November Monthly Mini

It is still November, isn't it? (kidding--or maybe wishful thinking) 

When I found time that I could sew during the month of November, I could not seem to locate my sewing mojo at that same time. So this little thing, that was made from a bunch of tiny 4-patch blocks create as leader/enders, was all but bound as November came to a close.

Not quite a fall color scheme, but I already had this center assembled. It wasn't difficult (even with no mojo), to slap a couple of borders on from leftover strips from another project, and do some quick, straight line quilting with my walking foot. This finishes at 6 1/2" square.

This photo below gives you a better size perspective, because you may not be able to tell that the carnations in the soft, fuzzy photo above (accidentally taken in portrait mode), are miniatures.

Linking up here with Wendy of The Constant Quilter blog (her mini is gorgeous). Click on her link to see the list of other merry mini makers, and check out their creations.

I had one of those monumental birthdays in November, and my youngest son (seen below, sitting beside me) gifted me with the game we are playing. Can you pick out the box? Calico is the name, and it is a clever strategy game that you wouldn't expect from a game about quilting--and there are cats involved. The winner receives the Master Quilter ribbon my older son is holding up. I played two games with my boys, and they each won one. How did that feel? Just look at my expression. ;) But it is a fun game.

I am slow with my Christmas decorating this year, but we did spring for a new fake tree last week, and I now have the decorating of it completed. You can see the decorations better with the lights off, because it has about a bazillion tiny lights. So here it is without the lights on. I definitely lean toward traditional, old-fashioned tree decor. Vintage glass balls, lots of handcrafted ornaments, and ornaments picked up on family vacations. The tree skirt was made by my mother. Just simple patchwork, and I love it!

The thing I love most about this tree we bought is that it looks like real evergreen branches--all the way to the trunk, not just on the tips, like some trees we saw. And the needles feel soft and realistic. I've waited a long time to be able to get a tree like this. If I can't have a real tree, at least it can look real, and I'll put pine essential oil in the diffuser.

If you are in the mood to make a sweet little Christmas quilt, check out Pam Buda's latest post here, for her Holly & Berry pattern. You can even see the vintage doll quilt on which it was based. I love it, and downloaded the free pattern (until December 5th), but am being true to my "No New Starts" rule--for the time being. If you don't do Christmas, it would look great in any color scheme.

I have done a poor job of blogging this year. I hope to do better in the new year, but during December I doubt I will improve much, if any. Just way too much going on right now, and only some of it is holiday related. 

I wish you all a wonderful December, whether it is your winter or summer. I am going to try hard to post at least a second time this month--and not just for the monthly mini. Of course, that means I need to get some sewing done. We'll see how that goes.

Until next time, be creative and be kind--even to yourself.

Janet O.

November Monthly Mini and Celebrations

It can't be December yet. I haven't posted my November mini! So here it is.The top was finished a couple of weeks ago, but birthday celebrations and Thanksgiving kept me from getting it quilted and bound until now. This finished at 14". I will link up here with Wendy, The Constant Quilter (she really is), for our Monthly Mini listing.

The color is not accurate here, but this gives you a bit of a look at the quilting. There really needs to be some stitching in the larger HSTs, but I want it to be hand quilting, so that will come later.

The machine quilting shows up better in this photo of the back. I kept it as simple as possible, because I was so far behind. I had thought about feathers, but had to pass on them this time.

The colors in the quilt were inspired by a stunning monthly mini made by Gladi (seriously, all her quilts are stunning) back in September, which you can see on her blog here. I was smitten by her quilt, and knew I wanted to copy her colors. I was just getting ready to join in on Pam Buda's Quilt Archeology doll quilt, Dear Prudence, when I saw Gladi's post, and I knew I would transfer that color palette over to Pam's design. 

Pam's pattern was for a larger doll quilt than this. I cut all the parts for the whole quilt and then realized I had made a major error and had cut everything wrong. That is what I get when I work too late at night. I had to cut things down for each block. After reworking 6 blocks, I'd had enough. I chose 5 of the six blocks and made a smaller version of Dear Prudence.

