Late fall updates

…or holy cow, it’s December! Keeping it real…

Lighter decorating happened this year for Christmas

I finished the baby quilt top a couple of weeks ago. I walked into my fabric room the next day looking for an appropriate fabric for the backing, and spied one of the fleece throws the Hubs and I purchased at Goodwill almost two years ago when we were shopping for our new puppies. One of the throws has since been quilted and we sometimes use it as a cover for the back seat for them when we travel. After I purchased some Pellon 80/20 batting for it, I started thinking that it would be a really thick and heavy quilt. After struggling with the secret project quilt, I backed off using the fleece and will find a backing from my stash. The fleece will be used for a puppy coat! 

On the design wall to check the layout; it's bigger than most baby quilts I make

And about those puppies—they turned 2 years old on Monday. We’ve had them since they were 6 weeks old and we will celebrate their Gotcha Day in January. But now that the weather has turned cooler, I want to use that fleece and make them some new coats. I have a couple of patterns and my primary objective is to make them comfortable. I bought some 100% cotton knit sweaters for them recently and Jedi still didn’t like them—he managed to get his off in record time. They love being naked, but I know they like the jackets they have for their outdoor business when it’s cold. I’ll share what I make soon. 

Fleece for Jedi's coat

And what I mentioned in my last post about slowing down a bit on sewing projects is coming true—Hubs and I discussed some things we want to do regarding organization and we’re working on it; it's been good. It helped that the kids did some of the cooking for Thanksgiving and that’s a blessing. 

And we still need to plant the pollinator garden. 

Retired friends are traveling and some have come to town to see us, and that’s been fun. Kevin showed up during Thanksgiving dinner, and a former co-worker and her husband stopped here on their way to Florida. We haven’t seen each other in about five years, and we had a great time catching up and laughing!  

I have cut out the muslin for my quilted coat and pieced it the day before Thanksgiving. There's no such thing as a good photo of it! I’m still mulling over what I’ll actually quilt for it and while I did not want to overthink it, I sat in my fabric room after I cut the traced pattern and was feeling a bit of overstimulation. I have thought about a scaled-down blooming nine patch or a scrappy diamond motif, or a log cabin. We’ll see. It's just turned cold this week (which is a fluke in our area) and if I can finish it by January, I would be tickled. Come to think of it, that would be a quick project (for me). 

Some spots of fall color in the two photos above; Hubs is making his famous dressing.

So here’s hoping you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and will be able to spend time with the ones you love and like during the holiday season. Kevin has encouraged me to make sourdough bread, so I bought a couple of crocks for the starter on Black Friday and will make my starter this week. I had the most fabulous sourdough bread I’ve ever eaten while at the retreat in early November, and I would love to have it at home. But more quilting and sewing are in the plans, too. 

In the meantime, go make!