Seeing The Light

My last post was a November "wrap-up" post and today we are mid-way through the month of December; that's a good indication of the busy-ness of this season that's upon us. I'm sure it's the same at your house. I'm ordinarily very organized regimented(!) about my approach to decorating the house and preparing for Christmas. Typically, I assign a task a day in the beginning of December and then shoe-horn in all of the other extras such as baking, wrapping and card-sending. I encountered a huge stumbling block to this approach right off the bat this year. The pre-lit tree that goes up in the foyer (usually on the first Sunday in Advent), our Chrismon tree, decided to be miserly with its illumination this year, only choosing to allow a portion of the bottom third of the tree to shine. After an inordinate amount of time trying to trouble-shoot the problem Mr. Goodneedle got out his wire cutters and turned that tree into a no-longer-pre-lit version of its former self. We went out and bought strands of lights. 

Our Chrismon tree, shining brightly again in all of its glory. This task took much longer than its allotted time and was almost a week beyond my original schedule. It was right about then that I realized that this self-imposed schedule of mine was driving me crazy; (and not only me but, I'm sure Mr. G. too, although he never said anything) it was at this particular moment that I saw the light (and I'm not talking about those minis strung on the tree)! What was the rush this year? For the first time in as long as I can remember there will be no holiday hosting this year. A calm descended over me when I realized that I could carry on at a slower pace and truly enjoy these days leading up to Christmas 2020, I don't know that I've ever enjoyed the process more! 

In the days since my "awakening" I've slowly placed the nativity in the dining room and put the garland on the mantle. I've become reacquainted with our nutcrackers and other collected decorative objects that only come out once a year. I've addressed and mailed all of our Christmas cards and parcels. The gifts are wrapped. Just this past Sunday our family room tree went up. It has ornaments representing our lives together since we were married: (and even some from my childhood) our children, our grandchildren, places we've lived and friends and family who are no longer with us. It was cherished time on Sunday placing each treasure on the tree. 

This is the first ornament we hung as a married couple, back when our tree was small and the ornaments were sparse. 💓

And, this year, I've had time to sew- a Christmas (for display next year) quilt! I have enjoyed every moment spent on this one. These are the blocks of the day that Moda introduced in October, the Stitch Pink initiative; I chose to stitch mine up in Christmas fabrics, Moda's "Naughty or Nice"  fabric collection.

I was in love with the little elves...

...and tucked them in wherever I could!  I chose to make this wall quilt square and only used the patterns for the first twenty five blocks, but I have them all downloaded and in a notebook. I've decided to do the same with their current Winter Frost sew-along. Today's snowman block is simply adorable!

While I was stitching and joining the blocks another tumbler quilt was growing under my needle, leader-ender style. I've got a head start on donation quilts for next year already. How many projects can you work on at one time? I suppose, if I'm being honest, I'd have to say that I'm working on three right now- consecutively. 

Somehow, this cute and fun little scrappy is clamoring for attention too! Isn't it a-MAZE-ing? I've decided that I'm going to make a huge stack of these blocks and let the grandchildren assemble them on the design wall; won't they like that? Anything that makes a dent in the overflowing scrap bins makes me happy~ and sew on and sew on.  Lots more has been going on around Chez Goodneedle too, including some really fun adventures. I can't remember a time when I've actually sat and spent time sewing in December before this year, the leisurely pace comforts and sustains me. Baking is on today's agenda. Stay tuned; rest assured that all is well and that there's a wonderful peace attached to opening one's eyes and seeing the light!

It's just taken me forever to realize that!

Life is Good!

As Ye Sew...

...so shall ye RIP!

Original layout with outer
blocks bordered in brown. 

You might remember, if you've been reading about my progress with the Temecula Quilt Co.'s "Scavenger Hunt" sew-along, that I had two outer borders that didn't fit and that I decided I really didn't like, anyway. I laid everything aside before my trip up to Hampton, VA; deciding to tackle the dismantling of those twenty two blocks when I returned. One of the first vendor booths that I stopped at while visiting MidAtlantic Quilt Festival was Bucklebee Tools and Patterns. They were demo-ing the "razor ripper"; I stood in line to buy one right then and there!*

The demonstration was compelling (hence, the long lines to purchase!); folding flat the seam to be removed (see photo above, left) and placing the ripping tool at the top of the seam, holding firmly, one draws steadily downward and the tool smoothly removes the stitches (it feels almost like pulling down on a zipper). The photo directly above is from their website. They sell the razor rippers separately, or combined with this clever silicone-tipped wooden stiletto which effectively "erases" away the thread bits from the newly released seams. Knowing the job that I had ahead of me, I bought the set and an additional ripper!

