Christmas decorations

My favorite display for Christmas this year at my house is the new "fake flame" candles.  I purchased them at Kim Coe Designs in Casselberry, Fl., last Saturday. The candles are actually Luminara, Real Flame Effect, Vanilla Scented Pillars made from real wax.  Each candle takes two AA batteries.  They are displayed on antique candle sticks I've collected over the years.  It's so nice to have candles that I don't have to worry about the dogs knocking over and burning themselves or my house down.  Another really nice feature is that you can purchase a remote control to turn them on and off.  One of my candle sticks has a slightly raised area under the base that is the perfect place to store the remote.  It can't be seen and hopefully won't get lost!

This is my Dining room for Christmas. It makes me happy. The Summer Quilt that I'm using for a table cloth was made by my great-great-grandmother, on my father's side, in the 1850's.  It's one of my most prized positions.  We do take it off the table when we want to eat!  The quilt on the wall I made at least ten years ago.  It was one of the first things I free-motion quilted on my Bernina 180.  The quilting is pretty awful!

The most important display in our house is of course our Precious Moments Nativity scene. Jesus is the reason for the season! He came to save us by grace for our sins. Lets us be grateful and not forget that's what Christmas is all about.

Peace!

Modern Quilt

I made this modern quilt for Cara, a sweet young lady. She's a college student that I consider family.  I looked at all her Facebook photos to see what color she most liked to wear.  Blue was by far the predominant color in her photos.  The quilt was inspired by quilter Valori Wells.  The fabric was purchased from Bernina Sewing Centre.
I used straight lines for the quilting and really was pleased with the way it turned out. I think I'd like to try my hand at some more modern quilts.

Front: 

 Back:

Peace!

Thanksgiving vacation project

Over the Thanksgiving break our two daughter's and their families came to spend the week with us.  My son's family lives close by.  On the very rainy Tuesday before Thanksgiving the girls(Kim, Heather, Melissa, Toria 19, Angelica 16, Shelley 13, Faith 6 and I) decided to do a project.  We dyed silk scarves using silk scarf blanks, sharpies, and alcohol(90+% works best).  We marked our designs on the scarves and then sprayed them with the alcohol.  Alcohol makes the ink run. We let them dry and then ironed them to set the dye.  After some of the scarves were done we showed them to TJ one of our 17 yr old grandsons and talked him into doing one for his girlfriend.  Being the least crafty of all our seven grands I was surprised he made one.  He did a beautiful job as did everyone else. TJ used his mothers scarf blank so she didn't get to make one. We have 14 more blanks on order from Bernina Sewing Centre.  We'll do more over Christmas.
Here's a photo of our finished project.

Peace!

Cloud 9 module directions

In my previous post I said I'd explain how to put the Bernina embroidery module in the rack on the Cloud 9 cabinet.  I'll also post a picture.
When we take our module off our machine we move the arm all the way to the left. When you look at it in that position your thought is the left end is the one that should sit on the rack.  You need both the body and the arm to balance in the rack. That doesn't work because of the curve on that end.  I thought they'd sent me the wrong rack.   It turns out that if you turn it and put the other end down the arm slides all the way down and holds it in position. Didn't realize it would do that. The word Bernina is at the top.
Now my module is stored out of harms way on the end of my beautiful Cloud 9.

Peace!

My Sewing Studio Machine Cabinet

Two years ago this month I picked up my Bernina 750 sewing and embroidery machine at Bernina Sewing Centre.  It is an awesome machine to sew on.  I've really enjoyed using it.  I've spent most of the two years since purchasing my 750 trying to find the right cabinet.  The 750 is larger than my previous machines.  The cabinet they had at my local store was bigger than would fit my studio.  I finally found online the Model 8300 Quilter's Cloud 9  made by Fashion Cabinets of America.  I went to Bernina Sewing Centre and they ordered it for me.  I've had it for a couple of weeks now.  The cabinet shaped like a cloud, thus it's name, has a leaf to give you space for large quilts. It also has a place for my embroidery module, and is motorized so the machine can be stored away.  It's the perfect addition to my studio!

Just off to the left you can see just a little of the embroidery module.  In a future post I'll give directions and a picture of how it fits in rack.  There were no directions or pictures with the cabinet to show one how to place the module.
Peace!

UFO's

I've been working on UFO's for the last couple of months. It really feels good to finish things some of which have been sitting around for 2 or 3 years. This morning I completed the piecing of all the blocks for a sqaure in a square that has been cut out and sitting around for 3 years.

Here are some of the blocks. I already know how I'll quilt it so this one doesn't have the stress for me that they usually do.

Hopefully I'll be blogging more often. I'll blog this one when it's quilted.

The latest addition to our family

Quick sketch of my Amber Hope done while watching Inkiwell's ustream today. We got her March 20th from Pet Rescue by Judy. She a Maltese/Toy Terrier mix. Her coloring is fawn/white. Her birthday is early July. We've never had an indoor dog before. I love having her. We go each week for training for both of us. The second picture is of my DGG, Hollywood, brushing Amber.