Not much on this Sunday

I've been having a wonderful day simply being home with my son and husband. Since Dan moved to Washington nearly 2 years ago now, we've only seen him 5 or 6 times and then we usually have a houseful of relatives that we need to share him with. Not this time, tho.  He's here for 6 days and has no plans to go anywhere or see anyone. After all, he'll be moving back to Wisconsin in less than 2 weeks, and then we should have plenty of time to see him on a much more frequent basis.  So now, I'm simply enjoying the time.

Tomorrow Johanna will be coming in to spend New Year's Eve and Day with us, and of course, Fergie the dog will be coming too.  No special plans for this holiday--Johanna loves to play games so I imagine the four of us will gather around the dining table on New Year's Eve for some cut throat gaming. 

In the sewing area, I managed to spend a few hours at my machine and I finished up 3 potholders for Tessa.  When they were done, I just wanted to play a bit, so I got out my project box of 1 1/2" pieces and made up another 5 scrappy hearts. 

I'd seen this image posted on Facebook a year or two ago and really liked it. So I printed off the pattern and began using my 1 1/2" strips, and cutting more as I disposed of more scraps as the months went by.  What will I do with the blocks?  Well, they'll be made up into a quilt of some sort, and probably a bed sized one.  I'm making 8 1/2" blocks (unfinished) and after today I have 45 of them.  But I'll need quite a few more to make up a bed sized quilt.  I'll just keep sewing them until I think it's time to start putting them in rows.  

Each heart block is different from all the others since I have such a huge variety to scraps, collected over many years now.  But what do you want to bet that when I assemble them into rows and then into the quilt top, I'll find that there are two or three together that have the same fabrics!  If you want to make a bet on that, give me a call and we'll discuss the beach property that I have for sale in Arizona.  ;-))

In case I don't get to the computer tomorrow, let me wish you a Happy New Year right now.  I hope you leave 2018 with few regrets and embrace 2019 with high hopes and expectations!

Next on the quilting to-do list:

Yesterday I actually had a finish!  The bag is done and ready to be taken to the January guild meeting so we can begin the charity project.  Yea! 

After I got that done, I began making a bunch of potholders. These are for friends we'll be meeting up with for lunch later in January.  I just used up some scrap fabric I had--cherry pies and desserts on a black background--with cream contrasting squares and a bit of melon colored scrap for the backings. I'll stitch down the binding tonight along with some TV.

After that I cut some strips of 1930s fabrics and sewed them into the tops for a few potholders that Tessa asked me to make for her and I'll bring them with me when I go to Maine in a couple of weeks.

After a long night's sleep, Dan's feeling recovered from his long day of traveling, so all 3 of us took a little trip to the WORLD'S BEST CHEESE store, Eau Galle Cheese Factory

Eau Galle is a very small community about 10 miles south of my town. This French name likely came from the French voyageurs or fur traders from the late 1700s into the early 1800's who roamed around the upper Midwest, trading items with the native population in exchange for pelts from beavers and other desirable animals.  Or the name may have come from French explorers who came this way even earlier than the fur traders.  At any rate, I've always been intrigued with the meaning of this name since I have no French speaking ability.  "Eau" I know means "water" but what does "galle" mean?  Professor Wikipedia came to the rescue!  "Galle" means "bitter" but it's unlikely that the town was named after sour water since the river that flows through this area is clean and sweet.  This is what Wikipedia has to say about it: "Although Eau Galle is sometimes said to mean "bitter water," the name is adapted from the original name for the Eau Galle River: (Riviere) au Galet, meaning "(river) with the gravel-bank."  Well, that makes more sense since the river is indeed very gravelly.  

End of French/history lesson. On to cheese.  Dan wants to take some Wisconsin cheese back with him for his coworkers to sample.  In Washington State, about the only reasonably good cheese you can get is the Tilamook brand, which is a good cheese, but it's not Wisconsin cheese.  

