A little "celebration"

I'm counting the days to vacation this year - I'm off work from Dec 23rd to Jan 5th - wahooooo! I can hardly wait! Our company shuts down every year between Christmas and New Year's and with so many people taking additional vacation tacked on, work slows down a bit from now until the end of the year. I finally get time to do all those things I put off like cleaning up my email etc.
I was really busy last week getting ready for my Christmas luncheon last Saturday. Cooking, cleaning, making little table gifts, ironing tablecloths, putting the last of the Christmas decorations out - whew! I had the ladies from my quilting group over (9 of us) and some members of another quilting group we've got to know - 13 people in all. Everything turned out really well. I had DH take the doggies over to "grandpa's house" so we could have a nice peaceful time without the dogs barking, jumping on people, etc. The lunch buffet turned out well, we had a gift exchange, show & tell and just a generally great time.

One of the ladies from another group we've met rescued some old quilt blocks she found at an antique store that was going out of business. She made them into a quilt top and didn't it turned out lovely? The blocks were paper-pieced in the 1930's and the papers were cut from old newspapers and magazines from that time. Our friend has rescued several old quilts and quilt blocks she's found - isn't it nice to think that someone's hard work didn't go to waste. You wish that the original quilter who made the blocks could know that someone finally finished them into a real quilt. I always wonder if some day my UFO's will end up in a store or garage sale - scary thought!

This photo below is of a scrap quilt made from nine-patch blocks that our "sister group" exchanged. My group is doing the same thing -we've been exchanging nine-patch blocks every month for a year but we each still don't have enough to make into a quilt. It takes a lot of these little blocks to make something but isn't it lovely when it's done? I love scrappy quilts!


Just yesterday I finished up this little project below.

It's for a dear coworker of mine whose birthday was last week. She's a committed quilter and crafter like me and we've been friends for many years. I saw this sold as a kit and just had to make it for her. If you notice, it has a tape measure around the cake and the candles are made to look like spools of thread. Perfect for a quilter! She's coming over this week and we're both taking the day off to have a sew day at my house. It should be fun. She's also going to help me make her famous caramel recipe - I've tried it 3 times on my own and just can't get it right. Making candies can be tricky - I can cook most things but for some reason this just has me stymied. And I just LOVE good caramels! I'll let you know how they turn out this time - I'm feeling that finally this is going to be successful.

I don't have much stitchy news today. I haven't had time to stitch in over a week - I'm having withdrawal I think. I want to get back to my PS angel ornaments. You know, it was nice having my quilting friends over who were all amazed at all the cross-stitch I have up in my house. It makes a difference when visitors know how much work it is and can appreciate it. Have a great day friends!