Please Allow Me!

Just three more pictures of Christmas 2010!

(Double Click to see the entire picture.)  Except for the trees and the table runner, these pieces were all new for 2010, almost all from friends!  Check out the sitting Santa looking at the world with a magnifying glass.  He is by Mr. Christmas, issued in 2000, and now discontinued.  My next door neighbor gave him to me because she "didn't want to have to store it anymore!"  Motion or light makes the snow swirl and the music play.  I love him!  He is my official front door Christmas greeter!   The pink Christmas tree is from a quilter friend and is the third tree she has given me; one is crystal and the other is green, and they have a string of lights in them.  Made of beads and big safety pins!  (I took this picture so I can remember when I got these pretties!) 

Counted cross stitch stocking made by my sister for her husband (both deceased now).  His initial-name just happened to match my initials.  So I decided to hang it, in honor of them, so I and my family and friends can also enjoy her beautiful work.

One more shot of my table mat, that I can now cross off my "to finish" list as of today.  I had shown it with earlier Christmas pictures, but it had so much stuff sitting on it you could not see the whole thing.  I stitched every block, stitch in the ditch, not my best!  The pattern is from American Patchwork, October, 2009, and they called it a log cabin, which I didn't understand.  Again, mine looks different from theirs because of the placement of the dark green, but I like it.  I haven't named it yet.  I don't know why I didn't finish the quilting at the time I pieced it.  Fabrics match my "Christmas Chickadees".    

Yesterday my son and my friend helped me move the last Barrister book case from my sister's to my den.  That takes the last possible floor space in my house for furniture of any kind!  It displaced a small cedar chest that moved to the kitchen!  It is not the best arrangement, but the only one!  I have antique quilts in the other three, so I'm going to use this one for the quilts I make.  It looks rather empty tonight, but I think I'll move the mini-quilts from the doll bed to the bottom shelf maybe.  Not sure yet.  Of course, when I get the stack and whack and the kaleiodoscope quilted, that will help.  The fruit picture, in its original metal frame, is from my grandmother's home.  I know it to be at least 70 years old!  Isn't it beautiful?  It really is not at the ceiling!  I cropped the picture! 

It snowed here today, but didn't stick!  We had 1.6" rain before the snow, and it's supposed to get really cold tonight, so roads will be very hazardous here in the morning because we Texans do not know how to drive on icey roads! 

I had the "don't want to's" today, so I didn't!  I did try a little free motion quilting on some scraps, but didn't do well at all!  Then I pulled out a wall hanging that's been in the hoop over a year, just to see if I could hand quilt.  Didn't do that very well either!  So I quit, and got on the computer to watch quilting videos. That I did very well!  *grin*  Maybe I'll try quilting again tomorrow.

I need to clean my quilting closet bad!

Have fun quilting this week!

---"Love"

EDIT - to reply to Katie's comment below.  -- Actually Christmas is over!  Notice that first picture was taken January 3, when I was packing everything up.  I lined up all the new gifts of Christmas decorations for the picture.  ...... The trees had all been behind the carolers earlier.  To Ruth --- I really do have too much Christmas stuff; it wears me out for almost two months every year, but I love it, and that's really the only time I do much decorating.  As you can see from the "new" lineup, many of my friends add to my collection every year, and I've been collecting Christmas stuff for 54 years!  It does add up, especially when I buy a thing or two myself every year too!    ---"Love"