This is one of the two large cases they have in the store, stocked with all sorts of cheeses. The store also contains a huge assortment of gifts and souvenir-kinds of things, which we bypassed and headed right to the cheeses.

Dan chose these things to bring back: Plain cheese curds, Cranberry Cheddar Cheese, Smoked Gouda and a Gorgonzola.

For ourselves, Don and I chose Garlic and Dill Cheese Curds, Pepper Jack Cheese (we passed on the Ghost Pepper Cheese--Yikes!), a wedge of Stilton, and a cheesy spread made locally with hickory smoked trout--soo good!

  

That's how my day has gone.  Easy dinner tonight--warmed up homemade lasagna and a tossed salad.  Perfect for a snowy December day in Wisconsin.  Hope you have great cheeses wherever you live too.  ;-)

Post holiday fogginess

I don't think I'm the only one who experiences post holiday fog, but I've not heard anyone speak of it.  It seems as though these days between Christmas and New Year's have me in a mental fog.  I have little recollection of the events of these past few days--I've simply been going through the motions of my normal activities. I think I put out so much energy with taking care of the dog and with Johanna's several day visit, that I simply shut down a bit.  Today I think I'm ready to take the reins again and move into the third and last of our December celebrations. 

This afternoon we pick up our son so he can spend a week with us, having a late Christmas.  He's on the plane as I type and will be here in the house by mid-afternoon.  I'm so looking forward to seeing him again--even tho I was with him in Washington last October. I spoke with him on Christmas Day and I felt really bad, knowing that he was by himself so far from family and friends.  He seemed in good enough spirits, knowing that we were waiting Christmas for him.  

He (and Don and I) got the best present ever on the day after Christmas--he received the final details of the job he'd been offered here in Wisconsin, and he accepted the total offer.  That means that this time next month, Dan will be living back here in Madison, WI, settling in to a new job and town but knowing that friends and family are only a short distance away!  What parent could get a better gift than knowing that your child is making a great move for personal and financial improvement!

When I'm finished with this post, I'll be doing a bit of housework, getting ready for his arrival, and then into the sewing room to finish the bag I began several days ago.  This is the pattern that I'm using--I like it because there's no zipper!  I can do zippers but if I can avoid them, I do.  : )  

I thought it would be a good size for the kids to carry their stuff instead of a trash bag as they do now. I'm talking about kids going into foster care--when they are removed from their homes, or moved from one foster home to another, they often don't have a bag to put their things in and have to use a garbage bag.  Kids have said they feel as tho they are garbage too.  As a guild we thought making these bags would be a good charity project for us.  Haven't decided yet how many we'll make--have to see what we can find when we hit the discount fabric store.  

Anyway,  this is the bag as far as I've got it. I chose to use a velcro closure instead of a snap.  

This is the bag stuffed with bags and sitting against the wall.  All I have left to do is top stitch all around and make a covered foam board to put in the bottom.

I really like how it came out--roomy enough to hold some jammies and a change or two of clothes, and small enough that a child can carry it.  And because there's batting in it, it just feels darn good--like a quilt!

The plan is to get this finished today before Dan arrives and then I can move on to the next project on the never ending to-do list of quilts.

A mid winter day in Wisconsin

I'm not a dog person.  I grew up with my dad's hunting dogs, but I've never really liked dogs much. They demand more attention than I'm willing to give them and I have no idea how to train them to be well behaved so my experience with being a dog owner has not been too positive.  When the kids were younger, we had a black and white cocker spaniel for about 12 years and she wasn't too bad. We were her third or fourth owners--she suffered greatly from a multitude of allergies--and one of the previous owners had done some training with  her so she was pretty easy to manage.  The final straw in my dislike of dogs, however, came during the days when I was a runner and a pair of dogs came up behind me and bit me in the back of the knee. That was over 20 years ago and to this day, if a dog comes at me, running and barking, I absolutely freeze.  