I got to the task last week; before long I had made small work of removing the offending triangles and added my new setting triangles right away. This ripping tool** really did work well and I can recommend it highly. Also, that handy-dandy little silicone-tipped tool is perfect for holding back the edges when taking small blocks (like these) to the iron for pressing-- no more singed fingertips!

The newly bordered quilt: this is the final pieced row. 

An, ta-da, here is the finished flimsy, with its scrappy borders 

Those teeny-tiny blocks inside the borders finish to 1", I added multiples for effect.

Quilting has commenced. 

Life is Good!

Up next: Lessons Learned

* I bought the tools because of the awesome demonstration. If I had not seen these demo-ed I would have had NO IDEA what the tools were or how to use them. After that. I did notice them at other booths, at various prices, sitting idly in cups.

** I learned that the original use for these tools was as a "peach fuzz" shaver for ladies and that they come from the cosmetic aisle. Having said that, again-- there are all various prices attached to these tools, I can only vouch for the ones that I actually purchased as noted above. I have no idea if there are different manufacturers or varying levels of quality. 

Changing My Mind

I can't stand to be left out... even when it's been by my own design, I didn't have the time to start the Summer Sampler sew-along from Temecula Quilt Company this time. I had done the Alphabet Sampler last fall and enjoyed it, but I just didn't need to start one more project. Quiltkeemosabe showed me her 4" blocks on Wednesday when I was at her house, hers were wonderful. I was still resistant, but wearing down. On the drive back home I kept thinking about those cute little blocks. My mother had bestowed upon me her leftover black and white scraps from a recently finished quilt. "I wonder"... I thought, "how would those blocks look in all black prints with a controlled background fabric"?  You can see for yourself. I've finished week #1. I'm late to this party (they're already on week #7) but the blocks are small and I am eager, I'll catch up. I believe I'll set mine alternately with the flax linen blend shown behind the blocks, this looks classy to me. Do you ever decide that you're too busy to participate in "this", "that" or "the other thing" and then wish later that you could have joined in the fun? I do it all the time. I've tried to learn to loosen up a little and refocus, I know that if I don't I'll miss out on a lot. Like all this cuteness!

I've been saving all of my own leftover scraps from past projects into a designated laundry-sized basket for a few years. I had intended to take a day each month to press them and cut them into usable sizes. These scraps were (in my estimation) too small to shelve but too large to toss. The appointed "cutting days" never quite made it to my calendar and the days filled up with other activities... however, that basket filled up too. This week I dragged it out and sighed, the idea of spending time and energy on these scraps was daunting and, frankly, a little draining. I wanted to change my mind about ever holding onto them in the first place but somehow I felt committed to seeing the task through. My husband walked through the room while I was deliberating this decision. He asked me why I felt obligated to a basketful of scraps, I really couldn't answer. "Throw them out", he advised, "and don't look back, it's not like you're going to run out of fabric anytime soon".  I took his advice, the scraps went straight to the trash can (he volunteered to do it for me, I didn't have the heart). He was right, I was liberated from something I thought I ought to do and am rejoicing once again after having changed my mind! Lesson learned, I'm not going to beat myself up over altering courses either, I'm blessed that I have that prerogative.

And sew, here I go... 

(quite contentedly using someone else's scraps!)

Life is Good!

"A", You're Adorable

" Alphabetically Speaking" ~  34.5" X 39.5"

I just finished putting together this adorable alphabet sampler; it's the result of a "Little Letters" sew-along from Temecula Quilting Co.'s blog .  I used Moda's Basic Grey "Grunge" line of fabrics for this piece.  It was a fun sew-along with instructions for two four inch letter blocks every week; it ran last fall, but the instructions are still listed on the website linked above. It was easy for me to keep up with the letters... in the beginning. Near the end I had to hold a few marathon sessions to catch up and, since Christmas, the blocks sat untouched. I found them, ready for setting together, this weekend and made short work of that task. I'll quilt up this little cutie as soon as the Salvaged Stars and Stripes come off the frame. When I was growing up my parents had a console-type "hi-fi" with a record player inside. I recall Perry Como's album playing, his voice singing these lyrics: "A, you're adorable, B you're so beautiful..."; that song played through my head the entire time I worked on this. If you're old enough to remember that tune you'll understand the quilt name; it seemed just right.

Life is Good!