Chicago

We just got back from the windy city of Chicago! The one day it was -10 to -20 wind chill! That was not enough to keep us from going shopping on Michigan Avenue! My DIL and I had a great time shopping at many of the stores on Michigan Avenue. (Maybe I should say window shopping.) For those of you that may not be acquainted with that area of Chicago, I will tell you that they have many, many, many stores within a mile! Stores like Saks Fifth Avenue, Cartier, Nordstrom, just to name a few. It was great fun just looking around. The shops were really decorated for Christmas, which I enjoy so much! I love to take pictures of Christmas decorations. They are just so festive and happy!

We went by train and had a stop at Union Station in Washington DC. This is their Christmas Tree! Absolutely beautiful!

These pics were from the train station in Chicago!

The view from our hotel room at sunset.

Just one of the beautiful shop decorations that I saw.

We did get to two quilt shops. The one was Quiltology, which I blogged about earlier and also a shop called The Needleshop. It was a very nice shop with prints from Amy Butler designs and similar fabrics. They also carried some fashion fabrics. They run many classes on dress making and bags. I didn't just window shop at these stores. :-) It's always great to add to the stash!

The Needleshop.

Winter Wonderland & Lebanon Quilt Show

In early December we had a beautiful snow fall. The snow just coated everything and made everything just glisten. My hubby and I walked a trail and got a chance to enjoy all the beauty around us.


After our walk, we decided to head to LebanonPA for a quilt show. The Lebanon Quilters Guild had their show at the Fairgrounds and Expo Center. It was a very nice show with many beautiful quilts. They are very talented ladies. Not only was there a quilt show, but also a display of wonderful gingerbread houses and beautifully decorated trees! It was a very enjoyable day, indeed!
Here is a small sampling of some of things we saw.

Club Christmas Meeting

Today ended another Club year. It was a fun year with much show & tell, sharing stories, laughter and eating! Today we had a Christmas celebration. I even baked cookies! Well, at least I baked them in my oven, I just didn't mix them up from scratch! Isn't it great to be able to buy cookies that you just break apart and then bake them! :-) There was a time, I used to bake from scratch all the time, but now time is at a premium and I go for simpler methods. I did get creative though and actually sprinkled cinnamon on the sugar cookies! :-)
I'm not sure what the club will be next year, but I will keep you posted. Meanwhile we will meet same time, the 2nd Wed. of the month. Thank you for your support through the year! You guys are great!
Hope to see you in January!

Notice the beautiful scarves knitted by Mary Alice for both her and her sister Eleanor. They are beautiful!

It looks like someone told a funny story!

Orange Crush Quilt

I have been following Bonnie Hunter's website and blog for a while. I am hooked on her patterns. She is so talented and makes the best scrappy quilts! I just finished her Orange Crush pattern and thought that I would share a picture of it. The quilt pattern made a much larger quilt, but I decided that I would do one for my kitchen table for fall. I had figured out how many blocks to do and then the border, so that it would just hang over the edge of the table a few inches. I finished piecing the blocks and sewing them together and then decided on my best approach for the borders. As I looked at it, I thought why not make the border strips the same size as the cornerstones that I made for the corners of the borders. However, I forgot about adding extra for hanging over the sides of the table. Yes, you guessed it. I sewed it, then quilted everything and not until I tried it on my table, did it dawn on me what I had done. Well, all I can say is that I either have a wonderful extra large table runner :-) or I can use it as a wall hanging or throw for the fall season. It's still beautiful to me and I love it!
Bonnie offers many wonderful free patterns on her website. Be sure to check them out! Thanks Bonnie!

Here is a close up of a quilting pattern that I used from my favorite embroidery site.
Here is my quilt on the table, but no hangover!

Stacey's Christmas Quilt

Stacey has sewn a number of Christmas Quilts this year. She just finished a lap size one for her Aunt. It looks wonderful! Good job Stacey!