So, now we are dog sitting Fergie, my daughter's dog, for a couple of days.  I have fallen in love with this dog!  I really can't believe it!  Johanna has done such a good job of training her and caring for her, that she's just a joy to have around.  This morning, I took her for a walk on one of the local trails here in Menomonie.  The temps are in the high 20's, little to no wind, and very gentle snow fall.  

The skies have been overcast for the past couple of days, with no sun in the near future, so the landscape looks rather dismal.  This trail is an abandoned railroad line and it's now a non-motorized trail, perfect for taking the dog out since the streets in my neighborhood are too icy for me to walk.  

The trail follows the Red Cedar River which flows through the city. Fergie seemed to like her walking course quite a bit.  She's got a "gentle leader" which goes over her nose and clips on the back of her neck.  I like it because she doesn't pull on it like dogs will do if the lead is attached to the collar.  And you can see that she's all dressed up in her Christmas ribbon--Jo's touch, not mine!

So, that's what I've done this morning. I have plans to do some sewing this afternoon, but maybe I'll stay upstairs and watch a football game first.  I'll let you know tomorrow what happens.

Onward to meet the quilting challenge

Sometimes I feel as tho I'm a hamster in a cage--the faster and harder I go, the more I seem to stay in one place. At least when it comes to making quilts.  I have a huge list of quilt tops that have been waiting to be turned into bed covers, in some cases, for years!  As well as having I-don't-even-know-how-many WIPs and UFOs, each one of them calling out to me to give it some attention.  I don't like to work on more than one project at a time except if I'm doing leaders and enders so what happens is I'll begin a new quilt, get distracted by another project, and forget to come back and finish what I'd just started. 

Today, I had planned to do either the potholders for Tessa so they're ready to take with when I go to Maine in January, OR quilt up the wall hanging I promised to Don at least a year ago OR begin making up the duffle bag I promised to have ready for the next guild meeting, Jan 8.  So what do I do?  I found a child's quilt that I'd begun nearly 2 years ago, didn't like how it was going, and set it aside, only to hear it whisper at me from time to time. 

After I'd made the 2 little boys flannel quilts that will go to the children's shelter I remembered this girly quilt I'd begun and this morning, I hauled it upstairs to the dining table to take a look at it. I'd found this pattern in the March/April 2016 issue of McCall's Quilting magazine and thought I could use up some stash, always a good idea, don't you think?

I had this lavender fairy print left over a dress I'd made Lily when she was about 4 years old--with a pink and white striped pinafore, it was so cute!  I digress.  I had enough of this fabric left over to use as the focal print in the quilt, and I raided my stash for the other colors and made up most of the companion blocks.  

These are the blocks laid out on the table. When I was working on it 2 years ago, I decided I didn't like how the coordinating blocks were looking. The colors were too saturated and I thought pastels would be better. So it all got put away, until this morning.

Taking a look at them today, I kind of like how it looks.  So I just have to make up a half dozen blocks and put them together and it'll be ready for quilting up.  I'm sure some little girl will really like having a fairy quilt! 

Other than that, I made up the last loaves of Cranberry/Orange bread and Don will deliver them this afternoon, keeping one for ourselves.  We have Johanna's dog here for 2 days while she's visiting in Milwaukee and then she comes home for Christmas Eve and Day.  Until then, I'm simply going to relax and enjoy a couple of days of quiet--except for the dog, of course.  

Fergie

I hope that you too can have some peaceful times this season, and can enjoy a bite of fruitcake (or chocolate) from time to time.  

Well, I've had a couple of very busy days and I guess I neglected to post anything. Sorry about that but I'm sure you can understand how it is around these holidays. Especially since I was behind in everything due to having a club attached to my right hand for so long. 

I managed top bake 8 loaves of the cranberry-orange bread that I posted about here.  And pictured below are four of them before wrapping.

