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  • 25 days of christmas
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December 25, 2021
A Kinder World from Sew'n Wild Oaks Quilting Blog

Hello Everyone,

I've been saving my pictures of the Nativity for Christmas Day.....the reason for the season.  I purchased this Nativity set for my mom.  She used it for a few years, and now I considered this one my favorite. The little faces are so sweet and dear.


This Nativity set was made by a friend in 1977.  It has been on display every Christmas for the last 44 years.  This is my favorite also.  The donkey is now hearing impaired since the ears are gone.  I think we gave up trying to repair him about 30 years ...

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December 23, 2021
Merry Christmas from Sew'n Wild Oaks Quilting Blog

Hello Everyone,

Before I get too busy with the final Christmas preparations, I want to say thank you to you, my blog readers. You have no idea how much I appreciate your support, your wit and good wishes in your comments, and most importantly your love.
 

I've been blogging since 2008. Since that time, I've made so many friends from around the world.  I've had the opportunity to meet a lot of you, and I look forward to meeting more of you in the coming years.  You inspire me to keep going, keep designing, and keep creating ...

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December 19, 2021
Wilder Family Cookbook from Sew'n Wild Oaks Quilting Blog

 Hello Everyone,

Some of my happiest memories are those when we were gathered around a table enjoying a wonderful meal.  I love to cook and invite family and friends over for a meal.  Sometimes I get carried away and invite more people over than I have available chairs.

Yesterday we gathered around our "meals on wheels" table and shared a meal of Italian Sausage Soup with Tortellini with an old friend and her partner from junior high school!  We sat and talked and ate for hours!

My daughter and daughter-in-law were always asking me for recipes, so I put a ...

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December 17, 2021
Yes, Virginia There is a Santa Claus from Sew'n Wild Oaks Quilting Blog

Hello Everyone,

Yesterday while I was in my sewing room, I listened to a podcast about the famous editorial by Francis Church published in the New York Sun newspaper in response to a question by 8-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon in 1897.

I had always known about this famous editorial, but I never really read it.  My favorite sentence in the editorial is, "The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see."

Enjoy the editorial and read it, then read it again.  Take it to heart.  

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have ...

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December 16, 2021
Canary in the Coal Mine from Sew'n Wild Oaks Quilting Blog

Hello Everyone,

I'm a bit late with my post today.  I've been shoveling the newly fallen snow before it becomes Sierra cement.


Have you heard the phrase, "Canary in the Coalmine?"  I have Jim Shore Christmas ornaments in my canary carrier.

This carrier held 12 canaries as they were carried down into a gold mine here on the West Coast.  In the East, they would have been placed in a coalmine.  The foothills of Northern California have a rich history of gold mining, and my assumption is it was used here in gold country.  The canaries were placed ...

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December 15, 2021
Inside a Snow Globe from Sew'n Wild Oaks Quilting Blog

 Hello Everyone,

.....and since we've no place to go, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow 

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December 13, 2021
Meals on Wheels from Sew'n Wild Oaks Quilting Blog

Hello Everyone,

The "Meals on Wheels" table has arrived and is sitting smack dab in the middle of the great room.  After Christmas we will move it into the dining room where the Christmas tree now resides.


My friend Kaaren, thought we should sell tickets and video the delivery of this heavy table.  We live on a hill, and have stairs coming down to the cabin.  I suggested the delivery men should just sit on the table and ride it down the hill to the front door. They weren't too keen on my idea. Two burly men showed up ...

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December 11, 2021
A New Madrigal from Sew'n Wild Oaks Quilting Blog

 Hello Everyone,

This is the center section of my Madrigal quilt.

This is going to be a new version of Madrigal using the A Return to Elegance fabric by Judie Rothermel.  With a big storm looming on the horizon, I wanted to have some hand work ready in case the power goes out.

This is going to be my palette.


My sister made all of the blocks for me to incorporate into the newest version.


Here's my first Madrigal quilt.

Here's my second Madrigal.  I love filling the open space with feathers.






Click HERE for a link to ...

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December 10, 2021
Return to Toyland from Sew'n Wild Oaks Quilting Blog


Hello Everyone,

I love putting my Toyland Tree quilt on display every Christmastime.  I feel as though I am returning to Toyland as a child.  

