My Secret Santa

Tomorrow is the day that my extended family will be coming to town for a Christmas gathering...and also the day that the CyberBee holds its annual Christmas potluck and Secret Santa gift exchange. Since I will not be able to attend the CyberBee meeting, my friends Jean and Janice came over and picked up my Secret Santa gift to deliver...and brought mine to me! My Secret Santa was Jean!

Since CyberBee members have been together fifteen years or more, we often know a lot about each other's interest, tastes, type of quilting, etc. And we also get to list colors and "stuff" we like in a database. So, these gifts are often very eagerly anticipated and special.

Jean brought me a wonderful bag of goodies to appeal to the artist in me!

Transforming Fabric by Carolyn Dahl...

The Uncommon Quilter by Jeanne Williamson...

Some of the lovely, sparkly "Fantasy Fiber," also sold as Angelina, which I tend to add to all my art quilts and postcards...

For more sparkle, some Fantasy Film, also sold as Textiva...and a new product called Magic Mesh which I can't wait to try! It looks like self-adhesive cheesecloth!

One of my all-time favorite products, hand-dyed Tussah Silk Tops from Myrna Ficken (somebody has been paying attention to my blog posts!) for use in needle-felting or other fiber products like my shawls...another product that is new to me, Paper Cord Ribbon Trim, which should be fun to twist and curl and add to post cards and other fun creations...and, after all these nice things, something just a little naughty...a reindeer that poops candy! That should be the hit of all the five-year-olds at the party tomorrow...

And to top it all off, on the day that I received all these lovely surprises, it was Jean's birthday! I did remember her day with a red poinsettia.

Hope all the CyberBee members enjoy their special surprises tomorrow...I will post pictures of the package I made after the excitement dies down this weekend!

A CyberBee Christmas

It was a busy weekend. Friday night, another Christmas party given by my husband and his partners for the operations staff. We had a great time at Casa Carbone in Raleigh.

Saturday was another quilty day with the CyberBee. This group started with a few members that were using e-mail back in the nineties. We grew to fifty members. All live in the area, but we only meet in person quarterly. We had our first-ever Christmas get-together after revising our calendar of meeting dates. It was an all-day sew-in, but I did not go until time for the lunch.

After lunch, there was a Christmas gift exchange. Each participant knew who they were making a gift for, and knew their likes/dislikes. Each lovely gift was unwrapped one at a time so we could all enjoy the creations. As I have said before, this group has some of the most talented quilt artists in our area, and a bunch of overachievers to boot. The gifts were creative, beautiful, personal, useful, ingenious! Sadly, I did not participate in the gift exchange since I did not think I would be able to attend this meeting.

Here is one of my favorites: a chicken bag given to Jenny. It unzips in the front.

Here is a lovely table runner from a simple pattern, made by Ann for Martha. Table runners were a popular item at our Show-and-Tell this year.

Our regular Show-and-Tell is always like going to a quilt show, but you get to hear the stories behind the projects and quilts. Here is a quilt that Ann brought in. She had inherited a quantity of old calico prints from a deceased friend, and used them to make this quilt. Those old fabrics can still make charming quilts!

Here is an old UFO finished by my friend Michelle. It was a Row-by-Row project from this group, probably started back in the 90's. She used a variegated thread in a spiral meander. The little squares on the border contain signatures of the RBR participants.

And here is another project from an old CyberBee swap: an angel quilt by Doris. She did a great job getting all those different-sized blocks together. It's great to see some of these group projects getting finished. I still have my CyberBee row-by-row in Ziploc baggies.

You may recognize this one made by Jean. I quilted it back in October with freehand leaves of all kinds.

Five members of CyberBee worked on "fractured" or "slice" quilts. They each chose a picture or poster and divided it up for each member to create a part. Then they are put together. Diverse methods are used, but they all seem to go together beautifully!

JoAnn's is finished.

Dorothy has constructed the top and is ready to quilt.

Jean's top is also complete. Some of those oranges are dimensional. I love the pitcher!

This week I am getting ready to have all the Turners (my side of the family) over for dinner on Saturday. We usually have about forty people. I hope my grandchildren will get over their colds so they can come up. I am trying to at least have the house all ready in case I need to run down to South Carolina and do some emergency babysitting this week. It is so hard to work when your children are sick.