HAPPY NEW YEAR ```and Thank You

 

Peace, goodwill, and happiness to You and Yours

 

As this year ends, I want to thank all my blogging friends who stop by to read about my simple, everyday  life, and leave encouraging comments.  And please know how much I enjoy reading your words of inspiration, whether they be in poems or journals or words from the Bible;  the works of your hands: dolls, needlework and quilts; your wonderful pictures of sunsets, barns, flowers and woodlands; trips to thrift stores, your collections, and places I'll never see.

 

God bless,

Charlotte

MERRY CHRISTMAS

 

from the farmer and me.

May the season be bright with the spirit of Christmas.

 

No snow here, but we did have some rain last night, much needed rain, and today the wind is howling from the west, so we know winter is coming tomorrow.

 

I finally got the Christmas tree put up, fake branches fluffed out and old decorations hung around it.  But this year it has a little something special added:

 

 

a circa 1940 train set,

 

 

 

with signal lights and barriers.  I added three little village buildings, a fence with cattle, trees, and children playing in the snow.  Can't you almost hear the train whistle as it rolls through the countryside?

 

There is a story about this train, similar to the story of the country mouse and the city mouse.  When the farmer was a boy, and the fields along the creeks were plowed each spring for crops, he and his brother could always find really nice arrowheads in the turned dirt.  They saved them until there was a small bucketful.  Meanwhile, their city cousin had this train that he no longer played with, and when he saw the arrowheads he suggested that they could be traded to him in exchange for the train.  It seemed to be a wonderful idea to two country boys who had only dreamed of ever having a train set!  So, the trade was made, and I can only imagine the hours of fun they had with the train.

 

The farmer looks back now and thinks it might not have been such a good trade on their part, but I'm glad he has the train.  Of course the electrical part doesn't work anymore but it's a great connection to his boyhood and I'm glad he brought it out of storage for our Christmas.  But -- don't tell the American Pickers we have it!

 

Charlotte 

 

 

 

Maybe you can help me

decide what to do with this quilted piece:

 

Are you familiar with whole cloth quilting?

 

Whole cloth quilts are created from one single piece of fabric; unlike patchwork, a whole cloth quilt is not pieced at all.  The design across the surface is made entirely from quilting stitches.

 

 

They were traditionally made by women who had money enough to purchase wide pieces of fabric.

 

From Day Style Designs, "This really is an amazing quilting style that deserves a try at least once in your quilting journey."

 

O.k.  Now I don't know what to do with it since it is only about a fourth of a quilt top.  It makes me think of a recipe: I've tried it; don't care for it; won't do it again.

 

But, it was too much work to throw out; any suggestions as to a use for it?

 

Charlotte 

 

 

Doll Quilt

 

My latest finished doll quilt, in the traditional Courthouse Steps pattern.

Paper pieced and hand quilted

Approximately 16 inches square

 

I'm slowly making progress on the works in progress list.

 

Charlotte

 

 

It's Time For Santa Letters...

 

and it seems Santa is already busy, reading and filling those requests.  Our local paper tells us, "Kids, it's time to start making those lists and getting those Santa letters in so they can be published and Santa and his helpers will have plenty of time to start filling those Christmas orders."

 

I don't remember writing letters to Santa, but I think I will write one now:

 

Dear Santa Claus,  I know you read my blog; I've seen you sitting at the computer, smiling at my words and stories, my Christmas memories of years gone by when five dollars worth of presents were under the tree for me.  My how times have changed!

 

I have tried to be good this year, with the exception of my yelling at the abandoned dogs, and in spite of my "old" age, I've continued to do my share of the farm work and  gave of my quilting time to open and close gates and shuttle the farmer back and forth between tractors while we feed cattle.

 

I'm not asking for big things, nor things that money can buy;  I already have plenty of "stuff".  Instead I'm asking for things that come with the price of that precious possession you have, called TIME.  So, here is my list: 1)Trim around the window and door in the bathroom; it's already painted. 2)Hang curtain rods and the little shelf in my bedroom. 3)Put glides on my closet doors; they've been swinging for three years now. 4)This request could cost money: either fix the potty or buy a new one to stop the screaming it makes when flushed! 5)How about a trellis for the clematis vine?  The lattice board was bought years ago.  I won't ask that you paint the bedroom because I know you don't like to paint.

 

Now Santa, if you don't have time or energy to spend on doing these things, perhaps you know of an elf who would.  Since you don't eat many cookies anymore, how about a baked sweet potato?

 

Love,

Charlotte

 

 

 

 

December ~~ Little Quilt

 

December's little quilt is actually a little quilted wallhanging, made up in redwork embroidery and patchwork.

 

Designed by Cindy Taylor Oates, the pattern was featured in the December, 1999 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting.

 

Another of my works in progress, finally finished.

 

Charlotte