Merry Christmas

This is a picture of the mystery ornament we made on Saturday at the Quilting 101 workshop. I gave this one to Julie when we met for breakfast yesterday along with some chocolate chip cookies. I made 60 of these a few years ago and gifted them to the staff at school. I had stars on top of those trees. I tried to find a star to put on Julie's tree, but I could not find one that was large enough in my stash of stuff. I must have used them all on the staff ornaments. Bummer! I think it is cute anyway.

This picture is of the paper origami quilt that my friend Monica made for me for my birthday. Isn't it darling? She made it in my favorite color combination: purple and turquoise. I just love it. She is really into origami and I am certainly happy about that! You should see the hexahedron she makes (I know that may not be a real word, but I cannot spell the real word because I don't really remember what it is)! They are open work round thingy dingys that are way cool.

Here is a picture of the two blocks I have done for Bonnie Hunter's Carolina Christmas Mystery Quilt. I have not completed step four, but I couldn't wait to see the two blocks sewn up, so I completed a couple of each block. There is so much sewing on step four. Maybe it seems like so much because I am close to the end and want to see it all done before Christmas.

So many little pieces to sew together. I cut very carefully, and I sewed very carefully, but still some of those little units are not the same size. My sewing machine likes to chew up the edges of my triangles, so between the cold and the machine, I am likely to toss it all out the window if I cannot get it done pretty soon!

Did I mention that our heater is nonfunctioning? I called our gas company and reported a gas smell. A nice fellow came out and checked the heater, the whole house, and the gas line outside. He determined that our heater was dangerous and turned off the gas to the heater. My hubby bought a new heater on Saturday so now we must find someone who can put it in and check all the stuff the gas man said needed checking, and possibly replacing. So.......we have not had any heat in the house since last Friday. I know 50 degrees is not really cold to many people, especially those in the east who are experiencing a terrible snow storm, but 50 degrees is cold to me here in sunny California! The only way I can get my feet warm is to go to bed and turn on the electric mattress pad. I honestly do not want to get out of bed in the mornings because it is so nice and warm under the covers. I apologize for whining since I know so many other folks across the nation are so much colder than I am. Wanda told me last week it was -5 degrees where she lives. OMGoodness! Way too cold for me.

Wherever you live, I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. And.....

Happy Quilting