The Deep Freeze! and 2024 Goals!

The cold came and is still here.  Schools have been closed as have most of my activities and I've barely been out of the house.  Willow finally decided to spend one night IN her luxury carpeted and heated dog house.

 Yes, she even has a quilt!  We've only seen her in there one night through all this cold. 

 I have been seeing piano students and have spent a lot of time quilting.  This log cabin - a UFO - got completed last night.

I love how it turned out.  I like log cabin blocks and I really enjoy twisting and turning them to create different patterns.  So that's 4 finished UFO's!

I also got Harriett's Braid to a finished flimsy.  This took forever because of the partial seams.  It's totally from scraps.

I'll never make this one again.  

And with Esme's help, I took the leftover half square triangles from the Vintage Christmas quilt and made Christmas tree blocks and put them in a long table runner.

She approves this use of scraps!  I finished the table runner last night and just need to find backing and batting for it and clean up the cutting table.  I'll probably throw something on the longarm today so that I can get back to quilting.  

I realize that I have never blogged about my 2024 goals and January is halfway over.  So here they are:

1.  Try to blog at least twice a week - so far, so good on this one!

2.  Work on using the stash of strips and squares that are already cut  and turning them into quilts.

3.  I made a list of all the pieces of wide backings I have and I want to make quilts to fit them.  (so far, I have used the smallest one to recover my ironing board and I have one for the back of Harriett's Braid).

4.  Try making blocks with curves like drunkard's path.

5.  Quilt more for other people.

And of course, I'm working on that list of UFO's!

So that is the update from snowy cold mid MO!

Christi

Bring on the Cold!

 The hubster announced at bedtime last night that "we" would be putting the heated mattress pad back on the bed today.  The "he" part of "we" did just that first thing this morning.  The "me" part of "we" has washed the sheets and remade the bed.  We are expecting frigid temps all through the weekend and more snow.  

This guy seems to be all prepared with his exceptional coat of fur............

David caught Charlie, one of my Covid 2020 kitties who lives outside in the woods and sneaks into the yard at night to eat.  Willow has successfully banished Wicket, Charlie, and Boots to the perimeter of the yard.  We don't know exactly where they nest, but judging by the coat of hair on this guy and his weight (which I estimated at 20-25lbs), they are doing ok.  He didn't even need much brushing  

He curled into my arms as best he could based on his size.  He purred and snuggled for the longest time.

We even watched a little TV together.  Esme was not impressed.

He eventually went back outside.  

With the snow and cold coming, I predict more sewing for the weekend.  And maybe some baking.  After all, it would help keep the house warm.  I am sick of working on the Bonnie Hunter mystery so have put it in time out.  I'm also putting away the Star Trails quilt for awhile and will dig out something else to work on..............maybe Harriett's Braid.  And I may throw something on the longarm to quilt.

Everyone try to stay warm and safe!

Christi

Show and Tell

 The winter weather yesterday caused all the schools to close - and most quilt shops!  The hubster wanted to make a trip to Sedalia to get some things he "needed".  I tagged along to enjoy lunch out and make sure he returned a shirt to Penney's that didn't fit.  I stayed in the truck most of the time but did get out at the Farm & Home store.  It's one of my favorites.  Just inside the door was this display......

Garden seeds!  I guess they were trying to give us hope in this wintry weather!

Our guild meeting was also cancelled last night.  It won't be rescheduled so I took photos of all my show and tell and will just post them rather than hold them over to February........I may have some more things done by then!

I had recently finished the remaining 3 Fab Farm quilts, an Elizabeth Hartmann pattern.  

This one had a blue plaid flannel backing...........

# 2

It had a red check backing...........

and #3.......

It had a green polka dot flannel backing.....

They were all quilted with an argyle pattern which I think looks like chicken wire.  They were so much fun to make and I can't wait to gift them. 

It's another snow day here, but I will have piano lessons.  Esme keeps trying to herd me upstairs to the sewing room.  Maybe we'll get there.

Christi 

Snow Day!

 This was the scene out the back door just prior to the first piano lesson of 2024 yesterday - and it was the only lesson I had all day as the snow really picked up and the roads got very icky!  At least I got to see one student.

Earlier in the morning, Willow had been enjoying a bone.  

This morning, she and Kenzie are curled up together on their bed just outside the door.  Of course, they could be here...........

a nice large carpeted dog house with a heat lamp just outside the back door!  But no, if they were inside the doghouse, they might miss seeing something!  David is so disgusted.  He says their brains are as empty as that doghouse!

