A finish and a work in progress

I joined a placemat swap recently because it only involved making two placemats for someone by February.  My "secret sister' wanted them with a Christmas theme, and, since I love working with Christmas fabrics during the season, I finished them yesterday.  I'll pack them up and get them mailed so that she can enjoy them during this year's holidays rather than next year's.  But I won't share a photo in case she reads this blog! 

I am turning my attention back to quilting the red, white and blue Dutch quilt which was set aside while I finished a few other things over the last couple of weeks.  I still have to make one more November block for my Low Volume Sampler, but I guess I'll push it into December.  Here's what I have so far, incorporating Splendid Sampler, Moda Blockheads, orphans, and any other 6" blocks I might feel like making.

I will probably rearrange the blocks when I sash them before quilting to end up with five sections made for this year-long project.  The first blocks have incorporated pieces from a set of linen "dishtowels of the month" that my dear friend Yve gave me years ago.  They are a special memorial as she passed away suddenly last January.

Another snow day

My across the street neighbor, Winnie, took this photo of our neighborhood yesterday.  That's a little bit of our garage showing along with the 8-10" of heavy, wet snow we received.  This was the third major snowstorm we've had this season.  Or was it the fourth?  I have lost track!  Others posted photos of turkeys, foraging through the snow in their yards.   Maybe if the weather gets all this snow out of "its" system, "it" will leave December unscathed?  We can hope.

The snow kept us housebound but also warm and cozy.  Although I often make a special lunch like pancakes on a day like yesterday,  I wrapped Christmas presents and put together packages to mail instead.  I have six ready to go out but will only mail the two that need to go the farthest today.  One is for my sister Jacqueline in the Netherlands, and the other for my mom and sister Jenny in Colorado.   Having a small, far-flung family means getting most shopping done early, and now I have just a little more shopping for my two guys here at home.

I took a little time to water plants, search for a holiday table decoration for the Thursday night library staff appreciation dinner, and change our door quilt to the tree Paula made me last year.    I had made 17 key fobs for the library staff, so made and attached little "thank you" tags using the computer and a new rubber stamp.

Then I got busy quilting.  I had to unpick a couple seams on my latest Splendid Sampler block and then I started on some placemats for an exchange.  They aren't due at my secret sister's until February, but she asked for a Christmas theme, so I'm hoping to get them to her in time for the holiday.  Last year I put in a bid for a batch of fabric from another quilter's de-stashing, and quite a bit of it was Christmas-related.  While cutting out half square triangles, I again mentally thanked Wendy for her generosity.   I have some glitzy black fabric for the placemat backs and will rummage around for some dark green binding.

Holiday cooking

I'm going to try to cut back on holiday baking this year.  We don't need all those yummy extra calories, and I have plenty of quilting and reading to keep me occupied instead.   I do plan to make Karen G.'s ginger cookies because it wouldn't be Christmas without them.  And I hope to try making a Dutch "tulband," a bundt-shaped fruit cake.

But yesterday I couldn't resist making some Passion Pear Jam because our jam reserves seem to be running low and I wanted some for gift giving.

I do love the colors of home made jam as the jars are all lined up and cooling.  My former mother-in-law used to make this along with her world famous spiced pear, but I never asked her for the recipe.   Luckily, my Canadian quilting friend Karen H. had one to share.  Passion Pear has an orange, a lemon, some chopped maraschino cherries, and a can of crushed pineapple along with the pears, to give it that lovely color like marmalade.  I have Mom C.'s spiced pear recipe and made some last fall, but when I went into the cupboard to put this batch away, I noticed only one strawberry and one spiced pear in reserve.  Looks like I'd better make a little more jam after the holidays. 

