Christmas Count Down

 

Can you believe that Christmas is just a few days away? At my house, Santa's little elves are busy quilting and binding. And they are almost done! Essentially, all that's left to get done before Christmas is to finish writing my Christmas cards. I know - I'm late. But better to be late than never. 

The T-shirt quilt is on the long arm, and I need to make the binding and quilt it later today. It likely won't get picked up until after Christmas due to the pandemic, but I'll meet my commitment. I have the last of the three quilts for the same customer to bind today, and then they can be picked up later today. 

That's it - one quilt to quilt and bind, and one quilt to bind. There are still loads that I need to get done by the end of the year, but that's for next week! 

So what got done yesterday? I quilted this customer quilt. 

Customer quilt - DONE

The stars (or in the case of the Winter Solstice - the planets) were aligned, and the pattern was the EXACT length it was supposed to be. Sometimes, it's a bit longer. And guess what? The days are going to start getting longer now!! That's awesome news. 

The quilting design didn't run off the edge of the quilt

Then I got busy and made the binding, and it's now on the quilt. 

The quilt is also bound

I made the binding and sewed it on this quilt. So that one is also done. 

One more binding - DONE

Then at some point in the afternoon, I had a visitor. Oh yes - Bear, of course, was there to visit. He loves to snuggle in anything soft! This was the bag of leftover scraps from the T-shirts. 

Bear snuggled in a bag of T-shirt scraps

But his handler also came to visit, and she had a mission. She wanted to make Bear his own quilt. It has to be made from Minky. UGGG -- all that fluff in the studio. Oh well, it's for Bear. She went through the buckets of Minky and did all the rotary cutting. I've swept MANY times, and I'm still finding bits. 

I dug out the serger, and she put it together. 

M serging Bear's quilt

We had a great visit while she sewed, and I thought I heard her say, "This is actually fun. Just making stuff." Oh my - is there a sparkling of hope in there? She did an outstanding job as I don't think she ever used the serger before, and Minky is horrible to work with. 

Then it was time to quilt Bear's quilt. I used a dog paw pattern. All that's left is to make the binding and sew it on. I was tired by that time, so the binding is cut, and I'll sew it on today while the T-shirt quilt is being quilted. 

Bear and M watching his quilt get quilted

I see Bear got a new scarf from the scraps of Minky! But you got to watch that little devil. He chewed the top off one of my earbuds. Thankfully, they still work just fine! Bad boy, BEAR!!!!

Hanging out on the sewing table

He just plops himself down wherever he finds a cozy spot. Dogs and fabric - they go together like Punch and Judy! OK - that was before my time! 

Bear testing out the yoga bag

After I loaded the T-shirt quilt this morning, I decided to do some tidying. I've got the bug, and as I said, I'm so close - I want it done by the end of the year. Trust me - there's going to be lots of sorting through the like items at a later date, but at least everything will have a home.

But what does one do with stuff like this? It's a bundle of Harry Potter fabric and two pieces of yardage, also Harry Potter. I don't have anything in mind for it. I had a partially filled tub in the stash room, so it went in there. 

Harry Potter fabric

And then there's the bundle of camping themed fabric. That went into the same box. 

Camping fabric

And I also found a jelly roll with two pieces of fabric. That went in the same spot. 

Red and white fabric 

So that's a HUGE thing - how much stuff got purchased and never found a home? Lots, it would appear. A few patterns got filed into the pattern area, and I found a book. 

I also found these pieces of fabric - there's about 1 meter of each. I love them and want to make something from them, but what? It would be perfect for one of the on-going projects next year, and I think I might make the Tula Pink sampler from it. Wouldn't this look amazing with a crisp white? Oh yes - I put it in a pile with the patterns for the on-going quilts. 

Yardage

Then I found this tray which contains bits and pieces of stuff. Mostly half-square triangles that are sewn and need to be trimmed. Good grief - how many of these do I have in the house? LOTS!!! And notice the small green and orange ones in the bottom corner. I've started to sew those together! Those were the cut-offs from making a Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt. 

A tray of scraps to sew

This is the area beside my sewing machine. I use those triangles as enders and leaders. So I put the tray in that area, and I'm going to clean it up. I need to empty the tray and vacuum it out - it's full of dust. 

Fabric triangles to sew

I do have a stack of stuff to sort through later today. Not the sewing machine that's on the bottom of the pile. That needs to be opened up and played with, but not today. 

Stuff to sort through today

And this is what's left of the stuff that was sitting at the bottom of the stairs. Oh yes - the pile is dwindling. It's going to be a challenge to find a home for the stuff, but I'll just take a little bit at a time. It will be done! One of the work tables still has stuff on it that needs to be dealt with. Mostly it just needs to be shelved. I'm working on that as well. 

The stuff still to sort

All I can say is that it was sure easy to just wing something into a bag if I didn't know what to do with it. It's way harder to actually put it away! What a concept that is!!!

This is my table of CURRENT projects. Yes - it still looks intimidating, but notice that it all fits on ONE table, and nothing is hanging over. 

The pile of current projects

And here's the view from the other side of the table. 

The other side of the current projects table

The trick for me is to NOT add anything to the table that shouldn't be there. I've very good at sneaking in an extra project or two. And then it piles up. I will be adding a couple of things to this table that I have committed to finishing. They are currently sitting on the other table but need to be done, not shelved. 

Once this is done, I'm making a list of what's on this table, including deadlines or why it's there. A good part of this is UFOs, and I should be able to clear it up soon. 

Then I need to choose the 12 new UFOs to add to the list for 2021. I'll be sitting down with the Task Master (my to-do list) in the next couple of days so I can get everything organized. There's nothing like having a list, so you know what's there and what needs to be done. OH -- and most importantly - how to prioritize!!

I still have one more magazine quilt to get done before the end of the year and finish my Cherrywood challenge. Those will become the focus after today. 

As M was looking through the basket of red fabric for the binding for Bear's quilt, she pulled some fabric for me to make masks. I'll be making those later today - I hope!

Fabric for masks

I have one meeting today and a virtual lunch. The rest of the day is mine! As if - I still have work to do, and some paperwork needs to be cleared up this morning so I'm off to get that done. And I have plans to crack open a jigsaw puzzle later today. Keeping my fingers crossed on that one!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!