Merry Christmas, Happy Boxing Day and Have a Blessed New Year!

OK, I will warn you ahead of time that this is going to be a big mis mash of information...but I have been so busy that I have not had time to post on this blog. I swore to myself that I WOULD NOT get overwhelmed with holiday sewing...I just was not going to do it. I was going to enjoy my holiday of peace and celebrate the birth of Christ...well, I got totally overwhelmed with sewing and my wonderful family and fantastic friends...and now we are in recovery mode. My husband is rearranging the living room and dining room and I keep having to give him my opinion. Re-arranging seems to be a pretty common past time around here. My daughter even takes it upon herself to shove the furniture around. The kids are playing with the slot car set that my dad sent them. It is a Mini Cooper slot car set! Do you know that I had one of the first Mini Coopers in the US? It is true...I bought it right before PCSing (moving) from Germany back in 2002.


This is my latest Hero Quilt for CPT Lyerly's son. CPT Lyerly's Black Hawk helicopter was shot down in Baghdad on the 20th of January 2007. I wanted to get this quilt finished and out before Christmas, but I just couldn't do it. I came really close, but that only counts in horse shoes, right? I love how his Hero Quilt turned out.

Sean's favorite color was purple, so I used bits of lilac shot cotton and I had to get creative on finding enough fabric from his uniform for the quilt after cutting it up for 4 Hero Bags. I used some of the BDU and bits of the linings of his pockets. I also took most of the buttons from his uniform and tied them onto the quilt. I love how it turned out. There really is no "Pattern" to this quilt, it would make a great scrap quilt if you are so inclined to make one for yourself check out this tutorial by Lady Harvatine (confetti quilt tutorial). I kinda went by that tutorial, but I also used some of Gwen Marston's method from "Liberated Quiltmaking".


I was a little stuck on how to finish the quilt, so I made a pieced binding. The back of the quilt is a nice purple (donated by Westminster Fabrics) and a lovely wide strip of fabric I cut from the sweet stack that Jessica Lytle was so kind to donate for my Hero quilt cause.

After the Hero Quilt was finished, I had to take a break and get ready for Christmas around here. We got up early and made sugar cookies and chocolate gingerbread mates. While they tasted too good, I know why I don't make shaped cookies very often. They are sooooo much work. Holy cow. We made them in Australian shapes like the country and camels. Emma took the decorating very seriously.

This is a shot of the sky down here. It is too hot to be outside. I think in the sun it must be about 120F, but in the shade it is about 105. Oh and it is humid too, so that really makes it warm. Normally when it is hot, it is just dry heat, I don't like the humidity much at all.

Here the kiddos with one of the favorite Christmas presents...the mini cooper slot car set. The cars zip right off the track when I get my turn to play. Thanks so much dad! The kids LOVE it!

Here is Ethan with one of his favorite gifts...a skate board. The tree in the background is 2 different fig trees and they are getting really ripe and tasty...but I can't eat that many figs in this lifetime, so if you want one or a bunch let me know and they are yours!

Here is Sam and his pedal car...

I need to go assist with some of the furniture placement, I don't want Stu to block any of my windows. Have a wonderful rest of your holiday season! I will be back to the bags soon and mail the ones that are ready to go out Monday. I also have several hats cut. It is so hot and bright out that I have to wear a hat....wait till you see them. This last one I made is awesome, but too big for my head. If you are a lady with a big head in need of a pretty cool sun hat let me know and you can have it. I need to dedicate a post to these hats and I also found some AWESOME buttons at a gift shop in town, they have bits of dried flowers in them. I love pressing flowers and most of my big books have flowers pressed between the pages, so these were too hard to resist...

One last thing before I really go...Thank you so much for the sweet emails you have been sending about me ceasing production of my bags while I home school Emma. I don't see this being a permanent thing. I am pretty sure I will be making bags for you all again, but I just have got to take a break from it. I am working on putting together a pattern book...or a method book, so you can make your own bags! Woopee.

Anyway, I am off to tidy up the house again!

xo,

Tia