December Highlights

Always the sky!

what wind does to warm snow!

our "cover boy"!
 I entered this photo contest shortly after getting back here..."Kids and Critters"...and they chose mine!...how cool is that?

meanwhile, he turned 15!

winter critters

fabric in the mail counts as a highlight, right?

sunshine from the South!

this sweet scarf was a surprise from a neighbor friend back in Indiana! So sweet! I love it!

this is a reflection of the sunrise, to our west! my favorite moment of the month, by far, as we prayed for my Mother-in-Law, who has now been recovering pretty darn well from a fall she took right before the holiday!

Happy Play on a Wintery Day

 Sweet ginghams....

little half-square triangles...

equals happiness in an orange dish!

Adding a couple more as I go...
I did not share this one on FaceBook...I didn't think anyone would understand why this makes me SEW HAPPY!

Don't you love having your binding all ready and waiting for you before you even start the quilting? I sure do!

This has taken more than one wintery day by now!

Winter Sparkle!

Ladies Night Challenge!

  Here we go!

This is a picture of why I couldn't spring for one of the three gorgeous bundles at Sew Lux Fabric!

I had just ordered these charm packs the very day before I learned of the Challenge!

Hubby brought them home from town the very day I pieced it, December 10th!

Chrissy's pallette was the only one I could come close to matching...

One stray charm of oval elements and my new Charley Harper gold, and my bundle was complete!

This turned out to be a bit tricky without the pattern to go by!

I first saw this pattern here...love at first sight!

look how sweet the backing!

single layer binding...thank you for the reminder Amanda Jean!

I seriously couldn't love this little "sparkler" any more than I do!!!

"Winter Sparkle"

21.5" x 21.5"

some very favorite fabrics:

 pearl bracelets,

 squared elements,

 honeysuckle trellis,

 desert daydreams, 

Charley Harper,

 DS quilts

For the back, after much auditioning, I went with Bonnie & Camille's Happy-Go-Lucky print. It is my first and only B&C, and so appropriate with Camille's sweet Round and Round pattern :) 

It was bit overcast today for picture purposes, but we made do...and got a truckload of firewood while we were at it!

I am just so happy the three Ladies, Sarah, Chrissy and Lee saw fit to invite me (and everyone) to join in on their fun!!!  I really had a blast with the fabrics and a pattern that otherwise would probably have never been done!!!  I would do this again, anytime!

Thank you, thank you!!!

Linked up with: 

Ladies Night Challenge

Finish It Up Friday@ CrazyMomQuilts

It's Been Cold!

Cold with a capital C!

someone went out in their bare feet!  Brrr!

Last week, about this time we were looking at -37 degrees, hitting the lowest of -45 on Saturday morning!  

Montana was the coldest place in the world those couple of days! Colder than Antarctica!  When do I get a penguin?!

how 'bout the new Pantone color of the year...Radiant Orchid, right outside on a cold day!

While the rest of the household went into hibernation/stoke-the-woodstove mode, I got busy with the sewing machine!

 That's right, I got out my Block of the Month quilt top from 2012!

pinned it

 My first ever BOM, by Jeni Baker at InColorOrder 

quilted it

 (I think it is now in her pattern shop as HST Sampler)

FINISHED it!!

I made an extra block for the back.  I LOVE it!

The Nash, ever helpful!

The finished quilt measures 53" x 67"

I bought the fabrics at an LQS, while back in Indiana, such a treat!

 My three original Fat Quarters were Nancy Halvorsen, the lighter red, green, and blue plaid.  

When I went back for more, I filled in with Renee Nanneman's warm and rich brown, gold, red, blues.

The border, binding and backing are all my favorites from Renee Nanneman

Before I got the sewing machine put away, something else happened, but that is another story for another post, soon :)  So much quilty fun in the cold!

Challenge Accepted!

Have you heard the challenge?  

It is the Ladies Night Challenge, brainstorm of Sarah of Stitching and Bacon, Chrissy of Sew Lux Fabrics and Lee of May Chappell.  The gist of it is to make a project between now and December 23 using one of three color schemes, using curated bundles in the store, or the same colors from your own stash. And there are prizes!!!  As soon as I saw it, I was determined to be "in"!  Then I went to my tub o fabric...and I thought for sure I was "out".

Today, the first day of the link up, I remembered a few little orphan charms that would make up the difference in my color scheme!  

So, YAY, I played all day!  I haven't quite finished, but I'm having a ball!

I am using Chrissy's color palette: pink(ish), gold and aqua.  I am making a little quilt using a pattern I have lately fallen hard for, but thought would have to wait for who knows how long...and here I am making it today!  In these sweet colors!!  

We hope you all will join the fun!!!

Linking up with Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday!

Just Sew!

As I already recapped, we enjoyed a super Thanksgiving time with friends from Indiana. On one of our afternoons together, Terri and I dumped my little but growing bag of scraps and she got an elementary lesson in piecing and quilting!

  She also pieced the back with a 4 patch, so she could match seams.  I put the binding on, as it really was her nap time by then, but she watched attentively!

I sent her home with a couple fat quarters, in hopes the sewing bug will stick!!!

Time will tell :)

Oh!  And I made a few bracelets for my
  teeny tiny etsy shop!

Linking up with Sew Cute Tuesday!

November Highlights

                            

 Is it December already? 

Well we've had a fine November!  We had a few guests, the boys got out and about, and some beautiful skies to go with it all.

one, two, switcheroo!  you would have to know em to realize they've "switched" (clothes, hats) funny boys!

on top of his world!

moon set

Ben turned 17!

the Judith Mountains

But the highest "highlight" came at the end of the month, when our friends from Indiana joined us for four days over Thanksgiving!

Terri, in orange :)

Enjoy the rest of this year!  It will be gone before we know it!