I got a lot of projects finished up in a week of quilting at the beach!  Here is what our condo was looking like as we were unpacking fabric and sewing items, machines, and even a small table!
                                            
                                            

                                            

                                            

                                            

                                           
Here is some fabric that I washed, dried, and ironed, but I wanted to be sure it was completely dry -

                                            

The night we arrived, after we unloaded, unpacked, went to the grocery store, made ourselves dinner, and cleaned that up, I decided to do some easy sewing, so I sewed the binding on my pinwheel spin - here it is, ready for the binding to be sewn together and then on it -

                                            

I also sewed the binding on a table runner, and then pieced together two quilt backs.  The next day, we shopped, at quilt shops, because we both needed fabric.  But after that, we really got to work.  I spent about a day and a half finishing up this quilt that I started years ago as a block of the month and never quite got finished -

                                            

Here is a close up of that center medallion -

                                            

Meanwhile, Sheila was working on two things, and I can't remember which she did first - this one is a star pattern, using batiks, and it is called Sparkling Cider or something like that -

                                            

Then she made a quilt for her husband, using a car and tool theme -

                                            

                                            

My next big project was my very difficult Thimbleberries, also an old block of the month from years ago.  I had finished up to the many pieced borders, and I really needed help with this one.  I started this back when I was still learning a lot of quilting and piecing techniques, and my quilt center was not measuring correctly at all, and therefore, putting the borders on was quite a nightmare as it got larger and larger.  Sheila, who is much more experienced than I am, spent hours helping me get the borders on this.  Thanks, Sheila!

                                             

                                             

                                             

                                             

Wow, was I glad to be finished with that!

Meanwhile, about a year ago, I purchased material to make Jim a Steelers quilt!  He knew about this one, but didn't know what I was going to do exactly.  Neither did I!  But this is what I ended up making -

                                              

                                              

He seems pleased with the result!  Of course, the Steelers are finished for this year, but next year, he can add the quilt to all the paraphernalia he has when he watches a game, whether it is from home or at his brother's!

Sheila made a quilt for one of her sons, using snowboarding fabric -

                                              

                                              

That was about it!  I found fabric to make Charlie a quilt with construction vehicles and tools and stuff.  He had told me what to look for.  "You know, Grandma, with a bulldozer and trucks on it!"  Today when he was over, he saw his fabric and told me he had wanted trains too!  Sorry, darling, but they didn't have all of that together!  But he loved his construction fabric and wants a quilt to go over his whole bed!  Fortunately, he has a twin bed!  I am thrilled to make Charlie another quilt, so I will be working on that one very soon!

That was a wonderful week at the beach!

                                              

                                      

This was the view I had out of the window where I stayed for the past week!  I went with a friend to Myrtle Beach, SC.  She had a week to use of her timeshare, and she invited me to go spend it with her at the beach, quilting all week!!!   We had a wonderful time! 

I have lots of pictures and a whole week to blog about!  So, tonight's post will show the area we were in.  It was very chilly and windy most of the week, and we had a little bit of rain.  But that didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves!

This is the beach during one of our walks.  Lots of sea gulls, and lots of shells to be collected.  We were chilly, wearing jackets and sweatshirts, and we only walked on the beach two of the days we were there.

                                         

                                         

And this is where we were staying -

                                         

We spent most of one day shopping - and mostly in quilt shops!  But we did walk around some quaint little area shops, and the camelias were blooming.  Beautiful ones!  Some looked different than the ones I have been familiar with in Mississippi and in other parts of South Carolina. 

                                         

                                         

                                         

Here is Sheila displaying one of them -

                                         

I celebrated a birthday while I was there!  Jim sent me flowers!

                                         

And the timeshare office sent me balloons with candy attached!

                                         

Why did they send balloons????   Because we woke up the morning of my birthday to water in the carpet near where the bathroom and washer and dryer all were.  It kept getting worse, so they moved us to a different condo - one floor below.  It took all morning between them investigating the water source and then moving us, and then getting settled into the new place with all of our sewing machines and quilting supplies as well as our clothes and kitchen stuff!  As it turned out, the leaky pipe was from a condo two floors above us!  Not sure it was smart to move us one floor down, but we didn't have any problems.  I guess they were able to fix the leak, and they were glad we were there to have found it!

