There are thirty trees in this pile. I would like to get them into a top today, it will be a forest then. This pattern was well written and easy enough to do, but there is one sentence that I don’t really agree with “Pull out your favorite holiday jelly roll to make this cute quilt in no time”. Even with using the accuquilt cutter, stacking 4 layers to cut, chain piecing, and pedal to the metal sewing, it took a looong time. This quilt was also a sew a long at the shop I bought the pattern at, they must have only sewn a few blocks together as a group and finished (hopefully) at home.

I spent a few hours getting part four of the Bonnie Hunter Mystery quilt “Chilhowie” done. I used the accuquilt cutter for the128 HSTs too. I had to cut the QSTs with a ruler, but there were only 64 of them. Next clue is tomorrow, I have a feeling some rectangles will be involved as it has been all squares up to now.

I spent a few evenings working on the Pilgrim, the crow is 2/3rds done. I pulled the threads for the Winter pattern, I had seven of the nine colors in stock/stash, that’s good. I think I can wait on getting them until mid January, when the stores calm down again. I am not going to go shop for two skeins of dmc and wait in line for longer than it takes to get to the store. Although, my local Michaels has self check out registers now. They’re very easy to use, and I can use the app on my phone to get coupons and discounts. I am hoping that my shopping trip to the local market yesterday was my last for the week. I may go to the local farmers market today though. There is a bakery there that has much deliciousness, I think I can gain a pound just walking by their stand.

I did get the tree decorated and the few presents wrapped up. I decided not to wrap up a few that are for me, from my family. The mailing packages are okay, the ones from LL Bean look festive with their green bags. It’s not that I don’t like wrapping, its just that I don’t have much paper left, and it seems like a waste to me.

Be Kind.

I almost wrote Turkey Day. I stayed up late last night to finish this. Truthfully though, I had taken a nap earlier in the day because I had been awake since 4:30am, I wasn’t tired enough to go to sleep for the night. I checked back, and I started this about a month ago, I thought I would have it done by Thanksgiving. All those little flowers take time, switching threads, starting/ending threads, ripping out mistakes etc. I want to start the newest chart I have, Silent Night, by Stitches Through the Years. It is all set to sew using my eReader, however, I don’t have any of the flosses pulled. There are nine colors, what are the chances I have any of them? I do have the linen though, that nice piece of blue 36 count I bought for TB, but didn’t use. I am thinking that this will be my Winter Solstice start, I will be working on The Pilgrim as well, really.

I haven’t started quilting Berties Year yet, but I think I have found a good design to use in the plain brown flannel (the whole quilt is flannel) borders. I started by looking at the sites I buy designs from, and when I find one I like, I try to add it to my cart. If the site tells me I already own it, I then go and find the file on my computer. This “system” isn’t the greatest, lol, but until I do the big re-org of my digital pantos, it works.

I am thinking that I can incorporate this fan motif into the rest of the quilt. It will look simple enough, and add a bit of texture to the flannel, but still be noticeable. Other than that, it’s as far as I have gotten on Bertie. I am working on a plan for it, before I start, this is mature of me, no?

My Christmas tree still isn’t decorated, I did bring in the ornament boxes. I made three batches of cookies earlier this week. Like you do for two people, one of whom doesn’t really eat cookies, at the holidays. In my defense, I was supposed to go to a friends house and make them as a holiday activity. I made a batch of sugar cookie dough to chill the night before. That way we can start right in with he baking and decorating while mixing up other batches. We were thinking of gingerbread, a short bread and maybe a chocolate type. Unfortunately my friend wasn’t feeling well the day of, so we will get together after the holidays. I’ll have finished eating these cookies by then anyway.

The Wooded Whimsy quilt is coming along, I finished all the parts for the blocks. Now to sew them into mostly random looking mixes. I think I have enough variety that there won’t be two of the same fabrics touching, there may be a few similar trees, since there are thirty of them. I also want to do the fourth clue for the Chilhowie Mystery, it calls for another 16 sets of matching half square triangles. I hope I have enough orange colored fabrics to keep it interesting. The introduction to the pattern says 2 yards of orange, hopefully this is the last clue to use orange, it seems like it. Needs more purple!

Also this weekend, I would like to attempt finishing the Reunion BOM quilt. I think my brain has had enough of a rest from the struggle of getting the top together correctly. That will make a clear spot in the sewing room. The deadline I am self imposing for the completion of this top is 12/31/22. There, it is in writing, now to make it so. But what about the other BOM, A Ribbon Runs Through it? Ohh..sigh, maybe next year.

Be Kind.

