2012 Comes to a Close

 

On the last day of 2012 I am reflecting back on the last twelve months. I have many things to be happy for and very few regrets.  In fact the only regret I can think of is that I have not spent more time with my grandkids.  The 600 mile distance from each other makes it difficult to spend all the time I would like with them.

This has been a fun year of stretching myself with new techniques in quilting and making new friends in the quilting world.  Several of the highlights of this year include going to two quilting retreats, especially the Cobble Count Quilters group where all of us are such good friends; attending the International Quilt Festival in Houston with two dear friends; family vacation in North Carolina; and a week with the family during Christmas holidays.

I am thankful for all of the blessings in my life.

Here's to a new page in 2013!!


Sandra

Merry Christmas

 

Merry Christmas to all of my family and friends.

 

Have a safe and happy holiday.

 

 

Sandra

Christmas Presents Finale and a Great Recipe

I have been diligently working on a Christmas present for two young ladies that work with me.  They are rather new on the job, but they have turned out to be the best data entry personnel that we have had in a long time.  I wanted to make something special for them so I decided I would make a Christmas Wreath that I saw being made by Jenny from Missouri Star Quilt Company in a YouTube video. The link to this tutorial is found here. The pattern uses the "twister tool"  I have had this tool for about two years, but had never used it. 

I chose the fabric, followed the direction in the tutorial, and set about to make two of these.  This is the final product.  I just loved both of them.  It was hard to give away so I cut out another one for myself. 

I quilted it with my "Christmas Present to Myself" Baby Lock Sashiko machine.  This machine is the only one of its kind in the sewing machine world.  Its stitches look like hand sewing.  If you are interested in more details, check it out here.

These wreaths were my second project using this machine - I just love it!!

Now for the Recipe...............

Back in February I attended a quilting retreat in Brownswood TX.  Everyone brought their favorite snacks, but one particular snack was the hit of the week.  It was Amy's Carmel Puff Corn.  Amy was one of the girls from San Angelo.  We all asked for the receipt.  Judy L was kind enough to put the recipe on her blog.  I am passing it on to you - it is one of the best snacks I have ever eaten!!  If you need a quick snack that is delicious, this is the one to try.
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Amy's Carmel Puff Corn

3 bags of Puff Corn (3.5 oz size)

Open bags and pour into large roasting pan.

2 sticks of butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup Karo

Place these three ingredients in pan and cook until boiling.  Boil for one minute.

Add 1 teaspoon soda and stir. (Be careful, mixture will swell up.)

Pour over corn puffs and stir.

Bake at 250 degrees for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.

Remove and let cool.  Place in a sealed container (if it lasts that long).
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If you have never seen Puff Corn in your grocery store, this is what you are looking for:

Cheetos also makes puff corn.

Hope you enjoy this recipe.

Sandra

 

Easy Street Mystery - Part 5

Part 5 of Easy Street is completed.  It was not that hard, but it seemed to take me forever to complete it.  I am amazed that I have been able to keep up with the steps week by week.  This may be the last week for that because I will not be home for Part 6.

My Part 5 looks like this:

I am beginning to run out of my turquoise fabric.  This step used up two of my prints. 

In addition to completing Part 5, I have also cut out the black on white rectangles and the green squares.

I have enjoyed my first four days of vacation - more is on the way, I do not have to return to my workplace until January 7.  Yea!!

Happy Quilting,

Sandra

Easy Street Part 4

We are in our fourth week on Easy Street.  This week we made purple geese with turquoise wings.  These are so pretty.  I just love this combination of color.

After making 64 of those, they were attached to the flying geese in Step 2 that had purple geese and black on white wings.

I have not finished attaching all of the units, but I am well on my way to having this step completed.

Bonnie also said to cut out 145 3.5 inch green squares, if we had time.  Maybe I can do that before Part 5 comes out Friday.

This is going to be a fun quilt.

Sandra

















 

Just Needles Guild Christmas Party

The Just Needles Guild of Pascagoula got together for their Christmas Party at The Boat House, located at Presley's Landing.

We had a delicious meal with peach cobbler with ice cream for dessert.  After the dinner we played the dirty Santa game for gifts that each of us had made.  All of the gifts were beautiful; no matter which one you received it was great. 

 

 

 

 

Some of the gift are shown below:

 

 

 

 

This is what I made for the gift exchange.

A good time was had by all.

Sandra

December Block for Blogger's Block of the Month

This month the Crafting Mechanic has a cute block for her contribution to the Blogger's Block of the Month.  Visit Natalie's blog for the tutorial on this block.

Here is a picture of the block:

Thanks to Dhia of Peach Patch Quilts for sponsoring this monthly event.  She has a beautiful set of fabric for a giveaway this month.  Click on the link and check out the blocks that have been submitted, enter the give-away  and look at the schedule for 2013.

Sharp Quilts will be hosting a block on February 15.

Sandra

And the winner is..............

 The birthday bash at Quilting Gallery was a great success. Over 140 people stopped by to leave a comment on my blog.  Many of the visitors became followers.  I am just amazed.    I had no idea that such a small request as "what is your favorite Christmas memory" would generate so many wonderful responses.  There were very few that were alike.  I enjoyed reading all of your comments and I hope that this holiday season will generate many more wonderful memories for all of you.

Now to the important part of this give-away -- The Winner!!