SEW............Snow Day, Sew Day!  That's where most of today will be spent.  I have to do some tax forms and am planning to cook a nice lunch and some potato soup for supper, but the rest of the day should be spent in the sewing room.

I recently finished binding on a third baby quilt (photos are coming).  Esme helped cut the binding strips!  She is so good at holding down the fabric.

I also have all the components cut for Star Trails, so am anxious to work on that.

And Bonnie Hunter did release the final reveal clue of her mystery last Friday.  I have all of the A blocks complete and hope to start working on the B blocks soon.

It is still snowing here this morning, so I guess I will just have to sew the day away!

Christi

Mystery Quilting!

I started Bonnie Hunter's annual mystery quilt on Black Friday.  I had sworn off doing these for the past few years, but decided to give it another try this year.  She releases a clue every Friday starting on Black Friday.  I did good and got the first clue finished before the first week was over.  It went down hill after that.  By the time the fifth clue was released, I was mired down in clue 3 (which involved 640 pieces!).  I have been pushing through though.  I had clues 1-4 complete, had skipped over clue 5 and had clue 6 cut when Bonnie suddenly dropped another clue YESTERDAY!  So I skipped ahead to work on clue 7.  The total piece count for clues 1-7 is 2532!   I had lots of help yesterday.

Esme helped read the instructions from my tablet.  Then she lent a paw for cutting the red strips.

She started to grow weary of "seeing red" so took the opportunity to rest a little while still keeping her paw on the fabric.

Eventually she just threw her whole body into the job!

Since I know Bonnie is going on a trip next week, I'm expecting some rapid fire clues to be released this week before she leaves.  

The last of the paint job is complete and drying.  I still need to wash the Christmas quilts and put them away.  End of the year bookkeeping awaits!  

We went to friends house to have supper - a delicious butternut squash soup - and play games last night.  We learned progressive spades.  I had the high score of the night (unlike being the low score the night before at the pitch tables).  Unfortunately, this was a game like golf - low score wins!  

Pretty sure I ran a fever in the night and have lots of sinus drainage which is making my throat sore.  Paint fumes are probably a contributing factor to the sinus issues.  Anyway, after being out the last 2 nights (don't we sound like party animals?), a nap is inevitable today...........maybe as soon as I make this post!

Christi

Happy New Year!

 Welcome 2024!  I'm going to try to be more diligent about blogging this year (New Year's Resolution #1).  We saw the New Year in at a card party with friends.  We enjoyed good food and played pitch.  I was the low scoring woman, so received a prize!

Speaking of playing cards, I recently figured out how to make card holders with the help of a tutorial online.  I used a couple of old CDs, some batting scraps and a couple of buttons.  I made 3 (all the old CDs I could find at the time) and have gifted 2 of them to cousins and am saving one for my dad.

I have spent the last few days cleaning, painting, taking down Christmas decs, and working in my sewing room.  I went into 2023 with 20 UFO's and I completed 19 of them.  I made a new list for 2024 which amazingly had 20 items until I did a little more digging and organizing and came up with a couple more.  So I am starting 2024 with 22 UFO's in the sewing room.  

Here is the list...........

Double Four Patch

Harriett's Pioneer Braid

Log Cabin

Christmas Dauphin Island

Solstice

Circle of Nines Farm Panel

Vintage Christmas

Four Patches

Star Trails

Mr. Snow SAL

Indigo Way

Two X Five

Baby Moda Love Charm

Fab Farm 1

Fab Farm 2

Fab Farm 3

Happiness Blooms Tiny Blocks

Space Cats Scraps

Log Cabin Scraps

Farm Panel Blocks

Little Christmas Squares

Christmas Tree Leftovers

The Double Four Patch at the top of the page is the leftover from the 2023 list.  Five are ready to quilt, two are quilted and awaiting binding, and the rest are started in some form or another.  Wouldn't it be amazing to get them all done this year!  I come really close every year, but have never totally completed the list.  Of course the list of ideas for new quilts is endless and always growing, so I'm sure I'll never be without UFO's.  

Just prior to Christmas, I completed this little snowman wall hanging...........using a bunch of scrap!  The background fabrics were already sewn together from a project my mom had done and she had "gifted" me her scraps - even the binding strips were already made!  I just trimmed the background to the size I wanted and took the chenille bedspread scraps and cut circles (using a variety of dishes from the kitchen) and machine zigzagged around them, did a little free motion quilting and it was done!  The most difficult thing was finding the right size buttons for the embellishments!  My mom wanted to sell it at her craft show, but the hubster said NO.  So Mr. Snowman is still hanging at our house.  

