December Monthly Mini and other small stuff

Once again, just squeaking under the wire. The ball will be dropping on Time Square in just minutes (in my time zone), and December will be gone. If you recall the little Jen Kingwell Postcard Project pattern I shared in my last post, this is what came of playing with that on a few late nights when I needed fabric therapy. This will be linked with Wendy at The Constant Quilter blog, for our final monthly minis of this year.

The fabrics were gleaned from some red/black pieces my retreat buddy gave me, and the backgrounds came from a Primitive Gatherings charm pack of a new line.  It finished at about 10" x 12".
Some of it is a bit wonky--I had some issues with the cutting. The templates that came with the pattern were great in all ways but one. In the photo to the right you can see the corners that are to match up. I've drawn arrows to the corners that gave me trouble. The smaller triangle has a rounded edge, while the matching edge of the larger triangle is beveled, as are all the other corners that match up. If I had been willing to mark all of the little dots in the corners and match them up that way, it might have come together more easily, but I am lazy about making and matching dots, so I suffered without them. And the rounded corner was difficult to cut, even with a small rotary cutter. I might have thought it was just an anomaly on my set, but I had purchased two sets and they were both the same.

The top did get finished with my December Circa 1880 small quilt, but knew I would have a harder time getting this one quilted than I would the Postcard Project, so this one is still a flimsy.

I had planned to make the outer border in red or green, but those black backgrounds on the stars needed some company.

Is this a familiar sight to anyone else? I let my cutting mat on my sewing room cutting table get very hacked up before deciding I should request a new one on my Christmas wishlist. I have already turned it around and the other side is not much better, so I will cut the sides that don't get as chewed up into smaller cutting mats to be taken to retreats and sew-ins, and I will replace this with the new one Santa delivered. 


First I need to remove the piles of things around the edges--and this photo was taken after I had actually cleaned most of it off. :)

The last day of December brought such a nice surprise in my mailbox. Many of you have sewn along with the Temecula Tiny Tree SAL. I longed to join in, but knew it wasn't going to happen for me this year. Well, my good blogging buddy, Sarah (at sarahdidit blog), posted that she was making 5 of them, to have some to gift. 

I was thrilled to find that I was the recipient of one of those trees. Isn't it fun? I have been sick for the last 5 days, and this was such a day brightener! Thank you, Sarah. One can never have too many Christmas quilts, or quilts from friends!

Also, in my initial post I forgot to include this sweet mug rug that arrived from my pal Wendy at The Constant Quilter blog. It came during the holidays and I had already put it to work. Thus, when writing my post it was covered with my mug (that is what a mug rug is for, after all) and I failed to add it here. That is now remedied. Many thanks, Wendy!

I have been very absent from blogland lately. I miss keeping up with everyone's blogs. I hope I have more time for it in the new year! Hope you all have a great beginning to a new decade!
Until next time,
Janet O.

The sum total...

...of my sewing since my last post at the end of November is shown below.

This is Small Quilt #6 in the Circa 1880 club. You can see from the pattern picture on the left that I have toyed with the value placement again. I thought having a dark background on the stars made the little uneven 9-patch blocks stand  out more. I am also thinking about using a cheddar for the inner border and maybe a red print outer border, with a green binding. We will see how that all plays out as it progresses.

Had another opportunity to get over the mountain again with my friend yesterday. We enjoyed a visit to Village Dry Goods, where (among other things) I snatched up this cute little "Postcard Project" by Jen Kingwell. I look forward to having time one day to actually try it.

 

For all you cross-stitch lovers out there, after our visit to Village Dry Goods, we proceeded south a few more minutes and arrived at Shepherd's Bush. This is a cross-stitcher's heaven! Every nook and cranny is filled with things to delight!

 

 

 

Teri cheerfully waited on us, and gave me permission to take photos and share them with you. You could lose yourself for hours in here!

I used to do a LOT of cross-stitch in my younger days and I have to say that I was sorely tempted to buy a little kit or two, but I talked myself out of it. Who am I kidding? I am not getting anything done on projects as it is--why add to the pile? But there were some really cute ones that I carried around for a while before coming down off of the ledge. :)

If you are looking for anything cross-stitch related you can go to their website and give their number a call. They do not take orders online, but are happy to do so over the phone. (No affiliation, just sharing info on a fantastic resource.)

You may be wondering about my drawing. I did finally draw a name for my birthday giveaway about a week ago. The winner was notified, the package was sent, and has already been received. Grace at citymousequilter blog was the winner of the drawing. I also drew a couple of other names to receive a bag of my herbal soap. Debbie at stitchintherapy blog and Gale (no blog--but soon moving to my neck of the woods, sort of) were selected. Congrats, ladies! I hope you enjoy your squishies in the mail.

It is a very busy time of year, and I hope in the bustle of it all you can find time to relax and enjoy the sights, scents, and sounds of the season. And if your celebration is about the birth of Christ, maybe you can make time to view this beautifully made 18 minute video of that blessed event. I especially love the reaction of one of the wisemen near the end.

https://www.comeuntochrist.org/light-the-world/the-christ-child

If all goes well, my little quilt at the beginning of this post will  be completed in time to link up with Wendy at the end of the month for her monthly mini post. And maybe then I will share more of what the holidays look like around my place this year. For now, I am off to spend my day with my Mom.

Until next time,

Janet O.