Quilting the pinwheels.................

When I got home from PT yesterday I basted this little pinwheel quilt and started quilting it last night.  I'm ditch quilting this one with white thread.  I have 9 more rows to stitch and then I can trim it and choose binding.  I have a feeling it will be a black and white stipe binding.

I wasn't sure if I was going to order any of the new Kaffe line "from the archives" since I still had some pieces of the original fabrics.  There were however 2 that I didn't have and 4 that I was either out of or down to the last little scrap.  I decided to preorder some half yards and they came in the mail yesterday.

I think the whole first week of January will be spent organizing things.  I have piles of Kaffe fabric that haven't been worked back into the stacks.  Since the Kaffe fabric is stored in my bedroom now and I'll do the sorting on my bed, it will have to be done in one day.

Tomorrow I hope to have my December recap and the final photos of the pinwheel baby quilt in my post, and the following day I will have the yearly recap.

Another day of good intentions...............

I don't get much done in the mornings.  It is my computer time, when I clean up the kitchen from the night before, and other things around the house.  I planned on basting another baby quilt in the afternoon.  After lunch I knew I had to take my van for a ride to keep the battery charged so I went to W*lm*rt.  For 2 weeks in a row they didn't have any big bags of frozen strawberries.  I use them in my morning smoothie.  Shortly after I got home my son came by.  But first I'll tell you about the photo here.  While my son was working on something I cut the backing and batting for this table runner.  Later in the evening I layered and pinned it with flower head pins and stitched in the ditch around the crazy pieced squares.  I haven't decided how to quilt the rest of it.  The back is the opposite color of the same print as the borders on the front.  It will be the binding too.

Back to my son's visit.  First he put a battery charger on my van battery.  Next he replaced the end connectors on the fixture he worked on Saturday for a tighter fit for the bulbs.  Then he checked the cold water hose on my washer since it was just a dribble coming into the washer.  Now it's better.  Then he hooked up the new TV stick on the TV I can see from both my studio and my kitchen.  Another remote to learn!  He's trying to convince me to turn in my Comcast boxes and switch over to the stick on all 3 TVs.  He patiently set up the new system (lots of passwords needed) and gave me instructions of how to navigate through it.

By the time he was leaving my van battery was charged up half way which is way higher than it has been for a long time.  He needed to unhook it so I can drive to PT this afternoon but he will come another time and get it to a full charge.

Finish #7 for December 2025...............

This quilt was made from a couple trays of plaid squares that were cut several years ago.  I made 16 patch blocks and then went to the design wall for the layout.  It is 39" x 47".  It has Hobbs 80/20 batting in it and was quilted on my Pfaff.

I had this cute farm print fabric that is on the back in my stash.  The binding is a yarn dyed woven stripe.

I think the binding looks good with the fabrics on both sides of the quilt.

I had a dishcloth near a finish so I worked on it last night.  I ran out of the yarn with 7 stitches left.  I tied on the white yarn in the corner to finish the last 3 rows.  I'm down to 12 dishcloths now after gifting several for Christmas.

 

A very good day......................

My son came over yesterday morning to fix my 8 ft. burned out lights at the bottom of the basement stairs.  He removed the ballast and then rewired it and now it takes the skinny LED 8 foot bulbs.  He ended up staying another  2 hours helping with other things I can't do.  I didn't eat lunch until 2:30 and didn't get around the the quilting on this plaid baby quilt until evening.  The quilting is finished but I didn't want to go down to the basement to do the trimming or choose binding late at night.

The on point squares created by the quilting are 2 5/8" so this is plenty of quilting without doing ditch quilting along the seams.

I think I'll look for a stripe for the binding.  I'm not sure I have enough of any of the yarn dyed woven stripes so it may end up being a printed stripe.

Today's prediction 57 degrees and rain, tomorrow's prediction, 22 degrees.  It sounds like a week in the high 20s and low 30s with a possibility of snow mid-week.

Basting and quilting......................

After wrapping the Christmas gifts for the family party, I started basting this plaid baby quilt.

When I got home from the party at 8:30 last night I finished the basting and started the machine quilting on my Pfaff.  I think I can get the rest of the quilting done today and trim and bind it.

They are predicting 57 degrees on Sunday and rain.  It's just for one day before the frigid air gets here again.

