Round Two

This is the second post I have started tonight. The last one started like this:

I've been blogging for a little more than eight years! Hard to believe and I always miss my 'blogiversary'. 

I think I was going somewhere with that, but wherever it was has escaped me.

Anyway, I still have stuff that I've done and been doing and am doing to share, but it will be dragged out into manageable little bites. What that means is, I don't want to give up the blog, but I'm so busy doing the stuff I'd like to blog that taking a break from them is hard for me.

None of this will be in any particular order.

And then I went off on a tangent and decided it needed photos I didn't have, even though I had photos for the direction I thought I was going in. So now I'll show you this:

Look how Christmasy my house can be. This is a table runner I started in 2009. The pattern is called Geese In The Forest (flickr pool-lots of great versions here), it is paper pieced and I do plan on making an entire quilt at some point. The blocks in the original pattern are smaller, I upsized them about 25% to get the size I wanted for the runner. This version was partially quilted for two years. I finally finished it after Christmas 2011. Just in time for the new year! No matter, I was fairly thrilled with it and love it. Some closer up shots:

See the Santa in the corner? I have been meaning to write a post near Christmas about that Santa. He has been with my nearly my entire life. My kids call him Creepy Baby Santa and my mom (some of you will understand this) has started collecting them for me. yay. My girls can take them as they leave my house, I only need my original.

There he is, all brand new. There I am, nearly brand new.

Straight line quilting. Intentionally uneven.

Okay, it was intended to be even, but I was using the edge of my walking foot as a guide and as it turns out when the needle on my machine is in the 'center' position it is not exactly centered to my walking foot. Go figure.

Once I discovered that, it seemed a lot more fun to 'intentionally' quilt unevenly than intentionally pick out quilting lines. In the end I love the uneven look.

Originally I had planned to only stitch in the ditch around the blocks and the block elements. Had I stuck to that plan it would have been finished in 2009. Ha!

I wish I had been better at documenting the amaryllis plants. The one in the above photo had two bloom stalks, each with five flowers. Seriously! It was awesome!

I can't wait for next Christmas to get here! Maybe I'll have to have a Christmas in July.....

2012. Four. $1.90. So, I started this second post intending on showing a totally different quilt, but decided I needed more photos for that. The ADD. It is alive and well and living in my head.

Comments

[Carole]

That is a really sweet table runner. I love the way you quilted it and agree that intentionally uneven is easier to achieve. I also love that the word "yay" for your Santa collection is in smaller letters. I completely get it.

[Laurie]

I love that you love uneven.

[Manise]

Lovely runner! Yeah, who knew that you could put up with let alone purposely go for the uneven look. I love it! Mwah!

[margene]

I, too love that you love uneven! Crafting of any sort brings out ADD with a vengeance. How can we keep up with everything we love to do with out hands? Your runner is charming and all the better for its uneveness. Nice work! Creepy Santa.

[Vicki]

Hi Terry. I'm just happy to "see" you! Thanks.

[britt]

Amaryllis flowers make me so happy. That touch of color in the middle of winter makes me smile. I love that runner I'm thinking a seasonal runner project would be a fun one to work on (if I ever put my sewing machine back together)

[lisa mcguire]

Love the table runner! The fabrics, the patterns and especially the uneveness of the lines; just perfect in my book!

[Kim]

You know how much I love this little runner....its so pretty!!

[meghan]

I have a very similar Santa. I've probably had him since 1966 or 1968 when my aunt and uncle gave him to me. He only stands but the faces and beards are almost identical to yours. He has a musical wind up box in his back that plays "Jingle Bells". My husband hates when I take him out at Christmas as he is pretty worn and dirty now. I should try to find a way to clean him. It was funny seeing yours. I thought this Christmas I was the only person still left with one. Give it another 30 years and your kids won't mind taking him on an Antiques Roadshow.