ANOTHER FINISH???????????????? Purple, anyone?

 Squeezing in one more finish before year's end !

 Sashed Disappearing 9-patch blocks with binding made from same fabric as I used for back of quilt.  Final measurement is approximately 40 inches square.  Polyester batting, machine-quilted and machine-bound, front and back.

EDIT:  I offered this one, on Facebook, for sale for $45.  Cindy Mayle, James's (and my) niece, (Jean's daughter) responded that she loved it and wanted to buy it.  So I told her that I'd like to gift it to her.  I mailed it off to her address in Nashville the next day, and she received it the day after that, Dec. 29th.  She snuggled with it on the couch on her day off !  Happy there, happy here !

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS ! Give THANKS in ALL THINGS !

 Just a bit different Christmas Day this year.........first and foremost, it fell on a Sunday, and our church had a wonderful service, coming together to worship our LORD and Savoir, Jesus Christ.  Oh, the tears that came to my eyes as a young man, who is battling addiction with the help of our LORD, sang "OH HOLY NIGHT".

Breathtaking !  Glory to God !

 And I want to take this opportunity to blog about our cold blast we've had to welcome in Winter 2022/2023.  I witnessed my front porch thermometer showing 10 below zero on Thursday night, and a bit colder Friday morning.  We had probably 2 inches of snow mixed with sleet.  I was blessed to not lose running water, as I left a stream going at the kitchen and bathroom sinks, and at the bathtub faucet.  

The state did what they called "running blackouts" on Saturday, Christmas Eve, to try to alleviate the heavy toll on the electrical power system.  Many people were without power even before that, but I was blessed to only have mine down for the 35 minutes that they cut it off.

Waterwise, many people found that they were without running water yesterday and today, or that they had very low water pressure.  I had low, but sufficient pressure today and was able to share. 

The city announced that there is a problem with our water supply now, and we are all instructed to boil any water that we are going to consume (drink/ brush our teeth/ wash dishes).  So I've boiled some today for drinking and for washing dishes, plus, I threw out all the ice that my freezer had made........ But tonight, while taking trash to my outside can, I heard water splashing against the inside of my mobile home's underpinning.  It seemed to be coming from the area where my fridge with icemaker is connected.  My neighbor came right down and turned my water line off until he can have a look tomorrow to see what exactly is wrong.  

Thankfully, I got my dishes done earlier, and built up a supply of water to hold me over for awhile.

I thank the LORD for the good neighbors I have that help me and constantly check to make sure that I am okay since I live alone. 

Hopefully, I will update this blog as things progress.   God is good, God is faithful........HE'S NEVER FAILED ME YET !

  

FINISH--Twin bed quilt--Twinkling Lights (Triangle Quilt)

 This may or may not be my final finish for 2022, but it is a happy finish indeed.  

This has been my hand-quilting project for the last few months, done with a pretty big stitch and 30 wt. quilting thread from Walmart.  Not sure when I started the quilting, but it wasn't more than a few months, if that.  

All machine-pieced a bit at a time, it stayed on my design wall for quite a while.  To back it, I pieced together a grey print that I had yardage of for YEARS, and a magenta print that I obtained recently.  I don't 'do' collections or name brands generally so I can't tell you who these fabrics were by.   I just look through my stash and am thrilled if I have enough of something to cover the back of a quilt.  But I must say that the grey is the most wonderful feeling fabric that I have worked with in years.  I know that I got a fantastic buy on it from Fabric.com years ago, and it has been a difficult one to match to a quilt.  But this one being for me, I was fine with it, and it goes with the grey in the top, right???????

 Batting is 80/20 cotton/poly, probably Fairfield brand from Walmart, but not sure.  Finished measurements of the quilt are approximately 60 inches by 88 inches.  There are, including one half-square block on back for the label, 662 triangles in the quilt.  

So......Merry Christmas to ME, ...........and a very merry and joyous Christmas to you all, most especially those who live alone.  I hope you have wonderful friends and/or family in your life to show you the love of our savior, Christ Jesus, whom we celebrate at this time !  

Love from Dolly.

Gift for Widows' Luncheon

 This year I made two coordinating table mats from a charm pack that I received from Jodie Ann several years ago.  The colors in the pack were black, grey, yellow, navy, and cream.

 I just made up two different designs, and quilted them in two different ways, by machine.  This one is just a straight line grid parallel to the seams, 

 

and the second one was done with a ruler foot and free-motion quilting rulers that make different sizes of circles and fan-quilting.  I quite enjoyed doing that one.  The rulers pivot on a pin, which makes it much easier to keep the lines accurate.

 

Sister Faye wound up winning the two mats.  We no longer do "Dirty Santa", as there was some grumbling among our group the last time that we did that.  So now a number is placed on each gift, and then each person draws a number as well.  You then get the gift that matches your number.

The mats measured approximately 19 inches square, each, and included a wool/poly batting that was purchased from JoAnn fabrics online. The price was too good to be true, and the reviews were terrible, claiming fiber migration.  I took a chance, ordering three........two queen, and one baby-size.  I've used the baby-size to experiment, and sure enough, I noticed yesterday on a potholder that I made with it, and have washed and dried twice, it is bearding, for sure.  

Well......I've wanted to try making some pieced and quilted rugs for my bathroom floor, so these might work well for that, and I could use some pattern boards, like Lori Holt makes, so maybe I'll do something like that with them as well.  Hey, maybe even a few layers would make a good ironing surface as long as you have fabric to keep the iron from any polyester melting.

Lesson learned,.......but warning you.....if they still have them at JoAnn fabrics, don't buy them unless you have a use for them other than a beloved quilt.