For those of you who remember my kitchen water damage and the resultant remodeling . . . . I think that water damage follows me everywhere!

So, we shopped a little, and we walked some, and we ate some yummy food, and we found some wonderful quilting shops AND some wonderful yarn shops!  But most of the time we sewed! 

Next time - Quilting at the beach!

For over 20 years, since my girls were little, I have had their old Lite Brite up in a closet, saving it for my grandchildren, and waiting for a day when they were old enough to enjoy it and we had enough time and needed something new to do!

So, today, I pulled it out!  This was the first "picture" we made on it.

                                         

Amanda and Sam were attending a funeral, so I had lots of time with the kids, and a couple of hours when John was napping, to do Lite Brite with Charlie and Megan.  I told them I had 3 rules:

1 - we only could play with it while John was napping, so that we wouldn't have to worry about the tiny pegs falling on the floor while he was crawling around.

2 - they had to share and not argue about it, or Grandma would put it away.

3 - they could only play with it if I was right there.  The thing was so old and involved a very old plug-in light, so I wanted to make sure there were no problems.

The kiddos were great!  Here they are, putting pegs into Lite Brite.  I had a lot of these plain pages available, not many papers that had designs, and those were a little old for them.  So, they just put the pegs in anywhere they wanted.

                            

                              

Well, I uploaded more pictures, but I am using Internet Explorer instead of Firefox.  On Firefox, I can't link it to Facebook.  Now on Internet Explorer, I have lost some of my pictures that had uploaded.  Sigh.

Anyway, the kids enjoyed the Lite Brite.  After they left, I got online to see if I could order some more picture papers from Amazon.  They had them available, the rectangular ones for the old classis Lite Brite, even though the newer Lite Brites are completely different!  So, I ordered more packages of picture papers, and by late afternoon, Amazon sent me an email that my order has been shipped!

Megan got tired of Lite Brite sooner than Charlie, and I was so happy to see her "reading" one of my quilt magazines! 

                               

Again, there were more pictures on here that have disappeared!

After awhile, the kids wanted to play with some other toys -

                                

                                

And then it was lunchtime!  John was awake, so I gave him his lunch in the kitchen -

                               

                               

                               

The older two ate in the living room while they watched a Signing video -

                               

                               

                               

Then it was time to clean up, because Mommy and Daddy were on their way.  They did a great job cleaning up, but John was pulling toys out as fast as Megan could put them away!

                               

Time to go home!  We had a great time, and we saw them at dinner time again when Jim and I  picked up Chinese food and took it over!

Sigh - I guess I will have to go back to uploading pictures and typing my blog on one server and then getting out of that and switching to another server to link to Facebook.  I wasn't pleased with losing pictures as I was typing this blog!

                                 

                            

                                            

During the Thanksgiving break, when Suzanne was home, we were talking about our wall of cross stitch pictures.  Well, the wall we want to have our cross stitch pictures on.  So far, we have two, and this is how it all came about.  Many years ago, I received a Paula Vaughn cross stitch book of pictures with quilts in them, for each month.  I decided that I wanted to stitch the pictures of the months that represented birthdays in our family.  Easy at first, as there were only 5 of us!  But I didn't get them stitched very quickly.  I started the January picture, but as my eyes were getting older and I was still trying to work out using my contacts to include my normal nearsightedness and my then-recent farsightedness, or presbyopia - you know, when you have to hold the book waaaaay out to see - I really couldn't see to cross stitch, so I gave it up for about 10 years.  Suzanne finished that January picture for me and we had it framed and put on the wall -

                                      

January has my birthday, and Jim's is in February.  But I got caught up in quilting and knitting and smocking and I finally did go back to cross stitch, after I discovered that first bifocals and now progressive lenses are the answer to my vision problems, when I wanted to cross stitch Christmas stockings for my grandchildren to go with others I had made for the rest of us.  But I never got back to those pictures.  But Suzanne did!  And one year, she surprised me with the February picture all completed!

                                      

So, now we have two -

                                      

And now I want the rest of them up there, which I realize will take awhile with sons-in-law and grandchildren!  Fortunately, some of the months overlap.  So, I had actually started April a year or so ago, but again, put it down to do other things and didn't work on it.  So, Suzanne and I came up with a challenge for ourselves.  I will stitch the April picture, and she will stitch the June picture (her birthday month is April and Amanda's birthday month is June - we are doing the sisters first), and we will finish by Thanksgiving of 2012, a year from when we talked about it.  So, Suzanne said, "Let's come up with an alliteration, like you and Betsy do for reading!"

