I Like Thursday #84 Happy New Year!

 

Welcome to I Love Thursday! A group of us bloggers try to post positive and uplifting posts every Thursday. LeeAnna, our proud leader, has more fun posts you can read at her blog, Not Afraid of Color. Go visit and check them out!! I started a new knitting project. I wanted to use my new book, 52 Weeks of Socks by Laine. This pattern is called Gerste. I thought the yarn would be a nice color to wear under jeans and the pattern looks fitting as well. So far, so good! I'm not used to toe up socks. I usually prefer cuff down but it's nice to work outside my comfort zone. 

I tired to enlarge this photo but I'm not sure it did much good. If you look closely, you can see a deer decided to hang out on our front walkway and nibble on our bushes. This was right after our last storm. It was a little surprising to see him out there so close to the house. Hope our shrubs are still alive!

I received a Christmas package from Dawn who blogs at Relaxing Robin. She always sends the best gifts! The angel ornament is so pretty and so delicate! She also made me another ornament made up of pearls. I got clips, holiday pins and kitchen towel. She's always so thoughtful and sends the best presents!

I got the call this afternoon. I scheduled an appointment to receive the Covid vaccine. I'm so excited! The hospital has been a bit scary lately. The number of Covid patients has been increasing. Some of the staff has tested positive. I will feel better once I get both doses but I'm finally on my way!

I wish you all a Happy New Year! Let's hope 2021 will be better than 2020!!

I Like Thursday #83

I wanted to start this post wishing everyone Merry Christmas! It's been a strange year and the holiday might be a little different but let's just do the best we can and enjoy the warmth of the holiday. I'll be working tomorrow so I'm posting earlier than usual.

I finished my last Christmas gift today. It's just a pin cushion. It measures 5" square. It's made with all Kaffe Fassett fabrics except for the yellow solid. 

The cats are quite interested in the gifts under the tree. Here they're staring at each other getting ready to pounce! They've been pretty good with the tree this year. They sit under it and haven't broken any ornament yet. They only ornaments they've played with are cloth ones we've place at the bottom of the tree.

I got this picture of the deer behind my house during the snowstorm last week. They seemed to enjoy the new snow falling. They hung out in our woods for hours. It's always nice to see them hanging around.

I received these beautiful flowers from my brother and his family today. They'll make a nice centerpiece during Christmas dinner. They can't be here with us but we'll be reminded of them with this lovely arrangement. 

I wish everyone a happy holiday. Please visit LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color for more positive and uplifting posts. Merry Christmas!

Pineapple Quilt Top Done!

 And just like that, my quilt top is done! It measures 90" X 90". It's great to see the finished top. I love the look of all the scraps together. I'll be quilting it at some point but I have a friend's quilt to finish first. I also have about 3 of my own quilts to quilt so I'll be concentrating on my longarm for a little while. I'll do that after the holidays. I'm just trying to get through Christmas and New Year's. The hospital is full and every day at work is very demanding. I wish there was an end in sight but I don't really see it yet. I think it's worse than this past Spring. I'm looking forward to the vaccine. It's the only bright light out there. 

This is the last gift I'm making for Christmas. It will eventually be a pin cushion. It's my own design but I haven't made it in awhile. It took me a little longer than I expected! I'll be quilting the top and backing and then sewing them together. I've had a nasty headache all day so it may have to wait until tomorrow. I'm hoping to wrap gifts for the rest of the day. I think I may need to take some Motrin first. 

I Like Thursday #82

 

I thought I'd write my I Like Thursday post early this week. A Nor'easter is on the way and I'm not sure our power will stay on. Better safe than sorry! My daughter got a gift for Molly. It's a catnip kicker and Molly could smell it the minute it came in the house. No waiting until Christmas! She's been playing with it ever since she got it. She lays next to it and rubs her head all over it. It was a good choice for her!

I went to my local quilt shop today and bought myself a few things! I bought these cute decals to decorate my longarm. Aren't the pretty?? The saleslady who rang up my order said each of her machines has it's own decal. They're different machines so they get a unique decal. This one is Hawaiian Holiday but there are a bunch of other flowers available. 

I bought a new quilting ruler. HandiQuilter had a demonstration using the Wave Template. There are so many neat designs you can make using either side of the ruler. 

I have one more Christmas gift to make. I love the idea of a pincushion with a little pocket.  I found this on line and thought I'd share. You can find the pattern here. I just thought it was so cute and so useful too! I don't think it would take much longer than an afternoon from start to finish. 

That's it for me this week. I'm so thankful that I'm off tomorrow and don't have to drive through the snowstorm. Please visit LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color to read more fun and positive posts. Stay safe! 

 

A Finish!!

I finished my Brioche Scarf this past weekend. I love it. It's so warm and cushy. I actually wore it to work today.  It started off with i-cord and finished the same way. It wasn't that difficult at all. There is a rhythm to Brioche knitting and once you catch on, it's not hard at all. I'm looking forward to my next Brioche project!

