Playing catch up

Merry Christmas!  Yes, I'm still around, but until the beginning of this week I've been spending a lot of time at our public library working on Light Up the Library.  It was a success, with 67 items in the raffle, including whole Christmas trees and lots of gift certificates to local businesses.  It seemed like every day we had some emergency (theft, late entries, etc.).  But now the Friends of the Library's coffers are a little fuller and able to fund some fun programs.  Our next project will be sponsoring minigolf in the stacks during February school vacation.  That should draw quite a few kids and their parents to the library.

Meanwhile, back at home, I've been chipping away at projects in the sewing room, and I'm pleased that I was able to finish two little quilts this week.  Both will go to Bags of Love.  The first was made of orphan blocks from the pizza box marked "year's end."  At first, I really didn't like it, but now that it's done, it's grown on me.  There's certainly a lot to look at.  I quilted it in irregular vertical lines which was somewhat tedious.  Guess it's good to have some mindless sewing during the busy holiday season. 

The second quilt top was made of flannels that came from Sylvia's mother who is now in a nursing home.  Sylvia brought me four large tubs of fabric which I used, took to the free table at guild meetings, and gave to the ReStore.  These flannels all seemed to go together, so I made a 40" x 40" rail fence quilt.  I've never made a top out of flannel before, and, while it's soft, it was difficult to cut and sew precisely.   My even feed foot was a god-send.

That leaves only two more tops to quilt in the closet and a third that Marie will be quilting soon.  I'd like to get at least one more top quilted before I start anything else new.  I have three future quilts on my mind for 2026 already, including some strings for which I plan to follow the Rainbow Scrap Challenge to use up. 

I got out the first of the two in the closet - another rail fence in whites and blues.  I won the blocks at the state quilt guild and put them together right away.  Now I see it's a little small, so I'm going to add a stop border and then do varying piano keys around the outside.  I have a lot of coordinating fabric but not enough to make one or two the final border.  

To make my Christmas even nicer, I sold a bed-sized quilt, the Exploding Heart, to a friend of Chris' who was so entranced she wants to buy another for her daughter.  I will dig into my stash of finished quilts and give her a choice.  Then another friend of his wants one that's currently on display in the library.  I have to figure out what to charge for each quilt but I am happy to free up storage for whatever I make in 2026.  Happy New Year!

Whirlwind days

I spent most of last week at the library setting up Light Up the Library.  I noticed that almost everyone coming in has the sniffles and heard that COVID is going around.  This calls for an additional dose of "Airborn" each day.  So far, so good.  The busyness continues this week with some great programs to entice folks to buy raffle tickets.

Saturday, Melissa from Thunder Road Speedway put up a tree with a host of swag from "The Nation's Site of Excitement" (really only Central Vermont's site, but they like it).  I was pleased that Melissa took a picture to add to her social media as a way to promote the Friends of the Library program.  There are 15 gift card copies pinned to the tree so we will raffle off the tree and also draw 14 more winners two weeks from today.

Other trees include a pink one with flamingos and disco balls, The Nightmare Before Christmas, figure skating, hand painted ornaments by the artists' guild, and more.  Then there are the gifts and gift certificates - something for everyone.

This afternoon Donna "Thunder" and her band will play for the grand opening, and Wed. another local musician will entertain us on the piano with a holiday sing-along.  The weekend is taken up with three performances of my friend Alan's version of A Christmas Carol.  He never turns any volunteer away, so now there are 47 people of all ages involved.  

Hoping for driveable weather all week!  We are at the point in the year when we wake up to a little bit of snow every morning,  But there is a storm predicted for late Tuesday, but I hope that, in true Vermont fashion, the roads will be clear by mid-morning.

Small projects

The Friends of the Library's annual Light Up the Library display/raffle gets underway today with donors delivering items all week.  I enjoy meeting the donors and helping them set up, but of course it means hanging around the library all day.  I look forward to Thursday and Friday this week when the library is closed so I can get a few things done at home.