 

Finish #6 for December 2025........................

I started the day yesterday making 3 batches of Chex Mix to take to the family party tonight.  Late in the afternoon I worked on the quilting of this flannel tumbler baby quilt and finished the quilting last night.  It is 39" square.

This photo is a little dark and I didn't have any luck trying to lighten it.  The binding is the same fabric as the backing.

This is closer to the true color of the backing flannel.  I used Hobbs 80/20 batting in the quilt.

Now I have 3 little flannel quilts made.  I may be gifting one (the largest of the 3) of them tonight.  I haven't decided yet whether the 2 year old would want it.

 

Merry Christmas.................

No white Christmas this year, and I'm thankful for that.  We had our white right after Thanksgiving instead this year.  

In yesterday's mail there was a Christmas card from my talented friend, Linda Swanekamp.  She not only makes quilts, she also paints.  I love the warm glow behind the tree. 

I got the basting done on this little quilt late yesterday afternoon and started the quilting last night.  I quilted in the ditch crosswise on the quilt and am quilting a presser foot width away from the seams in the other direction. 

Both packages of treats reached my 2 out of state families yesterday.  On the post office receipt it said Friday delivery, so I could only hope they would be  more efficient and get the packages there on Wednesday.
 

Prep day................

A couple days ago I pieced batting and yesterday I cut it to size for this baby quilt.  I just need to press the center crease out of the backing and then it can be basted and quilted.

I pieced another piece of batting large enough for this flannel tumbler baby quilt.  I think it will be the next one to baste and quilt.

I needed to piece the batting for this one with white thread since there are all white backgrounds in the top.  I found a piece of white Dream Cotton batting that I could use.  I had been saving it for a quilt that needed white batting.

Now I just need to get busy and get these three quilted and bound before the end of the year.

Table runner................

Cutting and sewing of the sashing and border went smoothly on this table runner top made with Marcia Derse fabric.  It is 15" x 40" right now.  I'm contemplating how I'll quilt it now and I may put that off until after Christmas.

After I finished working on that I pieced a batting for the next baby quilt that I will finish.

I bought these 3 glass trees with interior lights last year.  They have a timer for 6 hours on.  The tall one looks tipped but that's my fault for taking the photo at that angle.  These are at the far end of my living room and the cardinal candles I showed previously are at the other end of the room.

It was 44 yesterday and maybe will be a couple degrees warmer today.  The snow piles along the side of the streets and along my driveway are still there but there should be more melting today.

Trimming..................

It was time to clean off a couple table tops yesterday so I didn't get to the studio until evening.  First up was trimming the Marcia Derse crazy pieced blocks.

The largest size I could trim to was 11.5".

They will be made into a table runner and this is the white with black Marcia Derse fabric that will border them.  I have a visitor coming today and PT tomorrow but there will be several hours to continue doing clean up and to work on this table runner.  I'm ready for a couple relaxing days.

Finish #5 for December 2025

The binding was cut yesterday afternoon and last night I sewed it on, finished by machine.  This little quilt is 30" x 39.25".  It is flannel and in the Bullseye Log Cabin pattern.  It has Hobbs 80/20 batting in it and I quilted it on my Pfaff.

 It took only a one yard piece of flannel for the back of the quilt.  The binding is a medium tan, darker than the light fabrics and lighter than the dark fabrics.

It was so dark yesterday morning that I had to move this cactus plant to the bathroom to take its photo.  It is the white with pink edging.

Here's a little closer look at the only bloom on the plant.

I haven't had a Christmas tree for many years since the party isn't at my house anymore.  This year I bought (with a gift certificate) a 24" tall flocked tree that has the tiniest lights you have ever seen.  They are on in the photo but don't show up.  I got the Merry Christmas wood and metal sign on sale after Christmas last year.

There was a little more money to spend on the GC so I got these candles, made of real wax with flickering LED lights in them.  There is a remote to turn them on and off.  I will have them on display all the way through March.  Today is the shortest day of the year, and the best news is that it will be getting lighter each day.

Quilting finished................

I wasn't sure this one was going to bloom.  It was a bud for more than 3 weeks.  This pot is on my kitchen windowsill, west exposure.

