Hometown Christmas and an Irish Ghost Story

Thanks, everyone, for the tips on administering antibiotics to a devil cat. Next time I'm opting for a blow gun so I can shoot a little needle in her neck twice a day. I think it will be fun! Giving her the pill Friday night went a little easier and I didn't sustain a single injury. Then again, that's probably because I made my husband do it!

This month seems to be speeding by--before long, Thanksgiving will be here. And Christmas will follow close on its heels. It seems odd to see the ads on TV and in the newspaper and magazines for Christmas already--wasn't it just September?

Next week I want to get some quilting done since I seem to be amassing a large pile of small quilts, so I decided to get two piecing projects done now before I switch out my machines. First of all, the next section of Hometown Christmas which is due by the 15th. This is the fifth section; one more and we'll be halfway done! Here's a photo of mine:

This is the right side section of the first row. If you'll remember, I decided to move the tree from the center section to this one, so I have a tree and house. If you're making this project too and are following the original pattern, you'll have the house and a couple pinwheel blocks, I think.

The second project is a tree skirt for a swap I'm participating in--I'll start on that tomorrow. I'll be adding some applique so that will take a little time, but I want to get the piecing done as soon as possible.

Yes, I know Halloween is behind us, but a friend sent me a good Irish ghost story, and I wanted to share it with you--I hope you'll enjoy it! This story happened a while ago in Dublin, and even though it sounds like an Alfred Hitchcock tale, its true!

John Bradford, a Dublin University student, was on the side of the road hitchhiking on a very dark night, in the midst of a storm. The night was rolling on and no car went by. The storm was so strong, John could hardly see a few feet ahead of him. Suddenly, he saw a car slowly coming towards him and stop.

John, desperate for shelter and without thinking about it, got into the car and closed the door, only to realise there was nobody behind the wheel and the engine wasn't running!!

Slowly, the car started moving. John looked at the road ahead and saw a curve approaching. Scared, he began to pray, begging for his life. Then, just before the car hit the curve, a hand appeared through the window and turned the wheel. John, paralysed with terror, watched as the hand repeatedly came through the window, but never touched or harmed him.

Shortly thereafter John saw the lights of a pub appear down the road, so gathering strength, he jumped out of the car and ran to the pub. Wet and out of breath, he rushed inside and started telling everybody about the horrible experience he just had. A silence enveloped the pub when everybody realised he was crying . . . and wasn't drunk.

Suddenly, the door opened, and two other people walked in from the stormy night. They, like John, were also soaked and out of breath. Looking around, and seeing John Bradford sobbing at the bar, one said to the other, "Look Paddy . . . there's that bloody idiot that got in the car while we were pushing it!!!!"

Enjoy your Saturday! And if you're looking for a Saturday day-of-beauty routine tip, trim your toenails. That's what I did. After all, the holidays are coming and it's important to make a good impression!

Hometown Christmas, Section 4

Is everyone who's working on this project done with their fourth section? No?! Ah, I see one or two of you are, or are almost done--good quilters! Give yourselves a pat on the back, but be careful not to give yourselves a rotator cuff injury, 'cause that's not too good for sewing. Of course, it just might get you out of doing dishes, doing laundry, and cleaning house, but is it really worth it if you can't quilt?

I love Lynette Jensen's patterns. I know she gets some criticism for wasting fabric, but the way she has us do things is fairly quick and easy. Tonight I got the fence/stars section cut and sewn in just about two hours--not too bad! That's it up there at the top. I mentioned that I was going to substitute something for those pinwheel and hourglass filler blocks and thought I might applique some mittens. Today I spent part of my lunch hour drawing up an idea, so I took a photo to show you--sorry it's kind of dark, but the camera never seems to get a good photo of anything white when it uses the flash:

This is, of course, part of this fourth section, so I can't really claim to be done yet, but I still have a day or two before the deadline.

Thank you all for the compliments on my Trees on the Table toppers! I just love the bright and cheerful look of this fabric--it's a little different from what I normally work with, but not outside my comfort zone. I'm excited that several of you have taken up the challenge too! Don't forget to let Marcie know you've completed it so she can post your photo in her gallery and add a link to your blog. If you want to see some of the other toppers, click HERE to get to Marcie's gallery. It's fun seeing how these turn out using different fabrics to get a different look. And if you haven't started one of these yet, there's still time. I think once I finish this Hometown Christmas section, I'll switch machines again and get these two quilted along with the Thimbleberries Christmas topper that I abandoned on Saturday morning. It's either that or stay with the piecing and work on my Jo's Little Women Club project next, which consists of teeny tiny 9-patch blocks. I think they end up being 1-1/2" finished. Yeah, maybe the quilting would be easier!

What Day is This?

