Just some things

Hey everybody!  It's just about time for a Happy New Year!

Are your Christmas decorations still up?  

Mine are.

Usually, I can't get them down fast enough after Christmas, but his year I'll be sad to see them go.

I don't know why.

Maybe it was the shorter length of time time we had between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Anyway, I'll continue to enjoy my holiday decorations for a few more days while I do some sewing.

I'm working on the quilting for my Paganni Schnibble and I'm planning on making a scalloped border.

It's got a little bit of a Valentine look to it, so I'm making it my goal to have it done by Valentine's Day.

I've never made scalloped borders before, so I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.........

 We took my big machine to the shop this morning.  It's definitely under the weather.

It sews about eight stitches, then it stops and gives me a broken thread message.

Also, when I try to use the thread cutter it makes a nasty noise and the bobbin swings out and does not want to go back in.

......Insert big sigh here......

After a day of messing with it and and hoping the problem will just magically go away, we decided it was time to bring it in.

They say it needs a new part and a good cleaning, then hopefully it'll be sewing smoothly again!

In news that is much more fun, my quilting friend Mary Pat has decided to start her own blog!

She's been talking about it for awhile and I'm so glad she's decided to started blogging.

Mary Pat is always doing some fun, new quilting project and she does lots of charity sewing too.

If you're looking for a new blog friend in the new year, I encourage you to visit Mary Pat.

Tell her Michele sent you!  

Borders on!

I hope you found some time to do some fun things this week.

It's been a great week here at our house.

I carved out some sewing time and I was able to get the borders on last month's Schnibbles project, Morning Joe.

If you remember, I was a little short on time at the end of last month, so I just entered it in the parade as is, no borders.

And it didn't look half bad that way, if I do say so myself.

The scrappy, pieced boreders took more time......and fabric....... than I would have thought, but a border using one fabric for each side just wasn't cutting it for me.

I wish the light had been better for the picture above, but that was as good as it was going to get that day. 

I took a few more pictures because........one, the picture of the whole quilt looked a bit washed out and two, I like this quilt.

Sorry about the picture overload.  It was hard to narrow it down!  

I'm off to plan out some quilting for a quilt top that needs my attention before Valentine's Day. 

Have a great weekend!

Be sure to spend some time sewing and I'll see you on the other side!

Merry Christmas!

I'm taking a few minutes out from the last minute preparations to wish you a Merry Christmas!

...........Copper says that there was a better picture of him, but his mom tried to make it even better than that and after a few more tries she realized that this was as good as it was going to get. Apparently with this new app "retake" means that the last picture disappears! Santa is coming tonight and everyone is so excited and not very willing to sit still for a picture....... 

Thanks so much for visiting my blog this past year. 

I always enjoy reading all of the sweet comments left on my blog from new friends, and from those I've gotten to know well over the years too.

Blogging has become one of my favorite activities! I love reading about your project and your lives.

I'm looking forward to another year wonderful year!

Enjoy this special time with friends and loved ones.

Giving it a try

I just got this blogger app for my new iPad so I'm giving it a try.

So far, so good. 

I guess there isn't much you can do with moving the text around.

Or editing the pictures either.

It seems to be more of a "you get what you get" approach. 

I'll just have to experiment with it.  Do you use any apps for blogging?

Happy weekend!

How did this happen?

I could use a little help.

Last weekend we made some of these Holiday Pretzel Treats.

You pop then in the oven for a few minutes to soften the Kisses or Hugs, then you place an M&M on top.

After they cool, I usually put them in the fridge to set the chocolate.

If you're interested you can find the details HERE.

Anyway, when I took them out of the fridge this time, they looked like this and I can't figure out what happened!

They taste great, but the M&M's are chalky looking.

Normally you wouldn't see a bad food picture on a blog, but I'm desperate for answers!

I was planning on making more this week and I'd like to figure out where I went wrong first.

I've made these many times and this has never happened.

I don't do much, well any, candy making so I don't know anything about working with chocolate.  

Were they in the fridge too long?

Maybe they didn't cool long enough before I put them in the fridge?

I don't have a clue.

Any ideas?

Help!

Luckily, the sewing is going better than the baking!

I've been working on getting the borders on my Morning Joe Schnibble that I didn't quite have time to finish last month and I've been labeling a few quilts too.

I've also been straightening up my quilting areas to get ready for a new year full of quilts!

Plans

Most of the Christmas preparations over here are done now and I'm looking forward to a quieter weekend, hopefully with some relaxation and a bit of much needed rest!   

We've done some Christmas shopping in the past few days and I'm happy to say we picked up the last few gifts.

And the Christmas cards are on their way out too!

I have my eye on the ribbon from this Anthropologie bag.

Wouldn't it look good on a pincushion? 

Not much sewing was done this week, so there's nothing new to show on that front, but I did do some fabric shopping after Thanksgiving and as a result some new fabric arrived at my door today! 

So many bloggers seem to love the High Street fabric line, but it isn't available at my LQS, so when the Fat Quarter Shop had a big sale recently I bought a few charm packs and I'm making plans with them!

I also picked up the large text fabric in the background.

I. love. text. fabric.

I think it'll make a great backing for a future project. 

This weekend is our neighborhood's annual luminary display!

It's one of my favorite evenings of the year.

My boys love it too!

Sand, fire, and fun!  What's not for them to love?

I have to admit, they do enjoy seeing the luminary bags that have gone up in flame for one reason or another.

Should I be concerned about that? LOL!

Later in the evening we'll make some quick treats. 

And watch a new movie.

Those Minions are so funny! Even the teenagers like them.

I'm looking forward to being able to slow down some and enjoy some holiday time this weekend.

Have you "finished" up your holiday preparations?

What do you have planned for the weekend? 

A Christmas finish

Things have been crazy around here!

Right now we're in the middle of Christmas preparations, final exams, and school soccer season too.

I'm happy I was able to squeeze in a little time to get the binding on my Christmas Lincoln quilt.

The binding fabric I chose was a stripe of course.

I'm really into striped bindings now and I especially like them on Christmas quilts I noticed.

When I was decorating the house for the holidays I noticed that most of my Christmas quilts have striped bindings.

You like what you like, I guess! 

The backing is this great Letter to Santa fabric that I found over the summer.

I just love the text and the envelopes!

When I did the quilting, I took extra care to be sure that the quilting didn't take away from the backing fabric.

I like it that much!

In fact, even though I usually sew a label on the back of each quilt, on this one I plan on taking a thin red felt tip pen and printing my name somewhere on the backing, trying to make my writing similar to the text. 

I'm pleased with how this turned out and I hope you are able to get some sewing time in too.

Everyone is so busy during this time of year!

Enjoy the holiday season!