Eli, in 4th grade, needed a quick gift for his Secret Santa pal. Paul and Eli went looking for a gift—the girl likes horses, so Eli wanted to buy her a bookmark with a horse. No luck. Apparently nothing with a horse at any store including the toy store (hard to believe, but that’s what they said). So they decided to make cookies. As in mom would make cookies. Ahem. Not. As in, I’m wrapping gifts, making my own stuff, working on dyeing six shirts with Joshua for science class, writing and printing the newsletter, doing legal stuff for mom, etc.

So I offered to make a fabric postcard instead and give it with a mini-easel. A quick Google Images search for horses turned up two that gave the silhouette that I wanted, so I traced them off the computer screen. Eli and I decided to make a field with simple trees on the side (this needed to be made FAST). Once that was done, we decided the smaller of the two horses was the correct size. Out comes the Saral transfer paper to transfer the outlines to the pre-fused cloth.  The photo above is the front of the card (Eli wanted eyes and nostrils, so added them with a pen which, alas, bled a little…)

On the back, Eli did as he was instructed, wrote To Francis, From ? (and it shows the quilting):

I’m rather pleased… it took less than an hour for the whole shebang (using mostly pre-fused fabrics…good to have a little fused stash on hand for quilt emergencies just like this), way less than making a huge batch of cookies! Best of all, Eli reported that Francis was really pleased with her Secret Santa’s gift! Good for Eli for picking something he knew she would like!

On Monday the 17th, Kate, Kathy and I met at Kate’s house in Bowdoinham to share and celebrate the season. As I mentioned earlier, Hannah’s daughter was down with a fever, so she stayed home, and of course our dear Deborah is living on the dark side of the moon a.k.a. Dallas (sorry to all Texans…but you’re a loooonnnnggggg way away from here! it seems that far!). Deborah’s box was delayed in the mail, so I won’t share the goodies that the three of us exchanged, since not everyone has seen their holiday gifties (I will share AFTER Christmas!). We had a wonderful time in Kate’s old (maybe early 1800s?) house, which is remarkably sunny and light. It has the small rooms typical of New England, which hold the heat well yet let in lots of light.

First we shared. Kathy has almost completed the glorious art bed quilt (yes, it is possible to make art for the bed and Kathy has just proved it!). The quilt is a commission for a friend, who wanted the quilt to celebrate the favorite places she and her husband have been in their long marriage, from the Caribbean to Maine, Mexico, New Zealand (I think it was), Newfoundland and beyond. I am in lust:

I shared my Naiads quilt, which alas I can’t share here for a couple of months…sigh… but it was such a thrill to have MADE something that is art!

I loved this view from the dining room:

I loved this view even more… lunch with my friends! The only thing that would have made it better would have been Hannah and Deborah. We had Kate’s panini, my potato-turkey kielbasa soup (thank you Janet! I use that recipe a LOT), and Kathy’s treats for dessert (they involve graham crackers, butter, sugar, chocolate, nuts…heavenly).

Then we decamped to the living room for prezzies under the tree! On the far side of the room is one of my favorite paintings, which Kate did for an art class in college:

On the shelf underneath was this lovely vignette… Kate’s home is filled with these wonderful little suprises and joys… We have so many cats (and cat hair and dust) I don’t do stuff like this, and I should!

Then, goodies made by friends… could it be any better?

You’ll have to wait to see the contents, though… but Kate and Kathy, gifts have already been pressed into joyful service!

Sorry about having been seriously AWOL (absent without leave)…. A week ago I got back from a week just north of San Francisco for my mom’s 89th birthday and have been scrambling ever since (making gifts, wrapping gifts, packaging and mailing gifts…). My dear and wonderful sister-in-law came up from LA (Joyce, my late half-brother’s widow) to Mom’s in the Bay Area, too. It was a wonderful reunion… wish we weren’t so far apart! We need to do that more! I’ll blog about that trip, dyeing fabric (which is the closes I’ve come to quilting in too long a while), and the Frayed Edges December meeting (which DOES involve a quilt…Kathy’s work of wonder!) in the coming week or two…. I expect everyone else is as swamped as I am!

We had a significant Nor’easter on Sunday which added another 8 inches of snow to the nearly 10 on the ground—before the temperature started rising twenty degrees at about 6 pm (from low 20s to 40 at 11 pm!) and it turned to rain, which sank to the bottom of the snow and made the Mid-Coast of Maine a skating rink…sidewalks are hazardous. But the landscape is glorious.

The Frayed Edges are intrepid (and busy) souls, so three of us gathered at Kate’s house in Bowdoinham despite the storm and resulting yuck on the roads–we just drove veeerrrrryyyyy sllllowwwwwlllyyyyyy. Deborah, living near Dallas, was with us in spirit and our hearts, as was Hannah who was home with a sick daughter (bummers for both!). On the way, I snapped these pics of the ice on the trees about a mile from Kate’s… what awesome beauty!

This summer, as many of you have read, Joshua got hit by a car and had a lengthy hospitalization. One kind soul had an idea: make simple blocks to send Joshua to let folks know they were thinking of him…he was floored! They spread the word on the Janome 6500 list, the QuiltArt list, my pattern testers yahoo group and more. Well, we have 73 blocks (ten from Sue Franck!) coming from the length and breadth of not only the US, but also Canada, Australia, Singapore, England, Scotland… amazing!

After many distractions, family upsets, surgeries, healing, laughter and joy, I finally was able to put up nearly 35 of the blocks on the design wall. This is what love looks like:

Cindy Sissler Simms also sent each of the boys a gorgeous Mariner’s Compass block:

Joshua wants a single large bedquilt, which is what that many blocks will make! And thanks to another generous soul (K.McN) from the QuiltArt list, we have a queen sized batt to make that happen, too! Joshua will give Eli some of the blocks, and I’m sure it will take me months to get the tops done and the quilt quilted, but I’ll be sure to let you know when I do. Ilana in Lancaster, Calif., sent Eli a pillowcase with cats and dogs which is well-loved and used already, and the Blockbuster video card was well enjoyed. Rosemary Claus-Grey’s boy with a broken leg mini fiber artwork was on the wall in Joshua’s hospital room, and is on the wall here at home now! The generosity of so many whom we have never even met in person is overwhelming.

We cannot express how much this outpouring of affection and concern means to all of us. Before separating the blocks from the cards and envelopes, I wrote each person’s name, town and state/country on the block, so we can look at each block in the quilt and know who sent it and where it began its journey. Thank you, thank you, thank you, from all of us, with abiding love.

I know I’ve said it before, but I LOVE winter, and I love winter in Maine. Imagine getting to see this sort of beauty and inspiration within (literally) a snowball’s throw from the garage doors and while walking the dog-beasties?!!! I’m on to do a small challenge quilt by the end of February on “Winter,” and I think after my walk at 5 yesterday (pitch dark!) I’ll do moon on snow with trees…… Here’s the neighborhood:

In the backyard:

The woodpiles:

Taking a gamboling puppy out for walkies (bunnies do the bunny hop, ‘Widgeon does the pug hop!)—and the deeper the snow, the more his short little doggie body loves it!

St. Francis on watch…. this was in my late father-in-law’s garden in southern California, moved with him to Washington state, moved to our house on San Juan Island when he died (St. Francis’ feast day is the same date as my birthday… I knew I liked him!), and then came to Maine:

The snowy branches, undisturbed by winds, look like the tracery on medeival cathedral windows:

And the trees in front of the Squibb’s house and the dangly branch next door: