I offer to you a happy and festive greeting as we are in the midst of the "most wonderful time of the year." We are ready to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior sans any tree. Dave and I are both fine with it... I have strung lights around our living room windows and have our most favorite decorations out, include our little nativity scene and vintage Christmas ornaments in vintage boxes.
I don't forget that there are many people that celebrate different holidays at this time of year, including the Festival of Lights (Hanukkah). I cannot locate the story I did a few years ago about the number of celebrations that take place in the month of December, but if I recall correctly, it was about 13. (If I find it, I will share the link.)
Jocelyn at Happy Cottage Quilter showed off her Christmas Gift table runner. Her daughter selected the fabrics. Jocelyn didn't really want to cut the fabric into small pieces and chose to keep the pieces large enough that the print was not disturbed.
I think her choice was a wise one and the presents and bows are picture perfect. The binding looks to be a print of Christmas lights...
This was the first project she has finished since a back injury. Nice job!
Be sure to visit her blog and show her some love. ;)
I spent the first portion of my week getting the 2019 photo album done. I did just that AND I ordered photos from 2020. I had originally planned on getting all of the photos I wanted to order into a file on the computer for when I heard of a great sale... it just so happens that I found a 2-cent sale on prints. The order still cost me about $50, but that was so much better than it would have been at .25/print! If that were the actual cost... our photo albums would cease to be made.
When the album was added to the bookshelf, I returned to the free-motion quilting of my "Laura" quilt. I was listening to Marie Bostwick's "The Book Club for Troublesome Women." It was a little slow going (for me) as the characters were introduced, but I was drawn in as the book club and friendships were formed. The beginning of the book reminded me of "Mona Lisa Smile"... How girls/ladies/women were expected to get married and be stay-at-home Moms. I struggle with that... I seem to be caught in a weird chasm because that was all I wanted to do. And I didn't mind...
Sure, I had some work experience as a secretary and receptionist... it isn't rocket science, but I was good at it. I still am! That is the bulk of my role in our business. Dave does the work in the shop... I do the work on the computer. Before becoming self-employed, Dave worked outside the home, I worked small, part-time jobs that offered flexible hours to accommodate the schedules of the girls' activities. I managed the home and finances, cooked, cleaned and any income I earned through my pt job was extra and went to savings. Dave managed the outside... any repairs the house needs, mowing, shoveling, etc. Many Most times, I was by his side as we made improvements to our house and yard. It was a sad state of affairs when we moved in in 1995.
Don't get me wrong... Absolutely I believe that women should be treated equally in any work field. They should not be limited in the advancement of their careers... if they want to advance. Or in their choice of a career... I guess I am just an odd duck. Have you read the book? Did it stir up any emotions for you?
I had many more thoughts and emotions as I listened and quilted... there were a lot of feathers on Laura! I will spare you of a continued diversion from quilting news. I will say that I was pleased that I dealt with minimal thread breakage. I do have a few places where there are skipped stitches... the few that look bad will be located and marked as I bury the thread tails and properly fixed. I think I finally figured out the positioning of the quilting line in relation to my body... working on the left side of feathers, keep the spine in line with my torso. Working on the right side of feathers, keep the spine running nearly the length of the sewing table. Maybe I need to make a cheat sheet note to put in my little box of notions that lives next to Jazzy.
I know just what paper to use for such a note! I received a fun little package in the mail the other day from a "significant-other-in-law" (it's complicated). She included a note saying that she thought of me when she saw them. ;) Aren't they cute!?!
I need to select a binding. I may choose to do a scrappy binding with fabric left from the Walk on the Prairie FQ bundle.
The lighting is bad, I know... horrible even! It was late in the day and the ceiling light in my studio casts a yellow hue. I'll get better photos when she is ready for her glamor shots.
I've made progress on the Color Wash Hexagon quilt too! I am 86% done. I think I may actually have the hand-quilting done by the end of the year. YAY! Just in time to think of a new Rainbow Scrap Challenge project.
I'll leave you with a little giggle... especially since I did both quilting & scrapbooking. 😂
Merry Christmas!
And if you don't celebrate Christmas... May your holiday celebration be blessed.
Keep Piecing,
Melva
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