And the winners are...

Joyce & Freeblady! You are the quiltie gift winners. I asked The Boy to name a number under 10, and after much prompting (you know, a number that is less than 10? But more than 0? Don't you have a favorite number? Just say a number?!) he finally said 2. Then I said, ok, I need one more number less than 10. Well, I wouldn't have accepted 8 since that was my own comment, but anyway he definitely just wanted out of the line of questioning and said, "oonnnnne?" in that tone that says, mommy, I just don't get it--can I go now?

Congratulations to the winners!

In other news, I completed the top of The Boy's quilt. And I am working on the binding of The Girl's quilt. I doubt I will finish that, it generally takes me forever to sew down a binding. But that is at least one goal finished for the year. Shwew!

I neglected to mention last time I posted that I got some cute Christmas exchange gifts at both of my guild meetings. At one I got a yard of varying fabrics in homespun-like colors. I was thinking I might make an applique block to frame. I generally think it is dorky to decorate with quilt patterned things that aren't quilts but I think I can make an exception for something that is appliqued.

At guild two I got three awesome things...a really cute hand-made pin-cushion--which I am already using--a set of triangle rulers, and (my favorite!) a needle threader. I've wanted to get one for awhile but I kept shying away, thinking I'd rather spend my quiltie dollars on fabric or thread rather than a gadget I might not use too much. So I was really excited about it.

Also at guild two we got a packet of fat quarters for a challenge quilt. I really love the colors in it. So far there is no theme to the challenge. It just has to be at least 30x30 and less than 60x60. I am patiently waiting for inspiration to strike.

I am about half-way down with my first hand-pieced block from the rosy fabrics. I neglected to mention that the pattern I am using is from Quilter's Newsletter #394 and is called Sunburst with Holly Leaves. The link has a little picture of it; since I don't want to step on copyright laws I'm not going to repeat the picture here until I have my own blocks to show. Anyway, I am not crazy about the holly leaf blocks so I'll probably do something else there. I do love hand quilting so maybe I will just leave them open as showcase areas for a quilting motif.

And since I mentioned hand-quilting, I joined a hand-quilting blog ring. It is my preferred part of the process, so when I stumbled across it I could barely contain myself.

And just to stick in a photo...Cottage Living is my favorite magazine. Yes, folks, it somehow manages to barely slip by even the quilting magazines I receive. I even have this goofball rule about it. For some reason, decorating the house has been a difficult task for me. It is just so darn overwhelming, and I don't want to waste money on something that turns out looking like the anti-home & garden. So, when I get a Cottage Living in the mail, I am not allowed to read it until I do some decorating tidbit around the house. Since December is already so crazy I allowed the Christmas decorations to service the rule. I still haven't read it, though. I was reading Spindle's End by Robin McKinley. Someone at work recommended it and I liked it, though be warned it is a retelling of sleeping beauty and is considered juvenile fiction (though it read very well, in my opinion.)

I hope everyone is having a terrific holiday season!