Here's my Pineapple Quilt so far! Six rows all put together, three more left! My pile of blocks keeps getting smaller. I'm happy with the quilt top so far. It's hard to believe all these scraps work so nicely together. 

I might have one more Christmas gift to make. It's just a quick pin cushion for a friend. This time of year just gets so busy! Be careful out there. There may be a huge storm in the Northeast towards the end of the week. I guess I'll stay in and sew!

 

I Like Thursday #81

 Hello and welcome to I Like Thursday! A few of us bloggers write uplifting and happy posts every Thursday.  Check out more posts over at LeeAnna's blog, Not Afraid of Color. We had our first snow storm last week. We received about 4 inches of snow. This is what it looked like after I got home from work. It had only been snowing about an hour at this point. I'm glad I got out of work before the storm really got going. 

I finished the tote bag for my son's girlfriend. I hope she likes it. She's an avid knitter and I hope she uses this tote to hold her current knit project. I know she loves Kaffe Fassett fabrics. Her late mother knew Kaffe Fassett somehow. I'm not sure of the details but I will definitely find out!

I found a new grain free snack! They don't really taste like tortilla chips but they're nice to have as an alternative snack. I snack on cassava chips also. Just to be honest, I do cheat so I'm not that great on keeping my whole diet Paleo, but I do try. I'm just trying to maintain my weight at this point. 

I'm just about done reading this book and I love it! It's about 3 sisters whose father dies. They learn they have a half sister due to an affair their father had with a neighbor. It's a great, fun read!

That's my week. Things are quiet. I'm not going out much. Most of my shopping has been on line. I'm just trying to stay healthy. Stay safe!

A Little Sewing

 I've worked the last few days and don't have a whole lot to show for it. I did manage to sew up to Row 4 of the Pineapple Quilt. Row 5 is all set to sew together. I'm hoping to get some sewing done tomorrow. I have to catch up with housework since I haven't been home. I need my sewing/therapy! I really love the look of all the various scraps. I'm glad I used different scraps and didn't stick to a certain palette. 

I did machine quilt the tote bag I'm making as a Christmas gift. I'm looking forward to  putting it all together soon. All pieces have been quilted and trimmed. I'm not crazy about yellow but I like how this looks. Maybe I'll start using yellow a little bit more in my quilts!

I'm so looking forward to not getting up at 5! It's exhausting to get up that early. The cold weather hasn't helped either! I need to sleep. 

I Like Thursday #80

 

Welcome to I Like Thursday! We are a group of bloggers who find positive and fun items to post every Thursday. You can see more posts when you visit LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color. There's lots to see there so enjoy! Well, we've started to decorate for Christmas. Here's our wreath. We've had this one for a few years. We have to replace them every so often. I think the sun or even the temperature degrades them over time. 

We put a couple of kissing balls outside. They were difficult to find. So many people have started to decorate earlier than usual. It's nice to see the Christmas lights out already. When I go to work for 6, it's fun to see how many homes have their lights on. We still have to put up our tree. That's always quite the job.

I buy one of these candles every year. We don't have a real tree so I love to light this candle and get that great smell throughout my home. I don't think we could have a real tree with the cats. They would make quite the mess!!

I snuck this picture of my neighbor while he was decorating his tree! I just wanted to show you why he was using that machine. Don't tell him I took it! Haha!

I ate quite a bit on Thanksgiving so I decided to get back to my Paleo diet. I made these Paleo dinner rolls and they're really good! I'm going to make another batch today. If interested, visit The Roasted Root. That's where I got this recipe and found quite a few more recipes that look good.

That's my week! Massachusetts is seeing quite an increase in Covid and my hospital is filling up. Be safe out there!

More Gifts

I hope you all had a nice holiday. I had a great holiday but was so busy at work Saturday and Monday. I'm calming myself by sewing! I have 2 rows put together of my Pineapple Quilt. The third row is sewn together but needs to be sewn to this piece. I just love watching the pattern emerge.

I noticed my son's girlfriend likes to knit but doesn't have a nice tote bag to carry her projects. My son says she likes yellow. I know she likes Kaffe Fassett fabrics so I went to my (too big) fabric stash and found these 3 fabrics. The yellow is just a solid from my solids drawer.

Here's the tote bag so far! This is just the top that needs to be quilted. I thought I was done with Christmas gifts but I guess I can make one more. I'm hoping to finish this tote bag this week. 

How are your gifts coming along??

 

I Like Thursday #79

 Happy Thanksgiving! I'm so happy to be off. The turkey is cooking and all the sides are in the process of getting done. We'll have a very small gathering this year. Just my mom and immediate family will be here. My husband brought N95 masks from work. I don't want my mom getting sick. We won't all be eating at the table together. We're splitting up to keep exposure low. 

