Squeezing In a Finish...Sort Of

Well, Christmas has past us by and I didn't finish my Christmas quilt (again), but I did manage to finish the quilt top today, and I'm pretty excited to at least have that much done.  At this rate I may even have it finished by next Christmas.  Eh...don't quote me on that though.  :)

The Post Where Choirs of Angels are Singing

Ok- maybe that's a little dramatic, but that's what I heard when I saw my last Christmas gift.  Joel and his family got me a new sewing machine!  Yep- it was all stealth and brought out after all of the presents had been opened.  I freely admit to crying. 

Not only did they get me a sewing machine, but it's a complete upgrade from my last sewing machine, so there is lots of joy in this household again.  :)

My first project involved making my December block for do.Good Stitches.  It's a fun paper-pieced block (Starry Nights) from Fresh Lemons.  The request was for super girlie - mostly pink. 

Merry Christmas

I love this time of year, because I feel like people are just a little kinder, a little more thoughtful, a little more giving, and a little more loving.  I thought I would share a new song from one of my favorite, current composers.  It's nice to have a reminder of the true meaning of Christmas once in a while.  I hope everyone enjoys their holiday.

Christmas Quilt Progress

Last Fall I made a bunch of blocks for a Christmas quilt.  I kind of picked and chose blocks from two different quilt alongs going on at the time.  It got put to the side when I needed to get Christmas gifts done, and then it just didn't feel right working on a Christmas quilt in January, so it quickly went in the unfinished bin, and remained there until a week ago.  I finished up two last blocks, and worked on the sashing this weekend.  I just have to finish the sashing down the sides, decide what I want to do for the border, and then I've got myself a Christmas quilt top!  Wahoo!

This is the only quasi-decent picture I could get of it before my daughter decided she wanted to be part of the action.  I'm a day late linking up to the UFO fun over at Leah's, but better late than never.  :)

Wish Circle

I can't believe it, but our quilt from the Wish Circle was the winner of Best of 2012 for do.Good Stitches.  How exciting!  You can see the whole post over at Stitched in Color.

Source

I've really enjoyed being a part of the Wish Circle.  It's fun getting to know the other girls and I love that we donate our quilts to Project Linus (for seriously ill children).

Cookie Exchange

Every year I do a mini-cookie exchange with a few friends.  We make 2 dozen cookies or bring our favorite treat.  I always do a hot chocolate station with some fun accoutrements.  I kept it a little smaller this year, because I didn't want too many kids running around while Little Man was doing therapy, but it worked out perfectly.  One of Little Man's friends went in and did therapy with him the majority of the time.  It was pretty cute.

Meanwhile, I chose to try 2 new recipes, and I ended up liking both of them:
1- Holiday Shortbread Cookies:  Made with white chocolate, cranberries, and pistachios. 
2- Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Cookies: These have a fun surprise of cream cheese in the middle.

It was a fun morning full of laughter and eating goodies. Linkin' up to Tuesday at the Table. 

Wahoo! WIP

My husband being at a conference in Atlanta for a week meant a lot of sewing time for me at night after the kiddos went to bed.

I finished my Blogger's BOM quilt...

 Made fleece pillows for both of my children...

And got the last two blocks (#15 & 16) of my Christmas quilt done:

I may even be an overachiever and put together the Christmas quilt top BEFORE Christmas.  I know, I know, I'm pretty amazing.  (I won't tell you that I started making Christmas blocks over a year ago).  My husband equates my finally working on the Christmas blocks to a Christmas miracle.  :)

Other projects
Quiet Book - Ugh.  No progress.
Do.Good Stitches - need to do December blocks


Stats for the Week:
New projects - 2
Completed projects - 3
WIP- 3 (that's the lowest this number has been in over 2 years- thus, the WAHOO!!)

Applique Issues

Well, machine issues would be a better description of the situation.  I stitched around my Christmas tree, and then I noticed that on the first side I sewed, the machine skipped stitches all over the place.  They should be all zig zags:

You can see from the punched holes in the fabric that the needle went where it was supposed to, but the thread had other ideas.  This is the first time I've ever had this happen.  Does anyone happen to have any idea why?!  The even weirder part is that the 2nd and 3rd sides of the tree stitched perfectly.

It's seriously annoying, but at least the block still looks decent.  I hadn't appliqued anything since Skill Builder, so it was fun to put together this block.