December goals and progress

Happy New Year's Eve!

I made progress on both my goals:

Quilting the baby's crib star sampler.

Cut all pieces for the final 2 blocks of 2015 Pat Sloan Mystery.

Today, I also played with my new machine, Katrina. Isn't this snowman cute?!!! I followed the Quick Start Guide, and the snowman is the design the guide used to get started with embroidery unit. It was definitely a process--the snowman has 15 colors! I got pretty good at threading the machine to change colors, finding thread colors in my stash that are similar in the guide, and using the menus and function buttons. I also used just about all my types of thread that I have to get the colors, from Superior Masterpiece, to Connecting Threads Cotton, to Gutermann and Mettler polyester, and the Sulky rayon. It was a good opportunity to try out the threads and see which I liked and which Katrina seemed to like.

Does anyone know some places for good embroidery thread deals, especially for starter packs of multiple colors? Which types do your Bernina/Bernette embroidery machines like?

Merry Christmas--After

Hi all!

I meant to post on Christmas, but I guess I just posted on Facebook! Whoops!

Christmas at our house was splintered into a few pieces. My husband's shift at the firehouse should have been working both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but his department decided to split it with C shift. My husband worked the 23rd, drove home on Christmas Eve morning and we did family gifts. My husband's family came for the afternoon and dinner with gifts. My boys love their uncles and grandma.

Then I went to work for a few hours in the evening. When I got home, my husband was ready for bed, so I played Santa and put out gifts, sorted stockings, and put out cookies and drank milk. Ha ha ha. Hubby left for work in a snowstorm Christmas morning, and the boys were so excited for "Santa".

Christmas was fun, though.

He loves Nick Jr's Paw Patrol!

The older boys love Star Wars and Marvel Avengers.

Santa got me a special gift: a new Bernina Bernette, Chicago 7. It's got very similar features to my Bernina 1090, it's a little smaller, but it has embroidery module, and lots more decorative stitches. Hubby/Santa even bought me the embroidery computer software to go with it! The maximum embroidery area is only a 5x7 hoop, but that's a great start. My favorite Bernina dealer is so wonderful, Dave's Bernina in Provo, Utah. It was an amazing deal from corporate Bernina, which included a free Bernina suitcase!

During the past few days, I've been making some space for my new machine, unpacking it, trying it out.

I think her name is Katrina, to honor my Scandinavian roots. Ha-ha, it's close anyway, since Bernina is Swiss !

I've also been working on the baby's star sampler quilting. I've finished up all the ditch-stitching/outlining, and started some free-motion work.

Then we had Seamus's birthday. I can't believe he's 9 years old already!

We had a great time with family again on Sunday for gifts, dinner, and cake. Then Monday, we took the boys bowling and yummy lunch at Cracker Barrell ! (That's our new favorite, family-friendly, yummy-comfort-food restaurant to eat at.) My brothers-in-law came again to play and eat, and my dad came as well. I'm so happy that my Dad was able to get a new job in Utah and move back "home". Seattle is just too far away, and we're enjoying having Grandpa near us!

It was the baby's first time bowling, and I was thrilled to get the look of pure joy on his face as he watched his bowling ball hit some pins!

Blowing out some candles! I let my firefighter hubby light candles.

December 2015 goal

Gee, I really fell off the goal-setting wagon this year, didn't I ? No wonder I haven't gotten any complete quilts finished this year?

My goal for the month is to:

A: quilt the baby's star sampler

B: cut and piece the finishing blocks and sashing for Pat Sloan's Mystery quilt. (And hopefully piece the quilt top together.)

I should be able to handle that, right?

Oh, and please give a prayer and a thought to Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. 74 years ago, today.