Last Slow Sunday of 2023

 I've had a relaxing day of pinning a quilt for quilting, machine quilting it and then making and attaching a binding. Time to hand stitch that binding to the back to finish off this hand pieced green and cream tumbler quilt I made a few years ago. I have about 300 inches of binding to stitch on this one. I do not anticipate finishing it this year, but it will be a finish in 2024!

I also have some blue binding to stitch on the Bear Paw. That one is only about 200 inches of binding to go I believe. Then some more hand quilting in the last border of HST's is needed. This will also be a finish in 2024.

I'll probably stitch a little on one or the other tonight while watching a movie. First, I think I'll start tucking away the Christmas thing and pull out the snowmen and snowflake things to decorate for the month of January. I'll hold off on the tree until tomorrow, I think. 

Linking up with Kathy and the slow Sunday Stitchers.

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ABC Table Scrap Challenge

 After sewing together the Christmas Cactus Wreath pattern this fall, I had lots of these extra stitch and flip corners in greens and reds. I used them as leader and enders and made them into HST's. Today, I took some time and stitched them into twosies, foursies and then a cute little topper.

I sewed two cast off edges from another quilt backing into a square and imagine my surprise when I flipped it over after quilting, only to discover I put it wrong side out! Oops. I'm not fixing it!

A few stitches by hand to finish off the binding and here is probably my last finish for 2023.  The table scrap challenge used letters this year along with colors. The color selection was rainbow. Well, I got a couple of colors of the rainbow used. As for the letters, S,H and E. Hmmmm. 

The Elves are Sure to like this Homemade little quilt. 

It is the perfect size for Chilly the elf, after all!

Linking up with the RSC Challenge and The Joyful Quilter.

2023 Wrap up

 Some finished quilts in no particular order! 

I had started the first couple of these free embroidery snowmen from Melissa at pinkernpunkin last year and finished them up this year. They also got sewn together and some machine and hand quilting got them to the finish line. This one is hanging in my office since it is winter and I love snowmen!

I finished off these hearts into a little quilt this fall so I could stop moving them from place to place. 

This one was a great finish! I had these civil war diary blocks I had made from a photo in a book back in 2014 and my calculations were greatly lacking on some of them. By changing up the layout with some sashing and border, it turned out pretty well. This is on the dog bed in my office and Bear likes to snuggle on it. He believes all quilts are his... just like the cats think they are all theirs!

This one is a design by Joanne at CanuckQuilter. I love how it came out and this one is hanging in my office but will soon be moved to the kitchen/living room wall for display the month of January. I tend to decorate in blues and snowmen in January... despite living in Florida!

This was RSC 16 patch blocks that were sewn up into a twin size quilt and donated to the Homeless Shelter in Barre Vermont, where I am from. She had over 90 quilts donated this year! One for each resident there in the 3 different homes.

This was another RSC finish that is a donation to the Hands2Help project. I believe it went to Little Lambs.

Another RSC - with the 16 patch blocks. I'm not sure where this one ended up! Oh wait, I gifted this to a girl scout! She is very protective of it too! Glad you liked it Holly. This is a twin size as well.

Table Scrap Challenge:

I used the Hoarfrost blue quilt above for the January challenge. I did miss a few this year but these little toppers do count as finishes! Thank you Joy, for the inspiring sew along! We will see how I do with 2024! I had fun trying a few new techniques/blocks and moving some parts out of the bin and into something useful.

I plan one more finish in this category since it is open all weekend and I have all weekend to sew. I have some cast off hst's from the Christmas Cactus quilt that want to become 'something'. 

Repairs:

Hubby's quilt got the machine quilting that was pulling out and shredding, completely pulled off the quilt and then it was hand quilted outlining the stars. This is a lap size quilt. He was very happy to get it back. 

A pig quilt got fixed for a friend. That black surround was disintegrating so I appliqued something over it.

I mended a few pulls on Emily's quilt on her bed as well in the last month. No photo's, I just put it back on her bed and the dog promptly laid on it!

Dog toys - lots of surgery done on those! The never ending battle!

There was also a bit of travel this year. The kids and I went to Atlanta in March - to the aquarium and the Coca Cola Factory. It was also our first time at a Buc-ees! It was not our last time this year!

Cocoa Beach in June with Grandma and Greg.

Emily and I went to New Orleans with the girl scout troop in June. Most had a great time despite the 110+ temps!

We also meandered up to Vermont in the summer and visited places on the way - Georgia, Washington DC, Pennsylvania - Gettysburg and the Hershey Factory, and then Yankee Candle in MA on the way home. It was great to see these 2 and help secure the doc and boat for them with the flooding right before we left for home.

