Dresden Garden finish!

 I took my newly finished Dresden Garden quilt to guild yesterday, and two quilters held it while I took a picture.

This looks a bit blurry to me although it looks fine on my phone.  I'll see if I can get a clearer one when I show and tell it at my other guild Tuesday night.  I used a pattern on the Riley Blake website for the fabric bundle "Flora" and hummed the tune of the old song while I worked.  But I diverged after making the Dresden Plates, adding the paper pieced butterflies and then the subsequent borders.  

Robin immediately recognized the "potato chip" blocks in the next to the last border.  Those are fun to make although my mom would probably tell me they make the quilt too "busy."   I enjoyed making the pieced binding.  This quilt measures 72" x 72" so will fit a twin bed.  I have no recipient in mind for this quilt - I never do - but I will enjoy having it on the guest bed for a while.

Bigfoot in the sewing room

 

I started working on a quilt for my son who loves Sasquatch - Bigfoot as some call it.  Some people believe the creature hangs around Whitehall, NY, a town we go through on most trips south.  I've never seen him driving through, but the area seems to have captured the attention of locals.  There are even stores with souvenirs devoted to Bigfoot.

Elizabeth Hartman's pattern Legendary had a 10" x 18" pattern for the creature surrounded by tall pines.  I made one big tree and Bigfoot for the center of the quilt, and I've made a bunch of smaller trees to go around the center medallion, as it's turning out to be.  

Last summer I bought a panel of smaller pictures of other creatures called "Legends of the National Parks."  I'm cutting those out and sprinkling them around the outer borders, along with some big footprints.  This was supposed to be a Christmas gift, but maybe I'll have the top done in time for Chris' birthday in January.  I plan to have it longarmed.  

Other than Bigfoot, I've been running back and forth to the public library most days, checking on the Light Up the Library display, attending programs, and helping with refreshments.  There was a musician playing Celtic holiday tunes on the guitar and autoharp (beautiful), a musical group rockin' the house with carols, an author signing his latest book, and a classical pianist who explained the origins of popular holiday songs.  These have all been great ways to get into the holiday spirit!  

Things will settle down next week, and I have a stack of gifts to wrap.  I plan to make some Chex Mix to give Chris and his friend Marad before Christmas.  I've ordered a tourtiere and apple pie for Christmas Eve.  We plan a New Year's open house so I will make some goodies for that after Christmas.

Winter is definitely here

As is typical for December, we've had a little snow every night and we wake up to the sound of the snowplows on the roads.  Living on a corner makes it more apparent that there's lots of activity in the early morning hours.  This was our view a few mornings ago.

We've had more since then, but none of it has clipped our wings much.  We have still gotten out and, yesterday, even took a walk.  Today, though, I plan to stay home, do laundry, read, and sew.  

My brother and his wife have been visiting over the weekend and are leaving this morning before the predicted freezing rain starts.  I hope they don't encounter any on the way home to NJ.  We did have a nice weekend - lots of good conversation and food.  We went to see the Wicked movie which I loved and also to A Christmas Carol adaptation played by local folks.  Our little town may seem like "Maybury" once in a while, but that's when we love it the most.  The holiday lights downtown, sprinkled with snowflakes now and then, make it very cozy after dark.  Hope you're enjoying the season as much as we are.

Lighting Up the Library

I spent most days at our public library last week helping take in donations, assembling Christmas trees, decorating the meeting room, and more for Light Up the Library, our Friends of the Library's big fund raiser.  The library looks gorgeous now, and this afternoon we'll have a grand opening program with music by "Donna Thunder" and her band.   She stopped in on Saturday to plan her grand entry with The Little Drummer Boy.  Should be quite an experience!  Here are a few pictures of the library. 

The local figure skating club girls are always so excited (and so cute!) to be decorating their tree.  This year's theme is "Skating on the Canals in Holland," and all the ornaments are blue and white.

The Friends of the Library's tree includes ornaments made from the pages of old books and some book-related ornaments.

The local jeweler loves to make centerpieces and tabletop trees each year.  This year's includes small Byers Choice figures with packages on Christmas morning.

I have done almost no sewing, but I did finish reading The Gray Wolf by Louise Penny.  It ended in a cliffhanger and now we fans all have to wait another year for the next book.  I started the latest book in the Secret, Book and Scone Society series by Ellery Adams.  The main character is a former librarian and current book seller who specializes in bibliotherapy - right up my alley,

Thanksgiving was postponed to yesterday due to our first real snowfall of the season.  It looks very pretty out, and I did get some wreaths put up outside.  Yesterday Chris got our bird feeders out, too, and I did a little clean up of my sewing room.  I'm still machine quilting a twin-sized quilt but very slowly due to the library project.  Hope to get back to it this week before my brother Rob and his wife Linda come for the weekend.  These are busy times!