Last week I finished off the last of 21 mug rugs and started making some ornaments to give as gifts.

The ornaments are very similar to the coasters I made a few years ago - folded pieces crisscross in the middle.  This time, I used squares folded into triangles and then turned the edges Cathedral Windows-style.  The pattern came from Beth Ann Williams and can be enlarged to serve as mug rugs or potholders.  I have quite a bit of blue wintry fabric so decided to use that for these which will go to various friends and relatives.  I have four more waiting for quilting.

The last mug rug is for Paul's sister Pat.  A few years ago, she gave me a huge bag of her late husband's ties.  I made her an apron out of some of the best, and, while I was cutting them up, I removed all the tags.  I set some aside and then came across the tags the other day.  I know she'll enjoy that I've appliqued them to a Christmas mug rug.  Sewing them down, I was reminded of Jay and how dapper and fun he always was.

Yesterday I wrapped presents and put together some packages of Christmas gifts.  I'll mail the one to the Netherlands when I get a chance this week.  I noticed the USPS wants more specificity about contents on its customs forms but still gives a tiny amount of room for writing.    Once that's on the way, I'll get the others in the mail, too.  I realized that I have slowly but surely finished Christmas shopping.  Thank goodness!  Now I'll be able to spend most of my time between holidays sewing.

Finishes!

I finished two projects this past week!  One was begun in May and took most of the summer to complete.  The other was started about a month ago. 

Here's Double Date, a pattern by Jen Kingwell, which is mostly paper pieced.

I spent the summer paper piecing this using scraps of green and neutral backgrounds.  I hate taking the paper out, but because I was sewing in the basement away from my stash, I was not distracted by other projects (I have quite a few UFOs).  I used my not-so-great little Brother to do the sewing, and it proved quite good for this.  In between, I did sew the binding onto a friend's quilt, but that didn't take too long, especially because I sewed it all by machine.

Here's an up-close version:

I say I will never make such a project again.  Nonetheless, the Fat Quarter Shop's paper foundations were a godsend, and I have a book of papers to make a Wensleydale quilt out of Christmas fabric waiting in the wings.  Maybe I'll work on it this winter...

Meanwhile, I made a Christmas tree skirt using the Bentley's Snowflakes fabric.  This one is for my friend Pauline with whom, with her husband Bob, we enjoy going on historical and artistic jaunts.  Bentley was a Vermonter who photographed snowflakes long ago and discovered that no two are alike.  His original plates are owned by the Smithsonian.

The snowflakes came as a panel to cut up into 8" squares.  I still have some that I plan to use to make a table runner to raffle off at the Light Up the Library event that starts in November.  If there are any squares left, I'll make some potholders.  

 

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!

Lighting Up the Library

The Friends of the Library's second big fund raiser (besides the book sales) each year has become Light Up the Library, with donations of trees, wreaths and other decorations from local businesses, clubs, and individuals.   This photo shows one of the two first floor reading rooms last year.  That's an inflatable snowman peeking out behind a tree.  I find them tacky, but the kids love them.

It looks a little different this year because we are able to spread out a bit more.  Last year, a friend put on a play of A Christmas Carol in the other side of the reading room and stored props there.  This year, the play is going to be at the Congregational Church across the street.

The library has been my home away from home this week as I've been taking in all of the items which will be raffled off in two weeks.  The fun of the whole project for me is meeting and greeting all the donors who are excited to be setting up their trees and other items in the library.  

This morning, I'm expecting two young women from a developers' office with their little tree.  Several people have mentioned what a challenge it is to drive with a fully decorated Christmas tree.  It's amazing that most things arrive intact on the trees!

Yesterday we managed to find a good spot in the children's room for a toboggan with goodies and gift certificates.  Today I also hope to set up a tree with tools donated by the local hardware store.  Then I'll run to the dollar store for paper goods for tomorrow's open house to start the season.  All this activity really does get me in the mood to do a few holiday things around the house, but on the other hand, I'd just like to take a nap today after all this activity.