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!