Wrapping up the year

It's really been a pretty productive year in terms of quilting and other sewing projects. I've focused again on finishing up some UFOs and trying to make most of my fabric purchases have a purpose.  I'll be putting together my numbers and figure out how many finishes I had for year, but that will have to wait for the weekend.

 

On Wednesday morning this week my husband had his disc replacement surgery, and yesterday I brought him home again. They kept him just barely 24 hours in the hospital.  The arm numbness has gone away, so I think the surgery will be considered a success. The rest of the healing will take time.

 

 

Luckily I work from home so I've been able to go back to work and still check on him periodically.  He is pretty worn out, and sleeps quite a bit, especially after taking his pain meds.  The neck area is stiff and sore of course.  And his throat is very sore which is something the surgeon warned us about.  He has some lifting restrictions for 6 weeks, and some "twisting" restrictions for 3 months. And he can't drive until he quits taking the pain meds. 

 

So I'm wrapping up the year with very little sewing, but looking forward to 2017 with excitement.

 

 

Yesterday's progress

I got a lot done yesterday. Today I am sewing a binding onto a wall hanging while sitting in the waiting room. My husband is in surgery for disc replacement. Lots of wait time. 

Needing some handwork

 

Monday was a day off and I spent quite a bit of time sewing in the afternoon. First off was prepping some handwork to keep me busy. Both of these table runners are ready for hand stitching the binding down.  (Bad picture due to the evening light when I took this photo.)  I'll need a bit of handwork the next couple of days while my husband has neck surgery tomorrow morning.  He will stay at least 1 night in the hospital and maybe 2 or 3 depending on how things are going.  Our oldest daughter lives about 6 blocks from the hospital so I'll be staying with them.  

 

Yesterday I also made a self-binding baby blanket for a baby shower this coming weekend. I love making these as they are so fast and easy, plus they are such practical baby gifts.

 

And I worked on the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt clues.  I finished pressing the last of the Clue 1 blocks, and sewed the remaining few Clue 2 blocks.  Clues 3-5 are partially complete, with all of the pieces cut and about a quarter of the blocks sewn. I'm really not too concerned about "falling behind" since there isn't any kind of deadline.

Holiday fuss and stress

 

Some years I've made a huge production of Christmas - decorations, baking, cards, presents, and whatnot.  And that was while working full time, and in years past being a mom of busy kids. And like most everyone I know there was all kinds of stress over getting everything done, attending every concert and party, and having my house looking perfect.

 

But this year I'm only working part time so had lots of extra time.  We have an empty nest and both work from home. So I could have made a much bigger fuss for Christmas preparations, but I didn't.  I now feel slightly guilty because I am not stressed about Christmas.  But only slightly . . .

 

The decorations are a bit less than most years, and it doesn't matter because no one will see them except me and my husband. We aren't expecting any guests. No one will be here for the actual Christmas holiday because my oldest daughter is hosting this year.  But the tree and the stockings are really for me anyway. They make me happy.  My husband on the other hand would not be bothered if I never put up another tree - doesn't help, isn't interested.  But I enjoy it so much!

 

It doesn't seem like Christmas without making my usual spritz wreath cookies. But I didn't make any.  I have made 2 big batches of spiced nuts and do plan to make one more batch tomorrow, but those take less than 30 minutes, so are totally stress-free. I bought 2 frozen pies that I'll bake tomorrow to take to my daughter's house on Christmas Eve. No "from scratch" cookie baking at all this year - which actually does make me feel a little guilty. But I'll get over it.  And my hips will thank me in January because I won't have eaten all of those things I usually bake.

 

We kept gifts for the grandkids simple and I actually had them all wrapped and under the tree 2 weeks ago.  That is definitely not like normal years as I'm usually wrapping things at the last minute.  Each kiddo is getting 1 thing to wear, 1 thing to read, and 1 thing to play with.  Plus they are getting new pillowcases.  The daughters and sons-in-law are getting a "family" basket with some fun and some useful surprises.  And the stockings are full of fun but small goodies, like socks!  We'll just pack it all up to take to our daughter's house on Saturday and then bring the empty stockings back home to hang up next year again.