 I headed back to VT for a wedding in September and got to see a bunch of the nieces and nephews I don't normally get to see. 

We also did a family Fishing charter yesterday out of Crystal River. 

The boys went a couple of years ago, but all 4 of us went this time. It was a chilly day, and the fish were not really biting, but a day out on the water enjoying nature is always a great day. We will probably try again when the kids are on Spring Break in March.

We had a busy fall - with both fathers in the hospitals - mine with a heart attack, then another attack in December and thankfully they were able to put a stint in this time and he is feeling much better with more energy and home for Christmas.  The other (my FIL) had a long hospital stay and rehab with lots of procedures. He is back home and managing well, despite not listening and driving when he should not be! Greg had to get in the mix and put his back out in December but it was better quickly after a trip to the ER and he did ok on the fishing charter yesterday. At least he can move a bit today! 

The kids kept us hopping.... ok, Emily kept me hopping with Marching Band commitments this fall. Lots of driving for late pick up's from practice, Friday night games and Saturday competitions all over the state. They ended up with Superiors across the board for music, performance, and winter guard so all the effort was worth it, and she enjoyed the experience. Thank goodness for audiobooks! I managed to listen to a lot of them while driving this year. Aidan got asked to join the HS Robotics team so he will have an away tournament in April for a few days. His first time away without one of us with him!

I am slowly checking things off the long UFO list (with a quarterly Ravelry Challenge) and trying not to add too many new things to it! 

Wishing you all a Healthy and Happy 2024 in your Sewing Rooms.

Advent box wrap up!

 Day 20 - a little pincushion project.

Day 21 - A tin of post it notes in various sizes

Day 22 - A little sewing kit with a teeny tiny rotary cutter!

Day 23 - A really fun mug that matches one of the dishes from day 4!

Day 24 -  A book

The Haunting of Quilters Square - by Hillary Doan Sperry.

Day 25 - a project carry case

I'm sad there was no present to open this morning! I enjoyed opening up all the gifts and really hope to do some of the projects this week - at least the trees, pincushion and embroidery birds.  It sounds like next year's box goes on pre-order sale tomorrow for a few days! 

Saturday, I ran a few errands and am glad I opted not to try the mall for a few last minute gifts! Seems there was a targeted shooting with the possible shooter identified but not in custody yet. Sunday, we headed to my MIL's for the evening. We met up with them at Outback for a pre-birthday dinner for Papa Andy who turned 91 on Christmas day. Then we headed back to her house to open gifts and play a few games for the 'funny' gifts she gets each year. We play various games and whomever wins, get to pick first and is out of the running, etc. Christmas is her favorite holiday, so she does it up big. Might be why my kids tended to only get 3 gifts on Christmas from Santa/us! I decided not to compete with Grandma when they were babies!

Christmas morning, the kids always have us open the presents they got us (parents) first. I know, my kids are nuts! I had to do their search to 'find a present clues' for them again this year. Then Aidan made us waffles for breakfast with the waffle iron. We headed over to visit Grandpa Tom around lunchtime and brought a Taco Salad, which he loves. I'm guessing that is long gone by now! Then home for a relaxing rest of the day. Aidan wanted to try one of the new games, so we played a Brand card game last night. I guess I need to brush up on what different logo's look like around the world, where they originated and when! Aidan beat me pretty badly. 

Back to work today, but I did finally trim the bear paw quilt at lunch. Now I just need to make and attach the binding and then I can finish quilting those border HST's. It is much easier once the binding is on!

Hope everyone had a nice Christmas.

Progress....

 I decided to take a 'sick' day. I got Emily's head cold on Wednesday (when way too many things hit at once but thankfully everything turned out fine!), had lots of running around yesterday and decided a 'do nothing' day would be a good thing to try and feel better for the weekend. I'm hopeful it worked as I did nothing but hand quilt and watch movies all day. 

Which leads to the progress..... I have all of the center of the bear paw hand quilted. I just have the HST's all around the outside. I think I'll cut and attach the binding (while fixing a few seams on the edge I found while quilting) and then finish the hand quilting. I did that with the snowmen, and it worked out great, so I'll do that again! I don't have more of the blue fabric from the front. Not sure if I have enough of the background fabric that I have pinned to the front to cut to make a binding out of....or I could go with a white. I'll decide Saturday. I'm not sure I like the corner triangles either. I think it needs more stitching so the curve part might get taken out or something more added to the middle section. We'll see what I decide tomorrow. 