Since I am only a little over 5' I am looking across at this pot when I'm standing at the sink.  I kept thinking this pot had 4 pieces that had broken off my pale pink cactus plant, but when I looked closer it is just 2 pieces. 

I did have one more thing to bake yesterday and then PT in the afternoon.  Last night I finished the quilting on this flannel bullseye baby quilt.  I'll get it trimmed today and look for binding.  After I finished it I worked on the current dishcloth.

It was a cold day yesterday and 40 predicted today.  Mid 50s and maybe closer to 60 predicted for Christmas day. 

 

Baking first, sewing last......................

I started the day yesterday baking the other Kringlas, different than the ones I baked last week.  The dough was refrigerated overnight.

Next I baked the pink Spritz.  It was a relief to have my oven fixed to bake these.  I did the previous batch that were for my son's customers last week in the little countertop electric oven and it was tricky getting them out before they got too dark.

A little later in the day I baked the chocolate spritz.  After that I made one more batch of fudge.  Now I have enough of everything to mail in two packages and for my local family's gifts.

Last night I started the quilting on this flannel bullseye baby quilt.  I think I have about 2/3 quilted.  Stitching along the seams doesn't show up in this photo.  

Today is my last PT for this session.  My left leg is getting stronger and that was the focus of this session.  I will have more PT in January starting in the middle of the month.

Great mail.......................

In my mail preview I saw a card from Vicki Welsh.  This was my favorite of the three she made this year.  It is so exciting to receive one of her cards.

I did a little rearranging of the cards from the previous 14 years plus the new one.  They are up on my bulletin board year round and I look in that direction while I'm sewing so I'm enjoying them all of the time.

Also in the mail was a new book.  The author contacted me a while ago and asked if she could use the image of one of my quilts in the book she was working on.

If you do a search for her name you will see she is the maker of the gemstone quilts.  Her diamond was the first one I saw.

There is more interesting information on the back of the book.  Click to enlarge.

If you go to her website and click on SHOP you can order the book directly from her.

It was hard to hold the book open with one hand and take the photo with the other hand.  This is my quilt in her book.

I finally got in the mood for baking and made the English Toffee Bars first.  Then I made 2 batches of Chex Mix and mixed the dough for a batch of Kringlas.  It needs to be refrigerated so I will bake them today.

I found a surprise bloom on one of my red-orange cacti.  It was on the side facing the window.  This one was repotted in the summer.  I have another bud ready to open on one of the white with pink edging.  It had already bloomed and then set another bud.

I'm not sure if I'll have any blooms on Christmas.  

The weather forecast is saying we might be in the 50s for Christmas.  It has happened before but is always surprising.

 

Finish #4 for December 2025..................

I started this quilt in 2016 and this post shows the inspiration quilt.  I used the layout and some of the elements in the book and then went off onto my own tangent to finish it.  The center portion hung on a hanger for 9 years waiting for me to figure out end borders to make it rectangular.  I was overthinking it, not realizing it only needed simple end borders.  It is 59.5" x 80".

I found three red Kaffe fabrics that had enough yardage for the back and then I decided to look in one more box.  There I found the teapot fabric, a Liberty fabric colored by Kaffe Fassett.  It is so perfect for this quilt.  It has Hobbs 80/20 batting in it and was longarm quilted by Robin Diaz.  I saved enough Kaffe purple Wood Ear for the binding.

Yesterday I had to fill my gas tank if I was going to drive around enough to keep my van battery charged.  I decided to stop at W*lm*rt on my way home.  Then I had PT at 2 and stopped at the family owned grocery store that is 7 blocks from my house.  I did one load of laundry and just couldn't get enthused about baking too.  Today I should be able to stay home and get busy on the baking.

Bright and soft......................

The binding is finished on this medallion quilt and full photos and stats will be on tomorrow's post.  The repairman was supposed to come between 2 and 4 yesterday and he got here at 5.  By 6:30 he had the oven and the dryer both working normally.

While waiting for him to arrive, I pressed all 10 flannel pieces and cut the squares.  Last night I got the top sewn together.  It is 32" x 40" so a 1 yard piece will be enough for a backing.

Jack Frost only did a little painting on my kitchen windows with our frigid weather over the weekend.  It's all melted away now.

Now that I have an oven working again, I'll be spending a couple days baking....and doing laundry with a dryer that isn't screeching at me.