Went to my guild meeting last night determined to find out who made that adorable Santa ornament that I copied 36 times! (See Dec 30 post) So, as I was talking to one of my good friends, Liz, I showed her my quest.  Wouldn’t you know it was she, who made them!  That was easy!  Turns out they originate from Eleanor Burns’ 1995 book Quilt in a Day Christmas Quilts & Crafts. 

Amazingly, it is still available at Amazon.com  Didn’t realize she had so many books – 4 pages worth!!!   Looks like I might have to invest in one more book, darn!

Never too early to start getting ready for Christmas!

Helle-May 

Last night at the dinner table, we attempted to remember, month by month, all the highlights of this past year.  No wonder I was so tired this week!  Wow did we do a lot!  We all had trouble remembering what happened.  I’m not good at journaling, but I’m thinking about at least starting a notebook with the highlights of each year by month, so we don’t forget!

Then I started to think about the past decade and was really overwhelmed by it all.  Primarily, it was the decade we became a family with the birth of both boys (OK – so Stephen was born a month and a half earlier – but still!).  Needless to say – there was a lot of activity surrounding the family.  Then of course there was the move to NJ in 2007.  I still remember how scared I was the morning of 9/11 and what it could mean to my son’s life.  All in all, we came through the decade in good physical and financial health. 

There’s no telling what lies in store for us in the next decade, but I have a good feeling about it.  I guess the key is is to remember what is truly important in life and keep it all in perspective.

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy New Year! 

Helle-May

I didn’t actually do any quilting this month, but I did do a lot of sewing.  In addition to the pillows (see previous post) I must have made 3 dozen Santa ornaments and 1 Hanukkah decoration.

I purchased this Santa from the boutique at my guild’s quilt show last year.  Not sure who made it, but I thought it was just too cute.  It was easy to figure out how it was made so I set about making one for nearly everyone – my family members in Estonia, teachers, relatives, friends!  Santa is about 5 inches long with his hat flipped over.

If anyone knows the original designer, please let me know.  I’d love to give credit where credit is due.

My son’s 4th grade teacher is Jewish, so I had to come up with at least one item that did not have a Santa.  I have been collecting collecting Judaica fabric for a number of years to make a wedding quilt for my friend, Rayna.  She was my Maid of Honor 15 years ago and I was in her wedding 7 years ago.  Ok – so I’m a little late with the quilt – but I’m waiting for her to move from her small one bedroom apartment  so she actually has room for a quilt. (It’s a good excuse, right?!)  Anyway, I created a paper-pieced “ornament” to showcase a star from one of the fabrics.  The “ornament” is about 6″ in diameter.  I put a thin layer of batting inside and outlined the center star with silver thread on top and bobbin so on the back there is just the outline of the star in silver on a dark blue background.   

I liked the way it turned out – maybe I’ll get cracking on that wedding quilt this year 🙂

Helle-May

Remember that Celtic knot workshop I took with Linda Hahn back in November?  I missed a birthday party for my husband’s grandmother to be there, so I vowed I would make the knots into pillows for her, my mother-in-law and aunt-in-law.  Well I actually did finish the pillows for Christmas – well at least one.  I finished the other two pillows by shipping the boys (all 3) to my in-laws to watch the Eagles game on Sunday.  (We are right in between Eagles and Giants territory and we don’t get 2 or 3 games per season.  When we moved to NJ, we agreed that instead of spending money on a cable package just to get those games – my husband and the boys could take the opportunity to spend some quality time with Grandma and Grandpop and I could spend some quality time with my sewing machine.  Seemed fair and everyone is happy!)

I had made the “knots” at the workshop.  All that needed to be done was to iron  and sew them to fabric.  It was a lot easier than I thought it would be to zig zag them down.  I used a Sulky tear-away stabilizer on the back and a smoke colored mono-filament thread.   I happened to have two 14″ pillow forms.  I purchased the third one from my local Wal-Mart.  All of the pillows came out nice – but I hate to admit it that made the Wal-Mart form made the nicest shaped pillow.

So here they are:

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday! 

We are in a bit of a lull after all of the presents were opened (in record time! – it’s amazing how fast 2 boys can open presents!) and just relaxing until it’s time to go to Gandma and Grandpop’s house. 

I have had several things I’ve wanted to blog about this month, but the days just flew by.  So expect some catching up in the days to come!

Helle-May

During parent-teacher conferences, my son, Stephen’s math teacher asked if I would be interested in sharing my quilts with the class when they study tessellations.  Of course!  So this morning I brought a few quilts along as well as a few quilt books.  The children are required to design a tessellation and then create a full colored “poster.”   The kids were very receptive and enjoyed looking at the various ways a block could be colored to fool the eye and create different illusions.  They are also looking at Escher’s works.  I can’t wait to see the designs that may be inspired by the quilts and books!  With permission, perhaps I can post a few when they are complete!

