Proof of finish.........

I'm publishing a second post today to get these finishes in at the end of the year.

Finish #19 for 2020

 Yardbirds Circling the Cat wallhanging finished before midnight Dec. 31, 2020.  It is approximately 32" square.  Hand finished binding.

The back is a mottled batik.

Finish #20 for 2020
You might remember this mini colorwash I made while I was teaching my Colorwash360 class.  The little squares finish at 1"

On the back I added the folded squares at the corners so a rod can be put in on any side for hanging.  I don't normally count my small pieces in my yearly count but since this one is art and not a serviceable item like placemat or table mat I am going to count it this year.   It took many hours to find all of the fabrics to make it and arrange and rearrange many times unlike a table mat that I could make in an hour.  I'm only justifying this for myself since I'm pretty structured in my expectations of what I make.

Still working on it..............

 I'm still working on #19.  I finished the quilting yesterday morning, chose the binding fabric and then wasted a lot of time before I cut and sewed the binding on.  I'm hand stitching it down and and have 2 sides done.  This piece is only 32" square so I should be able to finish it this morning and get on to #20.

We got about 4" of snow with freezing rain/ice on top of that.  My snow plow guy came early and plowed but there was a thin layer of icy residue and tire tracks.  I went out a few times and spread ice melter, then shoveled, more ice melter, more shoveling and finally got the driveway clean in one lane so my family could bring me a 5 gallon bottle of water for my cooler. I went out later and shoveled the sidewalk and porch.  Most of the driveway melted off before the temperature dropped back below freezing again.  Today is supposed to be below 30 all day but maybe some sunshine.  Tomorrow sounds like more snow and then freezing rain again.  The bright spot is what follows that mid 30s - 40s starting Saturday and above normal temperatures coming our way.

Started quilting the next one..............

This quilt was started at least 15 years ago, a paper pieced pattern by Karen K Stone called Yardbirds Circling the Cat.  The border finally got added last year in June.  I thread basted it yesterday and started quilting it last night.  Hopefully I will get right at it this morning and get the quilting done.

Yesterday I got a beautiful hand made Christmas card from Linda.  (Click here to see her cards in progress) She mailed it on December 15 and I got it on December 29th.  I wonder what route it took???  Now I can't complain about the package I mailed to my granddaughter in another state on the 21st and it got there on the 24th.  Some things seemed to move along in the system just fine and others got stuck somewhere.  I'm just happy that I got the card, very happy to add it the ones from previous years.

Snow started to fall late yesterday afternoon.  It had turned to freezing rain before I went to bed.  The temperature is supposed to keep rising to at least 36 so I hope the icy stuff will melt.  AAA guy came and started my van yesterday so I took it for a ride.  I need to do that again soon to keep the battery charged up but I won't drive on slick streets.
 

Onion Ring basket weave finished

I think this is the first time I ever finished the binding in 2 days on a quilt this size.  I haven't decided on which other two I will finish so I decided to just keep stitching since this one had to be finished too.  I hope to get a better photo later since I really couldn't get a good shot in my main floor studio.  It measures 58.5" x 74" now that it is finished.

The back is an older Kaffe Fassett print.

It looks like the wax coated Amaryllis is going to be some shade of red.

The battery was dead on my van yesterday so I walked the seven blocks to the post office and grocery store.  It was 31 degrees but sunny and not very windy.  A mask with flannel on the inside felt good.  I'll need to call AAA today to get it started.   

Quilting done, binding started.................

I did the quilting before lunch yesterday.  I really like the backing fabric with the front of the quilt.

I did what I have always called loop-de-loop, just random size loops going both left and right.

I chose the onion ring fabric for the binding.  I decided to hand finish this one because that fabric is so easy to hand stitch through.  It ended up at 59" x 74" before binding.  I have about 100" hand sewn so far.  This makes #18 for the year and my goal is 20 for 2020 so I need to choose 2 more to finish and they may be small ones.

 

A finished quilt top...........

This quilt top was waiting for me to make a decision on borders.  I almost finished without borders but I'm glad I reconsidered them again.  It is 35" x 42.25".

I also sewed and pressed the backing seam and got the backing and batting loaded on the longarm. The top is just laying there, not stitched on yet.

A friend gave me a gift certificate so I could choose my own Amaryllis bulb.  They also had a stake so I ordered that too.  I had the grapevine basket from an amaryllis many years ago so I was glad to use it again.

Yesterday I noticed there are 2 buds peeking out in addition to the 2 leaves in the center so I should have some January blooms in my winter indoor garden.

 

Cleaning off the table tops............

This is the cutting table in my main floor studio yesterday morning.  I had raised the leaf and put a second cutting mat on it for a project last week.

After a very lazy relaxing day yesterday this is my progress.  There is at least one more 2 hour session to finish up.  I can even fold the leaf down now and use the original cutting mat.

My Christmas dinner was delivered by my son, prime rib and roasted veggies.  Yum!!

I sent some scones home with him.

Jack Frost visited on Christmas morning.  It was 9 degrees when I got up.  I think it made it up to 21 yesterday.

One pale pink bloom is fully opened, the other almost open.  This is the second blooming for this plant.  It has bloomed as many as 5 times one winter and at least 3 times most winters.  Last year was the exception when it only bloomed once.

Merry Christmas!.............