Here's one all wrapped up in Press N Seal with a bow and one of the fabric ornaments I made this fall which didn't sell in the big fundraiser.  So I found another use for them!  Don and I made the rounds of the neighborhood late yesterday afternoon and got them all delivered.  I have one left here and I want to make another 2 or 3 loaves, 2 for our friends and one for ourselves. I think I'll tackle that tomorrow.

On Wednesday I'd begun stitching up a couple of pillowcases and finished them yesterday. The one below with the gray and black cats and mice is for my son who's a huge cat guy!  I like how some of the cats are sticking out their pink tongues and saying "Meow."   And I love how the mice are scampering about.  

For Johanna, I used a pink flamingo print on white with aqua dots.  In the pics the pink cuff looks a lot more orangey than it really is.  Jo likes flamingos and she likes pink and when I saw this fabric, it was a nobrainer.

I also spent some time on my embroidery piece.  The directions call for a tiny rick rack stitched into the edge of the thing.  That means basting the rick rack along the seam line and them layering the backing, top, and batting together and stitching all around the edge.  It's really tricky to get the rick rack to show to the same extent all around and I didn't do the world's best job but good enough for me.  After stitching all the layers together, you have to turn it right side out and fortunately for me, all the layers ended up where they were supposed to be!  Yea! No unstitching!

The next step is to use embroidery floss and stitch a running stitch all around the edge and I got more than half of that done last night. When I go out later today to run errands, I'll swing by the quilt shop to get some "sharps" needles so I can begin the quilting.  I'll be doing a cross hatch grid in the center of the piece and an outline around the outer edge of the embroidery, all in a creamy white floss.  I don't normally do hand quilting but I think it's the right thing to do for this table runner.

All I have left to do today is run errands--library to pick up the next book in the Poldark series, grocery store, and quilt store.  Then I'm snugged down in the house--pizza for dinner so, easy for both Don and I to cook and clean up--ready to stitch away watching something on Netflix.

Baking begins

Today is the day I can begin my Christmas baking.  First up is Cranberry Orange Bread with Grand Marnier Glaze which you can see at this link. I learned about this recipe about 5 years ago when Barbara posted about it on her blog, catpatches at the Three Cats Ranch.  If you've never read her posts, please take a minute and do so. She's a very talented and comical writer and I enjoy her blog very much.  Well, I decided when we moved to town 5 years ago that I would do make some baked goods for our neighbors, and I tried this recipe.  OMG!  It is sooooo good!  I've made two changes.  I substitute unsweetened applesauce for half the butter that's called for since it was just too oily for my taste, and because I'm not sure if any of the neighbors have substance abuse issues, I make the glaze with orange juice instead of the liqueur.  For personal use, I bring out the Grand Marnier and indulge!

This year I'll be making 8 loaves and we'll deliver them tomorrow after the neighborhood comes home from work.  I always enjoy hiking around in the dark, enjoying the Christmas lights on all the houses.  It's become our personal tradition, I guess.  As soon as I'm finished with this post, I'll turn on the oven and get going.

This morning I sat down with the Christmas cards and address book, and was able to get them all written out and ready for mailing without too much pain in my hand. Actually, I ran out of cards and since Don's going to be in Eau Claire this afternoon, he'll get another box and they'll be in the mail tomorrow.

No stitchery on the agenda today, but if I finish baking soon enough, I may get going on those two pesky pillowcases that keep nagging at me.

That's all I got for today, but lest I be accused of not having enough graphics in my post, I found these on the internet for you.

Don't we all wish we had a little Christmas sewing helper?

This is sooooo corny!

Me and my friend furiously trying to finish that last Christmas quilt!

Crazy days here in WI

Do you ever have times when you suddenly wake up in the middle of the night, eyes wide open and brain alert, and no matter what you do, you're up for the day?  This happens to me occasionally, and usually I can deal with it, knowing that I'll make up for loss of sleep the following night.  No, I refuse to take a nap because that really messes with my sleep. So Sunday morning, my eyes flew open at 3 AM and that was it.  Caffeine helped me make it through the day.  Monday, eyes open at 4 AM!  What the heck is that all about, I asked myself.  Caffeine helped a little but not enough.  Finally, this morning, I slept through until the alarm sounded and I had to get up.