Can anyone guess? Well, if today's October 15th, and I'm pretty sure it IS, then today must be the deadline for the next Hometown Christmas section! Is everyone staying current? If you're not making this quilt, visit those who ARE through the links on the right side bar and give them all a little encouragement. Or harassment if they've fallen behind!

So today is the deadline for the third section, and as I mentioned last time I blogged about the quilt, those participating could either make the third section in the first row or make the third section in the book, which is actually the fourth section, I believe--the first part of the second row. (If this is confusing, just know that the books don't follow the order of the quilt, row by row.)

Here's mine--I followed the book and made the first part of the second row.

And how did I change mine from the book? Because you know I did! Instead of the filler pinwheel/hourglass blocks that were placed to the left of the bird section, I decided to make a couple birdhouses, and they seemed to balance better placed on the right side of the bird section.

Last week at my Thimbleberries Club meeting, someone brought in a completed Hometown Christmas quilt for show and tell, and boy was it beautiful! I know I'm going to love this quilt when it's done and I bet I'll wish Christmas was a year-round event!

I'm Ba-a-a-a-a-ack!

I missed all of you while I was gone, but we had a nice trip and saw some really beautiful scenery! I'll tell you more about it tomorrow and share a few photos. Remember, I'm not much of a photographer, so I'll have to see what photos I took that actually are worth sharing. Much of the time, I was too awestruck by the scenery, food, shopping, etc., to remember I needed to take photos to share with all of you!

Tonight, though, I'll share some photos of a few Hometown Christmas blocks. These were made by Julia, a gal here in Sacramento who is also working on the project but doesn't have her own blog where she can share them with you. Here are the blocks she's made so far:

Julia actually made two of the wreath blocks--one according to the directions in the book and one the way I made mine. They're both terrific!

Are all of you Hometown Christmas peeps working on your project? I have a Halloween quilt that I'm trying to finish quilting now, and once I'm done, I'll start on the next block, which is "due" by the 15th. For those of you playing along, feel free to either complete the last block in that first row (the cabin and tree like Julia made) or the next block in the book (the red cardinals). I think I'll work on the birds next. How about you?

Hometown Christmas, Section 2

No toenail clipping photos today, because I have more of the Hometown Christmas project to share with you. Thank you all for the compliments on the first section! So far, I really like the way this is coming along. You're more than welcome to adopt any changes I make to mine, and if any of my instructions are unclear, please e-mail me and I will attempt to explain a little more.

Section 2 comprises much of the center panel of the top row--a wreath and a tree, which are combined with the hourglass and pinwheel blocks from Section 1. Of course, I've changed mine. I decided to switch the positions of the tree with the additional filler pinwheel blocks that are positioned next to the house in the last section of this row. Here's what the original looks like:

I think the tree will look more "natural" next to the house block, and I've made more twist candy and peppermint candy blocks to balance the other side of the wreath. For the wreath itself, I've substituted another Thimbleberries pattern called Countryside Wreaths (sorry the photo below is so dark!). Using this pattern was my friend Patty's idea waaaay back when the Hometown Christmas quilt first came out, so I can't take credit!

The pattern I have is a very old one, but Thimbleberries came out with a new pattern a year or two ago that is probably still available if you want to make this change--you will need to adjust the size of the block, however. Because the original Hometown Christmas wreath block measured 12-1/2" (unfinished edges), it was necessary for me to half-size the Countryside Wreath block (which made it 11-1/2", unfinished) and then add in another 1/2" to the outside blocks all the way around. Of course, you can do the same thing by just adding a 1" sashing all the way around the half-sized block. In the wreath I made, each of the little squares measures 1" (finished edges; 1-1/2" cut size). I also added a third background fabric and used that in the wreath block--the rest of the fabrics in that block are just scraps from my Thimbleberries stash.

Oops! I've made a real mess in the Sweat Shop! Time to go clean it all up. Then it just might be time for a nap. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Hometown Christmas, Section 1

Slacker no more! I've finished the first section of the Hometown Christmas project. And I have a couple photos. I guess the ones I took of the toenail clippings will have to wait for a slow photo day.

Here's what my version of the completed section looks like:

If you click on VICKY, you can see the one she did, which is the original pattern.

The house part of this section measures 20-1/2" by 12-1/2" (unfinished edges). What I've made into candy pieces and what was originally a pinwheel and hourglass block measures 6-1/2" by 12-1/2" (unfinished edges). The strips between are CUT at 2-1/2" by 12-1/2". If you're working on this quilt and want to substitute something else, or if you're designing your own quilt and like the general layout of the Hometown Christmas, these measurements may be helpful.

