Turkeys and Christmas Quilts on a Slow Sunday Stitching...

Hello  - Did you all have a good week?  Get lots of stuff done?  I did get some stuff done... but not the stuff I thought I would last Sunday... the weather was "nice" at the beginning of the week... after clearing out those flower beds I spent a couple of hours Sunday planting 85 hyacinths and about 75 alliums... that's a lot of holes ... and I got a blister on the palm of my hand even though I was wearing gloves... I considered procrastinating on Monday as there were still 200 daffodils and some crocus to plant but the sun was out and my youngest son offered to help...and what a big help he was... he dug large holes for me to put in 5 - 7 daffodil bulbs so they will come up in clumps in the Spring...hopefully... it certainly speeded up the process ... and I even had the energy to get the dahlia bed cleaned out and all the tubers dug up... that took longer than I expected and filled 2 more lawn waste bags... so in total there were 14 bags sitting on the curb for pickup on Tuesday... I felt sorry for the garbage guys ... the bags were heavy and it rained overnight so they were soggy too... and from Tuesday on the weather has taken a decidedly winter-ish turn... cold, some flurries ... and the upcoming forecast is for measurable snow -about an inch - Monday into Tuesday with January temperatures ... ugh... not ready for it to be so cold so soon... lots of the trees still have their leaves... I'm not happy with an abbreviated Fall... the colors this year weren't as vibrant as years past, I assume due to the hot, dry spell we had this Summer  and really cold weather starting early is going to make the season even shorter...

Sorry for the weather rant... I'm blaming my bad mood on the time change... still not use to it.... as for crafty stuff, I did a little of this and a little of that and shiny stuff did catch my eye... I finished stitching 2 turkeys... this Prarire Schooler one just needed the border...

and this one is a freebie from Stone Street Stitchworks called Thankwool... you have to ask to join the group on Facebook and then go to the Files section for this pattern and other freebies... here's a link to the Facebook page...

I like how it looks like it was done in wool ... I have a plan for FFO-ing this (fully finished object) but didn't have the energy to get it done yet.

Instead yesterday was one of those sit in my stitching chair and watch Flosstube and gardening videos days... but while I was watching I did start a new piece... this is Little Bits of Christmas from The Drawn Thread...

I'm stitching this on a piece of 32 ct linen I had in my stash that I painted a while ago... I do love the reds and greens on the turquoise...

This chart has both a silk and a cotton thread version...  I'm using the called for Gentle Arts threads except for Cucumber... I didn't have Cucumber but the conversion was DMC 934 ... a very dark green...and I had it ... that center section has backstitching and little "berries" which I'm going to see if I have some beads I could use there... should finish a little more than 5" square... lots of pretty things in a small package...

As for sewing... I got all the strips prepped and upon my design wall for my Basic Grey Christmas version of Meet in the Middle... a free pattern you can see here....

it will be considerable narrower once it is all sewn together... about 60" wide...and I'm happy that all my Santas and Christmas trees are in the upright position... makes my OCD happy happy happy... the pattern called for a jelly roll but I used a layer cake and I'm glad I did... if you used the jelly roll for this collection - Kringle & Claus by Basic Grey  - the directional prints - Santa, Christmas Trees, Ornaments - would all be lying on their sides... not a good look IMHO...  and I probably could have finished it if another shiny quilt idea hadn't crossed my path... I have a bin of Basic Grey Christmas fabrics... lots of precuts... jelly rolls and layer cakes and charm packs ... and some are pretty "vintage"... I got to thinking about the collection called Fruitcake... here's a pic of the fabrics...

I'm thinking this collection is about 9 to 10 years old... and usually I'm not of fan of brown but I'm okay with it here... well I wanted to play with the fabric... and I have 3 charms packs ... so I paged through a couple of books I have that use charm packs and found this pattern... Snowfall from the book  by Vanessa Goertzen called Charm School...

Well I had some Basic Grey Grunge for the background ... I think this is White Paper... and had to make a block... or two...

I really like this... and for the sashing I have a piece of what I think is a Hoffman snowflake print... some of the snowflakes are pearlescent... and I think this piece of fabric is at least 15 maybe closer to 20 years old...

I remember making a jacket out of this print eons ago... I think it will make a really pretty quilt... but I'm not sure how I ended up making multiple Christmas quilts again this year... last year I did 3 ... and with one already at the long armer I'm on track to do 3 again... hey you can never have too many Christmas quilts, right??? Shake your head up and down, up and down...

With the upcoming cold and snowy weather I should have time to sew... except for the fact that I have an appointment every day this week... arghh... I hate when I do that to myself... I really like to have a day or two or three where I don't have to be anywhere... Dorothy was right... "There's no place like home, there's no place like home"...

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... from the comments last week I can tell that most of you agree with me ... such smart readers I have... that this Daylight Saving Time switch is a pain in the butt... 6pm looks like midnight!!! I hate that ...  I hope that all of you have a good week ahead... I'm hoping the weather guys are wrong and we won't get much snow on Monday/Tuesday... there's always that possibility... and I really hope they are wrong about the frigid temperatures... but they probably got that part right...

Take care ... happy stitching-
carol fun