As I had worked on this little quilt I was sure I had used this palette before. I finally realized where I'd used it when I sat down to Thanksgiving dinner. The first quilt I'd made with these colors was hanging in our dining room. This was a SAL at Humble Quilts blog, where Lori had us choose an orphan block and the SAL was the process of adding the borders. It was called "Faithful". Here are the two quilts together, with my hand in the photo to give size perspective.

I hope all my friends in the U.S. had a lovely Thanksgiving last week. We had planned on having 7 or 8 family members for dinner, which is small for us. But Thanksgiving morning our youngest son, who was visiting with us for the holiday, was informed that he had been exposed to COVID the night before. We had no other family come, under the circumstances, and we just had 3 for dinner. But I have to say, no matter how few will be eating, it still makes a mess to prepare it. 

My birthday usually falls in the same week as Thanksgiving, and often gets swallowed up by the preparations. In such cases we try to celebrate a week early. Happily, hubby gifted me with tickets to a Van Gogh immersion experience available in Salt Lake City the week before.

It was incredible. Words can't convey and photos don't quite do it justice, but I will try to give you a taste. I understand there are different versions of this experience across the country, but the idea is similar. There was a photo op just inside, where they offered to take your photo  with your phone. There were four different rooms of this experience, but the last one is where you spend the bulk of your time. You can click on any of these photos to enlarge them.

In the experience on the left, above, all of the water glimmered. In the picture on the right, if you watched closely, you might catch a self-portrait blinking. And in the portraits where he was smoking a pipe, the smoke wafted from the barrel of the pipe.

I took video of some of the experiences, but the files are too large to upload. I'll try to give you an idea of what was going on. Keep in mind that there is effective mood music  going on during the whole thing.

On the left was the beginning of this picture. Then the petals started fluttering around the room until it felt you were in a snowstorm of flower petals, as on the right. Then the petals began to disappear, and there was a whole different painting on the walls behind them.

At the beginning of this painting experience the room was dark. Then the swirls began to move about the walls. They continued to move and expand until it had finally become "Starry Night." Each time the paintings changed, the transition was different. 

I would say if you get the opportunity to attend, it would be well worth it.

I am humbled by the number of "mini-acs" who are participating in my Baggie Challenge. If you haven't seen their amazing quilts, check the links in Wendy's post and see what everyone has made. I haven't made my Baggie Challenge quilt yet, but plan to do it this month--after I get some Christmas gifts made!! Oh, it is coming quickly!

Hope you are finding ways to spread joy, and stay safe.

Until next time, 

Janet O.

 

Leaving you with this sunset from last night. The hazy sky from the inversion provides a bit of a glow spilling over the mountain top. This photo was taken from my sewing room window.

November Monthly Mini

True to my norm, I am posting my November Monthly Mini just under the wire. I will link up with Wendy, our faithful and fearless leader. Check out the link to see the other monthly mini makers (I love alliteration). Haven't thought of a name for it yet, but it measures 20"x24".

 

This was made up when I came across a bag of Sandy Gervais autumn and Halloween scraps given to me by my retreat buddy a few years ago.

She met me at a local quilt shop that is about halfway between our homes, saying she had something for me. Her trunk was full of boxes and bags of scraps and yardage she was cleaning out.  It was like Christmas for me.

 

It is a simple double 4-patch. I have always loved those. Once upon a time I actually made one that was large enough to keep someone warm. I need to do more of that.

 

I was so excited that my copy of Barbara's new encyclopedia came early. Wasn't due until Dec. 1st. It arrived on the 28th of November. DH ordered it for my birthday. I am enjoying perusing it. My old edition has been a favorite, and this edition is even more fun, with colored versions of each block included.

 

Hope all my U.S. friends had a good Thanksgiving, however you had to adapt your celebration this year.

We had a pie social on Wednesday in my youngest daughter's backyard. There were 10 of us, and we kept our distance between households. It was supposed to be in the 40s, so we were prepared for it to be cool. But just before we gathered, the sun went behind the clouds and a breeze picked up. It was cold.

We wrapped up and did our best to enjoy pie and ice cream in spite of the chill factor. We only lasted about 50 minutes, but we had fun and created a memory.

That evening on my walk, the sunset looked like the mountains were on fire. Love it when that happens.

