A homemade Christmas

I'm the youngest of my siblings, and I found it fitting to get a sibling picture with them in front of the tree this year with their Christmas present quilts.

Go Packers!  (73 x 96)

Do you work better (more productive) with deadlines?  The final binding stitches for the Green Bay Packer quilt were sewn the night before heading out to my parents for our Christmas celebration.  The pace for completion of this quilt increased after my brother mentioned at our Thanksgiving holiday that he was wanting a new quilt. "No rush," he had said... 

Ask and ye shall receive...

When giving quilts, I don't have any expectations of reactions, regardless of who is the recipient.   It appears that Gma was a bit saddened that the quilt she claimed "dibbs" on as I was posting its progress on Facebook was given to her son instead of her.  

My sister and BIL knew this quilt was a project with their names on it, literally.  "Berquist Beauty" took its time being made throughout the year, and it appears to have been graciously accepted as a quilt for their king-sized bed.

Berquist Beauty (103 x 103)

  

Gma received her own (smaller) homemade items.  

After volunteering to take care of the dishes during the Thanksgiving visit, I was determined to gift her some new towels that actually absorbed water when used to dry dishes :)  LOL

And a couple of crocheted dish cloths to complete out her present.  I used the Dishie yarn from KnitPics;  I'm pretty pleased with this yarn for dish cloths.

Most of Wisconsin was pretty brown on Christmas Day, but Saturday morning (12/27) changed that picture!  A wet, heavy snow started falling Friday night into Saturday morning, dropping about 4 inches.   My parents have a beautiful cozy place nestled back into some woods.  Cliche-sounding, but true!

I'm in the midst of Christmas Break from school right now;  I figured it was time to give my blog another post update.   I've been sewing most of today away, but.... maybe I'll save that post for tomorrow :D   It could happen!  LOL

40% off -- can't say no to that

The trip with Linda to the quilt shop closing its doors was definitely a big success.  I really can't remember the last time I've purchased fabric, so..... the way I see it, I can justify this loot! ;)  

Eight yards of orange that'll be destined for backing on my Celtic Solstice

9 3/4 yards reserved for the backing of Hawaii Sunset

and all the rest.... stash.

Once home, I was feeling a bit drained, but I turned on Break Dawn, Part 2 as background noise and got busy piecing backing and batting for Berquist Beauty.  By the time the credits were rolling, the backing was pieced, batting pieced, backing/batting/top loaded on the frame, and the first path of quilting completed.  A bit over 2 hours just to prep the final stages for quilting.  Such a process.

Berquist Beauty - top done; crocheted dishcloths

Berquist Beauty - 105" x 105"

My sister and BIL's quilt had been resting on the sidelines downstairs, awaiting the final four seam lines to put the top center together.  Between Bonnie's QuiltCam Monday night, and another half hour tonight, the final 3.5" brown borders were attached.   It has joined the pile of LARGE quilts resting on the carpeted basement area, awaiting fabric selections for backings.  I truly feel I'm going to search out some wide backing (108" and/or 116/120") for the two king-sized quilt tops that have been finished recently.  {{Celtic Soltice, in addition to Berquist Beauty}}

Tomorrow, Linda and I are road tripping to a town 30-or-so miles to the west.  Sadly, a quilt shop is closing its doors, and we're going to head there to check out what's included in the 40-75% sales.   We're going to enjoy the day regardless if we come away with any great deals or not.  School is right around the corner (she teaches in the 3-6 wing of our district's school building), and we've never road tripped together before.  I'm sure the day away will be enjoyed by both of us, and we'll do our best to leave the school-related chatter to a minimum ;)

Last Friday, my parents made a detour for a short visit with us before traveling on to their weekend getaway at a neighbor's cabin 'up north.'  As grandparents often do, they had purchased some school supplies/shoes/clothes for the girls that needed to be delivered.  (And yes!  My sister was involved with that shopping spree as well.  The family truly helps out with our girls so much!!!)

