Almost Done

I can hardly believe the year is almost over.  For some reason I don't feel like I have accomplished much.  Some of my days really stand out, but most just blur together.  I guess that is true for most of our life.  This sounds like a resolution coming on, but I'm not going to kid you or me.  I'll just keep plugging along and focus on the good stuff that is happening around me.

I just finished the 11th block of the Threads of Memory from Barbara Brackman's Civil War blog.

November

 I have enjoyed this so much.  She provides some really detailed stories about the lives of people who lived through the horror of slavery and  many resources to learn more.  She and her mignons have also provided a great BOM that is not very stressful and results in some beautiful blocks.

Only one more to go!

Next month  she is providing setting options.  I think I have one picked out already, but I could be swayed.  I still have the December block to piece.  The pattern was posted this past Saturday so I may be able to finish it still this year.  I took the day off today from everything else except laundry so I can sew without interruption.


We so enjoyed having our family here for Christmas.  This is the first time we have all been together for quite a few years and it was such a fun time.  Our son's girlfriend even joined us.  It was the first time our son had been home in a year and a half.  Our daughter came home from Japan - another stopover between foreign teaching jobs.  We were truly blessed.

Such a cute couple!

Wishing you a truly Happy and Pieceful New Year.

Designing Monday

Who has time to sew when it's Christmas time?  I quilted and bound the Cascadia quilt from Lori's Humble Quilts mystery.  That was all I could manage.  Too many cookies to make and lots of decorating going on.

I love the blog, Between Naps on the Porch.  The author has wonderful decorating ideas and shares tutorials and tons of photos.  If you love looking at magazines or creating a pretty table for the holidays, you should definitely take a few minutes to look around her blog.  So now I am making a fancy garland loaded with ornaments based on her tutorial here.

The Dollar Tree is my new best friend.  I have had this bare garland for years and lots of strings of lights with no use in the basement, so I brought them out and did a quick scouting trip to Dollar Tree and Hobby Lobby and came home ready to work.

 I worked on it Saturday night and got half way through before running out of some of the ornaments, so I made another trip to $$ Tree yesterday to load up again.  So far I spent about $15.00 on ornaments.  My goal is no more then $20.  Hobby Lobby had a similar finished garland that was not half so nice for $140 (currently half off at $70).  This is my project for tonite.

 Hop over to Judy's blog to see more beautiful designs.

Designing Monday

Just a little sewing this week.  I finished the Cascadia Sew Along mystery quilt top from Humble Quilts.  I really like the small blocks on point.  I read in another blog that it was referred to as Seminole patchwork.  I haven't done that before, although it wasn't any different than sewing large blocks on point.  Just lots of them.  Hope to get it quilted this week.

I also finished sewing together my block of the month for Threads of Memory.  Here are all 10 of my finished blocks so far.  It just dawned on me that a new block was posted this weekend and I haven't even looked it up.   I better get at it quick before the December rush hits me.

I found a few photos of our church sanctuary that I took this week.  We took down the fall decor and put up the Advent trimmings on Wednesday.  I didn't think to take any photos of the new look, but will get that done this week.  Thought you might enjoy seeing how it looked.

The altar was topped with burlap and silk leaves.  

The urns are stuffed with corn stalks and pumpkins and leaf garlands.

We flipped over a beige banner and pinned a burlap ribbon and a silk leaf on it.

This is a large wooden chair that nobody sits in because they are so uncomfortable.  (We have two.)

There is a command strip hook on the back of the chair hung upside down.  The wreath has a burlap ribbon with a wire on the end that loops over the hook on the back.  Our church is very historic and we are very sensitive to using nails and tacks on anything.  Those command strips are a life saver.

Hop on over to Judy's blog  to see more beautiful designs.