If you're still reading, I'm sure you're asking, "What does this have to do with anything????"  Well, it means that at 4 and 5 AM I've been in my sewing room, getting the 2 little flannel quilts finished up.  It also means that I've been so tired that I've not been doing much of anything else. 

At any rate, I finished the quilts, pictured below, and I called Johanna to let her know that I could bring them to her on Wednesday.  She responded that she no longer needs them as she was running out of time to deliver these gifts.

"What!"  I practically screamed at her, in my sleep deprived state! I was a little put out with  her for not letting me know that there no longer was a need for these blankets.  I would have worked on other things if I'd known that. And, what was I supposed to do with these children's quilts--I don't know any little boys to give them to. Well, ever resourceful Jo, gave me the address of a shelter she's worked with where children can stay between removal from their homes and placement in a foster home. Each child gets a quilt and/or a toy that they can take with them when they move on.  Perfect!  I also have some fabric that would be perfect for a little girl's quilt, and a couple of stuffed animals that I bought years ago, thinking I would include them with a quilt when I had more grandchildren.  Well, I don't think that's going to happen any time soon, so I may as well make up the girl quilt and include the stuffed animals as well.  But that can wait until after the holidays.

So today, I got up with the alarm because I had to be in Eau Claire early to take the car to the dealer--factory recall, something to do with the software in the car--and to see the doc later on to get the club cast off my hand.  Oh Happy Day!  It feels so good to have that thing off my hand.  There's still some tenderness but I'm sure that will quickly disappear in the next few days or weeks.

Next project is to make up the pillowcases for Jo and my son, Dan, and to make up some potholders to take with me when I go to Maine after the New Year.  I also want to prepare this piece of embroidery that I've been stitching over the past month.  This will be a table runner that I want to use on the spinet piano that's in the living room.  

This is a closer view  of the embroidery. 

 It's a design by Kathy Schmitz in her book, Stitches from the Garden, shown here:  

                                 

This past spring, I embroidered and made the pillow that's shown on the cover of the book, and finished it with a red paid fabric ruffle instead of the simple buttonhole finish that's shown. I entered the pillow in the county fair, and it brought in a red ribbon! 

This is the finished table runner as pictured in the book.  It's finished with a tiny rick rack in green--I chose red for my table runner--and has some had quilting in the center, around the outside of the embroidery, and along the rick rack edge.  I normally don't do hand quilting, but for this project, I think I will.  After all, we have long winter nights facing us her for the next few months here in Wisconsin, perfect for hand stitching while finding something on Netflix.

And speaking of "here in Wisconsin," this afternoon, I got a phone call from my son--who lives in Washington state--that he's been offered a job, and if they can agree on a salary, he'll be moving back to WI in January!  I can't tell you how happy my husband and I are with this news!   He'll be only about 3 hours drive from us and we'll be able to see him so much more often.  The down side is, I'll no longer have a reason to visit the beautiful Pacific Northwest. That's okay--I'll find a reason to travel out there again, I'm sure. In between trips to visit with my son here in WI.  :-} This news is just the very best Christmas present a mother could ever receive! 

Making quilty progress

Yesterday afternoon was quite productive.  I cut and sewed the additional 50 4 1/2" squares I needed to make the two flannel quilts.  Managed to get the rows sewn together in one of them and almost completed the top for the second quilt.

These are 40" square blankies for a couple of little boys to snuggle up in while watching TV, story time, etc.  I used up leftover flannel that I had as well as some fat quarters I bought.   

