quilt block is called "Picnic In The Park" and is several levels of difficulty below the "Celtic Solstice" that I finished in November. It was a very enjoyable sew, aided in no small part by all the wonderful colors I had to work with. I began with a roll of rainbow colored fabrics, sold as a single fat roll. Each piece was was about a quarter yard. I purchased it because it was pretty--I'm such a sucker for these things!--not knowing what I would eventually make with it. When I saw "Picnic In The Park" in a book I thought it would make a fine experiment to try the rainbow colors on, so I divided the fabrics into groups of 3 similar shades/hues to use in each block. There were enough distinct colors to make 7 different colored blocks. I wanted 10 distinct blocks so I popped on down to the quilt shop and purchased 3 sets of colors to augment what I had. I made 2 blocks in each color, giving me 20 total blocks, enough for a good sized quilt.

Likey, likey!



It is now down at the shop for quilting on the long arm. My "Celtic Solstice" came back from the long arm earlier this week. It looks fabulous! Now I need to put a binding on it and it will be completed. I have another quilt from earlier in the year (or was it last year!?) that still needs a binding so I think I will do that one now as well. When "Picnic" comes back from the shop, that will need a binding too. After those 3 projects are done I think I will tackle quilting the wool applique top I finished earlier this year. It cannot go on the long arm machine because of the wool applique. I practiced hand quilting a bit and realized that it's just not a possibility right now (it would take me forever!), so I'm going to have a go at free-motion quilting on my godmother's Singer Red Eye (thank you so much, Aunt R and P!!! :) ).

After that's all done? Hm. What's next?

A Christmas report ...

I hope everyone enjoyed--and continues to enjoy--a beautiful Christmas season! It was lovely here. We had a warm spell a few weeks ago and a lot of snow melted. It was going so fast I started to wonder if we were really going to have a white Christmas! If ever there was a year in which I was absolutely sure of a white Christmas it was this year. The snow came very early and we had goodly amounts of it. As is turns out, we did have a white Christmas, even had a new coating of fresh snow Christmas eve.



I spent Christmas eve at my neighbor's uncle's house about an hour south of here. She came to pick me up and as I was walking out to the car, I distinctly remember thinking that I had to be very careful about the patches of ice--left over from the thaw and subsequent re-freeze. I had barely finished the thought when my feet when flying forward and I was on my backside faster than you can say "santa"! I took a strong wallop to the back of my head as it slammed on the ice (or rock, I'm not sure which). A right smack that was; my head bounced back up from the ground. I got up, shook off the snow and proceeded to meet my neighbors. I decided to go to the party anyway as I didn't appear to have even a bump on my head. I never did develop a swelling, but my neck muscles well up into my head were very sore the following day and are still a bit stiff from it all. A few lower back muscles are reminding me of the fall as well. I say! I think I've fallen more since I moved here than I did during all those years in NY!

Christmas day was lovely. I really was feeling quite stiff and sore with a slight (very slight) headache so I decided not to accompany my neighbor to her mother's house. I stayed in and had some very beautiful visits with Ciello and the other birds. I had all the Christmas lights lit all day and listened to music, including excerpts from Handel's Messiah. We performed the Messiah the week before Christmas. It was grand. A quintet to accompany the arias and recitatives, the orchestra to accompany the chorus, and a church full of choir members singing their hearts out. When the quintet, orchestra, trumpets, timpani, and choir all resound together it's a mighty sound indeed! Gives me goosebumps. Performing in the Messiah has become one of the highlights of my holiday season. Here we are during the performance:



Early afternoon on Christmas day I made a tourtierre and it came out wonderfully, and ever so delicious! A definite Christmas pleasure. My seasonings are simple: black pepper, salt, and allspice. It is what I grew up with and I think that's why I'm so fond of this recipe.



In the days leading up to Christmas I made gingerbread cookies, chocolate fudge cookies, crunchy peanut filled chocolates, and cherry chocolates to bring around to neighbors. I have, since Christmas eve, been having my fill of sugar in all it's various forms. Oh dear.

I finished a quilt top just before Christmas. That's the next topic I'll post about.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! May your life be filled with blessings and peace and joy.