After Christmas

Well, I am glad that I can now take the time to write and do some things I have had to let go for the last month and a half. I completed the quilts for the lady who lost her husband ,and I made them from his clothing. the Sat. after Christmas. That means I didn't get to spend much time with my children who came home for the holiday. I am sad about that but must say I enjoyed having them here anyway. My son and his girlfriend announced that they have signed papers on a new house. It will be complete some time in April if they don't get cold feet and back out before then. It will be their first home and it is  a big deal. I will be happy for them when it gets to the move in date. Being a Mom though I did take the opportunity to buy them some cute Christmas towels at 70% off yesterday. My girls like to say I will fill their house with garbage if they let me. I do love to buy them things I think they will like.
I have big plans for the new year, but I would like to finish the  year with some smaller projects completed so I will be finishing the birthday blocks tomorrow and trying to get them in the mail before the end of the year. I feel so bad that it came down to missing the last four because my commission was taking me so long. I am a little glad the quilt for my son's girlfriend didn't get done since they are moving and may need a change of plans for what I had started. I bought the fabrics well over a year ago and she had just gotten a new bed cover set all in rose colors and very floral. So I went off that and purchased the 20 fat quarters to make a "Turning Twenty" quilt for her. Now she is talking purple for the master bedroom. I may just make the one I have the fabrics for and give it to one of the other girls.
We also have three or four girls we have know for a long time and care a great deal for that are having baby's this year. So I will be kept busy making baby stuff for them. I love that though it is so gratifying to see how happy they are when they get the quilt you made just for their new baby.
Back to my plans for the New Year. I have so many UFO's and WIP's I need to pull them all out and make a list of them and then I will start with the ones I can finish quickest. I have three Christmas quilts I want to make that I have started.Two are just needing to be made into tops as they are all pieced. One is still just cut and ready to piece. Then I have five or six BOM's that I have started and just never made the time to complete them. I thought about doing them one month at a time, but I think it would be better to concentrate on getting them done and not doing that. I have some quilts I started for graduation gifts from high school and they are now either graduated from college or married and having their first baby. One is even on her second marriage now and has completed college as well. I kind of think I want to get that one done first of those. LOL I wonder why.
I have photos of the quilts I completed from the mans cloths and will post them as soon as I get them on the computer. I am going to go for today and hope you all have a wonderful quilty day. I look forward to the new year and hope you do to.
Tennye

A Very Merry Christmas To All

Well, I have had a wonderful day with my family and gotten some completely amazing gifts. The weather has been cool and clear and wonderful and all except one of my children came home. Sorry we missed the oldest daughter and her family, but maybe some day we will get to have them all here for Christmas too.
I do hope all of you have enjoyed your day as well.
I have a final day of quilting to finish the quilts and I will add photos of them when I get the last one done. I truly tried to get them all finished but at about 4 yesterday I finally gave up and admitted it would not happen until the day after Christmas. So I will talk to you all soon.
Have a lovely quilty Christmas.
Tennye

Decoraing done and working again.

Well, we got the house decorated and I am getting back to work on the quilts I need to do. I am almost finished with one and will start on the next one soon. I am pretty excited about it. I will take some photos of the quilt tomorrow and post them soon. In the mean time I will also post the pictures today about the trees and my little village.

My youngest daughter came home to help with the decorating of the trees and the house. Aften the middle one was baby sitting for a friend for the weekend so we had the cutest kids here to help. There are pictures of them as well with Aislynn and Brena. I have been trying to write the family letter for our Christmas cards and for some reason I find it hard to write. I am even finding this hard to write, so I will add the pictures and stop for tonight.
Have a Quilty Christmas,

Tennye

Holiday shopping and other things.

Well, I had no intention of going shopping this week for Christmas and yet I have done just that on the days I have gotten out. The weather has been bad and we had a good snow shower around lunch today. Not that it shows now, as the temp was just not cold enough for it to stick. I did enjoy it coming down though.
Now my house if full of boxes from the attic. My hubby had time this morning to get them down so we can get the Christmas decorations up tomorrow. I am excited and yet have so much to do that I feel like I need to not be doing that. I have had a bad week in general, and I really can't explain why. I have been either depressed or just fighting off something, I have had no energy and I have slept more than anything else. I hate the way I feel when I do that but I seem to remember my grandmother having times like that. She would call them her low periods and she just slept. Then it would go away and she would be back to normal for a while. I don't remember how often they hit her, just that they did. I wonder if it is the same for me.
Well, the craft show did me in, but I still have much to accomplish before Christmas and I have few plans so I will get this house decorated and hit it hard. Then I will feel better even if I don't lol
I am so excited about the things I am working on and wish I had gotten more done this week. The quilts are coming along so well and I look forward to letting her have them for her children. Although she cries every time she sees them so I am not sure how she will be able to take them and wrap them. Then after they are done I have a new plan for the new year. I will make as many things as I can for other people and for my craft show next year, but I will also plan to complete as many UFO's as I can. I will post photos and keep you posted on my progress as I go. I will complete the two classes I have started and get them on line and maybe get the book started that I want to write. I have been contacted by someone already for a quilt she wants made so I am on the way already. It is going to be a great year, it has to be the last one has been so hard. It seems to run that way in life doesn't it. You get some good with the bad and you have the courage to go on because of it.
I may find it hard to post much this month but I am not sure. If I do find it hard I will be back with a big push in Jan. I plan to enjoy my holidays as much as I can this year. I hope the best for all of you as well.
Tennye

