A very useful gift

Well blogger won't let me post pictures tonight, so we'll just use our imagination, OK? I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas an got everything you wanted.

I had a wonderful holiday...Hanukkah/Christmas season. Spent time with most of the people who are important in my life. Also got lots of gifts. Of course the best things are family and friends and I am blessed in that area.

But on the material side; my husband did get me 2 things that I will use allot. First, accu-drive handles for my longarm. And he installed them. Tried them out today...wonderful!! For those of you not familiar, they are handles down near the needle bar that provide good control with less fatigue for all that tiny background work, and they swing up out of the way when not in use.

Secondly, he is having a full table length light bar made for me. And that is huge! light fixtures spanning the entire length of my table set 3 feet above the work area, all with ott light tubes! Finally, I'll have perfect lighting! No more straining to see where I've been when working with black thread on black fabric!

I have to wait about a week for it to be fabricated and installed, then I'm good to go!

Hope your week was wonderful too!

Christmas Eve mail

What a nice thing to get on Christmas Eve....3 postcards! Even one from Mary! Love the crystals on the tree too!

And this one is from Lyn. A pretty little package just for me!

And this one from Janet, with beautiful stitching!

I love them all! Thank you all so much! It is so much fun to see all the different ideas that everyone comes up with.

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Eve!

More postcards & other interesting mail

I got these 2 postcards last week. The first from Beth.And this one from Lynn with her interpretation of Florida Christmas trees. Aren't they great? Thank you both, I just love them!

And then this also came in the mail yesterday to "felines Harry & Chloe"

Inside were 2 catnip pillows! Below is Chloe holding and sniffing hers.

And Harry with his.

This is Chloe when she was done.

And Harry post catnip.

They certainly enjoyed their present and it as very thoughtful of my friend Jacqueline to remember them.

I hope you all enjoy your presents as much as Chloe & Harry!

The Raffle Quilt

OK, as promised here it is...the raffle quilt finally done! Remember though, I told you the photos aren't great. It was late and the light was not good. And I didn't even get the whole thing in the photo. Oh well, it'll give you an idea what it looks like. I'll post better photos after I get the professional ones back.
It is an original design: a collaborative effort. The center medallion and border applique is mine. Susan's idea was to surround the medallion with 9 patch blocks, and Donna's idea was for the pieced blocks on either side of the applique border. So I worked out the details in EQ, drew the applique patterns and Viola! a quilt pattern is born.

The pieced blocks were made by various members of our guild. The applique is all needle turn and again was done by various guild members. Donna put the top together and I quilted it. Now, Susan and Gert have it for blocking and binding.

For those of you who like the particulars: The fabrics are batiks; front and back, all donated by guild members. The batting is Hobbs Tuscany wool. The threads used were: Superior "monopoly" for all the SID and couching; 19 colors of Superior "SO Fine"; and 6 colors of Superior "King Tut". The hibiscus stamens, I needle felted by hand from hand-dyed wool roving and stitched them in place with the longarm. I couched Lion brand "fun fur" for the egret feathers. And Moda brand specialty yarn around the edge of the floral centerpiece. And finally hot fix crystals were added. All couching was done on the longarm too.

The numbers on the day markers are done with Krenik fusible ribbon (which I also stitched down).

And here are some pictures of the back. Again, not good light but.....

Sure feels good to have this behind me! Hopefully it'll be juried in to AQS and then to NQA. And most of all, hope it makes the guild lots of money!

And just in case anyone is interested....tickets will be available after the first of the year $1 each or 6 for $5. You can let me know and I'll send them to you :)

As I read that last post....

I feel very ashamed. Here at this time of year, when I have everything and so many have nothing, or are dealing with life threatening health issues, I go on and on about a stupid virus. Not much for the holiday spirit.

I am so blessed; with a loving family...Mother, siblings and extended family who are all close. A wonderful husband who doesn't mind the dust bunnies and mile high stack of laundry waiting to be done and who supports my passion for this craft; the financial freedom to indulge this passion; wonderful children and 3 beautiful granddaughters. A generous, supportive circle of friends; including the longarm community and my blogger friends. 2 beautiful, loving fur babies . And the list goes on and on.

Oh, and lest I forget...beautiful, tropical weather :)

So, forgive the previous rant. And to all of you have a wonderful holiday time.

A small whine

Actually, a big whine! I thought I felt better yesterday. I was able to finish the raffle quilt. About 9 pm last night I was talking to Mary on the phone, commenting on how I thought I'd finally turned the corner...Well around 10pm I hit the wall. Chills and fever, plus all the other symptoms I've had since DEC. 9th back with a vengeance. Up all night, finally got back in bed about 5 am this morning and fell asleep. Don got up and went to the marina...I never heard him. Finally the phone woke me at 9:30. Crap! I'm supposed to deliver this raffle quilt at 10!!

Back home, laid down...no sleep. About 3pm start with the chills and fever again. This is truly the virus from HELL!

I got a postcard from Beth today...really cute, but couldn't muster the energy to take a picture...maybe tomorrow :)

Also, I did take a couple pics of the raffle quilt, but they didn't turn out to well...blurry and dark (just like I feel) But we are having it professionally photographed next Wed...so I'll have some good photos after that.

Right now, I think I'd give my right leg to be able to sleep tonight! (can't give an arm...wouldn't be able to quilt)

OK, I'm done whining for now. Thanks for listening.

Postcards

I am loving these postcards! I got another one today from Suzanne. They are all so neat! I have enjoyed making them as well. It is great fun to try out new things on this smaller format.

I know it seems like forever that I posted any finished quilts, but I am working and am nearing the end of the latest project. This illness has really slowed me down a lot more than I thought it would. But onward and upward, as they say.