December 27 and all is well and I haven't forgotten about my readers.

 Every day for the last couple of months I think to myself... time to sit at my laptop and write a blog post.  And then, it doesn't happen. 

We changed houses in October, just before Omicron happened.  It was a tough decision to the safety of our summer home and move to the questionable safety of our winter home.  However, we own our house here and we knew we needed to head south and give the place some TLC.  We knew from the previous winter (where we huddled at home trying to stay warm in the damp, cool weather) that our friends, both Canadian and American, had survived just fine and no one (that we knew, or told us) had contracted Covid. 

Once we got here... lots of small jobs to do and the weather was much warmer than normal so it was perfect to sit on the porch and read.  I totally ignored my quilting although I knew I would eventually wander into my closet and pull out projects. 

I also get 'sucked' into the vortex of Black Friday prices and shopping along with the pre-Christmas sales.  Prices can be great here on quilting notions and supplies.  And then there are the awesome daily deals which sometimes are impossible to resist.  

Before we left to fly south, I did finish up some projects.  I cut backings and backings for quilt tops.  Some tops were mine and some were from the modern guild donation program.  They are all ready to be quilted.

 The preemie quilts all got layered and ready for quilting. 

And the larger quilts got quilted and are ready for binding.

The November blocks for patterns by Jen got made with the theme of blueberries. 

And then we arrived in the valley of the sun.  Clean up began.

We had a visitor for the first weekend we were here... one of my longest know friends and we are best scrabble buddies as well as have been like sisters from junior high school.  She brought William, her new traveling companion. 

Finally, a few weeks after changing homes, I pulled out the sewing machine and some red and cream strips that were part of a jelly roll.  It took me awhile to figure out what to do with them but with a Quilt

 of Valour in mind, I got to work.

My husband also was working outside, deciding that after 10 years, it was time to start pruning the palm trees that we planted. 

By the end of November, all the wood furniture had been oiled thoroughly and I started to drag out the Christmas decorations.  It was hard to get excited about decorating when we were still wearing shorts and t-shirts!

A new tree was purchased because the old one was dropping all its' needles and half of the lights wouldn't work... into the trash and new tree that is much lovelier took center stage in the room.

And, I still put up our first Arizona tree that I bought fifteen years ago.  It is also getting quite dry and it might the last year for this one. 

In the meantime, I continued to work on my beige and red strips.  I made strip sets of 5 and then cut them into 10.5" squares and also cut the background fabric into the same size squares.  I stitched around the perimeter and then sliced into 4, on the diagonal.  Pressed open the blocks and started playing on my design wall.

Santa got a fresh coat of paint - he was looking a little worn out.

...

We also booked appointments for our booster shots which made us feel better about having that job done.  We qualified at home but left before our notice from the government came.  Here, you wait 6 months before you get the booster.

The weather cooled off nicely in early December so some baking got done.  Not much as neither of us need the extra calories but still nice to have sausage rolls, some shortbread and I brought last year's Christmas cake from home for our annual feast. 

A new 3 yard quilt got started.

I bought a kit on sale for a table runner.  I don't need more of these but loved the fabric so couldn't resist.  It didn't get done for Christmas so is now on my UFO list for 2022.

This was to be a mug rug gift for Christmas but it doesn't look very Christmassy so will give it at the opportune moment. 

And my December Patterns by Jen got done and the theme was olives. 

This cute 8" square was in my Missouri Star Christmas Advent box and came with a hanger.  It is also waiting for quilting and binding and might become a 2022 UFO?

I have my two tops finished but I always detest the job of pressing the final quilt top... they will get done, eventually, and then packed to be taken home for quilting and binding.

This was a fun advent calendar with the theme of sewing... every day I opened a new gift.  Nothing was very spectacular but it was something fun to do daily. I was sad when one of the days was missing the gift but oh well.. I had 23 days of finding something fun.

This is my current project on the design wall... I had a Patrick Lose jelly roll in my stash here and added in some extra strips of white, blue, mauve and made the the pattern Cool Water by Fons and Porter. 

So now, Christmas is over and New Years is rapidly approaching.  Time to get busy and tidy my sewing storage closet, figure out some more projects to work and have some fun during the "winter" weather here.  Tennis is still played every day that the courts are dry and league begins in January with some serious games happening.  One day at a time and enjoy each one. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. 

And a month goes by just like that... poof!

 What have I done for the last month?  I want to say 'nothing much' or 'mucking around' but in reality, every day seems busy. It seems with shorter days, I spend less time stitching during my favourite time of day in my sewing studio which is the time right after dinner with kitchen cleaned up.  One hour of pedal to the metal except now it is so dark, I have push myself to come downstairs. 

But, there have been quilty things accomplished along with gardening, yard work, tennis and fall clean up. 

My hourglass scrappy Quilt of Valour was quilted (gratis, thank you!) and returned to me by Dianne of Chilliwack and she did a great job with it.  This is a UFO from a few years ago when I made a quilt and had extra blocks leftover which were living on a hanger.  I started making more blocks, using up leftover 2.5" strips and added in a panel.  

My contribution to Carole's efforts to make 3 survivor quilts for deserving recipients that she knows personally. 

I had subscribed to a stitching/sewing monthly box and was never impressed with the sewing projects that came with it.  However, this month, it was perfect!  Fabric panel with batting and backing plus binding and the pattern included. Of course, I ignored the pattern and cut out the placemats, layered and quilted them and then added borders to the two mug rug squares included.  All are finished and going on the table this week.

I worked on adding hearts to background fabrics for a wonky heart long cabin quilt.  I used a "new to me" technique.  You spray the back of the hearts with 606 and then press in place.  It makes a permanent bond but the fabric doesn't go hard like using a fusible web.

 

 The tumblers blocks that were leftover from the last tumbler quilt I made got put together into another donation top.  I still have tumblers left.  I used my accuquilt to cut them out and tried to use up some 'what was I thinking? fabric'.  I had to play with the rows on my design wall to get the effect that I wanted.

 

A good friend, Penny, took a bundle of leftover blocks and panels from me and graciously agreed to do something with them.  Some of these blocks were at least 12 years old and I don't remember where they all came from.  She added in some of what she had on hand and assembled two quilt tops.  Joanne Davenport of Remarkable Impressions in Mission, donated the long arm quilting on both.  Thank you to her so much for contributing to Quilts of Valour.

I added the binding and got it stitched down on both quilts.

I also managed to stitch down some applique from blocks made for Quilts of valour.  The fabric and precut, fused, applique comes in a kit from the Quilt of Valour website.

And, here are my wonky heart log cabins, ready for a hanger, which is where it will live until I get busy quilting. 

This is the last of my rainbow scrap challenge blocks for 2021. 

 

And my October Patterns by Jen which was pink grapefruit for the colour.

This was the last of the preemie quilts I made after retreat.  One of them got started at retreat but I didn't have strips that were the full width of the fabric so had to wait until I was home to cut more to finish up. Eventually, these will get layered, quilted and bound but there is no rush since I have contributed a large number of preemie quilts so far this year. 

A month of work?  It doesn't seem like much but, I do plod along trying to reduce the amount of fabric in my stash and make quilts for donation.  Now, it is time to start piecing batting leftovers to get them large enough for the quilts that I have patiently waiting on hangers for quilting and binding.