Have you been bit by the 10 minute table runner bug?

I have never been real fond of table runners, maybe because our table is round. Anyway I have been enjoying making these fun little runners. They take 1/4 yard of focus fabric and 1/2 yard of background fabric. And although I haven't actually timed myself I am sure there is a little more than 10 minutes involved. I made a fall runner for our table and enjoyed it so much that I made a Christmas runner and we are enjoying that. Our grandson London attends kindergarten at a parochial school. I thought it would be fun to make table runners for the kids to give to their parents. I provided the pre-cut centers and asked the teachers to have the kids use finger paints to put their hand prints and names on the fabric. Then I took them home and finished the table runners. They will be used tonight for the kids Christmas program, then each child can take theirs home, all 23 of them. We also have 7 table runners for gifts in various stages right now and hope to get them finished by the weekend. As I have mentioned before, my husband has been doing some sewing. Six of the seven table runners are his project and he has been working on them. He also helped me with the table runners for the school kids. He did a lot of the ironing and I did the sewing. I thought it was a perfect match.
PS - I can't take credit for the hand print idea. I owe a huge thanks to my friend Donna from Gaylord who shared with me a similiar project she had going. I was thinking that it would be fun to make these featuring the kids art work or rubber stamps or . . . . . . . . The possibilities are endless.

A Little Family Christmas Tradition

Before I started quilting I dabbled in lots of differents crafts including macrame, crocheting, counted cross stitch and plastic canvas items. Many, many years ago I decided to make these tree ornaments for my parents with the names of their grandchildren. As of today they have 14 grandchildren. Five of the grandchildren are married so their spouses also have their names on the tree. And once the great-grandchildren started arriving they couldn't be left out. As of today they have 14 great grandchildren (and 7 of them are ours). This year we had 5 new babies join the family and 4 of them were ours. I recently finished name tags for all of the new babies for my parents tree and for our tree. I made our grandchildrens ornaments in gold and white. All of my siblings have ornaments with their childrens names for their trees and my sister has ornaments for her 7 grandchildren. WOW - that is a lot of ornaments. Some day I will have to sit down and do a count to see how many I have actually made - or maybe I don't want to. With the additon of 5 more name to my parents tree I am anxious to see if they have room for any other ornaments.

Thunderbay Quilt Guild Christmas Party

Yesterday approximately 50 members of the Thunderbay Quilt Guild gathered at the Brush Creek Mill in Hillman for the annual Christmas party. My sister Carol did a wonderful job of organizing the party and preparing a delicious lunch. My sister Connie and our friend Karen helped with set-up, serving and clean up. The afternoon started with socializing and enjoying wonderful appetizers prepared by Carol, Connie and Karen. Then the girls served a delicious salad, followed by 2 types of lasagne - one a traditional lasagne with a few extras and the other a seafood lasagne, with grilled vegetables and rolls. Secret sisters were revealed and several ladies "wowed" us with show and tell. Members received the resolution cards we made in January and that brought a lot of laughter to the group. A few members (myself not included) did very well keeping their resolutions. Members decorated a Christmas tree with hand made ornaments to be included in the Christmas tree decorating contest at the mill. A delicious raspberry pastry dessert rounded out a wonderful afternoon. A big thank you to Carol for organizing the party, for the favors and door prizes and to Connie, Mom and Karen for all of your help too. Oh, and as part of the party we were all invited to bring fat quarters in and we were given a ticket for each fat quarter we brought in. The large basket of fat quarters was won by Carol - the perfect recipient.

A Quilt Shop Funny

I forgot to add to my post yesterday something funny that happened at the Quilt Shop. My cash register experience is very limited. I did work at a party store many, many years ago just as a fill in when my sister (the manager) need some last minute help. For me cash registers can be a bit intimidating. I had told Sandy that the cash register was the only thing that worried me. I have been hanging around quilt shops for almost 30 years so I figured I wouldn't have too much trouble. Don't you know my first customer was a very good friend who recently closed her Quilt Shop due to health issues. Sandy left excellent instructions for the cash register so I didn't have any problems but I was a bit nervous, especially the first time. Then my second customer was a gal who works at JoAnn Fabric in Alpena and has for many years. She bought fabric to make some new pillows for her living room. And she wanted 1 and 1/8 yards. Ok, so my math skills aren't all that great. Again Sandy left a very detailed list of the fractions so I made it through that. Talk about intimidation. The only problem I had was that I forgot to print off a second receipt from the credit card machine for a customer (sorry Claudine). At least I hope Sandy doesn't discover any other boo-boos.

A Wonderful Day

Today I helped my friend Sandy in her Quilt Shop, Sandy D's, here in Hillman. It was a lot of fun. All of the fabric was such beautiful eye candy. I loved visiting with the customers that came into the shop. You can always learn something from another quilter. Along with waiting on customers I also cut some fat quarters, made up some snap bag kits and even got to do some of my own sewing. I also straightened up some of the fat quarters and I can see that that can be a never ending job. Hopefully I will be able to go back and help again some time. I have to admit that it was a true test of will power. I did buy 2 fat quarters. I had bought yardage of this same fabric for an ongoing project and I thought that I had bought all of that fabric that was in the shop. When I spotted the 2 fat quarters I knew they had to come hone with me, just in case I need them.