Ending this year and starting 2023

 I might actually have two more finishes for 2022 IF I get the bindings on two quilts this evening.  If not, they will be the first finished for next year! I have been working on my last 'bag' of a project picked up from the local modern guild in the summer of 2019.  Earlier this year, I finished up the majority of what I had brought home but still had one bag left with fabric to work with. 

I ended up framing the prints and making happy blocks.  I pulled a green and a coral from my stash to go with the printed fabrics, hoping to tone them down a little? These are the blocks as I finished making them. 

This is the second one I am working on and blocks are joined in one direction (spider webbed) and need to finish the horizontal rows. 

The first one is done and waiting to be pressed and then take its place on a hanger, waiting for layering, quilting and binding.

 

In the meantime, I decided to use some  Christmas and snowy/winter themed fabrics from my stash to make some last minute table toppers as gifts. There were seven that got finished. 

 

A long arm quilter in Chilliwack, Dianne Mitchell, dropped off three quilts of valour that she had quilted and bound for the cause.  These are all 3 yard quilt patterns with a little more fabric used than the amounts called for in the quilts.  The first one is Stepping Stones by Fabric Cafe.

The next one is Sew Quick by Fabric Cafe. 

The third one is called Nine plus One, again, 3 yard pattern by Fabric Cafe.

One of my next projects is to work on using up some strip scraps from two containers, one with light and the other with dark.  I think scrappy log cabins will the block I make.  Some mindless sewing to start of the year?  Also on the table, two quilts waiting to be bound.  They are UFO's from 2021 and not sure if they will get finished tonight or not?   You can see outside the window that our miserable snow storm from last week has gone and the rain that replaced it has given us a lovely break today.  Some areas are even dry!! 

I did manage to set up my Christmas village ten days before Christmas and am so glad I did.  It is fun to put it out but this year, am taking some pictures to take the guess work out of how to arrange the houses for future reference. 

The snow drifts were amazing when we got our first snowfall and it took a lot of shoveling to get down to the concrete surface of our driveway and even more to find the steps to out front porch. The patio outside the back of our house was a massive drift as well.

This is where my husband and I spend an hour every day, walking and using some exercise machines plus weights to keep us in decent physical shape to be able to return to playing tennis without having lost all our muscle strength... very important to us as we age and in this snow and rainy and below freezing temperatures, outside tennis isn't an option.

And, we had the necessary appointment at the pre op clinic at our local hospital in preparation for the second carotid surgery that my husband requires.  Hopefully, by the time I write my first blog in 2023, all will be done and he will be healing. 

A very healthy and happy New Year to all my friends and family as well as all of your loved ones and acquaintances.  My favourite comment that I read about celebrating New Year's eve was having to decide what to wear to the living room for the evening and would match your activity of choice.  I am thinking some comfy pajamas and my book while my husband watches hockey on tv?  

See you next year!

Works in progress and some finishes before Christmas.

At our modern guild meeting last week, this is the 12"  S themed wall hanging/table mat that I got in the exchange.  The best part of this exchange was that I got one from Helen and when her name was picked, she got mine?  What are the chances?  

A quilting friend from the modern guild gave me this art piece that she created.  During our Friday night sewing on Zoom, she showed the center and wasn't quite sure what to do with it and we suggested the small gold border and the larger purple one... which she did and it looked great.  At some point I told her that I would love to win something like this and voila... she gave it to me!  Lucky me.

I went through my container of Christmas projects and donated many of them to the local thrift shop because if they had been sitting around waiting for the last twenty plus years, I probably would never make them.  Then, my goal was to finish up everything in the container.  This pillow cover is finished and it was a newer kit from Missouri Star either last year or the year before in their Christmas box. 

I wanted to make a winter themed 12" hanging to put on the frame that I use in the space on the landing in our stairwell.  Am sure I could have done more with this but, as it is, it is finished.

These placemats were cut and ready for stitching.  Done!

Another small kit from Missouri star Christmas box and the pattern and charm squares were perfect to make a small table topper. 

There was a mini charm pack of 2.5" squares and am sure it was something we got in our swag bags in 2020 when our modern guild had a retreat that was cancelled and we all got swag bags and then enjoyed a weekend retreat over zoom.  So these got made into another table topper. 

This table runner isn't necessarily Christmas.  I think it is more like a winter themed table runner and it will be good in January on the dining room table. 

There was a small mug rug that needed batting, backing, and finishing.  Done!

The Quilt of Valour using the 3 yard Town square pattern is put together and pressed and now on a hanger waiting for quilting and binding.

I also pressed the 3 yard quilt made from the Favorite pattern.  Done and waiting for quilting and binding.

So, that feels good!  I have tidied up my Christmas fabrics and feel that I made great progress getting my container of projects emptied.  A lovely way to end December. 

Sadly, (because we would much rather be at our winter home in the sunshine), we are waiting for my husband to have his second carotid surgery which will be in a couple of weeks and he also had a bad experience with swallowing a camera that was supposed to take pictures of his digestive system, looking for bleeds throughout the length of his intestines.  Unfortunately, after making a 3 hour return trip in and out of the city early in the morning which followed two days of clean out of his body similiar to preparing for a colonoscopy, it seems that the camera spent the entire 7 hours in his esophagus and never left to go through his body?  I also had to make another 3 hour return trip back into the city to return the recording devices which were looked at the next day and discovered that the entire venture was for nought.  And he now needs an xray to see if the camera is still stuck somewhere in his system?  Apparently, this has only happened once before and the nurse was as stunned as I was when she called me today with the bad news.  UGH.  My poor husband didn't get to eat for two days and lived on jello and broth plus it cost us $200 as well as the time to drive and back and forth and we have no results.  We were really hoping for a result that showed us an intestinal bleed to explain his anemia but now, we are no further ahead.  