 

Last night I baked Very Berry scones for Christmas breakfast.  I forgot to take the picture until after I tested them....they are yummy.

I used this mix for the scones.

The wax coated Amaryllis is still trying to open and bloom.

There is still no sign of what color it will be.  Maybe it will open some more today.

My pale pink cacti has 2 blooms but I didn't get a photo while it was still light yesterday...maybe today.

We are down to one week to wrap up all pending projects by New Year's Day.  I would like to start out the new year with every table top cleaned off.  Wish me luck, I'll need it.

Next in line............

This onion rings top will be the next in line to be quilted.  I had the batting cut off the roll last week but needed to cut it to the right length.

This older Kaffe fabric will be the back.  I got the 2 pieces cut yesterday and spritzed the fold marks.  While they were drying I did a load of laundry.  

I went out and filled the birdfeeders because it was 57 degrees outside in the afternoon.  By the time I went to bed it was 25 and heading down lower overnight.  

They are saying 10 overnight tonight and 22 on Christmas day.

 

Wonderful mail..........

 I was so excited to get a fabric Christmas postcard from Vicki W yesterday.   I'm still amazed how they travel across the country and arrive clean.

She makes several card designs each year and this was my favorite this year.

I added it to my collection from previous years which is on my display wall year round. 

I delivered some of my sweet treats yesterday and partially cleaned up the kitchen.  Now I need to finish that job and then move on to finishing another quilt.

70 years ago............

 70 years ago this was my Christmas present.  I was 10 years old and my dad was an amateur photographer.  My older brother got a camera like this too but I don't think my younger brother got one.

I took the camera to school with me occasionally.  My dad developed his own films and sometimes he would develop mine too but usually I took my exposed film to the drugstore and picked up prints a week later.

I have had many different cameras since the early 1960s as cameras became smaller and easier to carry around.

I don't have many other things from my childhood because we shared everything with younger members of the family and even neighbor kids.

I made the chocolate spritz yesterday but had lots of them already packed and ready to mail to family across the country before I remembered to take a photo.  Last night I made 2 more batches of Chex mix to use up all of the cereal.

I might be done baking or I might make one more different kind of cookies.  

Food.............

I made two batches of Chex Mix yesterday.  I like the original recipe but I change the type of pretzels to whatever is available each year.  I also use a whole stick of butter instead of 3/4 of a stick.  These are butter flavored pretzels which goes right along with the flavor of Chex Mix.

I decided to bake one batch of Spritz last night.  I realized I only have green sugar to sprinkle on them so I decided to make pink cookies.  I will make chocolate spritz today.

My red cactus is still blooming.  I have 2 pale pink buds ready to pop open on another cactus.

Here we are at the day of the least daylight in the year.  I'm looking forward to the brightening of each day going forward.
 

Insert strip..............

I clipped off the top and bottom rows (which are the side rows of the quilt) and pressed the center section.  I left a 2" gap to try out an insert strip (at the top left).

I have enough of this insert fabric for the back of the quilt so I wanted to try it.  I don't want a plain color or tone on tone type print because that would take your attention away from the wonderful assortment of fabrics.  While I'm getting my baking done this will stay on the design wall.

I made one kind of Kringlas yesterday.  Recipes in this post.  

The bottoms of a few of them got a little dark so this batch is for me.  They will go into the freezer and be a treat for a couple months.

And last of all a batch of fudge.  Today I will either do Spritz cookies or Chex mix, or maybe both.
 

Seams sewn..............

 I got the long seams sewn last night but it was too late to turn on an iron and press it by the time I finished.

I baked English Toffee bars yesterday.  I posted the recipe 3 years ago on this blog.

They are thin, buttery and crunchy.  I didn't have any nuts in the house so they are all just plain chocolate this year.  I don't like nuts in my sweets so I only add them for some of the people I give them to.

Sewing, baking...........

I started sewing the Kaffe 16 patch quilt top.  I will be able to clip off the top and bottom rows to try an insert strip.  As soon as I get it sewn I can take some photos downstairs where I have better lighting.

I finally baked my first batch of cookies.  I have a few people I always give a variety to for Christmas so I'll be baking every day and maybe twice a day for the rest of this week.

The champagne color cactus I bought this year is still blooming.  I think there is one more bud that shows promise and then the rest of them will dry up and fall off.

I bought 2 of them last year because several of my older ones had died.  This one is starting to bloom now but the other one doesn't even have buds on it yet.  I think the other one is the champagne color. 

Two finished for December 2020

The Marcia Derse baby quilt is finished.  The blues are from lines dating back several years.  The white and black are from her line the Opposites (there was a positive and negative of each print). It ended up 35" x 47".

The backing and binding fabric is another from her Opposites line.  Binding is all by machine.

After I finished this one I did a load of laundry and went grocery shopping.

And then I tackled the binding on the big plaid zig zag quilt.  It took over an hour even doing it all by machine.

I wanted to use more of the plaid or stripe fabric for the binding and then I decided it would be a pain to cut the plaid straight so I went with a stripe.  It was the only stripe I had enough of.

I used Martha Negley's Tree Rings fabric for the back.  I thought the coloring was perfect.  This one ended up 69" x 88.5".

It's time for the weekly update on the waxed Amaryllis.  It has really grown a lot this past week and the bud is starting to open up.  I wonder what color it will be.