Wow! I totally forgot to come here on my birthday! I apologize for that.
Geneva, I am so happy that your family had the chance to get together for Thanksgiving. We all know how much that meant to you. Of course, they love their quilts! How could they not?
Sharon, I understand your funk-I've been in one since my mother died. I keep my quilting spark alive by coming here, going to my guild, and reading about everything quilting.

In my defense, I had my right knee replaced on the 3rd. That has kind of taken over my world, but it makes me want to sew again. Once I can sit at the sewing machine, I plan on getting back to my Halo medallion which I left undone.
Are we going to start a new thread on January 1st?

I wish you all a very Merry and Blessed Christmas and the happiest of New Years!

Geneva and Sharon, Awesome posts today! It is nice to see your quilts being used as was the intention! Geneva, I hope your thumb continues to heal so that you have no pain and can continue quilting as you want. Beautiful quilt, Sharon. Making ornaments with the kids had to be so much fun!

Hi All, Well I'm only a day late this month, so maybe I'm getting better, ha! Geneva the quilts are wonderful!!! I wanted to tell you that Aspercreme is now a roll-on and I used it liberally on my thumb and it really helped (along with Aleve) for the pain.

I made Christmas ornaments for the kids for Christmas, but didn't take any photos. I seem to be in a quilting funk, or some kind of funk. We still have snow on the ground from the BIG storm 2 days before Thanksgiving. Our mountains are getting pounded this weekend.

I do have a top on the design wall for about 6 months and have been designing the quilting. I believe I have the quilting narrowed down, but... I purchased the pattern in 2012 and quickly made the quilt. I love this quilt. I have noticed at shows there isn't another one, so I made a new quilt and want to add some bling and do creative quilting and enter it into shows. It is called Summer Sunset.





The backing is snow dyed and is even brighter in person. I don't know if I will do that for this quilt. But I do have plenty of snow for that, hehe.

I am sending much love for a wonderful Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I can't believe another year, let alone another decade is leaving us.

Sharon in Cooolllldd Colorado!!

Hello all!

I was supposed write yesterday, but here I am today.

This month has been busy! For Thanksgiving week our entire family, less one daughter, met at our son's home in Texas. There were 14 of us! It was a wonderful time and I had so much fun hanging out with my kids, their spouses and the 6 grandchildren. I hated for the week to end. While there I was able to give the 3 families their Christmas quilt I made for them. I had sent my oldest daughter hers earlier with a promise not to tell her siblings about it. Well, they loved the quilts! Even more than I thought they would.



Here's a photo my friend took of all 4 quilts. (Sorry if I posted this already!)



And here is proof that the quilts are already being used, just as I hoped!



In other news... my thumb is better, but still not as good as I'd like, (pain free!). I've learned to sew with the brace on, which allowed me to finish one little quilt I made. This was a completely unplanned quilt, made from scraps from the Galaxy quilt that I am still trying to complete. "Balancing Act."



And I've embroidered toilet paper swirls on the Galaxy quilt and still don't like it. So, I stopped to think about it and realized I am on the wrong path. I have no idea where the correct path is, but I will get my binoculars out and see if I can find the new path.

The weather is gray and gloomy, which is unusual for our area. So, that means more quilting time!

I sent 4 Ring Circus out to Road to California. Maybe it will bring back the sun!

I am sending each of you holiday good wishes. Please know that you bring me such joy. Your friendship is wonderful! And your quilting is great!

geneva

Eileen, I will be gifting the Good Fortune mystery which is why I think it needs to be more bed sized. . .the recipient is unknown at this point so there is no hurry. . . LOL. . .in the next step!

Geneva, yes, I'm planning to "Frolic" along with Bonnie this year too. I did do some shopping the last couple of days because aqua is not a fabric that I have in my stash. I will probably need to buy more fabric as the project progresses; but, I've enough to start! I have a few pieces left to press!

Such a bummer about your thumb. Isn't it amazing how much you use your thumb? I hope yours is healing ahead of schedule! I once picked up a casserole dish to wash it. It broke cutting my thumb. I am left handed. I had fourteen stitches. At the time, I was cutting out flannel robes for our daughters to make for Christmas presents. My husband helped me cut the curved pieced shapes as my dexterity was definitely that of a pre-schooler! I was glad when my thumb healed.

Your projects are wonderful! I love where you are going with the compasses and the grandchildren are going to love their special aprons!

Sharon, I'm glad you had a great time in Houston. Seeing your quilt hang in the show must have been an event in itself! How fun to share the experience with your cousin.

Hi all. Somehow I missed posting on the 13th, so here goes.