December is turning into a very productive month in the sewing and crafting category, not so much in the house cleaning and gardening ones. We have had lots of rainy days, better than snow, but good times to stay in and sew/knit/craft. I finished all my gift sending last week, which also meant gift creating too. I made five people hats, one dog hat, and framed a cross stitch piece. I didn’t get to the embroidery machine projects that I had intended to, but those were just gift card holders and soft ornaments. There is still time to do those, as they are “local” gifts. I also want to make two small zipper purses, but again these are for local gifts, I have a few more days to do those. On the house cleaning, meh. It is hard to get enthused about floor cleaning when the dogs track in mud and leaves every time they go outside. Oh, my tree still doesn’t have ornamentation, it’s a good thing it is pre-lit, otherwise it would be a sad tree. I like decorating it, I just don’t like taking it all down afterwards.

The quilted baby milestone mat I made for a friends baby shower was a big hit. Everyone OO-ed and Ah-ed, and thought I spent hours on it. Probably only three, but I still can’t seem to take credit for my work in a public setting. I really have to remember that not everyone does what I do, and it is a specialty. Yeah, its easy to slap two pieces of fabric together, quilt it and bind it, but not everyone has that ability. Or maybe I just feel they haven’t found it within themselves yet. I’m a crafter, it is what I do.

I have been keeping up with the Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt “Chilhowie”. I finished clue three on Friday afternoon, when I saw that she had posted an addendum to the clue. There needed to be 16 sets of 8, not 4, back to the cutting board. Luckily, I had cut a few extra strips and it wasn’t long until I was speed chaining them through the machine and pressing them into 128 quarter triangle squares. I am keeping them in plastic bags this year after dropping my soda flat box that I usually use, behind a stack of bins.

I am also making headway on the batik Christmas tree quilt, Wooded Whimsy. There are a lot of pieces to this one too. Thirty blocks with about 40 pieces in each. Thankfully, I completed the stars last month, each one of them had 19 pieces. I decided to keep all my trees green, I think that the red was too distracting, if I had a few red and green prints to break it up, like the pattern shows, it would’ve worked. I am thinking of adding some red and white pin wheels to this quilt, or maybe just using the red and white for another quilt all together. I have the Morning Star accuquilt Block on Board die, which could make cutting it out easier. I did utilize my 2 ½ inch wide strip cutting die for the trees, easier to cut those too.

The only (lol) project I didn’t touch is the quilt, Berties Year, which is on the frame. I did get it batted and basted down, it is ready to go. Maybe later today. I also have batch of sugar cookie dough chilling in the fridge. I was supposed to have a cookie making day with a friend, but she had to cancel. Okay, todays agenda will include a Christmas tree decorating hour, a long arm visitation, some block piecing and a ride on my horse, as the rain seems to be on hold for the next few days.

Be Kind.

This morning started with me awakening to a noise, it took me a bit to realize it was rain. I turned over and went back to sleep for a bit more. It’s been rainy off and on since Thursday, not much going on outside the house, even the dogs want to stay in. This weekend was productive in the sewing and knitting department, not so much in the house cleaning or decorating ones, and that’s okay! I got the hats done, the first three only took a few hours each, but the last one, mmm, days of K1 and P1 -ing. It turned out pretty cute though, the recipient will like it 🙂

On the frame, I finished the quilting on the Irish Chain bears. I decided not to block them out from the all over quilting pattern of sleeping bears. It is a process using the quilting software, that I haven’t really perfected yet. Since the minky backing isn’t really forgiving to removing stitches errantly placed, I made the designers decision not to. When it was quilting, I looked back on the first version I had made of this, and I noticed that the bears had black thread eyes, this ones had brown. A bit of outline stitch made them a little more noticeable. All bound up and ready to go out in the mail today. I had originally wanted to use a thick poly batting for this quilt, but decided against it, as the minky was stretchy, and I thought the tension would be a nightmare to figure out. I had steamed it and it was nice and flat, ready for something else. Then I thought of the two Baby Months milestone panels I had gotten earlier this year. I loaded up a backing that was 60 x 108 and stitched out two panels in a few hours. The machine had no problems going through the thick batting and since it is a mat to be used for photos, I think the cushion will be nice. The floral one has regular Hobbs 80/20. I still have to bind these, coincidentally I have been invited to a baby shower next week, so one of these will be given away. Next up on the frame, I should have put the “You are Loved” top on, but, I have been itching to do some free hand and ruler work. The Berties Year quilt top has been finished for a few years, and there was even backing for it. I lost a bit of momentum and still need to cut a batting for it, maybe today.

I made a few more flowers for the Turkey bay cross stitch, I was stitching in the day time, which is a bit different for me, as I usually stitch at night. I bought a few new charts, because they were on sale, not because I needed them or anything practical. Although, this one, “Silent Night” from Needle Case Goodies will work nicely on the beautiful blue piece of linen I had bought for Turkey Bay and didn’t use.

The other two I got are a booklet and a Halloween pamphlet, both have next year projects in them, back of the queue.

My tree is up, but not decorated, it has lights on it though, so it’s festive. I have also put up a few Christmas quilts, the Snowmen are in the stairwell this year, as I have the Baltimore Christmas on the new wall in my room. Maybe I’ll get some more holiday decor out today. My poinsettias from last year are starting to get their red bracts, they seem to like this east facing window.

Be Kind.