 

The last of my Christmas cards are in the mail this morning. I so enjoy receiving Christmas cards and letters from friends and family living far away and living close by.  That is one of the best things about this time of year - MAIL. 

 

So, since I have completed my Christmas preparations, I'm going to go comb my hair, brush my teeth, and take myself out to a leisurely lunch.  I'm hungry for Chinese food.  

Almost vintage nativity set

 

The last time this nativity scene was set up was Christmas 2005, right before we moved to this house.  So the past 11 years it has been carefully wrapped in newspaper in a box on a high storage shelf in my basement.  Every year I would look at that box on the top shelf and decide it was too much trouble to get it down. But this year I moved some things and climbed up.  I'll so glad I went to the trouble.

 

Unwrapping each piece brought back some wonderful memories.  This nativity was made by Nellie, a dear family friend from my childhood who was like a favorite aunt, and gifted to my husband and I the first Christmas we were married.  She made each piece in a pottery class and her husband made the simple wooden stable. 

 

I must admit that I had forgotten just how many pieces there were in this set, and just how large some of the pieces are.  Some of the faces are a bit scary too.  But I love it.  And this year when I put it away it's going in a new box, with bubble wrap, and going in with the other Christmas decorations where I can reach it easily for next year. 

And the stockings were hung

 

After a trip to visit with the ladies at The Pin Cushion yesterday morning, my Christmas stockings are now finished.  A huge thank you to Cindy for the great advice about needles and to Brenda for the gorgeous piece of lace (from her private stash) I added to Olivia's stocking.

 

Changing out to a top stitch needle while embroidering seemed to be the magic solution. No more shredded thread. My critical eye sees that I could have aligned the names a bit better - but overall I'm very pleased with the results.  And I doubt that the kids will care.

 

Hiding under the back of the cuff on each is a little ribbon with "Made By Grandma Fridley" on it.  The stockings are all lined with a nice smooth muslin.  

Vintage thread

 

How old do you think this spool of thread might be? It was one of dozens of spools of thread I inherited from my mother when she died over 25 years ago. And based on the labels, I'm guessing she had it for a long time herself. 

 

I was looking for a nice maroon thread to do a bit of hand stitching on a ripped shirt pocket for my daughter.  I dug and dug through my basket and big jar of thread with no luck. So I peaked into the old spools in a drawer, and I found this one. It's a perfect color match and the thread didn't feel brittle or weak. This was always a good brand of thread and proves to me that it's still good enough to use.  

 

Don't forget to visit http://www.patchworktimes.com  to see what everyone has on their Design Wall this week. Bet there are a lot of Christmas projects on those walls.

Frustration has won

 

I spent a LOT of time on Saturday afternoon trying to embroider my grandchildren's names on their stocking cuffs. 

 

First up I cleaned out the bobbin casing area of my machine and put in a brand new embroidery needle with the exact specs my machine's guidebook suggested.  I bought embroidery thread and bobbin thread.  I worked on a practice piece first. The practice piece had lots of skipped stitches and broken threads. But I finally managed to get 2 letters "kind of" embroidered. 

 

But then I hooped up one of the cuff fabrics and things went downhill from there.  My thread broke every dozen or stitches.  I changed needles again, rethreaded everything, re-hooped the fabric and stabilizer.  But the whole process just kept getting worse.  After nearly 3 hours of frustration, I gave up and went to the movies with my husband. 

 

Today I just worked on piecing a few triangle-in-a-square units for the Bonnie Hunter mystery, mended my granddaughter's pants, mended my daughter's shirt pocket, and finished up the casserole hot pads I started earlier in the week as Christmas gifts. And I grumbled and growled over those stocking that are so close to being done - but yet are not. 