I was fortunate to attend the Houston festival for the week. It was wonderful to catch up with TQS members and see the unveiling of the 2020 BOM. It’s beautiful! I took a full day class and 2 half day class and got inspired from those. Of course, it was also the World Series next door which made downtown challenging and entertaining. Just an aside, they were charging $65 for parking during the games.

The quilts, of course, were amazing and I was honored to have my quilt hanging with the big girls. The Bob Ross quilts were wonderful and creative.

My cousin drove in to spend one day with me. We don’t see each other enough. She just recently retired.



This was my favorite quilt and it was a Judges Choice. In 1980 there was a fire on my in-laws mountain property and this quilt touched home. It’s hard to see, but there are animals quilted in the gray/black fabric.



Geneva, you have my sympathy with spraining your thumb after the same thing happened to me.

It is always great to hear from all of you on this site.

Happy Thanksgiving one and all.

Sharon in, supposed to snow today, Colorado

Geneva, thanks for the shout out to lefties.
So sorry about your thumb! Did the dr. say how long for recovery? Those aprons are adorable-I'm sure the grandies will love them. I like that quilting design-are the dots French knots?
For everyone in the US, Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello my friends!

Terry your vacation sounds wonderful! Your Good Fortune Quilt is so pretty. Whatever you decide about borders will look great. I like it this way too. The colors are great. Are you going to do Bonnie's new mystery Frolic?

I missed my day to blog last week as it was my actual birthday. After going out to a wonderful lunch with my sweetie, I somehow sprained my right thumb. I'm not able to do any sewing which has really been hard for me. And I'm learning how to use my left hand. It's not easy! But I did have a nice day celebrating with my family.

Luckily before I hurt my thumb I made the last two aprons for grandchildren. We will be seeing them all for the week of Thanksgiving. I plan to give them to the far away grandkids, as well as give the Christmas quilts I made for the 4 families, as well as the Santas I made! Finally! I get to give them all away! Here are pictures of the Ninja Turtle aprons for my grandsons, and one for my wild granddaughter.










I am at the point with two quilts that I need to do the hand sewing on them. I'm so disappointed that I can't work on them. I made the compasses, quilted them and then faced each one. Then I quilted the background and now I want to sew them to the background. I did finally find the swirls I want to embroider alongside the compasses. The photo shows the second trial of embroidery which I ripped out. The weird light thing on the left side is the light coming in and shining on the quilt. The little baggie at the top left are the colors of thread I am using to do the embroidery. The fabric on the right side is the backing fabric. The next picture is the quilting design I want to use.









While waiting for the compass quilt to percolate and figure out if I could use the embroidery design, I made random log cabin blocks with the left over fabrics. I went through my stash of backings and decided this next quilt needed to be made. I didn't want to cut up the dots and have them all mixed up (there is enough chaos already going on!), so I faced each log cabin block as well as the three little squares made with a stripe. All of these blocks are quilted and faced. I have quilted the background and backing. Now I'm stuck waiting for my thumb to get well so I can sew them all down. The white and black dot on the right side is the backing.





So that's what's up here at the Cairn Carroll sewing room! I hope you all are doing well and those in America, I wish you a happy Thanksgiving.

Take care, geneva

PS. This took forever to write! I have a new appreciation for left handers!

Terry, if you don't make it bed sized, what will you use it for? Are you keeping or gifting it?
I've never been to Hawaii, it's a trip I mean to take Glad you had a good time and a good surprise from your daughter.

I missed my day to report in yesterday. I'm catching up today! Last month, I went on vacation. We went to Maui, Hawaii and we had a terrific time. Our daughter met us at baggage claim. I was gob smacked shocked as I had no idea she would be coming! What a great surprise!! My favorite activity was snorkeling and looking for turtles! I shared four posts about the trip. I can't wait to go back! post 1, post 2, post 3, post 4

I made progress on the Bonnie Hunter Good Fortune mystery from last year. Stitching the blocks together, adding a border set and I can't decide if I should leave it or add more borders to make the top more bed sized! It is a square now. What would you do?

The oldest granddaughter made progress on her mermaid project. I recapped October activities and wrote a post to support my two inch bust your stash challenge.

Sadly, I finished NOTHING! I am making progress on a couple projects so perhaps next month I'll be able to share some finishes.

So very sorry. Peace for you, dear Dana, and much strength to all family and friends

Dana went home to God this afternoon. May she rest in peace and may her family find strength in their faith.
Dana, you were loved by so many. I'll miss your voice on the phone most of all.

I am so sad to hear this. I didn't know Dana was ill. She makes amazing quilts.

geneva

Our dear friend, Dana Lynch, is now on her last journey.Hospice has come. Please keep Dana and her family in your thoughts and prayers.