Saturday, November 25, 2017

Thankful

I hope my American friends enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving. And for those of you outside the US, I hope it has been a wonderful week. We had a small gathering at our house - just Bruce and myself, my brother Steve and my son Shane and granddaughter London. The turkey was huge, and the appetites matched it. London, who is 8 now, helped me by setting the table and making a centerpiece of Thanksgiving decorations. I had made two pumpkin pies, then our wonderful neighbors brought over a huge Costco pumpkin pie as a “just because” gift. Needless to say, Shane and London went home with a pie and lots of leftovers. The weather was beautiful - clear and about 60 degrees, unseasonably warm. Just a great day all around!

I didn’t get much sewing done this week, but it was productive.  First, I finished Rainbow Selvages.


It finished at 60x72”. The backing is a piece of Tula Pink ponies fabric in gray and teal, and the binding is the same gray woodgrain fabric that I used on my Reading Rainbow quilt. I’m glad to have another Rainbow Scrap finish!  You can see other great work and finishes at the Scrappy Saturday linkup at Angela’s blog.

Reading Rainbow was also a Finish-Along goal of mine for 4th Quarter 2017.  It was #4 on the list published here.

And then I got Tulips basted. No quilting yet. With the Thanksgiving prep and celebration, I didn’t even get into the sewing room after Tuesday.


Yesterday, Black Friday, we took down and put away all the autumn decorations. But our first errand was to go to Costco, thinking we would be fighting crowds, to pick up a couple Fitbits (wristwatch-type fitness bands) for daughter Megan and me. We arrived 25 minutes early, thinking there would be lines for the 9:00 opening. But there weren’t. We sat in the car for 5 minutes, then did stand by the door for another 5 (third in the short line that was now forming), and at 8:45 they let us in. No mad rush. We got our 2 Fitbits, plus a couple Christmas movies, and there was not waiting even to check out.

So, we came home and moved the furniture out of the living room and then I vaccumed and we rolled up the big rug. I cleaned hardwood floors underneath and did a deep clean in the living room - shelving, windows, shutters.  Next, we rotated the rug, and then rearranged the furniture to make room for a Christmas tree. The guys brought up the boxes of decorations and the tree.  I did get all the decorations out, but lost steam and took a nap after that! Today I can set up and decorate the tree after I do some grocery shopping.

And then later today I will begin sewing the first clue to the On Ringo Lake mystery quilt from Bonnie Hunter. Fifty nine-patches. Christmas music is now allowed, and I’m excited to welcome back Michael Buble, Andrea Bocelli, The Chieftains, and Amy Grant (among others) to serenade me.

Have a wonderful week!

Cathy maroon

15 comments:

  1. Congrats! on your RSC finish, along with your other accomplished tasks. Hello, Christmas music and happy decorating!!

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  2. Wow, I just love your Rainbow Selvages, a real beauty. Congratulations on your finish.

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  3. The rainbow selvage is a fun finish. You could sit down and read it like a book and be cozy at the same time. I love those same singers! Have fun decorating the tree. My table tree just pops out of a box prewired, so all it needs is the ornaments. But I have an extensive Bethlehem village also.

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  4. Love your Rainbow Selvedge quilt, it's so effective. Very impressed with all your house work to. Made me feel tired just reading about it all! I'm hoping to decorate our tree next weekend, always aim for first weekend in December. I'm hoping my 7 year old granddaughter will help me as she has done since she was 3 or 4.

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  5. PS I do know that "to" should have been "too"! I blame predictive typing. 😀

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  6. Congrats on the Selvage finish!

    We usually do deep fall and spring cleaning too. I guess it's kind of a pre and post gardening task.

    Our tree is a real one and we usually go to a tree farm to cut it. The grandkids used to come and help decorate it and make cookies but they told me they will be too busy this year so grandma gets left to hang all the ornaments while dancing around to Christmas music and drinking hot chocolate. Maybe without gks this year I'll drink something stronger since I hate decorating! 'Tis the season!

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  7. Your selvages make such a pretty rainbow quilt, Cathy! I bet it is fun to look at up close, too. We've just arrived home from our Thanksgiving road trip to visit our guys, so I think I will start getting out Christmas things tomorrow. Sounds like you are on top of it all!

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  8. Congratulations on a RSC2017 finish...I'm still working on 2015. I look forward to seeing Darla and Alfie dressed up in their Christmas sweaters.

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  9. The Rainbow Selvages turned out great...and colorful! I'm thinking of re-purposing my selvage blocks from this year's RSC into some type of larger block; still thinking on this idea.
    You're inspiring me to get working on Christmas decorations, although my heart is not really completely in it yet. Thanksgiving was early this year, but Christmas will be here before we know it now!

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  10. Love your Rainbow Selvages! I really like the alternating selvage/scrap block layout. Congrats on another finish. The Scientist in Training has asked me to wait on getting the tree put up till she finishes this semester, so I have a few weeks before we have to drag that out. Enjoy your holiday preparation.

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  11. Rainbow Selvages looks so great! Congrats on the finish :) Sounds like you had a really nice Thanksgiving. I'm ready to break out the Christmas decor, too, but we're going to Disney World this week so it will have to wait until we get back. But Disney has fantastic decorations and lights, so I'm really looking forward to the trip!

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  12. Your selvages quilt looks amazing! So colorful and just plain fun. And all that pumpkin pie....mmmmmm (love the ones from Costco and there's no way you can make them as cheap).

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  13. LOVE that tulip quilt... is there a pattern reference somewhere? I seem to recall one in an antique quilt.

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  14. Loving your selvedge quilt. Well done on your Q4 finish, Jxo

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