it can't be christmas....

without perry como, for sure!  ever since i was in the 5th grade, i had a crush on perry como.  i would watch his show faithfully every week.  i was constantly sending him letters.  if you peeked inside my schoolbooks, you would nearly always find one in progress.  even in black and white he was my idol.  he would sing, "dream along with me," and i was right there, dreamy and starry-eyed.  he never read one of my letters on the show but that was okay, no doubt he saved them for when he was alone in his dressing room, right?  i was certain of it!  we even shared the same food likes...."hot diggity, dog diggity" and i liked hot dogs too.  when color TV came, especially when color TV came, he was dreamy.  i have this christmas album and others too.  in fact, i just copied all my christmas LPs onto CD so i could take them in the car.  sadly, perry is no longer with us but he lives on in spirit and CD.  thank goodness for that, but it's not nearly enough for me. 

a maine snowman

this is the only kind of snowman you'll find in these parts of maine, hopefully for the entire winter!  up north they have snow, of course, but not around here.  my mother made this little cutie as a decoration and sent it off to my florida nieces/nephews.  he's so cute and best of all, doesn't melt.  it's a commercial pattern and was easy peasy to put together.  guess where she found that luscious christmas print....yep, she raided my stash, with permission of course.  *****  slowly working on my strippy squares, and i do mean slowly.  they'll get done when they get done.  i did cut a whole stack of green triangles too, for the HSTs.  christmas prep comes first, though.  and with these cold temps, it's finally starting to feel a bit christmas-y too!

vision of sugarplums, er, strippies....

here's the awful truth....i have this many strippy squares PLUS cut more triangles and sew them on the HSTs yet to do to get "caught up" with "fat tuesday on orca bay."  today's list includes making a small window curtain for DSIL and then i can work on this mystery project.  ****  the upside of having a small family is lots less to do when holidays come around.  due to work schedules, it's just going to be mom and me on christmas eve and christmas day.  even at that, there is much to celebrate; in fact, every day is a celebration of sorts even if in a melancholy mood, which seldom applies to me.  so, i should get a lot of sewing done.  i've also been doing some just plain relaxing needlework--cross-stitching--on some tucked away UFOs.  **** our tree is all decorated and looks great.  and surprise!  today we are having SNOW!  that's right; big, wet flakes are coming down right this minute.  our luck ran out and winter finally arrived.  only 2.5 months until spring, though...

smells like christmas!

got our tree yesterday and put it up last night.  immediately the room filled with the heady aroma of fresh balsam.  just because maine is at the bottom of the forbes list of states for job creation and economic opportunity, doesn't mean you can't get a decent christmas tree.  in truth, this might have come from canada because those fanatical environmentalists get their shorts in a twist if anyone mentions cutting down one tree within the pine tree state's borders.  even if we were sitting on a century's worth of crude, there would be no way it could ever be drilled.  state officials spend wasteless time getting kids into college to train for jobs that don't exist and never will as long as this practice continues.  so all of you who dream about the idyllic life in maine can let that dream go.  the only people who live that kind of life here are those who earn their money elsewhere....like martha stewart, john travolta, tom selleck and their ilk.  ok, off the soapbox....i'll dispense with my inner scrooge....god bless us everyone!

first christmas quilt

not exactly amish but simplistic anyway.  i didn't want to make a "normal" double wedding ring with tons of pieces; i did that after i made this one.  i love the forest green/wine combo for christmas instead of the kelly green and red.  this quilt was entirely hand pieced and hand quilted.  i started it on a whim and didn't buy enough green, so there is a slight color variation, normal for antique quilts of course.  it has a nice cotton batt and a decidedly antique feel and drape....i'm totally happy with it.  **** for all you boomers out there who remember the patty duke show and her award-winning film, the miracle worker, made at a tender age.  today she turns 65 and if you go to www.ssa.gov, you will see her tell how she applied for social security and medicare online....yep, she is the poster gal for social security, her and chubby checker too.....what a hoot! 

year-end stash report

all year i've been keeping track of quilt-related expenditures and amounts of acquired stash.  this was strictly for my own purposes, for curiosity sake.  as of today, i've purchased 31.75 yards of fabric.  i didn't count backings here, which is usually muslin.  according to the stashbuster UFO secretary, i've used up 50.75 yards in finished projects.  i think she only counts the tops as well.  this means i'm not adding to my stash at all.  the flimsies that are done are not included in this figure either, nor are works in progress or kits in shoeboxes.  i've been able to tell just from available space that i am not adding to my stash; it gets circulated of course, as things get used up and others get added.  what has increased is my stash of finished things--tablerunners, wallhangings and quilts.  i've donated some and gifted some others.  The final result here is that i am not needlessly or wantonly collecting fabric, though sorely tempted.  i've also sold off a few books that i no longer want and also donated various notions that were languishing around.  after the new year, one of my first purchases will be enough wide muslin to finish all the bed-size UFOs i currently have.  with my income taking a downturn, it'll be good to have on hand whatever i'll need for future finishes.  on the quilty front, 2011 was a pretty good year. 

aw shucks...

thanks to all who left such nice comments about my "fat tuesday on orca bay" color combo....sure is appreciated!

celebrating ecumenically

last week we attended the USM chamber choir concert at the baptist church in portland.  saturday we arrived at the greek church for a replay.  yesterday we went to the lutheran church for the saint lucia celebration.  ***** today's agenda?  some baking, some mundane chores, some sewing.  plus wrapping, packing, mailing, etc.  it's a most busy time of year!

strippin' and rippin'

so here are the three colors together, the purple, cheddar and green.  i do believe this quilt is going to be bright!  i've started both strippy units, the purple and cheddar.  when i cut the purple triangles at first, i cut them so the strips are horizontal, but bonnie shows them cut on the vertical.  i don't think it will matter in the finished quilt, scraps are scraps after all.  but even if it does, i'm still going to use them.  my cheddar stash is small compared to the purple, so there will be more variety in the purple.  que sera sera.  so i now have 5 days to finish all these; we'll see how they go.  hoping the purple tones down the blinding cheddar somewhat.  ***** cold but sunny today; hard freeze overnight; still no snow here, keeping my fingers crossed for the foreseeable future.

friday night report

it was the amish center diamond that got selected for friday night sew-in.  i finished the 3rd brown triangle and went on to quilt brown corner squares in the next border.  today's focus will be on the one christmas gift i've yet to finish and also the fat tuesday on orca bay strip squares. ***** i'm all "registered" for the stashbusters' 2012 UFO challenge.  the list is on the left side of my blog and it seems quite long but many are small projects that can be finished relatively quickly.  i am hoping that "fat tuesday" will be added to the list; though it might not be a flimsy by the end of the year as bonnie has said there are 8-9 parts to the mystery.  with all christmas prep and celebrations, there won't be a lot of sewing progress in the next few weeks.  fortunately what gift shopping i've left to do can be done in a couple of hours.  no matter, the maine winter looms on the horizon which always gives plenty of opportunity to hibernate in the sewing room.