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December 9, 2021
Visiting Another Gold Rush Town from Sew'n Wild Oaks Quilting Blog

 

Hello Everyone,

Yesterday, Mr. Joe, my sister, my cousin and I headed out to the little Gold Rush town of Jackson to do some Christmas shopping.  The foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountain range have a rich history of historic, small mining towns along historic highway 49.


This has become an annual event for us.  We love to stroll through the downtown area while listening to the traditional Christmas carols piped outside the downtown area by the local radio station.

We enjoyed a delicious lunch at the Brickhouse Brews in downtown Jackson.

Now I have to get busy and wrap ...

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December 8, 2021
Skating on Thin Ice from Sew'n Wild Oaks Quilting Blog


Hello Everyone,

Another little corner of the cabin is decorated for Christmas.  I have just way too much fun creating these little areas of joy.


The ice skates belonged to my mother.  She brought them with her when she moved from upstate New York to San Mateo, California in 1942.  My mother, my aunt and my grandmother, came across country on a troop train of all things, to join my grandfather who arrived earlier to start a business with his brother.  I guess my mom thought she could go ice skating in sunny California in an indoor rink, as it ...

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December 7, 2021
O Christmas Tree from Sew'n Wild Oaks Quilting Blog

 Hello Everyone,

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree - How lovely are thy branches.  


Well, this artificial tree is on life support as most of the lights no longer work.  I had to add so many additional strings, and now some of them are out.  We decided this is the last year for this tree.  You'd think since we live in the middle of a forest that we would have a real tree.  We haven't had a real tree for years.  I guess if I want to smell the pines, I'll just step outside. 

The Christmas tree skirt ...

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December 6, 2021
O Little Town of Columbia from Sew'n Wild Oaks Quilting Blog

 Hello Everyone,

Yesterday we were stepping out and stepping back in time to the little town of Columbia, a 19th century mining town in Northern California.  The town's central district is within the Columbia State Historic Park.


The purpose of our trip was to see Meet Me in St. Louis at the vintage playhouse in Columbia.
The radio play was so well done by the Sierra Repertory Theater.  I'm in awe of the actor's ability to sing, dance and memorize thousands of lines delivered in rapid succession.  I can barely memorize two sentences; one is my limit ...

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December 5, 2021
Around the Cabin from Sew'n Wild Oaks Quilting Blog

 Hello Everyone,

Yesterday was one of those cozy, lazy days when we enjoyed the fruits our or decorating labor, and two football games.  A chill set in during the afternoon, so it was time to build a fire to warm up these old logs and old bones at the same time.


I put every quilt on display that has red or green in it.  To me the traditional colors of Christmas are red and green. I am not a turquoise and pink Christmas gal.


The buffalo check ribbon is perfect for the mantle.  


I love to have the cabin all ...

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December 4, 2021
Everything Old is New Again.....well almost from Sew'n Wild Oaks Quilting Blog

 

Hello Everyone,

We've had this old Cream City copper boiling tub for years and years.  We kept it by the wood-burning stove full of newspapers.  We had the old wooden washing stand in another part of the room, which I used to display quilts.  Now I've married the two together after 20 years of separation.  It was a long courtship!


The tub originally looked like this when I got a bee in my bonnet and decided to clean it up.  I felt like the downstairs maid in Downton Abbey while scrubbing away years of tarnish. I was almost ...

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December 3, 2021
A Porch View from Sew'n Wild Oaks Quilting Blog

Hello Everyone,

I love to decorate the front porch every season of the year to extend a warm welcome to visitors before entering Wilder's Last Resort.

The hardest time I have with this layout is that I forget to unplug the lights every night.  Sometimes Mr. Joe will remember to unplug the lights after he takes Mazey out for her last trip to the powder room.

Last night, the fragrance in the air was "eau de skunk" when Mazey was outside.  We had issues in the Spring with skunks, so we put out moth balls which the skunks do ...

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December 1, 2021
Let the decorating begin! from Sew'n Wild Oaks Quilting Blog

 Hello Everyone,

It's that time of year when the bins and tubs full of Christmas joy come out of closets, and from under the cabin so the decorating can begin.


I've been turning my pie safe/cookbook holder into a Christmas Village every year.....for years. My Fitbit logged 15 flights of stairs just bringing the houses up the stairs and out of storage. 

Notice the time on the clock in both of the pictures.  The magic didn't take place in one day from 3 to 5pm.  I finished at 5pm the next day.  First, all of ...

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  • 25 days of christmas
  • Page 1 of 1 ( 17 posts )