I'm not exactly sure how one of my crocheted dishcloths ended up as the topic of conversation, but Mom hinted about wanting some for Christmas.  I sent her on her way with a couple that I had in my linen drawer;  I'm not a bit fan of the cotton yarn dishcloths; at least the YARNS that I've tried so far -- maybe she'll end up liking them more than me.  There really IS a difference in yarns, and I haven't found a yarn I like yet for dishcloths.  

With another ball of Sugar 'n Cream left in my stash, I made up another cloth with a new pattern (Granny Dishcloth).  I LIKE this pattern!!!  Now to just find the right yarn.

The race WAS on...

Ten days ago (1/4/14), I arrived home from the last celebration of Christmas with my family.  That day, I had spent an hour shopping fabrics for a quilt for my sister's king size bed.   On the drive home, I set my mind on a crazy challenge:  to finish Jen's quilt in time for it to arrive to her for her January 22 birthday!  14 days to make it;  a few days to allow for shipping....  I could do it, right?!?!?!?!

Early Sunday morning (1/5/14), I was up early, washing and pressing fabrics.  Recall my post?

Berquist Beauty fabrics cut

Behind the blogging scenes in top-secret mode, I had spent much of the day Sunday doing calculations, cutting all the fabrics, and creating all 240 4-patches for the king size quilt AND all 244 HSTs.  That was a LOT of cutting and chain sewing!!!!!!!!!

Some power sewing and cutting

When we were informed that Monday's school (1/6/14) was cancelled due to weather, I pushed and pushed on Sunday even MORE to get as much of the cutting and sewing done as possible.  I was really beginning to think that I may JUST accomplish my challenge, specially with the gift of extra time due to the "cold" day.  Yes!

But, I think I worked and pushed myself too hard on Sunday.  :\ 

On Monday, I was beat.  The basement was SUPER cold that day, and.... I was fighting for energy.  I ended up moving my ironing board to my main floor and was able to manage a two-hour long pressing session to press all 244 HSTs and 240 4-patches that were pieced on Sunday.

When the call came in that afternoon for school being cancelled again for Tuesday (1/7/14, a week ago), I was feeling a little bit better about not utilizing all the additional time I was given on Monday to reach my crazy goal to finish this quilt.

Tuesday's goal:  cut and sew the 240 Tri-Recs blocks.

Tuesday.  Ugh!  I literally did NOTHING!  I perused blogs.  Searched Ravelry.  Did some laundry.  But did NO sewing!  Talk about feeling the guilt settle in :\

Wednesday through Friday brought on a typical crazy, busy schedule;  no sewing time existed.

Saturday was tournament day in basketball for Caitlyn, BUT I was able to sew for a couple of hours (7-9AM) before needing to head out.  LOTS of cutting of the Tri-Rec units.  Oh boy....... the reality of the goal-time finish was starting to fade away;  those Tri-recs take some time!  (Remember clue #1 from Celtic Solstice?)

After returning home from Caitlyn's tournament, I did manage to POWER SEW all of the Tri-Rec units and press!  All blocks units were completed at that point (9PM),  so I spent about an hour's worth of time power sewing 61 blocks; half of the total needed. 

By the end of Saturday night, Berquist Beauty (right) has surpassed the status of my Celtic Solstice (left).  And I was a tired cookie.

Sunday morning arrived, and..... 8:05AM!!!!!!!  Holy cow.  That is actually a LATE waking time for me.  I can't remember the last time I slept that late.

I didn't panic;  but I did fight a little bit of inner guilt when I decided to sit with my feet up with my laptop and cup of coffee for an hour rather than head directly downstairs.

But by 9:15, I was downstairs.  It was a slow start; but I was still determined to push for the finish.  Goal for the day:  finish the remaining 60 blocks, and get the top center completely sewn!

Well....  

I didn't quite make it.

So now, the reality has set in.  

Ya see, my sister has a totally geeky cool birthday this year!  She turns 44 on the 22nd.  I wanted it to be a super, super, cool birthday with a "double-golden-birthday" present.

She's not a quilter;  you may have read some of her comments from time-to-time.  She's "JB."  

