Christmas on Lake Erie

Just returned from Christmas on Lake Erie with our children and grandchildren.  First I'll share how the "Mystery Quilt" is coming along.     So far I've been able to keep up with each clue.  

I still have no idea how this quilt will look finished.  My guess is that we will have one or two more clues before the big reveal, but that is just a guess.

Working on Clue 4 just before Christmas.

See what others are doing by clicking here!

~ Christmas 2014 ~

 The whole family was able to be there except our daughter Holly.   Duty called at work and she was such a trooper about it.   I told her next year we will center our Holidays around her.  This is the third year in a row that she has missed Christmas with the family.

I'll pick out just a few of the many pictures I took.  That's gonna be hard!

Early morning hot chocolate for the little ones.

Lots of games going on.  For the most part we all love games.  Mark even played "Settlers of Catan" for the first time in his life and enjoyed it.  Here I am learning a new game "Splendor".   It's now my new favorite.

The gift giving has begun.  We watch as one gift was opened at a time.  Holly even got to be a part of it by face-time on the phone.  Notice Boaz holding the phone making sure she gets to see.

The girls enjoying a tea party with their new Christmas tea sets.

Lots of baby time!  River, Isaiah and Travis are the wee ones this year!

I wanted a picture of Mark and I with all our 13 grandchildren.   We are so blessed!

I received a Christmas present that made me cry.  Cheryl had my name for the gift exchange and had this special clock made.  A picture of me holding our granddaughter Ariel who is in heaven.  She also made a photo book of Ariel.  What  special and treasured gifts!

"Every Moment  brings us closer"

Queena reading to the children.

More games.

Foosball table was a real hit with all ages.

A delicious brunch made by the gals.

One of the days some of us bundled up warm and took a brisk walk along the shores of Lake Erie.

I even got my two oldest sons to pose with me.

Thanks Jeremy and Israel!

The last evening there we enjoyed some Christmas fiddling tunes by Chris and Alicia.  It was fun watching River and Isaiah dancing to the music.

~ Parting Shot ~

Clue 3 of the "Grand Illusion" mystery quilt.

Bonnie was easy on us this week in giving us clue #3.   I am enjoying the process so much.  There is a certain amount of anticipation in the "mystery" part of this quilt.   It feels a bit like the anticipation of Christmas that I felt as a child, so making this during the holidays seems right to me.

Sewed lots of two inch strips together this week.

This was the first time using this "June Tailor" short cut ruler.  Pulled it out to subcut my strata strips into 2 inch sections.   It was amazing, and so fast!  I'll be using this ruler again!

Now here is the total units so far for clues 1, 2 and 3.   Can you guess how many pieces?

I had Mark give me a quick guess and he said, "Oh around 500!"  He was WAY off.    How does 3,120 sound?   That figure does include the 800 pieces that make up the 400 bonus half square triangles that I'm hoping to use in the border.

Here's the link to other's making this quilt.

I did get a few more Christmas decorations out.  Always love decorating the two archways in this house,

as well as putting the manger scene on the fireplace mantle.

 I use to do a lot of baking but the only Christmas goodies I make anymore are "Date Nut Balls".   It's one of Marks favorites and they freeze well.

Another sewing project I am experimenting with is the twister pattern for some hunting quilts I want to make for some of my grandsons.     I've sewed the blocks together in a trip around the world design working on a quarter of the quilt at a time.  After recutting the squares at the intersections at an angle and sewing them back together the quilt shrinks down like the one on the right.  This should be a fun project for our sewing retreat next year.

I had to dig into my files to find a picture to close with.  Thanks to Linda H. for this pic.

I'm looking forward to being with all our children and grandchildren next week for Christmas.  Hopefully we will get a decent family picture with us all then, but for now it is just us two patriarchs.

May you each have a very Merry Christmas!

"Grand Illusion" mystery quilt & December's Sewing Circle

Today I crossed two milestones.  I finished my second clue to the "Grand Illusion" mystery quilt, and also put the very first of my Christmas decorations up.

 Here is last weeks stack of 100 blocks along with this weeks stack of 100 blocks.

A few pictures of the process I used.

After cutting my squares and rectangles I marked my sewing lines.

I loved this method because it yielded me with a bonus stack of 400 little two inch (half square triangles).

Bonnie says we can use them later in our border if we want.

To see what others are doing in this mystery you can click on the link below.  I think it's fun to see different color combinations that others are using.

http://new.inlinkz.com/luwpview.php?id=474934

Last week was our December sewing circle.   We always have a show and tell period and I was able to take last years mystery quilt and show it. 

   

"Celtic Solstice"

This month we did a big push to knot a lot of comfort tops.  I think 4 were completed that day.

Darlene brings her niece each month.  I love seeing the younger ones catching the sewing bug.  It also helps  them see and feel apart of giving to others in need.   Most of our comfort tops are donated to MCC Mennonite Central Committee, who distributes them to countries in need, around the world.

We also had a small wall hanging in for the quilters.

~Show and Tell~

I was so happy that Violet shared this quilt with us.  She remembers seeing it on her grandparents bed when she was younger.

Many of the women there could find blocks that one of their relatives had made 50-60 years ago.

This block caught my eye because it was made by my  husbands mother.   How special!

I also took my dinosaur quilt that I made this year for my grandson James.  I shared it here on my blog but had never taken it to sewing circle to show.

The front of the quilt was made by a sheet I picked up at a thrift store, then I pieced the names of the dinosaurs for the border.

Then on the back I put James favorite one.   The Styracosaurus!