 

 

Progress on the Christmas stockings

I have all 4 stockings (requested by my daughter) quilted and put together with the backing.  All 4 linings are cut out and ready to sew. And the cuffs and hangers are cut and ready. What this really means is that the scary part is left - using my embroidery machine to add some names to the cuffs.  I plan to use white thread and do a practice one first. 

 

 

This one is going to be for Jonah.  I used a simple chevron design and decided to buy a teal Grunge fabric for the backing and cuff to match the teal chevron. Wish I had enough of the teal print to do the cuff, but the colors match nicely.

 

Mason will get the pinwheel stocking. I used up the remaining stash fabric from Jonah's stocking in this one. And I had just enough of the red in the stash to do the back and the cuff.

 

Olivia gets the Dresden Plate stocking.  I had a fat quarter of the candy cane fabric in my stash and enough of the dark red for the backing and cuff.  I may add a little touch of lace to the edge of the cuff to make it a bit more girly.  And maybe just a few red beads.

 

And this one is for my son-in-law Darin. These are all bits of a sparkly blue fat quarter pack that I used in a wintery quilt for myself a few years ago. I liked all the different shades of blue and the sparkles make it look like it's frosted over.

 

So I should have plenty of time over the weekend to sew since we are getting a winter storm and expect -25 below zero lows on Saturday night.  Thinking we aren't going anywhere, unless it's to a movie a mile away.  If I get them completely done before Tuesday morning I can drop them off after taking my husband for an injection in his neck. 

Christmas stockings

This is the first of 4 new Christmas stockings I'm working on for one of my daughters.

 

 

She has a quilted Christmas stocking I made for her as a baby with her name cross-stitched on the cuff.  And she decided last week that she would really like for me to make her husband and 3 kiddos stockings too.  And to make sure I put a label on them to say "Made by Grandma Fridley".

 

She didn't really indicate a desire to have them for THIS year, but I'm trying to do that since I have lots of Christmas fabrics in the stash.  I did stop at my LQS this morning for some muslin to use as lining for them. 

 

I think this one will be for my son-in-law. It's all made from leftovers from a frosty winter quilt I made several years ago. I don't have his name on the cuff yet or the lining made so the cuff is just laying on top. But I think it will work.  I've pieced 2 others from other fabrics and quilted 1 of them. So I still have 1 more to start.  The kid ones will all be different patterns. One has pinwheels and the other has chevrons. I'm thinking the last one may be star blocks or maybe a Dresden plate block.

 

And I already know that embroidering their names on the cuffs will be the most time consuming thing because I'm still afraid of my embroidery machine.  Maybe I'll just applique an initial on them. 

More than just a mug rug

 

When a person signs up for an online swap you just never know what you'll end up getting from a partner you've never met. Well, I think I did really well on this swap.

 

This was a mug rug swap with a Facebook group that I joined, and I just received a box from Michigan with not just 1, but 2 matching mug rugs, a fun snowman mug, candy, and some yummy smelling soap.  It's so much fun to open up because the contents are a surprise.

 

Thank you so much Patti. I will enjoy it all.

Sewing Christmas gifts

 

Yesterday was a fun sewing day with an emphasis on making a couple of small Christmas gifts for granddaughter Olivia.  She is a twin and has twin baby dolls that she loves to play "mom and dad" with. So I made her 2 sleeping bags for those dolls. I'm wishing I had added 1 more set of ribbon ties to these but didn't want to take anything apart to add more. Plus I had used up all of that ribbon.

 

Then I made her a purple pillowcase.  Each of the 5 grandkids is getting a new pillowcase and she requested purple. I think she's like the Kaffe print with the dots.  I already had the other 4 pillowcases done.  The boys are all getting the alligator ones I made a couple of weeks ago, and Sophia's is pink with pastel deer silhouettes.  She loves animals so I think that will be a winner.

