Merry Christmas!

This year was a very special Christmas for our family.  All 12 of the members of my family were able to celebrate together on Christmas Day!  We did have to wait for two members of my family to get off work before we could eat our turkey dinner, but the important thing was that we were all able to be together.

To commemorate this occasion, we took a picture.  Well, actually, we took several pictures!  It took some time to get all 12 people to be looking the same way, not be talking, etc.  We were a bit challenged because of limited space in our living room, but we managed to get a decent picture in the end.

Pictured, standing in the back row, left to right:  my husband, myself, my son, my son's finance, my daughter's fiance, my daughter, my nephew, and my brother.  Sitting in the front row, left to right:  my niece, my dad, my mom, and my sister-in-law.

Years ago, (I am not sure how many exactly, let's just say many years ago) my mom and I were at a local quilt show.  My mom spotted a table runner that she just loved.  She purchased the kit and I brought it home.  I pieced the top right away and then the project sat on the shelf....for years.  While going through some things in my studio before Christmas, I came across the unfinished table runner.  I decided I would finally quilt the runner and then surprise my mother with the finished product in her stocking at Christmas.  My mom was surprised when she opened up the runner--truth be told, it has been so long since she purchased the runner, she likely forgot that it existed!

I also came across a runner kit that I bought from the same shop during a shop hop one year--poppies instead of sunflowers.  My kit is still in the plastic.  *Sigh*  Maybe I will finish my table runner in 2012!

Patience Corners Christmas Quilt - Flimsy

My Patience Corners Christmas quilt is finally finished to the flimsy stage.

This quilt finished at 95" x 107".

The inspiration for this quilt was Finn -- http://finnleah.blogspot.com/. I started this project in December 2006 shortly after Finn's post about her Patience Corners quilt. http://finnleah.blogspot.com/2006/12/as-per-normas-request.html The scrap fabrics are all from my stash -- many leftover from larger projects -- and the border was one of my bargain purchases at Liquidation World in December 2007. http://silverthimblequiltingarchive.blogspot.com/2007/12/stash-busting-efforts.html

Thanks for the inspiration Finn!

Patience Corners Christmas Quilt

I finally finished putting together the blocks for my Patience Corners Christmas Quilt.

Next up................a red inner border and a poinsettia outer border.

I want to start a new project as a reward for finishing this one so the borders will be going on soon.

I am back to working on the "reward" system. :)

It isn't Christmas until the train comes to town!

Greeting the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train (http://www8.cpr.ca/cms/English/General+Public/Holiday+Train/default.htm) has become one of our families' Christmas Traditions.

The CP Holiday Train travels across Canada stopping at many communities along the way to share a short Christmas program and to collect money and non perishable food items for local food banks.

This year the weather cooperated--it was a night without wind, rain, and snow.

These are some of the pictures I took of the decorated rail cars.

One of the boxcars holds the entertainers. This year's entertainment was provided by, The Odds. http://www8.cpr.ca/cms/English/General+Public/Holiday+Train/Bios/default.htm

Even the jolly red guy made an appearance!

Christmas Day With Family

My husband, daughter, and son's girlfriend had to work on Christmas Day. Every one's schedules were different. As a result, we ended up having our Christmas turkey dinner at 5:00 pm and then we opened our gifts later that evening once everyone was home.

In the afternoon we watched a couple of classic Christmas movies.

Once the gift unwrapping started, the paper quickly piled up in the center of the room.

I made my aunt pillowcases from the cutest Christmas cat fabric.

My aunt was able to join us this year from Saskatchewan. This year the weather was very cooperative making her journey stress free.

My daughter's boyfriend was without a stocking so part of his Christmas gift was this Christmas stocking that I made.

This is my son with his new quilt. He had asked for a quilt big enough to fit a queen size bed for when he moves out on his own in 2010.

My mom was surprised when she unwrapped her Daffodil BQ2 quilt.

We all had a great day--hard to believe that Christmas is over for another year!

Reindeer and Lights

Last night we visited a local garden supply store to see the reindeer and light display.

Last night was the last night that Dancer and Vixen would be visiting our community before they had to head back home to the North Pole to go back to work with Santa Christmas Eve.

This was my first time seeing reindeer. The two reindeer on display were both females--a mother and daughter. Usually the female reindeer do not shed their antlers. However, one of the reindeer was without one of her antlers because our climate is warmer than she is used to.

In past years, the light display had been set up outside of the garden supply store. This year, the lights were indoors and interspersed amongst the plants and displays. We really enjoyed walking through the store looking at the lights.

After enjoying the lights, we had a nice supper at a local restaurant and then headed home. What a perfect low stress way to spend an evening enjoying the sights of the season.

Merry Christmas Everyone!