Holiday Time is Here

It's New Year's Eve and I'm writing one last entry to my blog for 2014 before I set it up to be published in a book.  I've been using Blog2Print for several years now.  I like having a physical book of memories for the year. 

Our family celebrated Christmas Week with a photography session at Crab Cove in Alameda.  A local photographer kept us laughing and moving as he clicked away.  We are still in the process of sorting out the best of the best.  It's very difficult when the darling grand-daughters are so cute and photogenic. 

Just a couple more for the record of this year.......

On Wednesday of Christmas week, the family traveled by ferry to San Francisco to see Beach Blanket Babylon. It is a funny satire musical about San Francisco and current events.  It was a gloriously clear day and we had great family fun.

Next it was home to Alameda for dinner at our house and the reading of the Christmas Story and The Night Before Christmas......a family tradition.  This year the stories were read by Makayla and Violet.  My heart swells to see this family tradition carried on to another generation. 

Christmas morning brought Santa surprises, food, family frivolity, swimming in the afternoon (Hey, it's CA!) and Thai food for dinner. 

Now its time for New Year's Eve.  The girls will be coming over to spend the night.  The champagne flutes are washed and ready for some bubbly (Martinellis for girls, Champagne for us).  We go forward into 2015 praying for joy, happiness, peace and goodness to prevail.  Praise God for our many blessings.

 

Thanksgiving and Birthday Fun

Everyone loves a birthday but it is hard when your birthday falls very near a holiday like Thanksgiving.  This turned out pretty cool for Violet this year.  We celebrated with the family on her actual birthday and then she got to have a second celebration with her friends a week later.  Can't get much better than two birthday parties in your honor. 

First let's not forget Thanksgiving.  This year Jon and Lissa hosted the family plus a neighbor family.

 The birthday girl wanted Butterflies as her theme.  There are lots of activities and ideas for a Butterfly Party and thanks to Auntie Cheryl, we had them all.

 Auntie Cheryl loves flying in to celebrate the birthdays of her two favorite cousins.  We love having her here.

 After the party, there were lots and lots of presents to open from friends and family.

 And speaking of family, here I am with my oldest Jon, father to the darling birthday girl.  Always good to actually get a great picture.

And the Holiday Season begins....

Halloween went by in a flash as the stores hurried to put out Christmas decorations.  Whatever happened to Thanksgiving and Fall decor?  Not to worry.  I have a tub of my own decor items used over the years.  I certainly don't need much new these days. We celebrated at Jon and Lissa's this year with plenty of good food including my pumpkin chiffon pie with coconut crust.....yummmm.  

It is fun to transfer the hosting tradition to Jon's family.  After dinner, the DGDs enjoyed watching Sound of Music while the grown-ups played Scrabble

 All set for company with treat bags put together by Makayla and Violet

 Sound of Music seems to be a holiday tradition for the DGDs.

So now we move on to the Christmas Season.  Time to put away Fall and bring out the Christmas Spirit.  Looking forward to spending some time reflecting on "the reason for the season".  Thankful for all my many blessings.  

Tribute To Stephen

I began this project in January 2010, not quite a year after Stephen's passing.  I started it in a class at Road To California.  The class was called Making A Grand Entrance and it was taught by Kathy Kansier, a teacher from Missouri.  It was definitely a challenge class for me. After looking at her samples on line, I began to consider what I could make.  I had two photos of Stephen that had  been taken during my time with him.  One was a shadow picture that he took against a tree.  The other was one that I took on an outing to Dana Point.  I took both to class, hoping that the instructor would help me choose.  In the end, I decided that the shadow picture, though interesting, was too sad for me.

I also took along a picture of an arched window from Spain.  I wanted to use it to enclose the picture because Stephen had always wanted to travel to Spain. He was never able to fulfill that desire, but in 2012, his dad and I traveled to Spain with his brother, Jon and his family.

Here is the pattern that I managed to draft for my project.  I pretty much stayed to that size.  A picture of the window that was my inspiration is also shown. 

 I found that I had to be in the mood and feel Stephen "speaking" to me in order to work on this project.  Part of me felt I should get it done.  Part of me wanted for it to marinate and speak to me about what to do next.  The project languished off and on.  I'd work on it a little and then put it away without making much progress. It provided a good opportunity to try out thread painting and quilting skills. 

Below are pictures that might be labeled "in progress. 