Oh well... carotid surgery coming up and life moves forward ... sometimes two steps forward and one step backward.  

Time for some Christmas baking and organizing myself for a quilting bee to try and get some quilts off hangers and finished.  

 

Finishing Friday

 I had a good week considering that on Monday, my glass was only half full when I found out that my husband's second carotid surgery won't be until early January because of a lack of the special monitors needed for these kinds of surgeries.  His specialist is only allowed 2 patients per surgery day to require these monitors and the days in December are all filled with needy patients.  sigh  I was really hoping for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year will all of these surgeries and testing done on his body.  

Oh well.  By Tuesday, I talked myself into be content with the fact that the surgery will be done in a month's time and there are many others who are still waiting for dates for testing and surgeries.  There is a possibility he could have a stroke but he isn't considered urgent so I need to be content with the system although it did cross my mind to offer to buy one of these monitors so the Vascular surgeon could have 3 surgeries in a day instead of 2.  

So, decorating continued.  I still do not have my 'village' in place but I got sidetracked with some small quilting projects.  The fun part about having Christmas at home, in our spring/summer/fall home is digging out quilts made a long time ago.  These are just some of them that are spread around the house.

Winter village and some baking and sending Christmas cards are all next on the list of activities.  

I did talk myself into digging out a container of Christmas projects that I haven't looked at in a long time and decided that I either had to make/finish them or donate to a thrift shop.  On Thursday, I made a trip to the thrift shop hoping that my projects would be available for crafters to grab and make before Christmas day.  Many have lingered in my home for far too long without being made.  Then I organized all my projects that are hanging around and creating dreaded clutter.  First are two quilts that needed the binding added. 

My latest 3 yard quilt blocks are on the design wall waiting to be stitched together... maybe tonight during my modern guild's zoom sew in time?

3 yard Favorites is waiting to be pressed and hung in the line up of tops waiting for quilting.

Two pillowcases that were all cut and ready for sewing are finished!

I want to make one block of this quilt for a 12" finished hanging for January in my display area on the landing of my stairway.

The December block of spices by Patterns by Jen got done with my usual method of making two, reversing the lights and the darks.  The theme this month was garlic.  It is hard to pick a light and dark cream colour but I did my best.

Our modern guild had a swap for a 12" block with an "S" theme.  I though of Silent night or Stars?  This is finished and ready for swapping.  Not so sure how modern it is but, I find challenges very challenging when stitching for others!

The quilts pictured earlier, waiting for bindings are done!  There is a 16 patch made from fat quarters using 4.5" strips and the second one used 4" strips and all used fabric that had been sitting around for too long.

This Roman Holiday is a 3 yard quilt and second one that I made.  The first has gone to the longer armer Dianne who offered to quilt more tops that are destined for Quilts of Valour. 

The December step for the Meadowland Mystery is finished with the two colour 9 patches and the smaller ribbon blocks made.  Now, we wait for January!

The modern guild challenge for December was to make a parallelogram in solids using complementary colours.  That got done and crossed off the list. 

There are more projects in the works but you have to wait to see them .... am working as fast as I can!  The above projects are now put away neatly so I can find them next month and my entire sewing area is looking a lot neater. 

A great week happened in my sewing studio!

 This was the pile of bindings I showed earlier this week and I posted the quilts that were now quilted and waiting for the last step. 

The Patterns by Jen 2021 got finished totally!  Each block represented a fruit or vegetable and Jen sent out the patterns on the first of each month.  I made doubles of some of them with backgrounds reversed so that I would have enough blocks for a decent size quilt for donation.

This quilt top plus backing and batting came to me in a plastic bag and I picked it up from the modern guild de-stash that the community quilt group held in the summer of 2020.  There were 3 volunteers for that committee and each had their spare bedrooms full of fabrics, kits, and other supplies.  Tables were set up in the front yard of a guild member and we all arrived in our cars, wearing our masks and self distancing while we rooted through all of the bins and tables.  This top was already made, the backing and batting were cut to the right size so I needed to quilt and bind it.  Done! #1

Number 2 was again a top plus backing fabric with enough for binding so this got completely finished. 

The bag #3 contained yardage of the train fabric plus the red, a blue I didn't like and I added in the green to create this quilt top.  I managed to get all the trains 'right' way up.  The backing for the quilt was included as well... cute polar bears.   Hopefully, there is a train fanatic who will get this quilt from our donations to Victim Services in our city.

The pink quilt was a bag of fabric strips, bits and pieces and one appliqued heart on a white background.  I cut out and fused more hearts and stitched them all down... cut the rest of the fabrics into strips and while the crooked circles drive me crazy, that was the best use of the fabric with nothing wasted.  So, number 4 finished.

In another bag was a couple of sets of strip pieced fabrics that were the width of the fabrics.  I cut them in half and then added in a coordinating fabric to create these stripes.  The first one is blue and that made a finished #5. 

The same strip sets as above but I added green to them for added length and width and thus #6 was done.

A total of six quilts finished and all UFO's... even though one is only year old, the rest are well past 2 years and were heading to three years!  

This quilt top has gone from the design wall stage to a finished quilt top and is now residing on a hanger, waiting for the quilting and binding.  This is Favorite Things, another 3 yard quilt made with about 1.5 yards each instead of the one yard of each as called for in the pattern.  A Fabric Cafe pattern.

I am determined to spend the last four days of this month (eeek? really? only 4 days till December?), getting one quilt top finished per day and that will make me feel good heading into December.  Time to start decorating the house but am waiting patiently until next weekend.  In the meantime, I have been going through a few cupboards and drawers in various location in our home, trying to declutter and get rid of items we no longer need or use.  A very slow process but feels good when one of them is finished and we can see and find what we are looking for.