And KNOWING that she's not a quilter, when I posted the Celtic Solstice / "Standard quilt" picture in the previous post {{comparing standard quilt units to a Bonnie-ized quilt unit}}, I really didn't think she'd notice that it was HER quilt that was the "standard" quilt.  

However, from her comment, I am assuming she figured it out.  

I wanted to keep this lil' surprise to myself.  Have I told you yet that I'm the baby sister in the family??  I. DON'T. KEEP. SECRETS.   I can't!  LOL

So, the cat is out of the bag.

AND :(

As badly as I would love to be shipping off a completed king size quilt next Monday in the mail......

I have to accept that it just isn't going to happen. Both girls have basketball tournaments on Saturday, which will only leave Sunday sewing time for me, and maybe some Friday night time (?).  The top center isn't pieced into rows yet;  that's a big undertaking;  11x11 layout, 9" blocks..... :|  

Then the rows need to sewn... then a small (or two small?) borders.  Then backing.  batting.  and king-size quilt quilting!!!!

Jen, I love you.  And I tried!  I want your 44th on the 22nd to be super super cool!  :\  Sadly, it won't be "quilt cool."

Yes, it will be done by next Christmas!  PROMISE!!!  LOL

So now, I will sigh and say I tried to reach a silly crazy goal of finishing a king size quilt in 14 days while teaching full time and being "basketball" mom to boot.  

With my sister's blessing, I'll definitely RELAX and ENJOY a more relaxed time sewing together her quilt.  

Happy Tuesday

Beautiful fabrics [Berquist Beauty]

We had our last Christmas celebration this past weekend with my family.  Ummm.... I didn't take any pictures, but both my mother and sister did.  However, I FAILED to download any copies from their cameras before leaving.  Oy-vey!  

At one point Saturday afternoon, I graciously bowed out of the afternoon football watching to head to town ... Candace needed some new snow pants, but...... secretively, I wanted to get into Hancock Fabrics to actually look at fabrics in person instead of online!!!!  Remember my shopping cart from a couple of weeks ago???

Well, my sister rode along as did my nephew.  We all had an ulterior motive for heading to town.

Stop #1:  Bath-n-Body so my sister could use up a gift certificate from LAST Christmas!

Stop #2:  Festival Foods, shopping for fixings for dinner (Spaghetti dinner)

Stop #3:  HANCOCK FABRICS!!!!!!

With my sister in tow (nephew stayed in the van, watching a movie), we perused the aisles in search of any fabrics that would work in my sister's bedroom.  

This quilt was posted last week by a lady working on her Celtic Solstice.  I have ALWAYS wanted to make a pattern similar to this.  ((LITTLE did I know at that time that Bonnie's mystery was ALSO this design!!!!))  The lady mentioned the quilting magazine that held the pattern she used;  I didn't pay much attention, knowing I would be able to recreate this without much effort.  SPECIALLY now that Bonnie's mystery essentially uses the same units (with a bit more extreme piecing!), this pattern shouldn't take much calculation on my part.

Back to Hancock...

I was actually amazed at how quickly the fabrics were stacked up;  teals/blues, browns, and pinks/mauves.  

And the fabrics have now safely made the trip to my house, have been through the washer and dryer, pressed lovingly by my new iron, and now.... await to be made into Jen's (and Derek's!) quilt.  I'm thinking of "Berquist Beauty" as the name of the quilt -- Berquist being my sister/husband's last name.

And not to forget, 

Stop #4 on Saturday:  Walmart!  Nephew wanted to buy a video game with his gift card and money received from Christmas.

NOW, with TWO days of extreme cold keeping us prisoner in our house, you'd THINK I'd be able to get some serious quilting done.  Today we didn't have school, and I spent about 4 hours downstairs working on Celtic Solstice and some overall tidying of the sewing room.  But it was COLD down there, so I gave up around noon!  I'm hoping tomorrow will bring on some MORE motivational mojo juice for me to tackle LOADS of sewing since school as already been pre-cancelled for the day!

Happy Monday!

((It IS Monday, right??)