Mystery quilt progress

 

I was only going to make a half sized mystery quilt, but since I have plenty of fabric I decided to go ahead and do it full sized.  No one is surprised, right?  I am loving the colors that Bonnie Hunter chose for En Provence. And so far the units have been very simple ones. I just need to catch up a bit on the sewing part. The pieces are all cut and ready to go.

 

If you haven't checked out her latest mystery quilt, here is the link. One clue is released each week on Friday and so far we've seen two of them.  Clue 1 is the 4-patch unit done with neutrals. Clue 2 is the magenta and neutral unit using the tri-recs ruler. Wonder what color or colors she will have us play with next? Purple, yellow, green, or lavender?

 

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/p/en-provence-mystery.html

It's December already?

 

As always, December has come way before I was ready for it. On Saturday our guild had our Christmas party and the committee did a wonderful job putting together a fun afternoon. They made these darling little gift baskets for everyone. They contained a Corn Palace popcorn ball and a Christmas cookie. Those Corn Palace popcorn balls are a gooey and yummy local treat. I had eaten my cookie already when I took this photo.

 

I didn't remember to do a stash report yesterday so figured I would add my November report here. I added a LOT of fabric to my stash this month, partly due to a little road trip shopping. But I bought plenty locally too. Luckily most of it had a purpose.

 

In this month:  31 yds

In this year:  164.75 yds

Out this month: 15.5 yds

Out this year: 151 yds

 

The stash has taken over once again, but now that I'm not working as much I'm optimistic that I can make some dents in the volume. 

Farm Girl Vintage

Feed and Seed is done. This was one of the more time consuming of the Farm Girl Vintage blocks, maybe because of all of the HSTs around the outside. It wasn't difficult to make, just kind of putzy.

 

I even followed the basic color scheme from the book with the aqua HSTs. The next one on my cutting table is Tumbleweed, followed by the Turkey block that I bought and downloaded. 

 

Yesterday I only had a couple of hours in the morning to do a little sewing since we had to venture out into the snowy weather for a doctor appointment. Just love driving 70 miles each way in bad weather!  I drove my husband to see the neurosurgeon to discuss surgical options on his neck. And his surgery is tentatively scheduled for Dec 28 to replace 2 disks in his neck. And it must be my age showing, because this surgeon looked like a kid - tiny (about 4' 11") young woman wearing gym shoes. She looks younger than my own children and actually could be.  But we liked her way of talking and explaining the options.

A surprise from Down Under

I have to show off the fun surprise I just received from Australia . . .

 

 

My girls have a cousin who moved to Australia just before high school. She and my oldest were best friends and have stayed in close contact these 20 years. I've always felt like she was one of my own girls.  My daughter has gone to Australia to visit twice and the cousin comes here to see her dad and brother about every 18 months. They've been in each other's weddings, and now can share the experience of having children.

 

I've made 2 quilts for her kiddos - the first one 3 years ago when her son was born and the second one this spring when her daughter was born. Luckily both times I was able to send the quilt with her dad when he went to visit so they didn't have to be mailed. And this time she sent a "thank you" gift back with him for me.

 

The package contained these 2 gorgeous fabric cuts (about 1 meter each), a small wooden cutting board, and a kitchen towel - along with a very lovely thank you note.  The botanical print is a plant I sure don't recognize, but it's very pretty. And the child's print has koalas, lambs, kangaroos, possums, and a couple of animals I'm not sure of.

 

It will be fun deciding how to use these fabrics. 

Mystery Quilt beginnings

I have 20 of my neutral 4-patch units made and lots of strips cut for more. My plan is to make a smaller version of the mystery but we will see how it goes. 

Thanksgiving break from sewing

 

We have a house full this weekend for a late Thanksgiving celebration: 5 kids under the age of 6, 3 dogs, and 7 adults.  After a mid-afternoon dinner of turkey and all the fixings we all went outside for a photo opportunity using grandpa's drone.

