Friday, December 29, 2023

Fri-yay!

The week has been zooming by--I had some pictures taken so I could do a couple of blog posts, but I kept running out of time. I am making a point right now to sit down and get something posted.

I spent most of the week working on donation quilts. I got two more quilted 


and, I got the binding made so Betty could get them finished.

I cut out enough fabric for six pillowcases
and, I got the first one sewn together.
Now to get the other five done.....

I had some errands to do downtown, and in my effort to get more steps in, I parked the car at the courthouse and walked to the tax office and to the bank. The weather has been so pretty--high 30's to low 40's at night and 60's during the day. The sky is so clear and blue. I took a picture of the courthouse from a distance
and up close
I can't get over what an intense color the sky was. 

Tuesday, December 26, 2023

To-Do-List Tuesday 12-26-23

Oh, I hope your Christmas was as nice as mine was. I spent so much time visiting friends and family and cooking and wrapping, not much else got done, and I'm okay with that. It’s only once a year, after all. My to-do list didn’t fare so well with all the activities. 

1) Quilt and bind blue quilt. Yes.
It was gifted yesterday to my mom, and she liked it (thank goodness).
2) Photograph the vintage quilt that I did last week. Yes. 

3) Quilt the other vintage quilt. No.
4) Make some pillowcases. No.

Maybe this week I can get back on task. Here’s what I’d like to get done:

1) Bind vintage quilt.
2) Quilt the second vintage quilt.
3) Make some pillowcases.
4) Figure out how to make the mesh bags for donation quilts.

There are probably plenty of other things I could add to the list. I haven’t been eating as healthy as I should, and my Fitbit dashboard says I have been averaging 3,000-4,000 steps a day. I’m going to try and get more walking done, and I need to get all the sweets and snack foods out of the house. I’ll do that today, and the dogs will be happy to do more walking.

I’m linking this post to Quilt Schmilt. Have a great week, and I’ll see you back here in 2024!

Monday, December 25, 2023

Merry Christmas

 


I hope everyone who celebrates has someone to celebrate with. I will be at my daughter’s today, and last night I celebrated with my church family.


Edit: I found a picture of the sanctuary with the candles lit. So beautiful!

Sunday, December 24, 2023

Seeing Stars

I had a little extra time yesterday to sew. I went by the mall in the morning--I thought it would be super crowded--the Saturday before Christmas, and all, but it really wasn't. I don't know if everyone has already finished their shopping, or if everyone is feeling the effects of the not-so-great economy. 

In the afternoon, I decided I might as well work on the pre-work for the sweatshirt jacket we are doing at the quilt guild workshop in January.

We need to make 6 of the big stars and 24 of the small stars (more if we use them for the centers of the big ones). I had already pulled some fat quarters I wanted to use. OMG. It took me forever to cut and sew one star.

I worked for three hours, and this is all I got done:

I am so glad I didn't wait until the last minute like I sometimes do. Still, I am going to have to figure out how to make this go faster. Maybe if I can get a bunch of the little ones cut out before I sit down to sew. 

Saturday, December 23, 2023

Mission Accomplished

Finishing the blue quilt was a goal with a deadline. It is a Christmas gift for my mom, so not much time to spare.

I’m happy to have it done, but it will still need to be wrapped. Nothing like waiting until the last minute to increase productivity! I also got her a blue robe.

She’s  notoriously hard to buy for; hopefully she’ll like one or the other of these two things.

Speaking of last minute productivity, Melanie called yesterday evening to see if they could stop by to drop off gifts. Oh my, I cleaned up the kitchen, breakfast nook, and family room in record time. I had been dragging my feet on it all day, because it usually takes a few hours to do it. I think I did it all in 30 minutes. I had cleaned the hall bath a few days ago, so I didn’t have to do that. It goes to show, I usually poke around waste too much time instead of jumping in and getting it done!


Friday, December 22, 2023

It Was All Going Great……

…until it wasn’t. Wednesday morning, Betty and I delivered gifts to the ladies at Perpetual Help Home. 


They currently have 12 ladies living there. Here’s what was in the bags:
A Bible, a journal, a devotional, pens, and chocolate. 

We worked on quilts the rest of the day. I need to count and see how many we have completed. I got the blue quilt trimmed and started on the binding. I thought I was going to finish, and then this:

Darn it! I must have miscalculated (obviously). 

Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Vintage Quilt

 As promised, here's the picture of the vintage top I quilted last week:

It's super wonky, but that's no surprise. The top itself was really bumpy and wavy. At least it's a quilt now, and the great fabrics will be preserved.

It still needs binding, and I'm thinking of navy. We'll see.

I got the quilting finished on the blue quilt, and that was one of my weekly goals, so I'm glad to get it done.

When I finish this post, I need to go into the sewing room and get the binding cut.

I got a late start yesterday because I was trying to finish up the baking and get trays delivered.

I'm embarrassed to say I sampled everything I baked. I really didn't need to eat that many sweets, but I had to make sure they tasted okay before I delivered them. LOL! I tried to do a course correction for lunch.
Of course, it would have been healthier without the ranch, but the veggies are so much better dipped in ranch.

