Don and I had a quiet and quite nice Christmas. For the first time since our first child was born, 37 years ago, we had no children home for the holiday, and frankly, it was nice and relaxing. Don't get me wrong--I would have loved to have a houseful of my kids and their partners and the grandchildren, but it was nice to have a quiet day as well. Of course, we Skyped with everyone on Christmas day and it looked as though all 3 of the kids were having good times with their new families. And isn't that what we, as parents, should be grateful for? That our children have moved out of our family and are happy with the new families they've created? I think so anyway.
Don and I did have a conversation that next year, if we're alone again for the holidays, we will be involved in some project to bring more meaning to the season. Maybe helping at the food pantry or the homeless shelter or something like that.
Since I didn't have much work to do, I've been in my sewing room finishing up a few things. I finished Johanna's Christmas quilt that she requested. I'd pieced the throw sized top several years ago and when it was finished, I didn't like it so I just put it away. When Jo asked for a Christmas quilt, I showed her the top and she liked it a lot, so I quilted it up for her. The more I worked on it, the more I liked it! It's like an argyle sock pattern with all the diamonds in there. I found a piece of fabric in red, green and aqua that I thought worked out well for the backing.
I just made up quilting designs as I worked on it, making some dots to mark my place and I free-handed the stitching. I'm quite satisfied with how the designs came out. One very good thing that came of this quilting is that I began using a red and greed variegated thread that was left over from another project I did years ago, and I thought I'd have enough. Well, that was wrong! In all, I used 5 spools of similar variegated thread that were leftovers from other projects! I am so happy to see my thread drawer cleaned out a little! Looking at the quilt, you really can't tell I used different threads since they all are variegated and they blend in with the colors of the fabrics. Jo's coming home on Sunday and she can take it with her then.
Today I did some work on my Etsy shop, Jolly Ruby. A few weeks ago, I discovered several table runners that I'd made last year and never listed in the shop. By the time I found them, it was too late to put them in the shop so I did it today. I also slashed prices in the shop by 50% and am having a 3 week sale to try to clear out things and make way for new things that I'm working on. If you want to pick up an item for a very good price--and contribute to a very good cause--take a look at Jolly Ruby. Even better, let everyone you know that now's the time to get a terrific handmade quilted item for their home. Not only I but all the people with disabilities who benefit from this shop thank you with all our hearts.
I made this table runner with a cartoon Santa and reindeer fabric in the center framed with a candy cane border.
I made this runner with the same Santa fabric alternating with plaid fabrics and bordered with coordinating plaid fabrics.
I also made this chevron table runner using a snowflake patterned red fabric with a cream contrasting fabric. I stitched a few glittery snowflake buttons on it as well--there's one right by the snowman's base.
And all the other items in the shop are marked at 50% off as well.
Today, I woke up to a beautiful snowfall! This is a view of my side yard through the window.
We'd had snow in November followed by mild temps for the past 3 weeks, resulting in a brown Christmas here in the Northland. So the beautiful snow was a wonderful sight to see this morning. Of course, if I'd had to drive anywhere, I'd not have thought it was so pretty, I suppose. And if I had to shovel it, I'm sure I'd not be so pleased, but Don said he'd get out the snowblower and take care of the driveway so I'm free to get downstairs and work on a quilting project. And I'm going to do that right now!
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