I managed to do surgery on Lambie. I tried to do the bear, but Bear took it and put him by lambie and laid down. They both have been up high on the top of the tv stand waiting for some stitches to close the holes. He just moved to the couch, so I'll try and get the bear stitched up while we watch Disney's Grinch movie.

More of the Christmas Box....

I am really enjoying this Christmas box from Missouri Star and can't wait to start playing with the projects. Life should be a little quieter now that kids are done school for the semester and the last scout party has happened. The 4 girls, including Emily received their High Honor Silver Award Certificate and pin for their community lending library they made on Monday night. They also did a secret Santa exchange and a pot luck. These girls do love their food! 

I think we just plan to go to Homosassa Springs for the Christmas light display sometime later this week with Grandma. Tomorrow morning is a busy day - I have a couple of meetings in the morning, Greg has his Dr follow up on his back and the AC/Heating guy is coming first thing in the morning for the twice a year cleaning. It will be a cold one for him as we will be in the low 40's tomorrow morning!

Thursday morning, Emily has a dentist appt for a cavity and I have an annual dr appointment where she'll go over my blood work. All looks the same as 6 months ago, so it should be quick. 

Day 10 - Quilting style playing cards - a deck of 2!

Day 11 - A kit for embroidery birds in white and red! I can't wait to try these.

Day 12 -  A silicone mat for the iron. I think mine will live in the kitchen instead!

Day 13 -  Sewing Edges! How neat are these?

Day 14 - A charm pack!

Day 15 - Directions and handle and closure for a bag.... to use with the charm pack from yesterday!

Day 16 - Sweedish dish cloths! Set of 2. The other one is already in use! Love these.

Day 17 - A Roxanne glue stick and a wooden press for seams.

Day 18 - Is this cute pillow pattern with the elongated hexagon template and some fusible.

Day 19 is a Puzzle book with crosswords, search a words and various other puzzles all related to quilting! I might have started on a search a word already!

I'm loving everything so far, despite not doing the projects yet! 

Sunday

 Well, the storm has gone through overnight and left lots of rain. I thought it was completely through, but then it just started raining again outside. Thank goodness the soil is sand here in Florida, and everything sinks in pretty well. 

Everyone is still sleeping, and I do love the quiet of the house in the morning before everyone is awake. I did go check on Mushu - the bearded dragon we are watching for a week while his owner is on a cruise with her family. He was awake so I turned on his lights and gave him some romaine lettuce. He is a baby and about 12 inches long. He will double in size I believe.

 Emily can add the live crickets once she wakes up. The dog is in with her, still sleeping.

Saturday we had an earlier horses lesson to get in before the rain started. Their lesson got pushed back a bit, but they started out in dry weather but ended up with some drizzle. The girls didn't seem to mind too much as they all were happy to be riding horses! Emily got to try the new one in the barn, Cowgirl. We think she needs a new name and tried a few out. She pricked her ears at Queenie, so we will see what happens the next time we see her after Christmas. 

It was a day in the kitchen for me after popping to Aldi to pick up some veggies. We were plum out of fresh veggies, and I wanted some russet potatoes to pop in the oven with the prime rib. Yes, I got another one and cooked it up yesterday. I pulled it out of the oven at 117 F and after resting it was at 131F. Perfect eating temp. I now have another 5 slices in the freezer and a rack of bones for making beef barley soup. There are a few slices in the fridge as well. I kinda got a big one since they were 6.99 a pound at Publix last week, and Emily decided she likes to pull them when she dislikes what I make for dinner. 

I made sugar cookie dough and some saltine cracker toffee.

 Turns out the girl really likes this as well. Sigh, I guess she is my kid liking everything I do! I'll bake off the cookies today and will make another kind as well. I'm bringing some to scouts Monday for a pot luck, and since the storm went through, I'll take the kids over to see their Grandpa Tom today and drop off some cookies to him as well. 

Greg's back was better Friday with the shot at the ER on Thursday but was worse yesterday. I guess it wore off. Not sure how it is today. He put his back out on Wednesday and is in a world of hurt. 

I'm watching the Polar Express and plan to pick up my hand quilting project and add some stitches this morning. 

Are there Christmas shows you watch every year? I know I have a DVD of the standard kids Christmas shows somewhere in the house. I plan to find it so I can watch them this week - Charlie brown, Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman, etc. 

I normally get some gingerbread house kits for the kids to decorate. I got 2 this year and Emily opened hers last week and got the house built. It has not been decorated yet. I noticed Aidan got his out yesterday and built and decorated his. I didn't think he would, based on the comments when I brought them home a couple of weeks ago!

Linking up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers.