Quilty Box!

This is my fourth Quilty Box! I had decided to try it for three months; based on my results, I renewed for another three. I gave the first one away in its entirety, gave away part of the second and totally kept the third. Sorry to those of you who love to win this stuff, but I'm keeping this one, too!

I've been looking forward to this collection since I learned it was being curated by Leah Day. I've been following Leah's blog, Free Motion Quilting Project, for a few years and admire all the video work she has recorded and made available to the online quilting community. Her comfort with the whole video medium really impresses me -- she has even built a crafts "cottage" so that she can work without interruption! That's a learning curve I haven't even begun to tackle...

So, to the Quilty Box:


A DVD teaching 30 beginner level free motion designs, the premise being that you stitch out the designs, cut them into squares and then put them together into a sampler quilt using quilt-as-you-go techniques.


A 6.5" square Olfa frosted ruler -- my 6" square Omnigrid has been a favorite for years, so I'll be happy to try this one and see if it takes a place in my frequently used ruler holder! Anyone have any thoughts about why it's frosted? Does it cling better to the fabric? Easier to see?


Of course I loved the Isacord thread -- Mettler makes it! Being a Mettler spokesperson, I did a little happy dance when I saw this in the box...


...and a layer cake from Island Batiks. 42 ten inch squares of yumminess! This is the London Fog Stack, with 2 pieces each of 21 gorgeous fabrics. These are truly beautiful and it will be lots of fun dreaming about what I might make with them.

Another Quilty Box hit as far as I'm concerned!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Palmdale CA

Christmas Eve -- Must Be Time to Change the Dining Room Table Decor

With my company name being Batts in the Attic, one might suppose that I have a particular fondness for Halloween! Decorated this table in mid-September and with all my teaching travel in the fall didn't get around to updating it.

Since we have people coming for dinner tonight, might be time for a change?


This a fun 12 Days of Christmas set that I got at Williams Sonoma a couple of years ago. We'll have a total of 6 people tonight, so will use the first half for appetizers and the second half for dessert.




We serve appetizers and desserts on our great big kitchen island. I bought a veggie tray, some dips and a couple of appetizers to be served hot from Trader Joes -- bacon wrapped scallops (Yum!) and cranberry camembert filo dough things.


For dessert, we are making an apple pie this morning and I'm setting out some holiday mini-cheesecakes. If somebody doesn't want sweets, there's a nice big bowl of fruit. Although the apple pie that Dan and I make is absolutely to die for!


I've had the "Ribbon Holly" china from Mikasa for over 20 years and it goes perfectly with the napkins that Dawna Harrison made for me a long time ago.


Longaberger baskets, candles -- think I'm done except for the wine glasses. Dan does those

Now off to the kitchen to bake a loaf of yummy sourdough bread and that apple pie!

Merry Christmas to all and hope your Christmas Eve is as much fun as mine will be! It's a tradition to have Dan's family over for Christmas Eve -- probably because we are the only ones in the family who own Christmas dishes!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Palmdale CA

It's December 19 -- Do You Think It's Time for a Change?

Around the end of September, I decorated the dining room table for Halloween using some very fun things I found at Home Goods along with a basket and a pillow that I already had. Wine glasses were a find by my friend Dawna Harrison -- she haunts Pier 1 like I do Amazon!


But all good things must come to an end......took everything off the table today and started rounding things up for our Christmas Eve dinner with Dan's family. I don't know that they would "get" a batty Christmas!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Palmdale CA