Our actual Thanksgiving dinner consisted of only 5 of us--smallest ever! Last year I think we had 20, and we thought that was small.

In spite of the craziness of this year, there is still so much that fills my heart with joy and thanksgiving. Among those blessings are the friendships I have made through this blog. I think about you and pray for you, and I enjoy the visits, whether via email, texts, calls, or those rare but delightful visits in real life. Thank you all for being a consistently good thing in my life.

Until next time,

Janet O.

 

November Monthly Mini and Thanksgiving

Another "just under the wire" monthly mini. Here it sits among the Thanksgiving decor on the dining room hutch. Linking with Wendy at The Constant Quilter blog.

You may recognize this from back in June or July. When I got it pin basted and ready to machine quilt I finally realized how wonky the inner triple sashing was.

So I unpicked the cheddar and the triple sashing. I tried reattaching the sashing and 9-patch corners, but they were still not as straight as I would have liked. I tried one more time, with a bit more success, but was not satisfied.

I got the piece damp and "blocked" it onto my wool pressing mat, hoping I could stretch the wonkiness out of it a bit and have it dry straighter.



It helped, but it was still not up to standard. At that point I was so done with this, I decided it was good enough. I also decided I didn't want to reattach the cheddar borders. I pin basted it and machine quilted the whole thing with stitch-in-the-ditch.

Now for the binding.There were already so many stars and dots in this little quilt, I wanted something different. I finally chose a blue with a subtle stripe and I cut it on the bias. Sewed the binding onto the back with the machine. When I wrapped the binding around to the front, I could see I had a new set of problems. The triple sashing and 9-patch corners had become very narrow on the outer edges, thanks to the binding--even though I cut my binding 1" and sewed it on with a very scant 1/4" seam. I unpicked the binding and tried one more time--this time shooting for a 3/16" seam allowance. Wouldn't you know it--the 9-patches are too big on most of the outside edges. So be it. I was finished! 
 
I think the past six months of barely setting foot in my sewing room has resulted in me forgetting how to quilt. This seemed so much harder than it should have been. But it is finished and maybe by next summer I can pull it out and it won't be full of bad memories. :)

We woke up Thanksgiving morning to this view from our front door. It was still coming down, and continued to pile up.

I like the shot on the right of the marshmallow hats our mailbox and paper box were wearing.  

We were hosting 20 for dinner, and our roads are not top on the list for getting plowed.  Sometimes it feels like they don't even make the list. Thanks to good people in our community who have large plows on their trucks and tractors, our road was passable. And thanks to hubby who used a shovel and the plow on the farm 4-wheeler, there were places to park. And to our youngest son who was here for the weekend, who joined in the shoveling party, everyone was able to make it up our stairs and across the deck to our door.

All 20 of us

Mom and her 4 kids

  
     Mom used to come to our house for Sunday dinner every week, but this is the first time she has been here since Mother's Day. She just can't do stairs anymore, and you have to go up a full flight to get in our house. She was carried in for this gathering. I think it is time for a chair lift on our interior stairs!

There was a big sale at the quilt shop over the mountain (Village Dry Goods) today. Had to get out after such a busy week. Didn't go with anything in mind this time--just bought what I liked. Found some lovely pieces.

Also got all of the soap out of the "curing cupboard" today. It is time to start packaging it up for holiday gifting.

All 15 batches out on the kitchen island to make sure it passes inspection.

Last week was my birthday and I often do a little "thank you" drawing at that time, but had nothing to share and no time to blog. So let's catch up now.

As a thank you to my blogging (and blog reading) friends, I offer this little quilt I finished recently, a set of Temecula notecards/patterns, a little zippered pouch, a magnetic notepad, some bars of my soap, and a 5"x5" Quilters Select ruler for you to try. Since my friend, Annie M., gifted me one, I am hooked. I bought two small ones right away online, and then I shared them with the quilt shop over the mountain (Village Dry Goods--again). They got them in and I bought two larger ones with my birthday month coupon a couple of weeks ago, and another today at their 25% off 5th Saturday sale. If you are interested, leave a comment--and thanks for following along and being a part of this great online quilting community!

With any luck, I will get another mini finished and post it before December wraps up. :)

Until next time, 
Janet O.

Drawing now closed