Another glorious Quiltmama Christmas

Ladies - we wrapped up another quilting year in spectacular fashion.  Thanks to LA for her wonderful hospitality! It was so nice to sit in your lovely family room and spend time together. Watching your boys and their legos and seeing Kieran's face with his truck - that's Christmas right  there - that wonder! Enjoy it - you will miss it when they get older. The food was fabulous and the laughs were abundant. And each year we outdo ourselves with the gifts....let's get to the pictures:

LA had Dolores - and wrapped the gift in lovely Birdcage fabric!

It was a basket of wonders - slippers, threads, a quilting book, Sparkletini and other goodies.

Dolores had Cousuelo - and she gave her a magic box! It was filled with a complete quilt - with some assembly required! It was a string quilt - all the pieces cut and labeled and counted along with the foundation pieces and the directions, the backing and the binding already made! Truly magic!

She is overcome!

Maureen gave Cathy a delectable box of colorful threads....which will come in handy as Mare still has quilt tops!

Cathy had moi.....this is awesome....

 An Irish Wallhanging - beautiful!! I just love it. It will hang in my sewing room and make me smile whenever I see it.

I had Lori - and made her a hand-stitched hexagon summer wallhanging where she can pin retired beach tags.

Lori had Lois - and made her two beautiful Christmas pillows. I believe the Santa pattern is from California!

So festive!

And Lois is lucky to receive the famous (dreaded) Quiltmama Christmas star - hers to keep for one year. She will add something to the banner to represent her and pass it along to another lucky recipient next year. Yay!

Lois had Mare - and made her a lovely table runner....

along with an apron and beautiful strawberry placemats!

Mare had Leigh Anne (after thinking she had Dolores) and made this awesome snowman wallhanging....

and a table runner using LA's scraps from her girls' quilts. So pretty!!

Ladies....a wonderful time was had by all. Pam and Peggy - you were missed! Thanks to LA (and Gerry) for their warm hospitality. It always goes by too quickly. We have some upcoming events to think about. Sewing for the firemen - LA will get back to us with the date - either Wednesday the 8th or the 15th - or both. Please check your calendars for the spring Lancaster trip and let me know - March 28-30 or April 4-6.

Mare already has Dolores for next year - and has her gift completed - as long as she remembers where she puts it.....

Prayers and best wishes as we start this new year - for Mare as she drives her daughter across the US to start her next chapter in San Francisco - God go with you. For Lois - who is having cataract surgery soon - we're here for you and George, whatever you need. For all of us - whatever challenges we may face this year, knowing that we have each other, makes the journey easier, the road smoother and our hearts happy. Peace....

Merry Christmas

Hello, ladies. Feliz Navidad! Is everyone ready for the holiday? Gifts wrapped, groceries bought? I hope everyone has a wonderful time - no matter who you spend it with or where. Leigh Anne has again graciously offered to host our Quiltmama Christmas extravaganza! It will be on Monday, December 30th. We also have an opportunity to sew some things for Gerry's firehouse and earn some sewing dough! That will be in early January. We can get details at the gig. Please let LA know what you will bring - either in a comment here or an email. Thanks....

Please keep Leigh Anne and her extended family in your prayers...her grandmother passed away yesterday.

Take care....wishing you all peace.

A snow finish...

From Cathy.....virtual show & tell......it is terrific!!! Thanks for sharing....

How about the Country Store closing.....that's just amazing. It's always crowded. I wonder what happened. So glad we got to stop in just a few weeks ago......

Winter Wonderland!

Good morning ladies! It looks beautiful outside doesn't it? Now it needs to melt pronto! Wasn't yesterday something? Did you happen to turn on the Eagles game? They couldn't see anything for a while. Gerry, Maria and Jules McCabe were there. He sent me an awesome picture on my phone - which I have to wait for one of the kids to get up to get it on the computer! Since we couldn't go anywhere yesterday, we decorated and put up the tree.  Hope you all had a nice weekend. Cathy has offered to host bee this Wednesday. See you there......peace.

Neglected....

Sorry....things are a bit crazy. The Thanksgiving relaxation is over! Oy! I feel like the Christmas rush started when the leftovers were put away!! Hope you all had a nice turkey day. Pam headed to Disneyworld on Monday and Mare is headed down today. Wishing you both a magical time! Good luck to all the college students heading into finals. Have you started your shopping? I sewed like a crazy woman over the weekend - making a queen size t-shirt quilt. My shoulders were aching by Sunday evening - it has a lot of hockey jerseys. The mom bought flannel for the back. When it's finished, it's going to feel like that lead apron they put on you at the dentist during an x-ray!! I went to Bryn Mawr Hospital's thrift shop this week looking for ugly Christmas sweaters for Erin - boy, they are hard to find. They had a couple - we'd already tried Goodwill and nothing. Well...gotta bolt. Have a nice day....saw this on Pinterest and it made me laugh. I think this every time I leave the house!!!

Peace....

Sunday bee.....

Brrrr……what the heck? It was a really chilly evening. Cathy and Lois braved the cold to come to bee. We had a nice chat and catch-up. And some beautiful show&tell.

Cathy had started cutting this when we were threatened by the would-be home invader in Lancaster. Here it is finished. I love the border around the outside. This was made with a beautiful Christmas jelly roll.

She finished her flannel snowman quilt too - we were trying to figure out how old these kits were....I think LA had two kids when we got them!!

She had finished this in Lancaster for her Mom - I didn't get a picture of it. I just love it - the pencils are awesome!

She made this one on Sunday night - watching a Hallmark movie with Consuelo.

This is just beautiful. Lois made this as a wedding gift for Sean and Lacey. Her first attempt at overall machine quilting - it looks great. She actually did it in two halves and sewed them together after quilting them. They're going to love it!