This was sort of a quiet week. I did take the cats to the vet. Here they are in the back seat of my car. I wish you could hear them! They were none too happy and loved letting me know about it! They were much quieter on the way home. I think they were tuckered out!

Since I'm on a Brioche knitting kick, I found this gorgeous shawl pattern. Isn't it so pretty?? This just might be my next project after a pair of socks I promised to someone. Too many nice projects out there! 

This seems to be the talk of the neighborhood! Our neighbor had this delivered to his house yesterday. We received multiple texts asking what might our neighbor be up to!! Especially the day before Thanksgiving! I'm keeping an eye out to see what's going on!

That's my week! Nothing exciting and I'm fine with that! Please visit LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color to read more happy and inspiring posts. Enjoy your Thanksgiving but stay safe!!

Pineapples and Brioche

The first row of my Pineapple Quilt is done! It didn't take too long to actually sew but there are many biased edges to be careful with. I've been using lots of pins and clips. I'm trying not to sew the same fabrics near each other and that will just get more difficult as I continue to sew rows together. I'll just have to take my time and be careful.

Look at my Brioche Scarf! It's getting so long! I'm almost at the other end where I will knit another X just like the beginning of the scarf. Knitting all these rows is great practice to learn the brioche knit. I don't need to read the directions anymore. I really love this look. 

These are close ups of the back and front. I love this pattern. I found some great patterns for brioche shawls. A brioche shawl might just be my next knit project!

I Like Thursday #78

 

Happy Thursday! It's time to join fellow bloggers with a positive post. Please visit LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color to read more fun and uplifting posts. We really need them this year! We had to get rid of our pumpkins. As you can see, the squirrels found themselves a great food source. We actually just moved them into the woods behind our house. They were leaving all sorts of seeds and scraps all over our front steps. They're welcome to make the mess in the woods where I won't have to clean them!

I got a new design wall. I tacked it to the wall behind my longarm. Unfortunately, my Pineapple quilt is going to be much larger than the design wall. I decided to separate the row so I could see the blocks together. Each row should measure about 90 inches but I think the design wall is closer to 70 inches. Oh, well, I can still use it but I won't be able to get the whole row up there. I'll figure something out. I already like how the first row looks!

I'm almost done with the tote bags for my friend's daughters. I just have to top stitch the top edge and close up the opening at the bottom. I really love how they came out! I wanted to finish them before I get started on the Pineapple quilt. I can't wait to give them to the girls!

I received this book as an Advanced Reader's Copy. I enter my name for all sorts of book offers but rarely win. I was so surprised when I got this in the mail. It's to be published in 2021. I'll let you know if it's good. I'm reading the Book Woman of Troublesome Creek right now and it's excellent! I'm dying to keep reading but the Nook needs to charge.

That's my week! It's been colder here and Covid has been increasing. I'm staying home and sewing as much as I can. Have a great week!

More Christmas Gifts

 I'm machine quilting another Christmas gift so I can only show a little bit of this project. This isn't the best picture but it gives you an idea of what I'm doing. I love to combine ruler work with free motion quilting which you can see in this picture. I like it so far!

 

 I made the pockets for the two tote bags I'm making for my friend's daughters. The directions show a tote bag using directional fabric however the directions make no distinction so I have to change things around as I sew. So far, so good. I'm still paranoid I'm going to screw it up! I just have to make a couple of pin cushions and then I'm all done with my handmade gifts. I'm usually never done this early. I guess that's the silver lining of the pandemic. If there is a silver lining!!

I Like Thursday #77

 

It's Thursday and time for an uplifting post. Please join LeeAnna and other bloggers for more happy posts at Not Afraid of Color. Lots of fun stuff there! This is the view outside in my back yard. It's been warm but all the leaves are gone. It's been windy and those leaves have been floating past the windows. The cats have been watching the leaves flying. I think it's fun for them to see! Unfortunately, winter is on the way.

Speaking of the cats, I think I shared a picture of my husband's new leather chair. Well, the cats have been very interested in this new piece of furniture. My husband bought a very soft blanket to throw over the chair so the cats would ignore it. Wrong move! The cats love that soft throw and have been sleeping on it together! They rarely sleep this closely but this chair has brought them together!

We had a little party at work for one of my closest work friends. She turned 40 (so young!) so we brought in all sorts of goodies. It made the day so much nicer. That strawberry log is the best! It's made up of fresh strawberries, cake and lots of whipped cream. It's her favorite and we loved getting it for her since we could eat some too!!

I'm making 2 tote bags for Christmas gifts. My friend has 2 little girls. I just love these fabrics! I'm going to make the tote bags but also include a few books for each girl. They are 4 years old and 9 years old. I make them gifts every year. They're 2 fun little girls. I love making them gifts and they appreciate everything I've made for them.

That's it for me this week. It's been a quiet week. Covid is getting worse so I'm spending more time home. Stay safe and stay healthy!!