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

To-Do-List Tuesday 12-19-23

We’re in the final countdown for Christmas, and things are hectic as usual. I baked four kinds of cookies yesterday. I actually used a mix for the sugar cookies and just made a small batch of them to use the red and green sugar for decoration. Today I am making fudge and maybe some raspberry bars if I don’t get burned out first. Hopefully, I can get them plated and delivered today. 

So, what was on my list for last week? 

1) Quilt blue quilt. No, but I did get it loaded on the frame, so that will happen today or tomorrow at the latest.

2) Quilt one of the vintage quilts….or both if there’s time. I got one quilted, but I can’t find a picture in my camera roll, so I guess I forgot to take a picture of it. I’ll try to do that tomorrow.

3) Quilt a couple of charity quilts. Yes. 


4) Make some more binding. Yes, enough for three or four quilts.

5) Wrap the rest of the Christmas gifts. Yes, although two haven’t gotten here yet and will have to be wrapped when they get here.
The three girls are getting monogrammed totes, and I decided not to wrap them. 
I got some big tumblers to go inside them plus some smaller things,
so I’m counting the totes as the gift bags. It works for me!

There won’t be much time for sewing/quilting this week, but here’s my list:

1) Quilt and bind blue quilt.
2) Photograph the vintage quilt that I did last week.
3) Quilt the other vintage quilt.
4) Make some pillowcases.

And, that’s enough for a holiday week! Have a great one, everyone! I’m linking to Quilt Schmilt.



Sunday, December 17, 2023

All Work and No Play

I was planning on going to a movie with friends Saturday, but then I remembered Janice is coming by Monday to pick up her quilt, and I didn't have it trimmed, so I opted to get that done instead.

Isn't it pretty? It's 60" x 79", and I quilted in with a variegated brown.

While I was at it, I got these two trimmed as well.


I'm really liking that Waves quilt pattern. I like the way it looks on the back too.
I think it's a good pattern for the kid's quilts--it's gender neutral, and it's not too compact, but the pattern is still tight enough to be durable on a quilt that may get washed a lot. 

Betty will be back from her cruise on Tuesday so I cut some bindings for the ones that are quilted.


I also cut out a couple of pillowcases, but that required more thought than I wanted to put into it. I ended up leaving early so I could vacuum and dust the house. I try to vacuum every day because of the dogs, but honestly, it hadn't been done in a couple of days and was past due. 

Saturday, December 16, 2023

A Little Progress

I had a lot of appointments Thursday, so I was on the run all day, but yesterday, I doubled down and made some progress. I was able to load two charity quilts at the same time using the frankenbatting I made earlier in the week. The two quilts loaded side by side needed over 100" wide batting and I ended up stitching four pieces together plus adding two wider pieces to the bottom.

It was a real pain. Yuck! I use a wide serpentine stitch in neutral colored thread to stitch it together. Unfortunately, I need to conserve money where I can on the charity quilts. I had just enough batting and just enough backing for these.

I tried a pattern I haven't used before--it's waves.


I like the pattern okay, but I didn't like the thread I used. About halfway through the quilt, it started breaking about every row. I had enough rows done, I didn't want to rip it out and start over with a different thread so I pushed through it. After I finished, the spool went straight into the trash can! It was very linty, and I think the lint was causing the breakage. I will have to take the throat plate off and clean really good around the hook before I attempt another quilt.

I also packed up some of the finished quilts with the available bags I had. I still need to make more bags and pillowcases.

I was lucky enough to find a dinosaur pillowcase at Goodwill which is a good match for this quilt, so that's one less I have to make. Here it is all packed up and ready to deliver:

When I was running around town Thursday, I stopped at Aldi, and they had raspberry Kringle!

They only had two left, and I bought both. I took one over to Julia's house, and she already had an almond one from Trader Joe's. I tasted it, and I have to say it is better than the Aldi one--in case you were wondering! 

I also got to see William's Christmas program. I wasn't sure if I would get through with an appointment in time to make it, but I did. He is the shepherd with the beard. 

He had one line--"Come on sheep! Let's go." It was pretty funny.


Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Busy Work

Not too much going on here for a change. We’ve had some cool weather so I moved some plants inside. 

This Christmas cactus is looking good, but it doesn’t like the cold weather, so we’ll see how it does indoors. Last year it didn’t bloom until after the new year, and this year it started blooming the first week in December. I need to figure out what to fertilize it with. If you know, leave a comment and let me know.

Speaking of Christmas, we decorated the tree in the church sanctuary today.

We’ve switched to a smaller tree, and I’m not sure I like it as well as the great big one we had, but it is certainly easier to reach the top branches.
We are able to use a step ladder instead of the big ladder we had to use in the past.

Here’s a picture from last year for comparison:

After all the tree decorating, I went to my shop and sewed together several pieces of leftover batting to make a big frankenbatting for two charity quilts. Getting them quilted will be the goal for tomorrow. I fed my orange kitty while I was there.

I sent my daughter (who has a strong partiality to orange kitties) the picture, and she sent this back.
I guess he does look like Morris.