What's on the line?

I remember the day that I took this photo. It was a beautiful day! I guess you could say today is also a beautiful day as more snow is falling and it's going to make the woods behind our house look like a wintery wonderland.......again!!! However, if Mother Nature is listening, I would say....."my dear, you have given us enough snow for awhile so please spread the beauty of your snowfalls somewhere else!!" LOL!
Oh, yes, you want to know "what's on the line?" It's a quilt that I call "Winter Star" although you could probably call it "Winter Snowflake" just as easily. :-) This was the first quilt that I designed in my five quilt series (Autumn is here and Christmas is here). Each of the quilts began as a block sketch. Then I made four of each of the blocks I designed, sewed them together and I ended up with the center of each quilt. I added borders of varying widths on each quilt and they measure approximately 33" square. This quilt was all machine-pieced and required care to get all the points to meet correctly. That didn't always happen so I carefully stitched little pearls at points that are not quite "points". I was invited to teach this quilt at Inspiration*Point Quilt Retreat in 2003 and it was so fun to see all the colorful variations of this design. I knew almost nothing about paper-piecing back then and one of the students said it would make a good "paper-pieced" project. Maybe one day, I will get the pattern revised for both machine and paper piecing. The machine quilting was done by friend, Sara Peterson in Chaska, MN. I love the detail of snowflakes that she stitched on the border. :-)

I am finding myself a little busy with Christmas projects and plans just like the rest of you!! This past Saturday, my husband, our daughter, Collette and grandson, Jacob, took a drive down Hwy 169 to Iowa and a visit with my mother. We had a nice meal together at a favorite food stop in Fort Dodge, Iowa....The Tom Thumb restaurant! The food is usually pretty good although I ordered up a piece of chocolate cream pie for dessert that had a bit of a problem. I ate my meal and was anticipating that first bite............ only the meringue was like rubber!! It was kinda funny. I think it might have been in the display case a bit too long. The young man at the counter happily exchanged the slice of Chocolate pie for a slice of rhubarb. Their rhubarb pie is the best and I usually stop for a slice every time I pass by on my way home to Minnesota. They also make great chicken and noodles. :-) The rest of the group had blizzards from the Dairy Queen that is the other half of the restaurant. I like my ice cream when it's hot outside and I want to cool off. Since it was cold outside, I was not interested in ice cream!

After our meal, we headed to my mom's apartment for time to visit and a little gift exchange. My husband took this photo of my mom, my brother and me. Look at all that white hair! LOL!

I had already taken my mom her "big" Christmas gift back in October. I bought her a little Janome 3128 sewing machine and she has enjoyed using it. There were little gifts for her, too, and for the kids. She has put the sewing machine to good use.........this basket is full of little projects that she's made just since October. She let Collette and me pick out a couple projects that we'd like to have. My favorite was the little Scottie Dog. It could be a potholder but I'm going to hang it in my sewing room. :-)
After we cleared away the gifts and wrapping paper, Collette got out a bag of craft supplies that she had brought along. She showed Jacob, and Sue Ellen - my niece/my brother's daughter - how to make some bead candy canes.

They had a lot of fun and then since time flies too fast, it was time to hit the road and head home to Minnesota. The roads were clear and the moon was really full and bright, so it was a great night for a winter's drive. :-) We were hoping for lots of Christmas light displays but they were few and far between. Maybe everybody had their lights turned off while they were out shopping. :-)

Our neighbor Jerry walked Kaiser for us while we were gone. When we got home, Kaiser was very glad to see us. He's like most dogs........acts like he hasn't seen you in months even if you've only been gone an hour. LOL! Anyway, he was happy to see he also got a present...........my mom bought him this duck pet toy. It has a squeaker in it and Kaiser had some fun making it "quack".

I am way behind on some Christmas sewing projects. I know I keep saying that but I just can't find the time to sew. Seems there is always something to clean, wash, dry, run an errand, etc. etc. and I just don't get to it. I am declaring today a "sew on this snow day"!!! With all the cards and packages mailed or delivered, I may finally get those last gifts finished yet!

Have a good Monday everyone!
Sandi