Here are pics of some of the flannels--campers, owls, giraffes, heavy equipment,

monkeys, Burley Beavers, construction tools, 

cats, bicycles, dinosaurs, farm animals, 

and more. I hope the boys like them

Today, I'll finish the second top and see if I have enough room on my sewing table to make up the quilt sandwich.  If so, I'll proceed with a straight line, diagonal quilting.  If I can't get them pinned up, I'll go to the rec center tomorrow and do the pinning on their tables.  Either way, I have to have these quilts finished and in Johanna's hands before the end of the week so she can get them delivered to the children.

Today will also be a day where I'll do a bit of cooking.  I took a chuck roast out of the freezer last night and today it will be chopped up and cooked up into a tasty stew for dinner.  

So that's a recap of yesterday's activity as well as "best laid plans" for today. We'll see.

The Halifax Bag!

That's what I'm calling the hand bag I made for my friend, Bonnie.  Pictured below is the bag I bought last year and which Bonnie admired when we were traveling through the Canadian Maritimes last June.  I bought the fabrics in Halifax on our last day of the trip, intending to use them for Bonnie's purse.

I have to preface all of this by saying that I NEVER! make anything without a pattern! I have friends who say patterns are only suggestions, but not me!  So to recreate this bag was a terrific challenge for me--way outside my comfort zone.

On Thursday, I made a pattern by tracing the bag I had and hoping the new one would be similar in size and shape, and began the quilting. Overnight, I gave this project a great deal of thought as to the best way to construct it, and on Friday, I felt well prepared to finish the project. 

And I did!  I'm so pleased with myself! I really wasn't very confident that I would be able to do this, but look at the finished product:  

Amazingly, it's even the same size and shape as the original!

Here you can see the inside with the TWO zippers I had to put in--another challenge which I met head on!

This is a view of the inside pocket with all the slots for plastic cards.  (Excuse the shot of my pilly fleece bathrobe. It was early morning and I'd not had enough coffee.)  I left 2 of the slots unstitched in the middle so there's room for paper money and other long items, 

and on one of the long compartments, I added velcro so it can be closed up to securely hold coins, passport, and other things you don't want floating around in your bag. This is the major change I made to the original design--my  bag has no coin compartment so they just rattle around in the bag.  I should make a little zipper bag (now that I'm so good at putting in zippers!) and just keep it in my bag.  Another entry on my to-do list!

Today looks like it's going to be a great time in the sewing room. Instead of making the last 2 pillowcases (why do today what you can avoid put off for another week or so!)  I realized that I have to finish up the two little flannel blankets Johanna asked me to make for her, and she needs them pretty soon, I think.  

So, I'll be cutting and sewing 4 1/2" squares of flannel and getting that project done, I hope.  Maybe I'll just make some headway, okay?

Looking ahead, Tuesday can't come soon enough for me.  I get the cast removed from my hand on Tuesday, and I'm so looking forward to having my paw operational again.  In the meantime, I'll continue to do the best that I can, in spite of a plaster of Paris thumb.  I hope all your thumbs and fingers are working for you and  allowing you to continue to create your beautiful quilts. 

Squirrel ! ! ! !

You may recall that my plan for yesterday was to make the final 2 pillowcases for Christmas and some potholders that Tessa had asked for. Well, it seems my  sewing room was filled with squirrels and I got a bit distracted.

The first thing I saw when I went down there was the potholder I'd made for my  friend who's of Scandinavian heritage and I knew that one wouldn't be enough so I made a second one, slightly  larger. Don't know how that happened but who cares--they're potholders, for crying out loud!

                          

I'd found these cute fabrics--the red fabric with gray and black Scandinavian designs along with the taupe and off white coordinating partners--several years ago and I liked them so much, I hated to cut them. Well, I found the perfect use for them and I know my friends will like them.

The next squirrel was this blue and pink bag I'd bought awhile ago to use when I'm traveling.  It's fairly small--about 8"x 10" when folded up--and the strap is the perfect length to go across my body, leaving my hands free for whatever--pickpocketing, or maybe not!  I can put my things in the large compartment and not have to lug around a purse, which I find very cumbersome even on the best of days.