Well, the New Year is off to a good start!  I've given myself a facial, changed the toothbrush head on my toothbrush and put in new batteries, there are leftovers in the frig for lunch, laundry is done, we're going to friends for supper, so I guess that means it's time to head to the sewing room!

Christi

Happy Anniversary!

 Well folks, it's been 31 years for the hubster and I.  We're celebrating in our usual day to day activities.  I'm giving a half dozen piano lessons, going to church bell choir practice, finishing up some church bookwork, a few housekeeping chores (Cici and Esme just got baths.....me too!), etc.  The hubster is getting anhydrous tanks refilled and distributing them to the appropriate fields, and he is doing some banking for me and picking up a couple of things from Walmart.  I declared on Friday that I was not entering Walmart again for at least a week.  No, I didn't go Black Friday shopping, but just went to pick up a few things with Sarah in the afternoon.  It seems that in preparation for Thanksgiving, I was in Walmart about every other day for the last 10 days or so.  

So, Thanksgiving................

My sister-in-law announced that she and her husband were coming from Texas and she would be in charge of Thanksgiving for all of us at my in-laws on Thursday.  She told my hubby to have me bring the turkey, homemade rolls, and pecan pie.  She said there would be 10 for lunch.  Then my mother-in-law told me she wanted homemade noodles and I was to put them in a crock pot and to bring a crockpot of mashed potatoes and she wanted sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top, and cranberry sauce from a can.  (I should note here that she was just returning home from 2 months in a hospital/rehab place from a stroke and was obviously hungry for home cooked food.)  Oh, and a card table because the crowd had grown to 14, which explains the crockpot request since we would have to do buffet style serving.  Of course, this meant I would need a bigger turkey!  And then it wasn't long before the SIL and MIL were arguing about who was in charge.  I just kept listing what I was asked to bring (recite the list here), and to let me know if anything changed.  

Of course the hubster felt badly for me to be caught in the middle of the arguing.  I wasn't arguing, I just kept making trips to Walmart.  (partly due to the fact that I was also doing my MIL's Christmas shopping  and wrapping for the gifts to send back to Texas................the SIL is going to have a GOOD Christmas!)  

Apparently hubby felt so bad that he woke up Wednesday morning sick.  A pot of homemade chicken noodle soup was made.  Sickness has been going around, so I kept him away from all the food preparation and hoped Sarah and I wouldn't get sick (What would they have to eat at my SIL's Thanksgiving if we couldn't come?).  Well, homemade chicken noodle aside, the hubs was still sick on Thursday, so he got to stay home and miss the "festivities".  We did leave him a little of the turkey, and all the fixins including a piece of his beloved pecan pie.  

Sarah had delivered the card table on Wednesday, so that they could have the tables set and ready to go.  While she was there, my Bro in law asked Sarah how the hubs was fixing the turkey, smoking? brining? etc.  She replied that MOM was cooking the turkey.  (note that I did have to access a Youtube tutorial on carving since I wasn't letting the hubs anywhere near the food prep).   It was knowledge that will be used again when I cook the smaller turkey that is still in the freezer.  It might have been nice to park close to the door for hauling all the food in, but those spots were already taken, so we parked close to the shed and carried food in.  

I have to say it was delicious!  My DD said, "Well of course it was.  YOU cooked it!"  Gotta love her!  The crescent rolls might have been the best ever.  We knew this since we had eaten a few as they came out of the oven before going to the dinner.  Another way to tell how good the food was...........I didn't bring home ANY turkey or rolls, just a piece of the pie, and very little of the sweet potatoes.  

And the best part of the day was this...........

We got to hold Flynn!  He was so soft and snuggly!  Four of David's great nephews were there.  The 2 year old was disappointed that Uncle David wasn't there to give tractor rides.  

My DD did help me put up Christmas decorations as well while she was here for the week.  She also attended church with me the Sunday before Thanksgiving.   

When we moved the bookcase to make a place for the tree, we discovered where all the cat toys had been hiding!

I did more cooking on Friday as we were going to the neighbors for an appetizer night.  So on Saturday, I declared a NO COOKING or CLEANING Day!  I spent time in my sewing room and got the first clue of Bonnie Hunter's new mystery quilt completed!

We also watched some movies during the week and I did some binding on a couple of projects.  The first is a wall hanging called Meowily on High.  

And I got the binding on this Elenore Burns Quilt in a Day pattern called Patty Cake.

Well, I need to get to those housekeeping and book keeping chores.  Cici is sunning herself in the window seat trying to get dry from her bath.  Esme has probably retreated to the sewing room to dry out.

Christi