So, here ya go - our 2012 stitching alliteration -

Stitching Some Specifically Selected Sewing Scenes to Sustain the Succession of Specialized Seasonal Samplers

That is my 2012 stitching challenge!  I will keep y'all up on my progress!

Meanwhile, my reading this year will start, tonight, with one of these:

                                     

                                      

And here are the books I mentioned in my last post, that Betsy and Andrew gave me -

                                    

                                    

Looks like I will have a busy year!

Betsy, shown here, modeling a new scarf I made her for Christmas -

                                         

Betsy and I have, for the past 7 years, although it is usually in the summer, chosen a topic of books to read, and then we make an alliteration out of the subject.  Our first one, for instance, was the Mad Mystery Month of May.  As the years have gone by, we have expanded our literary achievements and have enjoyed making an alliteration, which, according to the dictionary is: 

It was a wonderful Christmas with all of the kids home, and Jim's parents in town staying with  Joan, Kip and Josh - all so close to be able to get together for almost every day of the long weekend!  Most of this I'll show in just pictures with only a few comments.  I know that we won't all always be together at Christmas, and so I am thankful for this year when we were!

Betsy found me the absolutely cutest Lamb Chop - the lady at the store where she found it was surprised that she knew who Lamb Chop was!  She told her that she grew up knowing all about Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop - her mother's favorite!  So, Lamb Chop now presides over my kitchen desk!

                                        

And here we go - lots of pictures, from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!

                                        

                                        

                                        

                                        

                                        

                                        

                                        

                                        

                                        

                                        

                                         

                                         

                                         

                                         

                                         

                                         

                                         

                                         

Josh was soooo happy when he opened his gift from his cousins - they knew he would love this hat!

                                         

                                         

                                         

John seemed to really enjoy pulling all the things out of Aunt Joan's bag while we were getting dinner ready!

                                         

I didn't get pictures of everyone or all of the weekend activities!  But we did a lot of playing, some shopping, a LOT of cooking and eating - every day, from when the family all started arriving on Wednesday night!  We all went to Christmas Eve services - at one church or another.  And we all went to Christmas Day services at our various churches as well.  After Christmas, on Monday, we had the very nicest, relaxing day when Amanda and Sam and the kids came over and spent the entire day, so that the adult siblings could be together, and the little ones could play and take their naps at Grandma's.  Then, that night, the rest of the Fosters all came back over and we ordered pizza and had a great time all that evening as well.  Tuesday was an errand/shopping day.  Suzanne left to go home, and Bets and Andrew went out for the evening with a friend.  Today, Wednesday - more shopping and lunch together, then one more night of the siblings together - Amanda, Sam, and kiddos came over for a fun dinner of finding all the left overs in the frig and heating them up!  Then, Betsy and Andrew left for Colorado this evening for their 25 ish - hour trip home.

The long weekend also included:  Sam with a very bad ear infection, Betsy going to a chiropractor here locally to try to deal with her headaches, me going to PT and spending some time on the couch with ice on a very painful knee, Luna going to the vet right before dinner this evening with a pinched nerve, Jim's dad with all of his health issues not looking well at all, although he was determined to continue to participate in everything and enjoy himself!  We all, in comparing our feelings about Dad, at the end, wonder if we will all be together again like this.  And I am so thankful that, among the many things we did, Sam brought his high-tech camera over on Christmas at my request to take a very special picture of the entire family together!  Sorry, but that is on Sam's camera, not mine, so I will have to show it another time!

Next time - looking forward to the New Year with some fun reading and sewing alliterations!

                                        

The kids are all here now for Christmas!  Suzanne got in tonight.  Betsy and Andrew have been here since last night.  Today was a day of pre-Christmas busyness!  And tonight, while I baked cookies, Betsy and Andrew wrapped a lot of the presents that I hadn't yet gotten to!  Thanks, kids!!!  It was such a big help!

                                      

On a sadder note - please pray with me for several families who have lost loved ones this week - all unexpected and tragic.  One young woman I had only met once, but I saw on Facebook that she died suddenly this morning.  Another family that is very special to us lost several family members in a plane crash in another state.  May God pour out His grace and mercy to these families in the days ahead.