 

I'm thankful that my daughter's families are all here and that my SIL could join us too. And I'm very thankful for 2 sons-in-law who like to cook and helped out a LOT in the kitchen. Jamie made the best dressing and gravy, Darin carved the turkey, and I even had lots of help cleaning up.

 

Only one mishap with a dog helping himself to some leftover mashed potatoes.

 

Monday our house will be empty again and we'll get back to our normal boring routines.

Design Wall Monday - small finishes

I was on a roll this weekend, trying to finish up some small projects that have been cluttering up my sewing space.  I finished 3 small items, including machine quilting. Yay me!!  Check out what others are doing at Design Wall Monday http://www.patchworktimes.com 

 

 

This grey/white/yellow pillow is made from leftovers from a chevron baby quilt I made last spring. I had extra HSTs left after finishing the quilt and kept thinking they would make a great pillow.  And they did make a nice pillow, along with a strip of the flower print added to make it large enough for the 16" pillow form.  I machine quilted the chevrons by just following the shape and quilted a 1.5" grid on the flowered section.  Now there are only 2 grey and white HST remaining, and those are in the scrap bin.

 

 

The Dresden Plate block was something I started and stopped and started and stopped.  The blades and center circle are all cut from a charm pack and yes - there are still more of these blades ready to be made into something.  Sometime last month I actually sewed them into the Dresden Plate and appliqued it to the white background. Yesterday I quilted it very simply and added an envelope back. One more 16" pillow done.

 

And finally, I pulled out this little table runner to finish. This is a Pieced Tree pattern (on the little cards) and is basically just made from large flying goose units.  You can cut and stitch the top in about an hour. The original pattern is actually one "goose" longer on each end, but I've found this to be too long for many tables, so it's smaller than the pattern.  I cut this out last winter from 3 Christmas fat quarters and it's been just hanging out on a shelf ever since.  This was sewn together quickly and then I marked the grey triangle sections using a disappearing purple quilting pen and machine quilted it myself.  I have to finish the binding but that will probably happen over my lunch break today. These would possibly make good Christmas gifts.

Crazy Cats

I forgot all about posting a photo of this kid quilt when I finished it.  This was a panel that I cut up and pieced back together using fabric from the stash and a design I saw online.  The whole thing was stash, even the back.  The whole top took 3 hours to cut and sew. Check out the original post here with a link to the pattern.

 

This one is finally quilted, bound and finished. It just needs to find a home.

Crocodile pillowcases

On Thursday morning I made these 3 pillowcases for my 3 grandsons.  The 2 older ones (3 and 5) like crocs and gaters. The youngest one is only 18 months old but he will probably like these critters too as he gets bigger.

There is enough of the crocodile fabric and the green left to make one more.  I can always add it to the pillowcase donation stack.

Christmas pillow

 

At the Sew Vintage group I belong to we were challenged to take one of the Farm Girl Vintage blocks from the book and do something "Christmas-y" with it. I chose the Egg Basket block and pulled some Christmas fabrics from the stash. The cutest block shared with the group last weekend was Pam's house block. She turned the Farmhouse block into a gingerbread house. Adorable!!

 

The poinsettia applique was fussy cut from one fabric and the envelope-style back was pieced from leftovers of the other basket fabrics.  I only machine quilted in the cream background, using a random narrow line.  A 16" pillow form was tucked into the envelope and I have a new Christmas pillow on my sofa to enjoy for the season.  The bonus is that this didn't become an orphan block hanging on my design wall while I wondered what to do with it.

Design Wall Monday

My second Kim Diehl project is now a flimsy. The designer calls this one Barndance, but I kept thinking Hurricane. It looked like wind swirling plus all of those little pieces kept wanting to escape my fleece design board.

I haven't decided yet how I want this quilted, so it will live on the design wall for awhile. 

