Its' Christmas time

Thank you all for your kind thoughts on my ankle. It is still really tender to the touch, but I am no longer walking with a visible limp! And the swelling is almost imperceptible now. I think dancing my be out this weekend, thankfully, I doubt the company Christmas party has any dancing anyway. Last I heard we were playing games. Makes sense for a game manufacturing company.

If you are interested in what we are promoting as the hot new game of our line up, head over to Amazon and check out Telestrations. I have played it with friends and it is just as funny as the reviews make it sound. It is even funnier when playing with someone who can't draw--the results are hysterical. Plus I like that everyone is engaged the entire time. I hate waiting for my turn to play.

Assuming that you are done with your shopping and your house is decorated, you are way ahead of me! It is beginning to feel a little like Christmas... spending 40 hours a week at the office has kept me from decorating as I would in years past. I got a few boxes with the girls Christmas houses down from the attic before Thanksgiving, but I haven't gotten back into the attic since to get anything else down to start decorating.


Thankfully, when I went up there last month I got down my Christmas quilts I made over the last 2 or 3 Christmases. This one is a Santa that is very loosely based off a pattern that my mom and I converted so that we could strip piece 5 of them at the same time. That is 5 for her and 5 for me. So we spent a couple of days, and pieced and quilted 10 of these Santas. I have since given the other 4 away, but it is nice to have one to remember the fun of getting togerther.

The tree is batiks knotted onto a flat dowel tucked into a pocket with a star velcroed on top.
We added yarn hair, belt buckles, and a 3 dimensional beard to give him more personality.




This next one is another mini quilt. It is 9" square to rest in my little mini quilt frame. I have a Christmas Star/Poinsettia that I designed that I have put in there for the past several years, but last year I decided I wanted a quilt to soften up the display of Nativity Scenes that I put out each year so I shrunk and tweaked a pattern to make it fit in the little square.

And finally the last quilt I want to share is one I just finished... with the intention of giving it away. I joined the Pay it Forward challenge in May and have just given the first quilt to a new home. This one is going to my friend Sarah. God has blessed her with 4 kids–3 of them boys. So I wanted to make her something soothing, that she wouldn't feel obligated to keep out since her home is small and I didn't want her to feel overwhelmed with more things within. It is so much fun making something for someone else because with every stitch you think of that person and how much you care for them. Her daughter and my eldest are "best friends" so it was truly a blessing that she signed up for my challenge.


For this quilt I followed a tutorial on Moda Bakeshop. If you aren't a regular visitor, then you are truly missing out. They have all sorts of ways to use the precuts of fabric that are so popular now.
This pattern was originally to be used with a layer cake (10" squares), but I fudged the recipe, and used a charm pack instead. The piece were very tiny, but I love to create little masterpieces.
This quilt finished at about 2 foot square, perfect for a table topper or a small wall.


I am still looking for 2 more participants in my pay it forward challenge if you want to participate, sign up in the comments, you just have to commit to making something handmade for 3 others within 6 months or a year.

Kami

The Couch Potato

I had so many things to do yesterday, I left the house early to to attend a card making class. I went with my mom and we had lots of fun, then dashed away to go Christmas shopping at one store before she had to go to an afternoon Christmas party up in Pasadena. I stayed longer to finish my shopping. I got so many gifts, and as I was leaving the store I found one more and had to go back to the counter to buy another.

So thinking of my excellent purchases, and thinking ahead to my final stop, and digging for my car keys... I forgot to look where I was walking. I saw the curb in my peripheral vision. But I missed it. I badly twisted my ankle, clutching desperately to the car next to me, I tried to regain my balance, only to find out the car was occupied by a young woman. Who thankfully was more concerned about me, than the fact that I could not let go of her car. Finally, I was able to hobble to my car, and since it is my left leg, I could skip every other errand and drive myself home.

I spent most of the afternoon resting on the couch and slowly puttering around the house, but the worst came when I had to go out last night. By the time we got home my ankle was the the size of half a tennis ball, and my pain threshhold had already been maxed out by an hour, and I could do nothing but collapse on the couch. AND my darling husband adamantly refused to give me more that the tablets specified on the motrin bottle for the pain--ONE! He finally, gave in a let me take a second one, thankfully. Today I can hobble around again, but I will once again be spending the day mostly on the couch.

Kami