Thanksgiving Week

I had a  bad week last week and then started this one in a similar way. I was getting frustrated, but then things turned around and the only thing that changed was my attitude. So now I have decided things will be better even if I am too tired. I finally got into the sewing room and it is a mess of major proportions. I got so over whelmed with the idea of trying to clean it out so I just did the least I could and got out my project that is in need of being completed. I had a very productive afternoon, and I even got some laundry started. Tomorrow I will hopefully get the blocks complete. Then on Mon. I will be able to start the process of sewing and quilting. I have decided to quilt as I go with this one. It will be just too big to quilt it the other way. I sure wish I could get the hang of the frame. Maybe I would be able to get the quilting done quicker.
I do have a much better grasp on the whole process now and my free motion is really getting good. It is almost like I have a long arm sometimes. That makes me feel pretty good and I am pretty excited about selling my wall hanging at the show last weekend.

By the way we had a wonderful time at my Aunt and Uncles house this weekend. I tired a shrimp soup my cousin asked me to try and it was sooo good. I will have to get her to give me the recipe for it. We did a big fish fry and we all cooked something to go with it. We had so much food it was over done. But so good.
Well, in case I miss tomorrow, let me say Have a wonderful Thanks Giving and now we are on the down hill side of Christmas.
Tennye

Tuesday

Here I am again wishing I had done more today than I did. I took my oldest daughter to the Dr. again today. Bless her heart with all of the things going on in her life it is amazing that she can still get up and face the world. She has been having trouble seeing well enough to drive the last week, so I have been taking her to the appointments she has. She is getting the diabetes under control, and now she needs to find out if she has any permanent damage to her eyes. Today we had great news, that she does not have any damage and the problems she is having ,now ,should go away soon.
I hope to get into the sewing room tomorrow and make some progress, but I have made the mistake of starting a new book. I will have to be disiplined and not read all day. I did start the laundry and clean the kitchen today, so the house is looking better.
Well, I am having some problems on the blog recently. Spell check is gone, and yet it tells me I spelled the word wrong. I usually do a good job of spelling, but then I really make a mess sometimes too. So sorry if you notice I have misspelled words.
Well, more next time.
Tennye

Back and still tired.

Well, I had a great vacation and then came back and hit the road running. We had a great craft show over the weekend. I learned so much about what the people who come want. I will see if I can make a better showing next year. I will have more just Christmas things, as that is what seemed to sell better than the gift items I thought would be the best sellers. I am planning to make up a few small gift baskets or cups and see if they will sell on the corner.
I do have a couple more pictures to share and will do that at the end. I was so lucky to meet a lovely lady on the flight home from Vegas. She is a quilter too and we really enjoyed our flight. I just love meeting new people and to meet a fellow quilter is always a treat. My poor hubby hates to be confined for long periods of time and he had to sit on that plane for two hours and Jeanne and I just talked the whole time and didn't even notice the time passing.
I have three quilts that must be complete ASAP so I will have to get back on the work horse soon. I need to take my daughter for a job interview on Mon. and she still can't see well enough to drive so I will. Then we have to go to the Dr. after that, so I will have the day off tomorrow. Glad I have a pot of stew in the fridge, I won't have to cook. I will enjoy a good book while I wait for her to do what she has to do. Then I will get busy on Tue. and as soon as I can I will try out the new class I got in the email last month. I wanted to work on it right away but had to wait until the fair was over. I also have some birthday blocks to get out asap. I am behind with Nov. and hope to get those and Dec. done and out in the mail before Thanksgiving.

Well, enough for today, have a good day tomorrow and I will be back on as soon as I can. Here are the pictures of the two completed small wall hangings I took to the show. One, the tree, sold and the other didn't.