A Productive Day

I don't know about you, but sometimes (often) I need to be in the mood to really do something creative. That's why, when the urge strikes, I do little else. (Probably my all-time favorite excuse for not cleaning--but now I love my cleaner, so I will have to think up something else.)

For Christmas I received the cutest snowman wall hanging that I think can be displayed until, oh say, April ;-) so I made a sleeve for it and have it basted in place. How lucky is it that I just bought scads of the same line of fabric and had some to match!

A quilt close-up that I showed a while ago is now on its way to being done--I added the sleeve and binding by machine today so only have the hand stitching to finish. I took a look at the index card for that project and realized I started it in 2006. Well, it's a gift and good things come to those who wait. A gifting tip for you: NEVER say you are making something for a specific holiday--wait until it is finished and then give it for whatever holiday is coming up! No pressure, no guilt about not being done when you thought. Works great! Remember it for 2010 when you are rushing (yet again) to finish something for a deadline!

I also wanted to do a thank you gift for someone and decided to do potholders and coasters. Obviously these are for people who love horses! (Or I really don't like them and am playing an awful trick on them--but, no, that's way too much work for a stunt!)

As luck would have it, the perfect color for topstitching these was running low--I wasn't sure I would have enough. So I wound a partial bobbin and hoped for the best. Well, the spool ran out while I still had two coasters to go. So I wound part of the bobbin onto another bobbin, hoping again that I had judged correctly. Well...the partial bobbin on top ran out again! With less than half a coaster to go. So I ran a bit more onto it and was able to finish--just! And I added that color to my shopping list!

While I had out the fabric for the sleeve, I was inspired to try a couple small blocks for a potential class project. These beauties will finish at 4 inches and are called Baby Bunting. Not many pieces, but the squares finish at 1 inch, so precision is the key. I'm going to set them on point, possibly with a green print for the setting triangles. (Yes, Virginia, I will be making more--two blocks are not enough to do much with!)

The fabric line is Frosted Memories by Holly Taylor for Moda. As you may have noticed, I tend to work with brighter fabrics, but this line caught my eye. And it's not so Christmas-y that its display time cannot be extended.

Oh, and I did quilt more on the piece from the last post. And I made a poor attempt at organizing some fabric in a vain attempt to find the backing fabric (or what was left of it) for the sleeve on the piece I put binding on. In vain was correct--I never did find it. Alas and alack, I punted and used the binding fabric--a good compromise.

Can you believe it is the last week of 2009? Only four more days.

Hugs to all,

Sharon