Christmas Pleasures

I always find that the things which I enjoy most about Advent and Christmas are small, enjoyable projects, things which as a rule I don't do enough of.  This year, at my favorite quilt store in Clearwater, I participated in the 11th Christmas Mystery.  I have done them all except one (can't remember why not that year), and it has become something I look forward to.  The staff in the store (and you know who you are !) always add that little bit extra to make it all pretty, and we eat and chat and hopefully get our project done. 
I promised Becky I would take photos of my projects, most of which are complete, although some are in the finished top stage and one is a completed top with no applique yet - and so here are a few of the first ones.  One I adapted into a tree skirt and is under our tree as we speak ... will take a photo of that in the next day or two.  Other projects to follow ...

This was the first one .... 6 pieced blocks

Pam's ornament

Roni's tree

 Primitive Gatherings

And finally, a couple of pictures of my poinsettia.  Living in Florida, I decided to plant my two poinsettias in a pot in front of my house last year.  They were average pots of the kind you see everywhere in December.  Well, they were so pretty as plain green plants after Christmas that we left them the whole year; they have turned a glorious red over the last couple of weeks.  I am so thrilled with them !

Country Quilts and Bears - New Blog !

The ladies at Country Quilts and Bears in Clearwater, FL have launched a blog ! Go visit them at
Country Quilts and leave a nice comment, they will be thrilled !
I am very partial to this shop. It is the first quilt shop I ever visited, and I learned to quilt here from Becky. Actually, Becky has "infected" many, many people with the quilt virus, and you couldn't expect to find a kinder and more patient teacher. Over the years, I have participated in the Christmas Mysteries - from the very first one - and you would have seen my posts about those - if not, check out the December posts from previous years. Most of those quilts are even finished (gasp !), and some of them are my favorite quilts ever. Not just that, our quilt Guild, the PQs - Procrastinating Quilters, meets at the shop each month on the third Thursday evening.  So you can see, this shop has shaped my quilting life a lot.  Currently, I am working on the House quilt with Roni (also a fabulous teacher and one of the Christmas mystery initiators !), and our little group has really enjoyed the class. There are other fabulous teachers - Pam who does amazing piecing and whose quilts are very original, Diane who teaches handquilting, Francy and her cute bears, and Susan, who actually got me to finish a top in the class - those who know me will realize what a feat that was !
Go visit, and tell them I sent you !