I made these little hoops for my students - I have 7 girls and made them each their initial.

Lois has some special company coming for Thanksgiving. Sean and Lacey are coming on Wednesday night. And Kara is flying in on Friday night for her high school reunion. She'll be here till Tuesday. So nice for Lois - and this is the first time Kara will meet Lacey. On the way back from Lancaster, LA and I talked about having an instruction/sewing day. Maybe teach one or two techniques - you can learn or just come and sew. I know some folks want to learn Dolores' methods for making her beautiful string quilts. LA has talked to the firehouse folks about us maybe using the upstairs room for the day. Will keep you posted on some possible dates.

Right after Cathy and Lois left, Pam called hoping to catch some bee girls. She's doing very well. On Saturday, I'd received a box in the mail - full of shells, sea glass and other gifts from the ocean as well as a beautiful thank you note from Pam for the mamas. You are welcome to take some treasures - I'll bring them the next time we get together. She is leaving for Disney the Monday after Thanksgiving. She extended a generous invitation to the mamas - whoever wants to is welcome to hop down to Lewes on Thanksgiving - or anytime until they leave for Mama Barb's on Sunday. Consider yourselves invited!

Wishing all the mamas and their families a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! When I count my blessings, the mamas are way up there on the list. Thank you, ladies. Peace....

Couldn't resist this gem.....Darth Tater!!!! Hahaha....

Hundreds of laughs….and the longest post in history.....

Lordy, ladies...where to begin. We started at Cathy's - a caravan of three cars and didn't lose anybody! Peggy came - yay! Mare and Consuelo caught up with us at Sauder's. We stocked up - and then headed to Intercourse! Had another terrific lunch at the Kling House - multiple goat cheese balls were consumed and discussed - the decline in the level of conversation started here. Then more shopping and the Farmer's market - more food! There's an awesome coffee place across from Kitchen Kettle Village now - and a great furniture place too. The Best Western is all new - beautiful. We checked in and got to work. Consuelo claimed the basement...and we settled in. We got lots and lots done on Friday night. Peggy put together a special and heart-breaking memory quilt for a Mom who lost her 20 year old son, Sean. It was wonderful - and such a relief for Peggy to have the top completed. Up early on Saturday....back to work. Finally someone mentioned going to lunch around 10:30 - we had reservations at 1. Turns out a whole bunch of us wanted to skip the Iron Horse, grab something quick and keep working - so that's what we did. Hit the potpie place and Wawa. Cathy and Dolores taught Lori how to 'Wawa' - so it was a useful trip. More walking trips up to get supplies - that is so handy!! It was a beautiful day - as was Friday. Saturday evening all hell broke loose! Joe Byrnes texts Dolores that he had to pay a plumber that day. She writes back that maybe she shouldn't have bought that new machine - just to get his goat. Next thing you know, he texts that he's headed up to 'discuss it'. What?? Said he got the address from Gerry McCabe....Gerry?? Oy - Dolores is freaking out, I'm freaking out. LA volunteers to call Pacilio's. She 'calls' and they said he left for the evening. This goes on for a while - until they finally come clean and tell Dolores she's been punked! She was about to have heart failure. A little while later, the doorbell rings. No one will answer it...who the hell would be at the door besides a crazed Amish man looking to kill all of us. LA hides in the powder room, Cathy arms herself with a rotary cutter, someone calls out, 'Knock it off, Peggy'. She replies, 'I"m at my damned machine - it's not me'. Cathy yells to Marianne to close and lock the kitchen window - and she obeys. Is it the landscaping lady from this morning? Has she come back for blood payment??? Someone realizes that Lori is missing - LA is calling her name from the bathroom. Peggy said she saw eyes staring in the window. I think a few of us peed a little at this point. I was hiding in the kitchen so I didn't see who finally opened the door - and it was LORI!! She was laughing her ass off, hiding off to the side in the bushes. It was like a cardio workout, I swear. The rest of the evening was fairly uneventful. We had show&tell the next morning before Peggy left...

I'd put this top together last spring. Layered it this time

A t-shirt quilt for an organ donor recipient

Coasters...well, just one.

Pillow cases

A kindle cover for Kelly

Four burp cloths

A second Fletcher quilt

Maureen's picture quilt for her nephew and his new bride - lovely beachy colors

Cathy made this for Fiona out of her t-shirts and little kid clothes. So cute - and a relief

Cue the Lone Ranger theme...Dolores and LA did a jelly roll race - look how beautiful this turned out - Soho fabric

Four nieces and four string quilts in their favorite colors - Dolores is an awesome aunt. This is the yellow one.

The pink one...

The orange one...so striking!

Lori made a Santa hanging...

and a turkey. So cute!

She worked on John's sailboat quilt blocks...

Lots of star blocks

LA - tons of things. We video chatted with her boys and Sean texted that Kevin wanted a turkey pillowcase - so she made two!

A market bag for a teacher

Eleven....yes, 11 pillow/book bags for her babysitting kids

Such a cute girl panel

LA's jelly roll race entry

A t-shirt quilt for Carmel from the 3-day team shirts

For a neighbor who was recently diagnosed

Another cute little girl quilt...

Whew...it was exhausting just typing all of that! Peggy left and then we basted four quilts for LA. She and I rolled next around 10:30. Dolores and Lori left later - and Mare, Cathy and Consuelo stayed an extra night at the Best Western. Have to hear details at the next bee. LA and I talked about a sewing/teaching day maybe in January. Stay tuned......so much fun, girls. Another successful weekend filled with food, fun, estrogen and goat cheese balls. Can't wait till next time....peace.