Inside the main compartment which has no poickets or any thing.  Just a place to put stuff without having any organization.Kind of looks like a very large fish mouth in this photo!

   

                        

The other compartment has slots for plastic cards and one large slot for paper money. No place for coins tho--a serious drawback for me.

Bear with me, there is a reason for all this talk about this bag.  My friend Bonnie and I traveled to the Canadian Maritime provinces last June--a truly wonderful part of the world!--and she admired my bag. Well, I said I could easily make one for her if she liked and she said she would. Now Bonnie has traveled all over the world and she knows all the ins and outs of traveling so if she thinks this is a good travel bag, I believe her.

On the last day of the trip, I found a quilt shop in Halifax and purchased the olive green and blue Grunge fabrics to use in making up her bag.  It's sat around in my sewing room until I spied it yesterday  and decided it was time to make up the bag.  

I'm using the green for the main fabric since Bonnie wears a lot of green, and the blue for the lining, and yesterday I quilted them together with a thin batting and a simple meander.  Then I cut out the  pieces for the front and back of the main part of the bag.  Next I have to make up the smaller pocket and I decided to simply use the two fabrics-- wrong sides together--so I don't  have so much bulk when I sew them all together.  If I quilted this part as well, I'd have to stitch through 3 layers of quilt and I don't think my machine would like that too much.

I also decided that when I make the "credit card slots" part of the bag, I'll use some velcro to make a secure compartment for coins using one of the slots.  There'll be plenty of room for all the plastic cards a person would want to carry.  By making these modifications, I'll not infringe on any copyright laws.  I hope!  

So, the plan is to work on this again today.  And the pillowcases, and potholders.  Maybe.

Pillowcases and Potholders

Because of the weather (heavy snowfall in the  morning followed by predicted freezing rain) we decided to reschedule our trip to Duluth to spend the day with our dear friends.  We'll try again in January when we've all finished with our  holiday festivities and travels.

So, on this gift of an extra day, I went to the sewing room and made up three pillowcases.  I try every year to give every one in the family something handmade and this year it is pilowcases.

For Tessa's boyfriend, Joe, who's a Vermont native, I found this flannel covered with "Burley Beavers" in their lumberjack plaid shirts, beards, and axes and thermoses.

Tessa gets a pillowcase featuring owls in birch trees snuggled  in hats, ear muffs, and scarves, or "mufflers" as we called them back in the day when I, and the earth, was young.

For Lily,  she gets to lay her head on images of cats and dogs with attitude and a cuff featuring cats faces on a black background.

I also had finished the 12 potholders that my friend had asked me to make for her and this morning, I got both the potholders and pillowcases off in the mail and they should arrive next week.  Now I have 2 more pillowcases to make for son Dan and daughter Jo but there's no hurry on them, and Tessa's asked that I make some potholders for her out of the 1930's fabrics that she likes so much.  When I've finished this, I'll begin working on those two projects.  Also on the To Do list is to quilt up a music themed wall hanging for Don, and to quilt the throw quilt I've made for Dan, but again, no hurry on either of those.

Also on my To Do list is to make a trip to the prison about 50 miles away.  There's a quilt shop nearby  which accepts donations for the prison.  The deal is that prisoners there earn the right to be part of the craft program. These guys knit, sew, and crochet items which are then donated to the community.  It's a triple win in my opinion: I get to clear out some of the clutter in my sewing room (left over yarn, ugly fabric, orphan blocks, etc),  the prisoners have meaningful work, and the community gets free things (scarves and mittens for school children, stuffed animals for the emergency responders to carry, quilts for the nursing homes).  Can't beat that!  

In addition to the things from my sewing room, I have collected leftover yarn from friends, and leftover drapery fabric from my friend who has a business making draperies.  All will be put to good use.  Maybe next week I'll make that trip.

That's all for today. Pillowcases are calling me!