The random generator chose:

True Random Number Generator

Min:Max:

Result:32Powered by RANDOM.ORG

That comment was made by Leigh7911:  "We've always had an artificial tree, and one year my parents upgraded and my sister and I got the old one to decorate for our very own. That was a blast. I suspect watching my 4-year-old with her new doll house this year will soon become my favorite though. :)  Leigh has won the Moda Charm Pack.

In addition to the birthday bash gift, I am also giving away another prize to celebrate all of the new followers that joined during this event.  All of the follower names were put in a hat.  The winner is MarieK - Marie you have won the following:

 

Both of the winners have been notified by email  In the event that I do now hear from either of these ladies by midnight,  December 21, I will have another drawing.

 

Thanks again to all of you for visiting and leaving comments. 

 

Enjoy this wonderful time of the year and try to get in a little quilting............

 

Sandra

Happy 5th Birthday to Quilting Gallery

As I announced yesterday, Quilting Gallery is 5 years old on December 10.  Over 150 bloggers, including Sharp Quilts is celebrating by having a Blog Hop Party with Give-Aways.

I will be giving away a Moda Charm Pack - Half Moon Modern - to one of my followers or one of my guest that visits my blog between now and December 15.  The winner will be chosen by the random number generator from the comments posted by midnight, December 15.

To be eligable to win just leave a comment about your favorite Christmas memory on this post.  Comments left on other posts will not be included in the contest.  I am hoping that many of my guests will become followers.  I do have give-aways occasionally and would love to have you join me.  Who knows, maybe by December 15 I will add more items to this give-away.

My blog is a mixture of my quilting, my family and many other activities and trips that take place within my world. 

Click on the Quilting Gallery link above to visit Quilting Gallery and see a list of other bloggers that are also celebrating this birthday.  Visit as many bloggers as you can to become eligable for the prizes.

Happy Quilting,

Sandra







 

Christmas with the Sand Stitchers

The Sand Stitchers Quilt Guild had their annual Christmas party in the lovely home of one of its members, Teresa - serving a President of the Guild this year.

 

 

We had a feast consisting of ham and many other side dishes brought by members.  The desserts were plentiful and great tasting.  After the meal we exchanged gifts, then had the block lottery of beautiful quilt blocks made by members.  Thirty blocks were made, so there were two winners of 15 blocks each.  The winners were Pat Hicks and Teresa Ess. 

 

 

Beautiful Applique

We also had our customary group picture.  I do not have a copy to insert, but will when I get one. 

It was a lot of fun.  It has become a tradition to come to Teresa's home and enjoy this festive event.

Thanks for your hospitality Teresa.

Sandra

Easy Street Part 3 - Shaded Four Patches

We are moving fast on Bonnie Hunter's Easy Street Mystery.  This week we are making 64 Shaded Four Patches with our 2 inch square purples, black on white background fabrics and turquoise triangles.  I am loving the combination of these colors. 

This block worked up rather fast for me.  As in the other steps, I still have to square them up, but they are finished.

There is still time to join the fun, just click on the logo to the right of this post.  Bonnie will be posting her third linkey tomorrow (Monday), so hop over and see what others are doing.   

Until next week all of you Bonnie fans ---

Sandra
 

Quilting Gallery is having a Birthday Party!!

Quilting Gallery is celebrating their 5th Birthday on December 10.  I am joining the Blog Hop Party with a give-away.  Check back on Monday to join in the fun. 

Sandra

Organizing My Stash

When visiting many blogs and various websites I came across several types of fabric organizers.     The ones from Polar Notions caught my eye.  I did some research and found many favorable comments for these boards.

My stash is out of control and I need help.  It was so bad that I really did not know what I had, and if I knew I had it, I could not find it.

So, I gave myself an early Christmas present and ordered a box of the large polar notions large fabric organizers and a box of those designed for fat quarter storage.

When your fabric looks like this:

You need this:

 

 

To make your fabric look like this:

 



And after folding and folding, one section of my fabric storage unit now looks like this:

I am going to need more fabric organizers!  Are you listening Santa?

Sandra

Pretty in Purple - EASY STREET Part 2

Part II of Easy Street is all about purples.  This week's task is to make 128 purple geese with black on white as the wings.  I am almost there.  Still need to measure and trim the blocks.  Flying geese do not like me.  I had to resew about a third of the left wing.  My feed dogs caught the underside and caused that part to drift -- anyway that's my story and I am sticking to it!

See you on Easy Street next week.

Sandra

EASY STREET - Part 1

 

PART ONE

 

 

Part I went live on Friday, November 23.  The instructions were to make 192 4-patch blocks with the constant grey and the black on white background.  Click on Part One above to go to the instructions.

 

 

My 4-patches are shown below, stacked up and waiting for the next clue which will be published on Friday, November 30. 

 

 

 

It's not too late to join the fun.

 

Sandra





EASY STREET - Bonnie Hunter Mysytery - Fabrics

I decided that I would do Bonnie Hunter's latest mystery, "Easy Street".  Bonnie provided paint chip numbers to describe the colors that she will use in the quilt.  She also provided the estimated yardage for each color.  The constant color is grey, with the background black on white prints.  The additional paint chips represent the other colors in the quilt.

These are my fabrics.  Some shades may change depending upon the quilt pattern.

Grey and black on whites.

Teals and Tourquois

 

Purples

Limey Greens

See the next post for Step 1.

 

Sandra