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!
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