Beautiful Lights at the Garden

 I am an absolute Christmas fanatic.  I love anything that has to do with Christmas.  My DH and I had date night tonight, out to dinner then the  Botanical Gardens for their Garden of lights.  Dinner wasn't as planned since the restaurant we planned on going to had closed since our last visit.  One of his favorite restaurants was the King and I a local Thai place, oh well we will have to find a new one.  We tried a new Thai place, Bangkok it was pretty good not great.  Then we headed to see the lights.  It was very, very cold. 

Santa Grasshopper

Not sure what this was, but beautiful photo doesn't do it justice.

Not sure what the snake had to do with Christmas, but it was pretty.

I just realized this one is a little tilted.  It was advertised as a non peak night, I would hate to see it on a peak night.  Very crowded and hard to get some good shots.  If you are in the area, this would be a great family outing.

I love Christmas!!

 When it comes to Christmas, I revert to childhood and get excited about everything, especially lights.  Last night DH and I went to the Garden of Lights at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens.  It was out of this world!! (well worth the price).  This was the first year for this light show and I hope it will continue.  If the crowds last night were anything to judge by it will definitely be back.  The fountain to the right contains a one of a kind piece by Dale Chihuly, it is something to see, especially with all of the blue and green Christmas lights around it. 

The light orbs that pulse in color to the Christmas songs.

Poinsettia Tree in the greenhouse.

One of my favorites, the red and white snowflakes.

Skyline of Midtown. 

Christmas Lights

I haven't been making a lot of progress on my UFO's for this year. Last year I decided to follow along with the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt in Quiltmaker Magazine. It was the first mystery quilt that I had done. I have to admit that I got really tired of making half square triangles, but I do love the quilt. I got it back from Lisa, my quilter, last week and finished the binding last night. DH rarely ever makes comments about my quilts, but he did say that he thought we needed to keep this one. I agree. Even though the name is Christmas Lights, it is not at all "Christmasy" at least mine isn't, it does have red and green, but not the shades you usually associate with Christmas.

Last project of the year!!

I was determined to get the borders sewn onto my Christmas Lights project before the end of the year. I just finished. I am really excited with the way the borders look. Thanks so much to Becky, Pat, and Melissa for helping me pick out the perfect borders.

Christmas Lights

This afternoon I had the house to myself and I wanted to work on a Christmas project. I started step two of Carolina Christmas, but decided I want to work on something that I could actually have a chance of getting completed in the near future. I dug out the blocks for Bonnie Hunter's Christmas Lights. I cut the triangles and got it up on my design wall. I really like the way it turned out. Some of the blocks are actually sew together. I already have the border fabrics, so this is something that I could get finished before Christmas. My goal is to get it quilted and actually have it to use next Christmas.

Fabric for Christmas Lights

Finally got the battery on my camera charged, it helps if you put it in the charger the right way!!. Here are the fabrics for the mystery quilt. I have already made the four patches. Most of those I made as leaders and enders when working on other projects. Now that I have those made, I am putting it away to work on during the Silver Thimble Stitch-in next month.

I finished another project today, a tote bag that I started a couple of weeks ago. It was a kit that I purchased from The Fat Quarter shop. I am really pleased with the way it turned out. It took two charm packs and 1 1/2 yards of fabric for lining and the pockets. I liked it so well I am going to give it to my niece for her upcoming birthday, and make myself one too!

Bonnie Hunter Mystery

I know in my last post I said I was going to focus on the quilt size quilt I had started out of Chocolat, well, I am already sidetracked. I am working on the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt in Quiltmaker magazine. The mystery is called Christmas lights, the first part of the mystery is in the current issue of the magazine. I have picked out my fabrics and started on the four patch blocks. I promised myself that the only way I would do this mystery is if I didn't have to buy any fabric. After digging around in all of my fabric, which took a while I managed to find everything that I needed. I will take photos to post when the battery on my camera finishes charging. Check it out, I think it will be a lot of fun. My friends Becky and Kristie are both planning on doing this project as well.