Check out Design Wall Monday at:  http://www.patchworktimes.com 

Retail therapy

 

Old time general stores were known for having pretty much anything you might need or want under one roof. And that is a perfect description of The General Store of Minnetonka (Minnesota).  It was one of the fun stops on my road trip with Sylvia, Pam and Marilyn this past week.  Need some Paul Bunyan or Minnesota Vikings themed gifts? How about unusual kitchen gadgets or gourmet food items? Personalized Christmas ornaments? Educational or vintage toys for kids . . . or adults? Socks? Jewelry? Home décor? This store has it all in 2 floors of nooks and crannies with a surprise in every turn.

 

 

Another fun road trip stop was SR Harris, a discount designer fabric store in Burnsville. Floor to ceiling displays of every kind of fabric imaginable: bridal, wool, velvet, silk, fleece, home décor, outdoor . . . and a whole large room of quilting cottons. I had a plan to just add a few pieces for the upcoming Bonnie Hunter mystery but of course I found some other things too. The 3 yards of crocodile fabric is for pillowcases for all 3 grandsons. I did find some good additions for the mystery quilt, and picked up a couple of seasonal fat quarters.

 

I exercised only a little personal restraint on this shopping trip because after all, the reason for the trip was friends, food, and retail therapy. A success!!!

 



 

Road trippin'

2 days, 4 friends (including me), 600 miles, some great restaurants and LOTS of fun shopping stops - that was my road trip this week. Wednesday morning we took off and headed east toward Minneapolis, equipped with coffee, comfy shoes, and our credit cards.

 

One of our first stops was in St Peter MN where we had lunch and explored some shops on Main Street, including a shop called Contents.  They had gorgeous season décor and gift items, but also had a good sized section devoted to kids, with quite a few "retro" items and lots of educational toys and books. 

 

I picked these bike streamers up for my 4 oldest grandkids. Anyone remember having these as kids?  I sure do! I loved having my streamers fluttering from the handle bars of my bike. Some fun stocking stuffers to get my Christmas shopping started.

 

Our next stop was a discount fabric store called SR Harris as we reached the suburbs. And I did some stash enhancement there. More about that another time.  Our last stop before a late supper was the General Store of Minnetonka. OMG!!!  That was a fun stop. More on that another time too.

 

The whole trip was a fun, relaxing time - lots of good conversation, didn't watch the news or read the papers - just had some fun.

I couldn't help myself

I'm showing my true colors here - because I just had to fix this block.  My 6" version of Winter Star (Farm Girl Vintage) had the center section on every side reversed. It made a nice looking block, but every time I looked at it the thought popped up about it being WRONG. So while watching football on Sunday I took it apart. Today I put it back together the right way and I feel so much better. Just call me obsessive.  I can take it.

 

My other Sunday afternoon activity was cutting all of the pieces for my next Kim Diehl Simple Whatnots project.  Over my lunch break today I started sewing the 4 patch sections from 1.5" squares.   

Farm Girl Vintage progress

These are all of the miniature Farm Girl Vintage blocks (except for the cat) that I've made so far from both the book and online.  There are 41 total so far and I've made both the 6" and 12" version of each one. The cat block was laying on my coffee table because I was embroidering the face and I forgot to put it back in the group before taking the photo. 

In the second row from the bottom the blue and pink block has the middle side pieces all reversed - OOPS! The full sized version is correct but somehow I turned those pieces when I made the little one. I may - or may not - fix that. 

I still have a few to make, including a couple of the downloaded blocks like the cow.

My buddy for the day

This is Jack. He has a low fever today so he can't go to daycare. So grandma drove 70 miles to spend the day so mom and dad can go to work. My MIL did the same for me many years ago. Glad I can do it now. Too bad I don't live a little closer. 

Playing

Just had to play with some of the Christmas fabric in my stash. 

