Merry Christmas from Wazoo!

We had a good old fashioned Wazoo family Christmas...yesterday. My son and his family had to leave today to go home. Work awaits. But when there is a 3 year old involved, you can stretch the truth a bit and have Christmas on the 24th, Today will be a quiet (ha!) day, enjoying some old movies, a walk outside, and leftovers. I hope your Christmas was also fun and filled with joy.

My youngest, the twins

My grandson had the best time opening his gifts

The tallest kid gets to straighten the star

Every kid loves a fire truck!

Mr Wazoo got the hat he asked for. He wore it all day!

My son's family had matching sweaters!

My other grandson enjoying his new Kindle Fire

I got the Red Rider BB gun! ( If you have loved the Christmas Story movie, you'll understand)

Our four fun kids in their official Christmas picture. This is the first time in  12 years they have all been together for Christmas!!

Our family unit

My oldest, playing with the stocking stuffers

Papa shows Dechen how his new tent will look

Christmas joy.

Merry Christmas to all!

And to all, a good night.

I'm pooped!!

Two days of non-stop baking (with another trip to the grocery store to get the food for the rest of the week) and I am finished! Ten varieties of cookies and three kinds of candies. Mr Wazoo washed all the windows and cleaned the bathrooms today, and says he will vacuum the house tomorrow. What a guy!! I have to change all the sheets and get the beds ready, and wrap the gifts.
I'm sure you all have things to do to get ready for Christmas or the New Year, too. The anticipation is what fuels me through the season.
At the guild Christmas party last night, we enjoyed a wonderful meal, some fun games and the installation of the officers for 2019. They each got a sewing aid as a symbol of their office; A measuring tape for the treasurer, quilting hoop for the secretary, thread for the vice president and needles for the president.It was a nice ceremony!

Peaceful Mountain Quilters' Guild  new officers

My friend (and customer),Pam, brought her quilt for show and tell!

Some of my decorations. I have these out every year. Snowmen here, Santas on the mantel, and my quilty nativity scene. 

We found the nativity scene at a garden center in Southern Pines, NC years ago.

We'll be ready by Friday, when we'll go to Atlanta to pick up some of our tribe! If I get too busy to post again, Merry Christmas to all of you out there in the blogosphere.

Countdown to Christmas

Hello from Christmas central! We have stopped quilting and switched gears to Christmas preparations. Here are the last quilts we'll do before the 28th, when the last family members go back home.

The custom quilt is coming along well, and I'm pleased  with the progress.

The large blank areas will get the treatments you see here and in the star blocks. I like echoing block patterns in my quilting. It's a bit of a challenge, but I think it ties the quilt together.

Mr Wazoo finished the second Quilt of Valor for me. I needed to get it off to the binding lady ASAP.

Panto: Starry night

Here's the back

I finished the quilting on this soft flannel-backed quilt for a friend.

Panto: Splat

The pieced back.

On Saturday, my daughter came for a weekend visit to help with the Christmas planning and shopping. We had a good time cruising the local Walmart and loading the cart with cookie supplies and stocking stuffers. We had a good laugh in the hat department with the holiday finery...

Who wouldn't want a Christmas tree head?

Or a bizarre Santa face?

On Sunday, we all went to South Carolina to the Christmas party at Mr Wazoo's mom's rehab place. We were teachers together many moons ago, and she had all my kids through her class over the years.  It was a surprise to see Carolyn all grown up! At one point, she was so overwhelmed with the whole day that she wept a bit. I truly love this woman.She is kind, generous, funny and self deprecating. A lifelong Christian school teacher.

Carolyn and Pam catching up at the party

Pam, Carolyn and Mr Wazoo

Pam, me and our man.

Today, I started the day by finishing the binding on the big log cabin quilt. The, I shut down the studio and went to work in the kitchen. I baked cookies in the afternoon, then made a pot roast in my new Instant Pot. No use cleaning up at the end of the day, because I am getting it all back out tomorrow morning!

today's cookies finished, time to get the roast going!

Mmmmm! Peanut blossoms!

Magic cookie bars. My kid's favorite.

Rangers. I send a box to a friend in Florida every year. They are her favorite.

Lots more on tap for tomorrow. I hope to get some of the wrapping done tonight, now that Mr W has retired for the night. People are coming on Friday!!

2 finishes and a binding tutorial

This is for those fo you who struggle with connecting the ends of your binding and making a neat, flat seam.
 I have taught the binding method I use (the one pin method) and many quilters are amazed at how simple it is. The binding comes out perfect every time! My thanks to Pat Apel, who taught me this method in a class long, long ago.
 I took some pictures during the joining process, and here they are!
Make your binding using 2 1/4 inch wide strips. Join them with a mitered seam and fold in half lengthwise, pressing as you work. 

 Leave a 7 or 8 inch tail before you begin sewing, then sew it on lining up the edge of the quilt with the raw edges of the binding. The beginning is the leading edge, and the other end is the following edge. Sew your binding to the quilt using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Put in a pin in the quilt edge 7 inches from the start of the binding. Sew on the binding up to the pin, and reverse sew to secure it. 

Reverse sewing done, take the quilt from the machine and trim the thread. Remove the pin, and keep it handy for the next procedure.

It will look like this. The leading edge is on the right, and the following edge is on the left. Lay the edge of the quilt flat on your table so you can manipulate these pieces.

With the leading edge underneath, lay the following edge on top of it, so you can still see the side of the leading edge .

Loop the following edge around, open up the fold in the binding, and lay the unfolded end on top of the following edge. Line up the side of the unfolded bit with the beginning of the leading edge of the binding. (you can see the beginning just peeking out)

Put a pin in at the other edge of the unfolded binding end, catching only the following edge of the binding.

Cut the following edge of the binding 1/8 inch above the pin. otherwise, cut the pinned part off.

Like this. The pinned part is the excess binding. Take out the pin.

Fold the quilt a bit to bring the leading and following edges closer together. This helps with the manipulation of the binding and the sewing of the two ends. Open out the following edge, being careful not to twist it, and lay it flat on the table with the right side up.

Lay the leading edge out, being careful not to twist it, wrong side up, and fold the top right corner down to the side of the strip to form a triangle at the end of the binding. Finger press the fold.

When you open up the end, it will look like this. The fold should be visible enough to sew on. If not, run a contrasting pencil line along this fold.

Line up the top and right side edges of the folded end with the following edge strip.

Move this to the sewing position, and sew on the fold line, from corner to corner.

Ta da! They are sewn.

Before you trim the seam allowance, remove the pin to release the side of the quilt and make sure it fits and nothing is twisted. Shout Eureka!!, because it should fit perfectly along the edge of the quilt. Congratulations! The hard part is done. Trim the seam allowance to 1/4 inch.

Here is the binding, fitting perfectly to the edge of the quilt.

Finger press the seam open.

Refold the binding and put the pin in between the ends of the new seam to hold it flat against the side of the quilt.

Starting where you left off, sew the remainder of the binding down.

The seam looks just like the joins in the binding, lays flat, and fits perfectly.

Once folded over the quilt's raw edge, it is impossible to find the join. It looks just like the other binding seams.

Tee shirt quilt finished and ready to send!