Slowly but surely making progress ...

 This week I finished TWO UFOs!  Hip Hip Hooray!  Let me first give you my definition of a UFO.  

A project that has been started but is stalled because 

• It's in time out - bad quilt!
• All the thinking is done, supplies gathered but first stitch still coming
• I'm sewing but I have to think my way out of a problem
• Something else got my attention - better known as "Squirrel! syndrome" from  Up - the Disney classic!
• Life gets in the way.
• Waiting for supplies

The second advent calendar of The Season is done.  And may I say this calendar wasn't due until Next Christmas!!  Hip-Hip! Both the calendars made were from panels - both with pockets and both in my stash.  

I have a friend who has made an Advent calendar for each of five grandchildren and she fills them every year!!  YIKES!  And she admitted that sometimes she puts a $5 bill in day 5 and if the grandchild is old enough she puts a $20 in day 20!

Disclaimer:  I make the Advent calendar - YOU fill it!!

And the second finish ... drumroll, please ... is CherryWood Lane.

This lovely quilt is Edyta's Quilt-a-long from 2021.  I talked about this last year - best quilt-a-long ever!  The blocks did NOT get harder or increase in numbers.  

And isn't it just cute as bugs' ears?  I used Cherrywood hand dyed fabrics.  Two other friends joined in.  P and I sewed together each week.  She used Kaffe Fassett fabric.  So, we used the other's fabric for our doors.  I have KF and she has CW.  It's fun to trade and every time I look it over, see the KF doors, I think of all the fun we had sewing it.  I designed (or found) some trees to fit into the rows and added the Cottonwood fabric 'brick' border.

The fabulous quilting is by Lynette of Fernwood Quilting on Instagram.  A good friend who really thinks about the quilting.  She posted that she had 3 days of design work; 52 thread changes! used 5 Handy-quilter rulers; 6 super bobbins and 18 hours of quilting!!  And it shows!!

Part of the delay on this quilt is that L fit me into a slow period and I got it earlier than expected - in the Christmas rush of other things!  

And I've been racking my brain trying to find a way to hang quilts easily on the STAS Gallery Wall.  The little hook on the 'sliding hanging thingies' (official name) is too small for a dowel that will stay straight under the weight of a quilt.  I've tried safety pins (They open easily under pressure.)  A bulb shaped safety pin (really too wimpy)  And white drapery rings (either have to force dowel thru the ring, and then onto the hook at weird angle - or have to sew rings onto the back of the quilt at EXACTLY the same measurement down from the top.)  I thought that was the answer.  But there will be at least 10 collections of 3-5 quilts hung during a year!  That's a lot of white rings and a lot of time exact sewing.  (Not my strength!)

Eureka! Dollar Tree has these chip clamps that come in a pkg of 6(?) for $1; they are brightly colored but will clamp on the curtain rod and hang nicely within the hook of the 'sliding hanging thingie'!  Everything in the same orientation!! I'll try to find them in white ... but meanwhile I think I have a winner!

BUT  I had to put a new style of top sleeve on my bigger quilts.  The clamp needs to attach to the bare curtain rod so it doesn't distort the quilt.  Last night I sewed the 5 partial sleeves onto the quilt.  And - Lo and Behold -  it worked!!  Note to self:  try to have an epiphany earlier in the evening so you can get to sleep!

Some other highlights of the week:  Crab season!  Catalyst Restaurant has pretty good Crab Melt sandwiches.

The Good Guy by Dean Koontz was read.  And he was a really good guy - not often found in Koontz books?  But have no fear, there was a really bad guy in it too.  Reminded me of his Odd Thomas character.  5* rating!

 

December 1st - Reckoning Day???

December is sneaking in oh-so-quietly ... but soon, well, you all know how fast the month can go!  There are check lists; even advent calendars to help us keep track of how many days remain.  We still lose track.

The tv commercials are getting cuter - it's hard to fast forward through them on the DVR!!!  And of course, there are movies coming to a theater near you!  It can be hard to keep your eye on the Christmas bulb!

I was going to talk about past Christmas memories and decorations that remind us as we set them out.  But my DH just pointed out that the Halloween wall quilt is still up in our main hallway!!  It IS a darn cute quilt ... but I have no idea why it is still hanging there!!!

So lets talk about advent calendars.  We had a lovely one, with velcro ornaments that I very carefully arranged so each child had equal numbers of characters, and the child who got to move Rudolph didn't get to move Santa too!!!  I don't know if my two children noticed how evenly divided the characters were, but I don't remember very many fights about it either!

Last year my oldest Grandkids and my small sewing circle worked on a "Random Acts of Kindness" advent season.  I found a lot of suggestions on Pinterest (YAY Pinterest!!) and it was fun.

You can find a calendar here and here!

One I remember taking extra pleasure in was being extra kind to the PO clerk after someone in line before me threw a hissy fit!  AND I didn't kick that person in the shins as I left either!

So, this month, I'm going to be blogging more often; and hopefully tomorrow I'll have found some past photos, gotten some Christmas decorations out and taken down that Halloween quilt!!!  It's time!!  See you then!

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!!!!