Christmas is over!

What a busy month and Christmas day.  Chalk that day up for being done and enjoyed by family.

I was busy this month putting bindings on quilts.  It was a hard go with this guy plunking himself down on top of what I was trying to do.  I did get three quilts done this month.  Yeah me!

 Two almost identical quilts.  The borders are different blue fabrics. So, why two?  Read on.

Quilt Info:

Pattern name:  "Berry Smoothie" by Villa Rosa Designs

Size:  61" x 78"

Batting:  Polyester

Machine quilted by:  Kathy Wareham

So .... why two?  My grand nephews will be two and three at the end of January.  They fight over toys, so we end up buying two of some toys.  I just knew there would be a lot of crying if they didn't each get the same quilt.

Christmas morning and this little guy was opening up his sack.  He is thrilled with his new quilt.

When the oldest nephew saw his brother's quilt, he said "I want that" twice.  Oh dear.  A young niece was helping him open his sack and told him he had the same quilt.  Whew .... all was well again!

The oldest loves his new quilt!

I was busy making this pillowcase for a young niece who is going to summer hockey camp.

After the quilts were opened up, I was reminded again by a niece that she needs a quilt for her new bed.  She has moved from a single to a double and none of her quilts fit.  There is a reason why I make quilts.  They are enjoyed and wanted!  LOL

We have had lots of snow and cold weather this month.  A new snowblower was purchased for me.  A machine that I can handle.  It is battery operated and so easy to operate.  When I went to the store, I asked for a machine that I can handle and not jolt me off my feet once it gets started.  We had a snowblower that did exactly that.   The sales rep. showed me a machine and said that it was the easiest and least complicated one to run.  Sold!  I'm happy.

As the month and year closes down, I still would like to finish up two projects.  We'll see if time allows.  I'm not spending as much time in my studio lately.  It shows with the lack of posts on this blog.

Oh, and nine years ago today, our family made a trip to our cottage on Boxing Day.  That was such an enjoyable day.  You can read about that day here.

Cherish your day, cherish the rest of this year, cherish your life!

Happy New Year!  2025 ... Bring it on!

Binding Challenge and a Bit of This and That

October was a good month for me and no-blog Mary.

Mary finished her quilt as well as adding some big stitch quilting to it.  I'm so glad the heat of the summer is over and Mary was able to resume her binding challenge with me.

Mary reached into a bag and viola .... this is her quilt to bind for November.

My October binding challenge quilt will be shown in a later post ..... so stay tuned for that reveal.

But, for November, these are the quilts that I will be doing.  For sure, the first two (they are for donation) and then possibly my log cabin.  Hubby really likes that quilt, so it just may get done and hung up on the wall this month.  All these quilts went to the LAer and were all back a week later.  I love that.  Instant gratification!

October saw me quite busy finishing up a few more tops.  I don't know where I found the time to do these, but they got done and off to the LAer they went.  In fact, this top is now one of the above quilts that will get done this month.

Remember this pile of blocks that was shown in a post last month?

Well, here they are in a top!  This is the second top that I have made using this pattern by Villa Rosa called "Berry Smoothie" and I will be making more of them.

Now, onto the topic of our cottage.  It is now closed for the season.  During our driving in and out of the cottage road all summer long, my sister and I always stopped at this bridge to look at the be.a.ve.r dam.  This last trip, we stopped and just had to take these photos.  It was overflowing big time all along the rim and we actually think that it has broken naturally because of the amount of rainfall we have had recently.

The stream on the other side of the bridge was flowing quite a lot!  All summer, it has just been a slow fall of water, but with the breakdown of the dam, it is flowing wildly now.

Back in the city, below are a couple of deer spotted just a few days ago on our neighbours lawn.  They were munching on all the fallen crab apples and they had a feast.

Halloween night .... it snowed big time.  Still, 32 brave kids came and picked up their treats from us.  The next morning, this is what we woke up to.  Four inches of snow had fallen.  Most of it is gone now, but there is still snow on the ground.  This snow fall is quite early for us.  So glad that my winter tires are already installed on the car.

So, that is me all caught up now.  Whew ..... October was quite a busy month!

Cherish your day, cherish your life!