And may God help me to appreciate every day the blessings I have in Him!

Tomorrow, Jim's parents are driving in from Pennsylvania, and we hope they will be here in time for a family dinner!

Am I the only one struggling with feeling like a Scrooge this Christmas season? 

Let me say, first -
 
Yes, I am thrilled to celebrate the birth of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to worship Him and sing Christmas songs and give gifts and have my family all together.  I am soooo very thankful that God saved me and gave me the best family anyone could ever ask for!  I am thrilled that I can give gifts to everyone I love, that I can make things that will make people happy, and that I can cook and have family and friends over and that I have a glorious new kitchen to work in this year!  And having my grandchildren nearby and able to come over regularly is the JOY of my life!  I miss them terribly even when it is yesterday since I have seen them! 

But, I am tired, and I am struggling with major knee pain, and I don't have enough hours in any given day to get everything done, and to add physical therapy, both at the PT clinic and at home, to my very long list of things to do.  And I miss my girls, and for the years since they have been "out of the nest", all the decorating has fallen on me.  Jim did, just a little while ago, teasingly tell me that he put up the tree and lights!  Ha ha - glad he was laughing and knew it was funny, because he did do that - he put the 4' pre-lit tree that I bought last year, up on the table in front of the window, and helped me make sure the lights worked.  I have cut back MAJORLY on any decorating because it is all mine to do and to take down and put away.  Hence, I am feeling like a Scrooge.

I am THRILLED that Jim has a job, even if he works very long hours, and I am THRILLED that he loves to hunt, which gives us venison, for one thing, and makes him very happy!  And he is very supportive of my love of quilting and knitting and all, as well as my desire to go to quilt camp, visit the kids, etc.  I thank the Lord for such a wonderful husband.

But I am a little overwhelmed with all the extras that the Christmas season brings.  So, I need to get off here and get those Christmas cards addressed. . . or should I be finishing the wrapping?  Or the last of the handwork I am needing to do before Wednesday?  Or plan my menus, because - praise the Lord - everyone will be home this week!!!!!

Am I the only one who is feeling overwhelmed right about now? 

This is one of the main things I have been working on this Christmas season - and for a couple of years; it wasn't ready for last Christmas.  But I finished it today!

                                          

It came as a kit - and so did the one I had made for Charlie - but Megan's is smaller.  You never know, I have learned lately, what you are going to really get in a kit!

                                          

John will be celebrating his first Christmas, but fortunately, he doesn't know that he won't have a cross stitched stocking at Grandma's this year!  Shhhh . . .  don't tell him!

Here are the ones I made for the girls when they were little -

                                           

We used to have hooks on the ledge between our kitchen and living room, but with the new buffet, we don't.  And we don't have a mantle.  So, I purchased some weighted stocking holders and put them on the bookshelves, away from little people who might pull them down -

                                            

I still might do some re-arranging, but that is the idea.  Sam's stocking is one we ordered - construction overalls!  And Andrew's is another one I ordered, but he hasn't seen his yet, so I am showing the picture with just Suzanne's and Betsy's on the shelf -

                                            

Amanda asked me if I would babysit so that she could go Christmas shopping without the kids, and this morning worked out perfectly for both of us.  They loved seeing the small Christmas trees I have put up -

                                   

                                   

This one is made of ribbon with lights tucked inside - made by and given to Jim by a patient many years ago -

                                   

We played lots of things this morning!  Megan made me "dinner" -

                                   

And she loved "pouring" me more to drink!

                                   

Charlie went shopping and then had me go shopping and he checked out my things, on this cash register that used to be his mommy's -

                                   

John sat and played with toys; he is so content to sit and play when his brother and sister are close by -

                                   

                                   

When John took his nap, we got out Marbleworks - which also belonged to his mommy and his aunts all those many years ago.  This is something I don't get out when John is around, as even though we do it up out of his way, those marbles can fall all over the place!

                                   

                                   

John didn't sleep too long here at Grandma's house.  So, we cleaned up Marbleworks and John munched on his Cheerios while I made lunch -

                                   

Mommy came back and they all went home.  Amanda wanted to know if she could have another day to finish up her shopping - it will be the joy of my life to have them here again soon!  Especially when Charlie says, "I love you, Grandma!"