This is the third time my quilts have gone to school.  My boys are always very interested in creating new designs at home – because that’s what Mom does.  But, it’s always amazing to me how most kids get excited when they see the different pattens and colors and get an opportunity to create their own.  The first time was when Stephen was in pre-Kindergarten and I read “The Quiltmaker’s Gift” to the class.  It’s a beautiful  story about a king who learns the joy of giving, but it’s the illustrations that captivate.  In that class, even at the tender age of four, the children had fun replicating the beautiful quilt patterns from the book using crayons and large scale graph paper.   Last year, as you may recall, Andrew’s Kindergarten class made quilt blocks from squares of fabric glued to card stock, which were then taped to the corridor wall in the form of a quilt.  It was the most popular wall display of the year. 

Our guild has an “exhibit” that travels to the various schools in the area.  It is a collection of books and quilts that were made by members based on the quilts that are featured in the books.  It is also very popular with the kids. 

I really enjoyed sharing my quilts with the kids this morning.  Perhaps there may even be a few future quilters among them!

Helle-May

Last Sunday, with a little prodding, my husband sacrificed watching his beloved Eagles’ game (not to worry – he taped it)to put the Christmas lights on the roof.  After all it was 65 degrees out!  Didn’t think we were going to get another opportunity like that!

Sure enough!  Here’s what it looked like yesterday afternoon!  It’s cold enough that it will be white for a few days!

And here are those pretty Christmas lights!

Ironically, yesterday was also our planned day to put up our “Snow Village.”  How pretty it looked with a backdrop of real snow in the window behind it!       Helle-May

Ok, so I’m a day late and everyone else in the world is out shopping, but better late than never!  We hosted Thanksgiving for the first time since moving back east 2 years ago.  The last time we hosted for the family (which primarily means my husband’s paternal side of the family) was back in 2001, when circumstances allowed everyone to come to us in Chicago.  Nevertheless, I prepared a full Thanksgiving feast for just the 5 of us each year we were in the midwest. 

Yesterday, there were 12 of us in total and even with delegating a bunch of the obligatory Thanksgiving dishes and tasks, it was still a lot of work.  So, today, I’m resting (at least this morning.)  Of course, it probably didn’t help that on Monday, I was still finishing up the last of the painting of the kitchen/family room and on Tuesday I spent all day “finding” the dining room again after using it for family room storage for the nearly three weeks of painting.  (No more 25 year old Band-Aid colored walls – yeah!)

It’s so easy to get caught up in all the “doings” to not actually enjoy the holiday.  I was determined to finish my tasks in time to spend a few hours with the boys making turkey napkin rings/place-cards.  I enjoyed my time with them and and it gave them an opportunity to contribute to the preparations.  I think they came out really cute.

To accomodate us all,  my husband made a table extension for the dining room table using the legs and basic idea from an extension his grandfather had made many years ago.   In true Cheney fashion, he made the extension so long that we actually had to take the leaves out of the table because the combination was too long!  (At least we know we’re still good when the family grows!)  The extension was actually longer than the table!  Once the tablecloths were on and the table was set, you couldn’t even tell itwasn’t one long table. 

To stay with tradition, he insisted we sit on the ends.  I felt like we were on opposite ends of the world!  Reminded me of one of those movies where the ultra rich aristocracy sits worlds apart at ultra long table – only difference was that we didn’t have the luxury of a butler to pour the wine and do the dishes – bummer!

We had lots to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.  We had a bounty of food on the table, everyone is in relatively good health, those working are still gainfully employed,  Greg’s sister and aunt are new homeowners this month, both boys got very good report cards, and Helle-May Designs is about to start a new chapter. (More on that last one in the next post!) 

Hope your Thanksgiving was filled with good food, family and friends!

Helle-May

A little late evidently, but I finally went on the AQS website to check out the new Lancaster show coming at the end of March.  Turns out Linda Hahn is teaching the Celtic knot workshop, but it is already full!  Told you it was a great class!  There is a wait list you can get on.  Don’t know if that is just for cancellations or if they’ll add another class.  It’s worth a try!  It seemed a good number of the classes are already full but there’s still more workshops and lectures to choose from.  Better act now!

Speaking of which – you better also  book a room.  I got one, but there doesn’t  seem to be  a lot of those left either.

After having been in the midwest for 9 years, it’s interesting to see the difference in quilt show interest.  The AQS Paducah show was the show that as a quilter you just had to attend.  But it was quite the challenge to find a room.  Reservations a year in advance were a must.  I guess I just couldn’t plan that far in advance, not with 2 small children, anyway.  So sadly, I never made it. 

I did attend the Nashville show three times, which in itself was an interesting venue.  It was always held at the Opryland Hotel.  If you’ve never been, it’s like a city under-roof, complete with its own river.  What it lacked was public transportation!  It could easily take 20 minutes at a brisk pace to get from one end to the other (add another 20 minutes if you made a wrong turn!).  I guess the benefit to that was not feeling guilty about eating all the rich food!  I generally don’t like country music, but I loved attending the Grand Ole Opry performances each time.  Something about that place is really special.

Now that I’m on the east coast, Lancaster seems to be one of the big draws.  I didn’t have a chance to attend the previously owned Lancaster show the first 2 years I was here, so I am determined to make it in 2010.  Should be fun!  I’m signed up for a lecture on learning to use all those other settings on my digital camera.  I finally figured out how to use the close-up feature, but haven’t a clue on what all those other settings can do for me! 

 Very exciting news regarding Helle-May Designs coming soon!  More on that shortly!

Helle-May