Long time, no post...

So the other day, a friend said to me, "I keep watching your blog to see what you are working on." The problem is I'm working on half a dozen things and nothing gets done. However, I have found a new gadget that is worth sharing with you and they are the Wonder Clips by Clover. I was sewing the binding on a quilt (yes, it is finished... more to come on that in the next blog) and I thought I would give the Wonder Clips a try... I absolutely love them! The last binding I put on a quilt, I pinned... and I kept sticking myself with the pins. The Wonder Clips don't stick. They are easy to reposition as the binding is being stitched down. I had bought a couple packs of 10 and finally bought a box of 50. I'm so very happy with my little clippies.

Baby Quilts

I love making baby quilts. I actually love it when babies are born. There's nothing like holding a new born baby in your arms. I've been blessed to have this honor with my son and my six grandchildren.

This is Wyatt's quilt. Wyatt is the grandson of a friend of ours, David. David has been anxiously awaiting the arrival of this young fella for a number of weeks. He arrived the week after Christmas.

The fabric is called Meadow Friends. It has bugs, dragonflies, and frogs on it. I thought it would be cute for a boy. The border will be orange and white. Mom (David's daughter) is a Clemson alumni.

The quilt is a tumbler pattern that I cut out using my Accuquilt cutter for the first time. It made short work of the task. I'm going to have to use it for some more quilts. It's the cat's meow.

Would you arrange the blocks any differently?

Cooper's Quilt

For naming this blog "Geema Sews," I haven't really had many postings about sewing. My New Year's Resolution is to complete quilts this year and post about them. I have eight quilts in progress. They are my 2012 UFO's. I have two retreats scheduled for this year. My goal is to complete them all.

This is Cooper's quilt. Cooper is our neighbor's little boy. His daddy built my sewing studio. Cooper's first name is Joseph, same as my husband. This family has two little girls (Stella and Brooke) and this little boy completes their family.

The quilt is pieced with appliques for the train cars. It is a FabriQuilt so it has chenille strips on each of the appliques. It will give Cooper something fuzzy to touch. I free-hand quilted it with red thread in meandering loops.

In keeping with the theme of the family, the backing is Georgia Bulldogs fabric. We love the Dawgs on Bank Street. It has a fun black and red dotted binding.

In with the UFOs and retreats, I'll have to build in time to make quilts for the older sisters.

Ouch!

Do you ever do something really dumb?

The Kiwanis party was a huge success. I wish I had taken a picture of the table with all the food because it was beautiful. I had a mixture of green and red foods which made it look Christmas-festive. We pulled out all the lead glass serving dishes and it just sparkled on the red tablecloth.

On the veggie tray, we had carrots, celery, broccoli, and sliced cucumbers... which leads me to the ouchie. I have a Martha Stewart mandolin for slicing veggies in consistent sizes. It comes with this pushy thingy to hold the veggies so you don't cut your finger. Well, you don't think that I would use the pusher thingy, do you? Of course not... not until I cut the heck out of my thumb.

Of course, it bled all over the place. I went through 8 bandaids. Joe told me I wasn't putting them on tight enough. I bled through the one he put on. It finally quit bleeding on Sunday morning. Now it's just sore.

Next time, I'll use the pushy thingy first.

I need to sew!

There are times when Joe's volunteer efforts suck me in. This week, I've been writing letters for the Kiwanis and preparing for the Christmas party. What I haven't done is sew and I need to touch fabric!

This is a baby quilt I made for my neighbor, Vivi. I had the top finished when she was born. She turned 1 a couple weeks ago. Of course, I had to wait on the new quilt studio to be built and the HandiQuilter to come to its new home before I could quilt it. But it is finally done.

I have another baby quilt top finished that is in need of quilting. This one is for Cooper (who lives two doors up). My plan had been to quilt it this week. Between laundry, Kiwanis shirts to embroidery, planning for the party, and Christmas shopping, I haven't been to the studio all week.

As Maverick said, I feel the need for speed (long arm quilter speed, that is!)

Buttons

A couple years ago, I came across this neat button making machine at an Embroidery Conference. It seemed like the perfect thing for my granddaughter, Sarah, to use to start her own business.

The idea is to embroider designs on fabric (or use patterned fabric) to make custom buttons. Sarah's into anime and there's a blog the anime crowd reads which has trolls in zodiac signs. Thus, the zodiac buttons.

I have to admit they turned out cute.

Oyster Stew

Nothing like a good pot of oyster stew on a cold night.

Joe and I went to NC over the Thanksgiving Holiday to visit the families. We put over 1,200 miles on the new car.

The last stop was in Wilmington to see Mom. After visiting her, we went to Blue Water in Wrightsville Beach to eat seafood. It was yummy. Before we left on Monday, we make a run to Mott's Seafood. We loaded up 3 pounds of shrimp, a lovely piece of grouper, and a pint of oysters.

On Tuesday, Joe and I began the great debate about what goes in oyster stew... we agreed on celery and onions but debated about potatoes. To me, potato soup is made with chipped beef sauteed in butter. Potatoes don't go in oyster stew. Potatoes make a soup, not a stew.

In the end, the cook (me) wins. I didn't hear any complaints when he was slurping it down.