I just had the BEST Thanksgiving of my life! For so many reasons…

We got snow! Ten inches of the huge fluffy wet stuff– snowman making snow! Then the kids went out into the woods and cut down a Christmas tree– it was just like a Hallmark movie. We made wreaths out of the extra boughs, and even got to some other of the crafts I mentioned last time.

The candy cane ornaments were the favorite– I sent half home with my DIL, but you can still see all the creativity that went into these. There’s enough beads left to make quite a few more.

I promised I’d report back to you on Diamond Painting– and I can definitely say I recommend it. I’m sure you’ve seen these kits out and about. They come with wax, so I assumed WAX was holding all those “diamonds” down. NO– you pull a piece of acetate off the design and there is really sticky glue on the base that holds them. Really, Sticky, Glue. So I am confident in the longevity of these pieces. The wax is just to help you pick them up with a special tool that was included in the set. This card went together really quick.

There are three more cards in the set. (Purchased from Michaels if you’re interested.) One of them, I might try to make into an ornament– or maybe I’ll frame it. The downside is the “diamonds” are euphemistic plastic chips and really aren’t as stunning as I might have hoped.

My Thanksgiving dinner was the best ever! I waited way too late to buy the turkey, so I didn’t have time to defrost a frozen one. A fresh, more expensive organic one was all that was left. It was so worth the money– it was the most tender thing ever. And a ten-year old kid even said my gravy was delicious– I do make good gravy, and kids don’t usually compliment food and they don’t lie. He made me feel like a million. I don’t think of myself as a cook– maybe I am? Don’t expect this will lead to more time in the kitchen, though!

I also found out that I am going to be a grandma! And no, it’s not making me feel old– I think life is just beginning again. xox I had my beautiful family with me for four full days. It was glorious.

It’s now back to the grindstone– I will pretty much be in this seat for the next month. Black Friday, December Daily Deals, and new sets. Not a ton of hobby sewing to talk about, but I do have some updates.

I mailed out Fred Rogers, Jeepers Creepers, and the Patriotic Chicken Quilt well over a week ago, and apparently they are enjoying a stay in New Hampshire at the present moment. USPS is so unreliable these days? You’d think in this era of automation, they’d be able to get everything both tracked and delivered on time. I have already overthought losing these three quilts– I’d survive. It would save hours of binding this month. Stay tuned.

Then, I pulled the plug.

I’ve been thinking of cancelling my Sew Sampler subscription for about six months– I finally had the courage to do it. The shelf above says it all. Then, the last two boxes of fabric or project really didn’t thrill me. Here is November’s box– “Winter Blooms” were promised, and I could just taste little blue snowflakes on my tongue. I dunno! Looks like Spring Blooms to me!

I usually just add fabric I won’t use to my stash, but face it– those bins are also overflowing. I’m sure there’s a limited amount of things they can think up to give you– we got these Magic Pins again. So I have a box of extra things to give away from the past few years and it’s also overflowing.

This was October’s box– I was so excited to get Laguna Sunrise fabric– 36 colors of the rainbow! A jolly bar would have been spectacular. But we just got about six fat quarters– one of them is gray, of allthings. And the pattern– what are those red arrows about?

Don’t;’t get me wrong– I LOVE getting the boxes and I’m not generally a whiner. If you’ve never done it, you should try for six months. In my opinion, the value is very good. The subscription did serve a purpose when my sewing room wasn’t ready and my old things were packed away; I had a constant stream of small projects coming in. I finished eighteen months in a row! I still have four or five boxes from past months I’d rather make, than some (meh) new ones. And I have a ton of little extra projects– bag patterns and stuff–that came in them I’d like to make. So that will keep me busy for quite some time. If I see one I really like, there’s always the opportunity to buy it very reasonably on the Sew Sample Swap page.

I did order the Jolly Box-and I liked it very much. I’m going to make a stab at it, most likely in the New Year. It’s snowmen quilt with trendy Sweetwater Fabric.

There’s cute buttons for the noses and eyes and I did order the finishing kit. The last Sew Sampler Hurrah!

I also have a bunch of past specialty boxes– you know, in addition to the monthly boxes, Fat Quarter Shop does specials at Valentine’s Day, Fourth of July, Halloween, and Christmas. I’m not going to order any more of those either– why take a chance on getting a meh project when I have past ones that I honestly like waiting in the wings. It honestly feels like a bit of a relief! There’s just no where to put them anymore.

This week, I finished the Teensy Christmas Ornaments– oh, sew cute! These are a super quick project– eight stitch in one 5×7 hooping. Gift them as a set, or just tie one on as a gift tag to that special present. I usually give away a lot of what I make– again– the closets are overflowing! But these are keepers.

I had some fun going through some of my old scrapbooking stuff to find things to finish them with. Feast your eyes. This is about 1/10th of what I have and represents 20 years of 40% off coupons at Michaels. These are from my “charms” drawer (just look at those cute little glass drinks)…

And this is from the “ribbon” drawer. I remember my cat attacked one of those “Adornaments” ribbon packages I left out years ago– and turned it into a birds nest! Haha. Good memories.

Not much progress on the personal Christmas gifts, I’m afraid! My second hot pad got the binding put on the wrong way. I was really pleased with myself with the matter-of-fact way I unstitched it. Why waste time cursing the gods? I did get it quilted– it’s just a simple star.

The engagement gift has the embroidery part done and the personalization, but still needs assembly.

And I have one more gift I haven’t started– our post lady is the NICEST person on the planet– always double-taping my hastily wrapped packages, crossing out all the old bar codes on the used boxes, and telling me cheaper and better ways to ship, with the utmost patience. Then, she started offering knitting tips and advice to the DD. THEN, she gave the DD a whole bunch of knitting supplies (Could her closet be overflowing as well? I suspect so. SOULMATE!) THEN– she picked up an old box of paper piecing she found at a thrift store for ME.

The DD and I really want to make her a Happy Mail table runner– we’d only need five blocks or so, and how appropriate that would be for a postal worker? This was such a popular set on the site, too. I have been wanting to make one with a Christmas card theme.

If I don’t get started on this soon, it won’t happen. I might be amenable to gifting this a little late though. Let’s see what happens.

So that’s about it for a week I lost to entertaining. It’ beginning to look a lot like Christmas in the studio.

We live in the middle of nowhere– we’re not even actually in a “town.” In Maine, they call it an “Unorganized Territory.” Heehee. I am going to fully live up to this moniker in the next month as productivity descends into chaos. Are you with me?

xox
Carol