Saturday, November 14, 2015

Just a brief moment to breathe!!

Today I'm celebrating - I mailed the box to Nebraska yesterday morning!  Inside were the wedding quilt, three doggie blankets and four Christmas stockings!!!  Now it's all up to UPS and I can relax slightly before continuing on my pressing To-Do list!!!

C and I are walking twice a week.  And oh my - we've had some epic "Oh my goodness" adventures!

We went to Cape Ferrelo. A favorite viewpoint.  Walked down to the beach, lost the trail, so ended up guessing wrong and followed a deer path :( up the bluff.  I tripped over a blackberry vine (they are so sneaky!) But the biggest problem is I came down in a mound of blackberry vines!  OUCH!

It was terrible - I had the stickers all over me, and lots in my hands.  No glasses with me, so I couldn't even rest my hands on anything without driving them in further!!!  Then we got to the top, and discovered a very large wind had come up!  Truly, it was Keystone Kops take a walk!!!

C discovered this definition:  Adventure: Something that seemed like a good idea at the time!

I took 16 stickers out of my hands with tweezers.  I was still finding them days later.

Ahh, but other days, it's glorious.  At Harris Beach Park there is a huge tidepool that's hanging around.  Great photo opps!


The tide pool


Path down to the beach


A view point around every corner!



On to quilting business!!  Here are some closeup photos of the wedding quilt quilting - C, my friend called it "Spotlights", I like it!


Quilting done by walking foot.  I don't really like very dense quilting, the challenge is to make it "even" throughout the quilt.


The borders were quilted with one of my favorite motifs - ice cream cones.  Hmmm, one of my favorite foods too!!! Coincidence??  Probably not!




Also in the box - Christmas stockings.  A pair for the new couple and one for their dog!  Dogs can't read, so I just add a picture of a dog on it.  I find all stockings go together if they are the same size.  It's a theory that works for me!!! Don't spoil it!

The stocking that is different is the Caroler that is for my niece - the mom of the groom.  She has this H*U*G*E mantel and there is a caroler for everyone one in the family hanging from it.  I started making them for her in the early 90s!  4 children, 2 step children, then they started marrying, then grandkids started coming ... she doesn't do dog stockings! (Thank goodness!) But there are 16 (hmm, seems like more ...) stockings all made at different times, and they all match much better than expected!! They even hang at the same angle!!!  A Christmas miracle in my opinion!



Three doggie blankies. These started when my sister thought that everyone should get baby blankies and those with only "furry children" should get them too!! So, being the good sister I am, I made them for her for HER Christmas present.  Oh my! Our family 'goes thru' a lot of dogs!!

These are easy - just 2 lengths of dog-ish fabrics, and using my sewing machine alphabet I make a long ribbon repeating "Sit! Stay!  Good dog, (insert the dog's name here)" and applique it on top of the whole cloth fabric.  I sew them together like my receiving blankets with some flannel as batting. They are sturdy - I've only lost one to the dog chewing it up!!! BUT I always emphasize I don't do repairs to dog blankies!!!  Just so they know!



I also taught myself a lesson yesterday.  Have you ever had that project, or in this case a repair, that you had an "easy" fix in your mind.  But you can't find the right notion, supplies or 'some such' for it??? 

My DS wanted the old felt-Velcro Christmas advent calendar for his boys.  Yes, it was a great feeling that it would be passed down.  But the felt was in terrible shape, the slightest vibration sent all the velcroed 'ornaments' to the floor.  Trust me, with 2 and 4 yr old boys in the house, there are vibrations!!  Lots of vibrations!

So I sewed wool over the tree and the numbered boxes, where the velcroed ornaments hang until their turn.  They used it last year, but I still needed to find some numbers and apply them.  Never found them.  And I "refused" to think about it any other way. ALL YEAR!

Well, it IS November and I didn't want to be responsible for this calendar not becoming part of their tradition. So after reading how we should use our own handwriting - not just computer fonts transferred for labels, I wrote each number in the correct box and took it along to my "Woolies" meeting yesterday.  Being entertained by everyone, I outline stitched the numbers with wool thread all day.

I resisted the books being passed around, nose to the grindstone and it was completely done by the end of the meeting.  It only took me 4 hours!!!!  It's a little 'folksy' and I'm not wild about the 2s but I like it.  I can't believe I put it off for a year when it was that easy!!

Ladies, learn the lesson from me!! What are you putting off??? It feels so G*R*E*A*T to get it done!!  So GO DO IT!!

In other words, do what I say, not what I do!!!!

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