Boxer Rebellion finish...

The big underwear reveal!  The hand quilting is done, it is bound, and it is time to take it to Steve's work place and hang it up.  Boxer Rebellion if finished!

I quilted a diagonal cross-hatch on the applique blocks and just followed my heart's desire on the other ones.

There are quilted hearts on the boxer shorts, which did not photograph well...

The stripe and plaid patterns in the poly/cotton blend boxer fabrics were really wonky to work with, so the stripes make the blocks look crooked and squirmy to me.  Oh well...part of the charm, I guess.  This next block was my favorite to quilt.

It's funny...I picked the pieced block patterns solely based on their funny names (in relationship with the subject matter...).  You know...Darting Birds, Hands All Around, Young Gentleman's Fancy, Grandma's Favorite, Jack-in-the-Box. Pride and Joy, etc.  Yuck-yuck-yuck!

(I can't believe I embroidered the word "butt"...my grandmother would be so proud...)   Oh, and then there's the whole issue of depicting my naked husband in cloth...with nipples, no less...

 

I guess there is no longer anything sacred...

I quilted an irregular piano key pattern in the wonky border.  The stretch of the plaid makes my vision swim!  Some of those boxer shorts were so old, thin, and thread bear, I'm surprised the weave of the fabric  held together at all.

How about those abs...awesome, babe...

I will go to Steve's workplace in the next couple of days and install Boxer Rebellion in his desk suite...I hope he doesn't get ribbed too much from his fellow workers...there are a couple of quilters there - I know THEY will appreciate it.

Some of my favorite ornaments on my tree were either made by my daughter or were made by teachers or myself with Riley's pictures.  I love all the glitter on this Popsicle stick star.  Steve calls glitter "the herpes of the craft world."   Even after 8 years, the glitter on this puppy is the gift that keeps on giving.  Weasley has had a speck of it on his nose for over a week...he runs every time I try and remove it.

The peanut wrapped in foil was the first ornament Riley made at age 3...hilarious.  I'm not exactly sure what the humble peanut has to do with the Christmas story...maybe peanuts were served at the inn in Bethlehem??

I'm a little embarrassed over how stressed I got over my tree ordeal last week.  There are so many people worrying about REAL issues this Christmas, and I'm going on and on about my silly, saggy, scrappy, screwy, synthetic tree.  I felt very silly and humbled by that as I delivered gifts and food for the Giving Tree to the church today.  The mission team took on 29 local families this season.  The need is great in Michigan, as I know it is in many places this year.  We are grateful that there is still some sort of local social safety network, trying to gather and assist these otherwise undetected families.  It is painful to think that for every family identified, there are many more out there, too embarrassed to come forward and ask for help.

This ball ornament was fun to make...you roll the circle-shaped picture cut out a little to get it into the tiny hole at the top of the glass ball (did I say tiny?  let me reiterate, it was TINY!).  Then, using a chopstick, you stuff tinsel in behind the picture to flatten it uniformly against the inside of the ball.  Of course, you do this while trying NOT to break the fragile glass ball (I broke TWO while trying to make this ornament years ago - I was a crazed, drooling maniac with that chopstick).  Then you hide the edge of the entombed picture with a circular bead of glitter glue dots on the outside.  It was a lesson in patience for me...I only made one.

I'm so very grateful for teachers, Sunday school teachers, and parent volunteers for these ornaments sent home as Christmas gifts for parents from the students (and the time and patience it took to make them)!  They are such a treasure!  I remember Riley being so proud as she would place the stapled mystery brown lunch bag parcel under the tree.

My Ola angel ornament watches over the tree when I am not around...it's a wild collection of ornaments I've gathered over the years, and someone has to keep them in check.  I think of my tree, sometimes, as sort of a "Night at the Museum" or "Velveteen Rabbit" sort of affair.  When we are asleep, I like to imagine the ornaments coming to life and frolicking around the tree all night until we wake up in the morning.  This probably only happens in the portion of the night when Weasley is sleeping (either plastered on, or around, me).  If the cat had witnessed this conjured ornament orgy, the tree would be in shreds in the morning and there would be many ornament casualties littering the family room floor.  I remember making up this story with Riley when she was really small, and to this day we are careful about what ornaments go next to who when decorating the tree.

Last Sunday on my birthday, our church choir sang the Rutter "Magnificat" with orchestra.  All the hard work and rehearsals pay off...it was truly joyous.

I hope you are getting some time to sew mingled in with your last minute Christmas preparations!

In stitches,
Teresa   "o)