Seasonal table runners & Halloween

 

I made over a dozen yards of binding today to use on some seasonal table runners. These are both done with the 60 degree technique.  Another 60 degree Thanksgiving runner is only half quilted so far, but there is enough brown binding for that one too when I get it quilted.

 

Working on the hand stitching will be a good activity tonight while handing out candy to the trick or treaters. We usually see 80-100 kids between about 5:00 pm (right about now) and 8:30.  There is a street about 2 blocks from us that get about 1500 kids every year - mostly due to the fact that street is decorated and lit up to look spectacular.

October status of the stash

My mailman delivered my October Sew Sampler box this week and I had to open it up immediately when I got home from Las Vegas to see what goodies came. The Fat Quarter Shop has a subscription for a sampler box each month which kept tempting me online. In late September I couldn't resist any longer and subscribed.

Interesting contents: a fat eighth pack of Handmade (Bonnie & Camille) fabric line, a block pattern, pins and needles, and some embroidery floss (with a pattern). How ironic that I've just started getting back into doing a bit of embroidery. Also there is a zippered mesh project bag and a very cute pattern from Cotton Way to make project bags.  The fabric and floss coordinate so they could be used together to make the little bags.

October wasn't a big month for purchases or finishes.  The finishes were small projects and fun but of course they don't take much out of the stash. There was a mini quilt, 2 mug rugs, a pillowcase, and a small bag.  But there was also a whole week of vacation away from home - with no shopping or sewing!

In this month:  6 yards
In this year:  133.75 yards

Out this month: 4 yards
Out this year:  135.5 yards

Mystery quilt colors

 

First of all, I want to thank the Facebook post that recommended using this smart phone app from Sherwin Williams. Very clever! 

 

Bonnie Hunter released her colors yesterday for the next mystery quilt (En Provence). I watched her mysteries online for a couple of years before making last year's mystery quilt (Allietare). Last year her colors were inspired by a trip to Italy.

 

This year's mystery is inspired by a visit to France and the colors really made me think spring.  She posted some gorgeous photos of lavender fields and you can really see where this color palette originates.

 

I haven't decided yet if I will make the mystery full sized or make a smaller version.  It might depend on what I find in my stash. I know already without looking that the yellow won't be found hiding in my sewing room. It just isn't a color I think to buy when enhancing the stash.  Same with the lavender. I probably have the green, the pink and the darker purple. But we'll see what I find. And since the first clue won't be posted until Black Friday in November I have plenty of time.

 

 

Binding waiting for me

After being gone a whole week, we arrived home last night about 10 PM. Today I have to work, so no sewing yet. But some binding is waiting for me . . . a kid quilt and 2 table runners.

Got the call while in Las Vegas that my quilting was done, so my husband picked these up for me this morning. I'm hoping that I get some quality sewing time this weekend. I want to shop my stash to see what I might have for the next Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt and I have 2 blocks to make for Farm Girl Vintage. And lots of binding.

Vacation stitching

This cross stitch piece is an OLD project. The pattern has a 1989 date on it. I put it away when I got my first bifocals because I found the pattern too difficult to read. 

Pulled it out again last week and enlarged the pattern so it is easier to read. Not sure why it took me nearly 30 years to think of such a simple solution. 

Taking a few days off

Yesterday we played golf at Angel Park in Las Vegas. Then had supper at Delmonicos with 3 other couples. Good way to start my vacation while the hubbie works. 

Playing with Dresden plates

 

Another example of bringing a UFO forward a step - the Dresden plate pieces were all cut from a charm pack, and then tucked into a zipper bag and put into a drawer. No idea why I did that.  I was organizing my rulers and stencils over the weekend, and couldn't find the Dresden ruler. Eventually I found it in a drawer, in the bag with the pieces.

 

So I've sewn them together and appliqued them onto a background square.  And there are enough pieces cut for another one.  I think with a little quilting this will make a good pillow.  Does this make the project a WIP now instead of a UFO?  Only if it doesn't end up back in the drawer I suppose.