I knew I wanted the backing to reflect music so I used up lots of collected musical fat quarters and pieced them in no particular order. 
I played around with the idea of adding foliage of some sort but I could never come up with exactly what I wanted.  For a while I thought about bougainvilla but I didn't feel skillful enough to create something like that.  So it sat, and sat, and sat until one day while looking through a Quit Arts magazine, I saw a quilt about cancer that had a lot of words on it.  I had my ah-ha moment........Stephen's quilt needed words.   
We were coming up on Stephen's birthday on September 15th.  He would have been 38 years old.  I knew what I was going to do that day.  I was going to finish his quilt.  I sequestered myself in my sewing room and went to work.  With Stephen's spirit beside me, I have finished my tribute to my youngest son.  I love you Stephen. 

YOU CAME INTO THIS WORLD ON SEPTEMBER 15, 1976.

GOD ENTRUSTED YOU TO US TO LOVE AND NURTURE FOR A SEASON. 

YOU WERE ALWAYS GOD’S CHILD BEFORE YOU WERE OURS.

 ONE DAY WE BLINKED AND LIFE CHANGED FOREVER.

 GOD CALLED YOU HOME AND OUR HEARTS ACHED TO UNDERSTAND.

 WE LOVE YOU FOREVER, FOREVER YOU’LL BE………….OUR STEPHEN

SON, MUSICIAN, BROTHER, UNCLE, ARTIST, WRITER, FRIEND, CHILD OF GOD.

 HEAVEN DATE FEBRUARY 24, 2009.

On The Wall and In The Room

A project finished today!  I bought this material thinking about a sewing machine cover.  My previous sewing machine cover was made 30 years ago with a piece of pre-quilted calico.  It's been time to replace it for awhile.  I even made this one reversible.  Sometimes, a project just makes you happy.  
This one makes me happy and it also cheers up my sewing/office space.

Other projects hang around on the wall waiting for finishing touches.  The two blocks were for practicing machine quilting.  The one on the right was a funky bird block that I didn't like so I cut it up and put it back together.  I call it "Chopped Bird". On the chair is a sandwiched community quilt ready for quilting at Quiltinators.

And finally in the spirit of finishing UFOs, I have finished the Southwest Bear wall quilt that I bought as a kit three years ago in Sedona, Arizona.  What I am going to do with it, I have no idea. 

Also finished four table runners which I gave to my sister, my sister-in-laws and my DDIL. 

Keeping Busy

It is so nice to have uninterrupted time to sew when I feel like it.  Once again, we are having mild SF Bay summer breezes so heat is never anything we have to deal with.  A little rain might be nice to help out the current drought conditions in California. 

Just posting a few pictures to record my quilting projects. First up is Makayla showing off one of two star blocks that she has made for a quilt that we are working on together.  She is getting quite good at straight line sewing.  I love the days when we are able to sew together.  Grand-daughter fun is the best.

A friend ask me to make her an elegant wristlet for her up-coming cruise.

Tried a new easy peasy technique for a block and then just kept on going

Working off and on on getting this row by row challenge quilted.

That new technique?  Tried it out smaller and made a placemat

A kit bought in Arizona four years ago.  Top finished.

Wristlet sideways with a strap for over the shoulder for the DGDs.

Distracted Quilting

This picture reflects the current state of projects on my wall.  Two are UFOs from at least 10 years ago that I am trying desperately to finish.  One is a more current UFO that needs some hand embroidery embellishment completed and then there are the "try out a new technique" blocks that have nothing to do with anything.  But they were fun to make. 

The summer goal is to finish as much as possible and not get involved in starting new projects.  I need to put those new blocks away because they are very enticing.  Finish, finish, finish is my mantra. 

Quilting with a Modern Twist

 Happiness is a quilt finished.  Thanks to a Craftsy class, I got going with some modern quilting using my walking foot.  It went really well.  I used this quilt as kind of a sampler to try out different patterns.  I'm really liking this and it is easier for me than FM quilting.  Very time consuming.  Lots of stitches.

Birthday Surprise

 I am now officially part of the Medicare generation.  I was told by my DH to set aside certain days to celebrate this milestone birthday this year. I was whisked away on a Thursday afternoon before Memorial Day weekend to Half Moon Bay for a lovely spa weekend.  We had delightful weather and I enjoyed relaxing spa treatments and yummy meals.  We'll probably never do this expensive of a weekend get-away again.  It was a once in a lifetime treat and it will be remembered forever.

Back Home for another celebration with the DGDs and family.