Ushering in 2014... but first...

I have some unfinished business! I promised pictures of secret and perhaps not so secret projects. 

I come from a family of 5 girls of which I am no 4; we lost our oldest sister January 2013... this was our first Christmas without her and it'll soon be the first anniversary of her death. I made sure to put her last gifts to us in our tree this year in her honor! She so loved to decorate for the holidays!

You've seen the moose quilt without the binding! It went to my youngest sister. This project spent many years as a UFO but I'm so pleased to have it done and delivered! It hangs on her wall today! 

Another not so secret project was this table runner which went to sister no 3. They painted their kitchen and living room walls in grey and when I saw this kit, I knew who needed to have this one! It graced her holiday table this Christmas season.

The next table runner went to sister no 2 who also loves to decorate. I made it extra special using fabric from one of our father's plaid shirts for the hat brim. You may recognise the fabric with printed words as leftover from the Paws for Santa II quilt. This one held a prominent position on her holiday dining table.

December 28th was a milestone for someone we held dear: my mother-in-law's birthday. She would have been 96 yrs old. She too passed away this year and we all miss her dearly. She was a kind and gentle woman with a big heart who never said anything bad about anyone, saw good in everyone, was devoted to her family and community with her whole heart, and who lived an exemplary spiritual and Christian life. She was a devoted wife, mother to 5 children and grand mother to 14, great grandmother to 7. 

This was our first Christmas without our matriarch! We miss you Mum.

With the sale of the house, and the holidays over, we are now in packing overdrive. Christmas has been dismantled and stored a bit more carefully than usual. Room by room, we are clearing the rest of the shelves and cabinets. We've gotten better at filling the donation boxes although not much is left to donate except for large furniture pieces. 

Lolah has an appointment prior to the movers' arrival... she gets special attention from the local Gammill technician who delivered her to my studio. Stay tuned for the process of preparing her for the move.

As we usher in a new year, we're filled with anticipation and energy to embrace 2014 as a great year for new beginnings. I hope you and yours enjoy a wonderful 2014 in good health, happiness and with many fun projects in the works.

Thank you for being part of my first year of blogging! 

Toodles!

Lorette

Something new, something old!

I'm sorry to have been silent this past week. It's been a busy couple of weeks with different projects.

First, our son and his wife are in the throws of moving to their new apartment. It's exciting for them and we wish them all the best in their new surroundings. One more day and the move should be complete.

Second, my DH decided to retire at the end of this year. THAT is exciting! This means 2 things for our immediate future: 1) we will be selling our house; 2) we will move back to the Maritime region of Canada! HOME AGAIN!! I can't tell you how excited we are to make this journey at the end of his career! Lots of planning and decision making... during the holidays no less!

With all this happening, you can appreciate how hectic it's been in our household. It's hard to keep your mind focused on quilting when everything else around you needs planning. However, I did get a chance to work on 4 projects since last weekend. Sometimes I need to escape life's "stresses" and hide in my studio... it soothes the soul and calms the nerves as well as it allows me time to solve problems.

These were my projects:

1) December Daily 2013 album:
I know! It has nothing to do with quilting but I'm also a scrapbooker/crafter. I followed along with Ali Edwards for the first time in 2011 but she's been blogging about DD since 2007! She does a phenomenal job at recording December memories and it inspired me to try to do something similar. That year, I got all my stuff together but sadly never got around to completing the album. The intention was there; I followed her and her many followers daily though and got to see some wonderful memory books develop and I learned a lot about digital scrapbooking. Last year, I was really excited to participate and realized my own album. You can see the pages here.
The secret to success and to enjoy the process is to pre-plan your book early: get all the pages ready to receive the photos and journaling. I intended to do it again this year, despite the changes in our lives at the moment, or perhaps because of them so that meant getting my book done before all h*** breaks loose. Ali Edwards promotes the sale of a kit for this but I like my own version; it worked for me last year and I think it'll be fine this year too if I keep it simple.
Two years ago, I attended the LA Printer's Fair in Carson, CA where they sold "left-over" cardstock for $25 per box. I bought 2 big boxes and 1 box at last year's sale. I'm all set for awhile! :) This is what I used to design my book. Check out how I made this year's album here! I will update the FlickR website perhaps not daily but often throughout the month of December... at least that's the plan!

2) On Monday, I completed the first of many table runners I will make. These are fun and quick projects. Photos were taken before the binding was hand sewn; that was Wednesday evening's handwork.

 3) On Tuesday, after watching inspirational Henna quilting video by Sharon Schamber at The Quilt Show website, I headed to my studio and surprised myself by loading a WIP (work-in-progress) on Lolah! This little moose and deer wall quilt was made several years ago and was intended for a sister whose name I had picked for Christmas gift-giving. As it happened, that year's family reunion was put on hold and so was the quilt. Until now!
I have yet to apply the binding but this is what I played with that day! SO MUCH FUN! Don't be too harsh with comments... this is my first thread play! :)

Since most of the classes I've registered for at Road to California Quilt show in January involve feathers, I thought it was time to try my luck at putting some in this 3in border. I do need more practice before I head to class!

4) I also finished the Peppermint Place snowflake blocks I brought with me on vacation. I had 1 remaining block to applique when we returned to LA.

Before I end this long post, I want to share with you a picture of the finished quilt promised in Wedding Quilt post dated 11/04/13. It will follow S&J to their new apartment today and may it bring them comfort for many years.

Toodles,

Lorette