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Monday, December 26, 2022

Such A Happy Christmas -


This was the scene that greeted us as we arrived at Jeff & Ashlyn's yesterday afternoon.

Talk about a blast from the past!

ALL of these stockings are those I made over the years - The ones on the far right made when the boys were tiny - I made them for all of the nieces and nephews at that time, too.

I think the pattern may have been a Debbie Mumm - but I can't be sure.

The ones with names on the left - the ones with string piecing and embroidered names came later.

At some point I had sent Jason's to him so he has it  but these others?

They were long forgotten in boxes of "Christmas stuff" that Jeff picked up a year ago November when we sold the Wallburg house.  

The boxes marked "Christmas" that contained all of the ornaments and lights, and other decorations that go on the tree that they also adopted.

My heart swelled to see that they had included us so much in this special Christmas that our stockings too were full - and the tradition continues!

Along with some NEW ones!


Forget the Christmas Turkey - This is North Carolina where ribs are put on the grill and slow cooked for hours.

Ashlyn and her sister had cooked for two days - and there were only 7 of us to make a dent in this spread and it was SO delicious.

Besides the ribs there was a spiral ham baked with pineapple rings, cherries and cloves - the way my mom used to do it.  It brought so many memories!

There was sweet potato casserole, green beans, rolls, mashed potatoes and gravy, salad, stuffing, rice, corn on the cobb, baked beans, corn bread, broccoli - the buffet counter went on and on.  

For 7 people? They are going to have a week's worth of meals at the ready.  At least.

As we were doing dishes I could see that Ashlyn was exhausted - and I said to her what I have laughed about for every holiday meal I've prepared over the past 40+ years. "2 days to cook it all, gone in 20 minutes."  But it was wonderful, and I am so happy to pass the baton to the younger folks in the family.

My contributions were a simple green salad (No one had room for it on their plates!) and a crust-less pumpkin pie. 

Spray whipped-cream in a can was the most fun for Casden.

We all needed naps after.


Playing Operation with Casden.

Zoey does NOT like the buzzing sound that comes from this game!  It sounds too much like stink bugs buzzing by.


Jeff and Casen putting together the Hot Wheels track!

Sorry for the blur - it is so hard to get anyone to stand still for photos!


At one point we had 2 cars making the loop one after the other - add a third, and they all crash, and that was fun too.


Cheering on the winner!

I think Jeff liked this as much as Casden did.  LOL!

It was a wonderful day spent together.  We had to leave in time to make it home by dark - that steep drive had me a bit concerned the whole time.


It was slippery getting down.  I knew it would be hair raising going back up late in the day.

Temps never got above freezing so there was no chance of a thaw.

We made it - but it was iffy on that steep hairpin turn.

Now that Christmas is over I'm ready for all of this snow stuff to just go away.  Thank you very much. But no thanks.


On the hand quilting front - last stitches were taken!


And the "knife edge" finish has begun.

Here is a recap on how I did the same for Jason's quilt HERE.


A quick peek at the underside.

I love this finish for  things like this - These hexies already have their seam allowance turned under from the English Paper Piecing assembly. They are only 3/4'' per side so adding a separate binding would be overkill to the size of the hexies themselves.

With this kind of finish there is "No Binding Required". It's just going to take a while to get it all done.  

Slow stitching the week between Christmas & New Years?  Perfect.

I hope you had a marvelous holiday and are able to breathe a bit easier now that we are on the "other" side.

I know I am!


Quiltville Quote of the Day -

Take a good look at these pinwheels.⁣ What do you see?
Beauty in imperfection!  Happy Accidents. 
REAL.
Have a great Day After, everyone!


 

12 comments:

  1. Congrats on finishing the hexie quilting! Loved seeing the stockings - so glad you had a lovely visit with family.

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  2. This was such a serendipitous moment - I had just decided that my "word" for 2023 was IMPERFECT. And now I have validation from you!!!

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  3. The hexie quilt is amazing. I am working on one myself. I call it my forever quilt. I would like to see more of the back of yours to see the quilting pattern. i have been puzzling over mine to decide how to quilt it. What a happy Christmas. Thank you for sharing.

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  4. The Christmas when my son had just turned 4, I had gotten him a set of classic wooden blocks. He wasn't particularly interested in them though. When I had asked him a day or two later to clear the floor and put away some toys, he left the blocks out. "They're Dad's."

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  5. I love sharing all your Christmases. Thank you Bonnie for the wonderful thoughts and photos. Prayers and blessings for all y'all... my hexie quilt just needs knife edge finish! Goal for this year!!! God Bless you one and all, Cats in Carlsbad CA

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  6. How sweet of Jeff and Ashlyn to make Christmas so special. I loved playing Hot Wheels, too, when I was young so I'd be right there on the floor with them!

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  7. I know your heart was warmed to see your handmade wonders out and being used. I dream my gifts are being used that way also! Happy holidays!

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  8. Such a happy Christmas! It looked like Jeff was enjoying the Hot Wheels more than Casden did! So glad to hear you made it home safely! We stayed home and on the property all weekend. I have a queen size quilt to bind, and then I have a scrap quilt that I am on the down hill slide of finishing. Plus, working on catching up with the mystery quilt. Catching up on our rest and getting better is the focus for this week; we go back to work and school next week.

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  9. Glad you had a good Christmas with Jeff and Family, the stockings are adorable. Perfect surprise. I loved my swapped stocking from quilty friends . Hubby doesn't do one for me. We are doing our family gathering tonight. Ice roads are keeping our oldest Family home.

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  10. Your hexie quilt is beautiful!!

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  11. I was trolling through your tips and techniques…wondering if you are still using YLI threads? Trying to find a good piecing and FMQ thread. What are your suggestions?

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    Replies
    1. I use YLI hand quilting thread to hand quilt. I like Signature 60 wt for machine piecing and general machine sewing. I like Signature and Glide for long arm quilting, but I don't FMQ on my domestic machine so I'm not the best person to ask.

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