Our mini-vacation

We returned from four nights in Washington, DC, yesterday afternoon and, while we were gone, it snowed quite a bit.  I suppose what's on the ground now will stay until spring, unfortunately.  We stayed in a B&B on Capitol Hill and could see the domes of the US Capitol and the Library of Congress from one of our windows.  It was a "basic" place - no frills with dormitory-type furniture and make-your-own-breakfast - but at least we had our own bathroom and the location was perfect, once we got oriented.  The first night, we wandered around looking for a restaurant and finally asked some cops for a suggestion.  The Union Pub turned out to be just what we needed - a crabcake sandwich, fries, and a nice glass of wine for me.

The next morning featured wet, sloppy snow, making the charming brick sidewalks a little treacherous to walk on.  We went a few blocks to the Folger Shakespeare Library and had a wonderful tour.  No other tourists were there, so our docent, Sarah, took her time (2 hours!) to tell us about the Folgers and their collection.   The library owns 81 First Folios - amazing.  We saw the little theater, the reading room, and a Churchill-Shakespeare exhibit, too.   After lunch in a diner we reached by walking through a downpour, we rested a bit before dinner at Café Berlin with Paul's old friend Dave.  They met while working at a college library in Tennessee many years ago, and now Dave is preparing to retire from the DC Public Library.   We discovered the restaurant only 3 blocks from our B&B, almost across from the Union Pub that we had taken a circuitous route to/from the night before.

Friday morning, we headed down past the Capitol to the Newseum, which is quite an interesting place but also a magnet for school groups, busloads of them.  There were quite a few interesting journalism memorabilia, including remnants of the Berlin Wall.  The graffiti'd side was on the "free" side, while the plain side was on the Communist side and had been painted white to reveal anyone trying to climb/escape.  There was a "death tower" on display also, but I couldn't get a good picture.

The Newseum also has a piece of the Twin Towers, original copies of US newspapers with important headlines, Pulitzer and other prize winning photos, and lots of videos about the role of the press in important moments in US history, such as the Civil Rights movement.

After such bad weather Thurs., it was a lovely day to be outside, and my Fitbit registered over 11,000 steps Friday.

Saturday was equally pretty, and we took the subway over to Arena Stage near the Waterfront in the late morning for brunch followed by Anything Goes.  It was a fabulous production with excellent singing and dancing.  On the way home we couldn't resist stopping at Café Berlin for dinner again.  The taxi picked us up Sunday at 6:45 am for National Airport, and we were back home in the frozen north by 1 pm.   We were happy to have had time in the "big" city, but, despite the winter, there's no place like home!

Quilting after the election

I am so glad I had a big quilt to wrestle under my machine this week.  It offers time to reflect on the election and cool down after some annoying disappointments.  My friend, for whom I am again serving as campaign treasurer, lost his bid for Vermont House.   We weren't all that surprised since he was running against two incumbents.   I need to file his final campaign finance report later today, but it was a shoestring campaign, making it easy.  We took in and spent less than $1,000.  The good news is that two friends in the neighboring city won their elections.  Some other local election results were head-scratchers, though, so I'm glad to have other things to occupy my mind.

I've been working a little each day on the red, white and blue medallion quilt which is about 85" square.  After pin-basting on Sunday, it took a couple of days to anchor each border.  I did some straight stitching through a couple of the skinnier borders, and now I'm using my walking foot to echo some wavy lines I drew in the 18" center square.  It's looking good so far, but I take plenty of breaks to do things around the house or read.

Yesterday morning I went to my hand-sewing guild for a few hours and got some yoyos sewn onto charm squares for the state guild quilt.  Robin was cutting out more charms for the same project, and Bronwen was making nine patches and cutting fabric for a future project.  It is relaxing to sew and chat with these ladies.  After I got home, I continued knitting a dish cloth using "Scrubby" yarn.  I don't like the scratchy way it feels, so I'm not sure I will make any more.  I do like having an easy knitting project while watching TV.

We are heading to Washington, DC, for a few days Wednesday, just for a pre-winter getaway.  But Tuesday we're heading to Hanover, NH, for a consultation with a cardiologist for Paul, which means I need to get our stuff together for the trip Monday.  Today's chores will be laundry and some grocery shopping before I can get back to quilting.