The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

I love this time of the year - at least I do by the time we reach Christmas Eve Day! Sometimes the stress of the holidays feels like it's piling on between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but by today I have everything done, and it's time to relax and enjoy family. My brother and his family have arrived safely, and the only ones we're waiting for are my niece and her family. 

Speaking of family, we spent the weekend in the Twin Cities so DH could watch our nephew play in the All-American Bowl. We had a blizzard in Iowa on Thursday, and our plan was to leave on Friday morning. We went ahead as scheduled, and the roads were treacherous for the first hour or more of driving! The only reason I didn't insist on going back home was that the roads were just as bad going the other direction. 

They did improve as we went north, so we made it to our destination safely - only to find out I had booked us into the wrong Hilton Hotel! The staff was very nice about it, though, and we were able to get a room at the right hotel, so all was well. 

By the time we came home yesterday, the roads had improved to normal driving conditions, so it was a much less stressful trip.

Now, back to quilting! My friend, Joyce, is one of the most prolific quilters I know, and I love to work on her quilts. She has an excellent eye for putting fabrics together - I told her I should hire her next time I go shopping for my next quilt fabric! This is one she made for her daughter, and she is finishing it for her for Christmas:

I love the middle picture, because it really shows the design created by the star blocks. For this one, I did an edge-to-edge design called Sakura, but I thought the borders needed something special, so I did some light custom there. I really had fun with this one, because it's in "my" colors.

This is Sara's first-ever quilt:

Sara is a college student, and her grandma helped her put this one together. Sara picked out the fabrics herself - and I think Grandma questioned some of her choices at the time! But they worked, and it turned out great. I quilted this one with Swirls, and it really gave some nice movement to all those squares and rectangles. I don't know if her grandma is going to bind it for her or let Sara do it, but it will be bound in black and is going to be a really great quilt.

Now I'm taking the month of January off so I can finish some of my own projects that have been patiently waiting for some attention. Some are "just because" gifts (no special reason) and some are just for fun, but I'll be glad to cross a few of them off my to-do list.

Merry Christmas to all from My Pieceful Corner! 

Louise