Okay, about the changes I made. For the house block, I substituted a lighter "gold" for the windows and the entire door section as I wasn't fond of the darkened windows as shown in the book. I added an appliqued wreath and bow to the door. Feel free to adopt any of my ideas if you'd like. For the wreath, I simply used the bottom of a glass to draw a circle and then made the edges bumpy.

Here's a photo of just the "candy" blocks so you know what I'm talking about below:

As far as what were the pinwheel and hourglass blocks, book two has a penny woolie pattern for making peppermint candies. I used the pattern they had for the red parts of the peppermint, but I cut five sections instead of four. I appliqued those red pieces onto the lighter of the two backgrounds and then appliqued the entire peppermint onto the darker background.

Here are my measurements and directions for making the "twisted candy" blocks. Please note that I'm assuming you have experience in piecing--since I don't have illustrations for each step, hopefully you'll be able to figure out what I'm talking about. Also, you should know that I like to make my half square triangles larger and then trim down, so you may want to just look at the size those pieces are supposed to be and make yours differently.

For each "candy" block, I cut:

One 3-1/2" square colored piece for the center
One 3" square colored piece for the twists
One 3" square background piece for the twists
Two 2" squares of background fabric
Two 3-1/2" by 2" background rectangles
Two 5" by 2" background rectangles

Using the two 3" squares, draw a diagonal on the back of the light square, lay it right sides together on top of the colored square, and sew 1/4" on each side of the drawn center line. Cut on the line and press open. Trim to make two 2" half-square triangles. These are your candy "twists" that go on opposing corners of the block. Set these aside.

Place the 2" squares of background fabric on opposing corners of the 3-1/2" colored square. Sew each from corner to corner and press back to form "sides" of piece of candy--trim excess from underneath.

On each side of this center of the candy piece, sew a 3-1/2" by 2" background rectangle. Press.

Sew each of the corner half square triangles to each of the 5" by 2" background rectangles. (Lay these out before sewing to orient the half square triangles correctly.) Press.

Sew the three sections together into "candy" block. Block should measure 6-1/2" (unfinished edges).

Even if you're not making the Hometown Christmas project, you may want to use these candy blocks for a different project--I think they would look cute as a border on a table runner!

I'm going to start on the next section tonight, and I have changes in mind for that one as well. Maybe I'll have something by tomorrow to share. Or, if not, there's always the toenail clippings!

Hometown Christmas Project!

Several years ago, I won the Thimbleberries Hometown Christmas books and bought the kit to make the quilt. That same year, while on a vacation my husband and I took up to Oregon, we ventured across the river into Washington, and there in Vancouver we saw the quilt made up and hanging. Boy, was that a thing of beauty, or what?! I wanted nothing more than to drive home and make it! But things happened. For one thing, I got the flu. On vacation. The REAL flu--the kind where you think you'd feel better if you were just dead and figure that might not be too far off because you can't breathe real well anyway. Then there was my local guild's quilt show and several other projects to get finished. Then there was Christmas. And another Christmas. And another. You get the idea!

So, flash forward a few years, and the other day Vicky mentioned that she'd been going through her small, tiny bit of stash and found the Hometown Christmas kit. I don't know if you've been following Vicky lately (no, I don't mean in a stalking sort of way) but she's been getting into the block of the month groove. I think that finding she already had one right there without having to exercise her fingers, poking in an order on her keyboard in the middle of the night, was probably kind of fun! In any event, Vicky decided she was going to start this project, and I asked if I could join in. When I wrote about it on my blog about a week ago, Sharon asked if she could play along too. Well of course you can, Ms. Sharon! So, now there are three of us. Does anyone else want to join us? We'd love to have you!

The books are written so you complete a section at a time, rather than a block. A section is usually a large block with a couple smaller blocks or, in some cases, it might be just a larger, longer block. Our plan is to complete a section by the 15th of each month and another section by the end of the month. We think we should have the quilt done in about six months.

If the quilt interests you and you don't already have a kit and/or books, you might check out eBay. Having the books (there are four) is really key because you can use stash fabric or buy new--you don't have to track down the original kit. Or fake it! If you are good with block design, you may be able to design your own blocks similar to the ones you see us working on with your own twists. I'll post photos of what each section is supposed to look like before we begin that section. The quilt is a queen size, by the way--most of the larger Thimbleberries quilts are. There are appliqued holly leaves around one border, but there are two versions--one with the applique and one without--so you can chose the one that most appeals to you.

I'm going to set up a links area in my sidebar that lists the blogs of the gals working on this project. I also have some other friends who don't have blogs but who want to work on it as well, and I may post some photos of their sections as we go. Please let me know if you want to try this project, so I can add your blog to my sidebar. We'll get started on this at the beginning of September, so the first section will be completed by September 15th. I do hope you'll join us, but even if you can't, please visit us and watch our progess--I know we'll LOVE the encouragement!