A diversion from cooking and cleaning

Lots of relatives are arriving later tonight. Tomorrow there will be 20 people at our Thanksgiving meal. So that meant a lot of preparation today. I cleaned bathroom, bedrooms, kitchen, the studio and I baked. It would have seemed like one very long day of not the most pleasant tasks, except that I took time out this morning to arrange a Thanksgiving decoration on our mantel. It was fun and turned out better than I even imagined. I took my small pumpkins and gourds and coated them with glue and then sprinkled glitter on top. Lights were laid down on the mantel first, then moss, then the pumpkins. Next the letters were suspended from the edge and last rafia and rose hips that were recently cut from my garden were added. I love the way it looks. It is truly one of many things to give thanks for!

Last Quilts

I finished up my quilting this morning. Right now I only have two quilts in my studio that are customer quilts. They should get done sometime in December but I'm into working on lots of my own projects right now. Today after finishing the customer work and delivering the quilts (yes I do sometimes deliver), I worked on a wallhanging, made two pair of flannel pajamas for my son, and loaded a quilt for my daughter-in-law on the longarm. It felt good to be free of the pressure of having to get quilts for customers done. I can play this week. I also have to get ready for a whole lot of relatives to arrive on Wednesday, but they are some of the easiest people to have around so there's no stress. It's time for me to create a few new things, make some Christmas gifts and enjoy many of the other fine things of home. I'll post pictures of what I'm doing.

Here's a couple customer quilts that were just finished.

Last Minute Gift

Last night before I went to bed I thought I should bring a gift for two friends who I am meeting for lunch today. I decided to make two table runners. My machine was empty, I had a couple stacks of the 5 inch squares and the morning free. Up and in the studio by 7:30 I started. By 9:30 I had the table runners done and on the machine. They were quilted in about 45 minutes and then the binding was put on and stitched down by machine. I am done with 20 minutes to go until I have to leave for lunch. That's what I call a perfect last minute gift!

Cats and Quilting

We lost one of our cats this summer. He probably was injured and disappeared, but we never found him. It was really hard for me because he was a favorite. Even though his name was Data, most often we just called him 'boy'. When I was working around the house he often found a place to sleep close by. He was always interested in what I was doing. So the loss of boy was really hard.

In January a new kitty adopted our family. I just found him in the garage one day and he decided to stay. He obviously had not been fed as he was skin and bones, but he seemed really friendly. We tried to find a new home for him but after several tries on Craig's List and asking around, it was decided that our home would be his new home. So we named him, New Kitty. It's interesting that since losing boy, new kitty has kind of taken his place. He now follows me around and often sleeps where I'm working. If I lay out a quilt on the floor, he immediately comes and sits in the middle of it (why do cats do that?). I'm glad to always have a cat around while quilting. I've renamed him Buster but the rest of the family still calls him new kitty.

Christmas Quilts

I've already completed a few Christmas quilts for customers. They are always some of my favorites to work on. I love Christmas so it's only natural to be drawn to Christmas quilts. I'm working on 3 Christmas wall hangings and have a pattern bought for a new Christmas quilt for our bed -- next years project. Here's a few photos.

Our World Traveler Returns

Charissa comes home today. Almost eight months of traveling, first to Hawaii (you could hardly call that a difficult place to be), then Panama, South Africa, last of all England and now today she flies home. We all can't wait to see her! There is so much excitement here today. I want to clean everything, bake 20 things, and get to the airport. The kids didn't want to go to school today or tomorrow (but I made them). We all plan to trek out to the airport just before midnight, coffee in hand and meet her plane. Who cares if we're a little sleep deprived tomorrow, Charissa will be home!

My Four Feathered Friends

Just an update on how big my chickens have gotten. They are beauties! No eggs yet, but hopefully soon we'll celebrate our first brown egg.

Another beautiful quilt

There are some customer quilts that I say, "I really want to make that quilt". This is one of them. I love the color and the way it's blended in the blocks. The red backgroud fabric would be perfect in my home. When this quilt is picked up I must find out where the pattern came from. It definitely will go on that list that's rather long of quilts I hope to make someday!

A Much Neater Studio

I finally finished reorganizing my studio this morning. Some things did get tossed out! The funest part was making a little antique vignette on top of my new shelves. The green singer sewing machine was purchased at a garage sale years ago for $5.00. It does work. The little pink child's sewing machine was one my girls spent hours stitching paper on! I've been collecting antique apron patterns so a newly covered bulletin board displays some of my finds. Someday I hope to have a comfortable chair in this corner for curling up with a magazine or book. I feel so blessed to have such a great studio. I'm hoping to have an open house for my studio sometime before the end of the year.

The Mess I'm Working On

I worked for several hours yesterday on cleaning up and rearranging some things in my studio. Since I need to get back to quilting for customers by tomorrow I only have today to finish. There's really too much stuff to get it all put away orderly, but I'm doing my best to sort, put some in the shed, throw some out (but not much) and get it neatly on shelves. I bought a new shelf unit on clearance and got a great deal on it. That should help clear up a little clutter and since it's the same as the one I already own they can be stacked together. So my afternoon will be filled with work -- but a pleasant kind of work. Who knows, I may discover another unfinished project that had been totally forgotten!