Too fast

 The last three weeks have gone by way too quickly and I have been busy with many pursuits other than Three Boats. This is where it was at our last update. 

As I predicted in my last post, there was absolutely no crafting of any type completed the week of Thanksgiving. The subsequent weeks have been busy with getting the house back in order and getting ready for Christmas…..decorating, gift shopping and baking. I can assure you that less than 100 stitches were added since the last update as I only just returned to stitching on it yesterday. This is how it looks now. 

If you can discern the changes then well done. 

This Stitch Along is hosted every three weeks by Avis at Sewing Beside the Sea who kindly sends us the needed posting reminders. 

Grab yourself a cup of coffee or tea and take some time to visit the other bloggers below who are part of this stitch-along. There is a wide variety of stitching projects. These talented stitchers are from all over the world, so please allow for the time differences and check back for each post. 

Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret,

 Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, 

Cathie, Linda, MaryMargaret, Cindy, Helen

Thanks for stopping by!

Getting into the Christmas spirit

Oh my have I been busy. Eventually Hubby and I got in gear and took down some of the Christmas boxes from the elevated storage shelf in our garage. I should say that Hubby took them down and I stacked them along the garage walls. We did not bring all of the boxes down. The first box that we usually work from is the outdoor lights. Hubby did not want to "hang from the gutters" this year so our lights are just on our bushes and around the front porch railing.

A couple of the storage boxes weren't well labeled and are not see-through like most. These were my mother's Christmas boxes. I have moved some of my items into these boxes, but there is at least one box that is her nativities and Putz houses from when I was a kid. I hadn't planned on putting up my own Department 56 ceramic houses this year as they are a lot of work, but Hubby brought down my mother's box by mistake. I had never searched through it and when I did, I decided to put out the majority of the houses. 

Since they are quite old, I didn't add lights to them. I don't want to set my house on fire.  A couple of houses were really faded and looked quite forlorn so they stayed in the storage box. My mother always told me that my father painted the really tiny people. I assume they were designed for a railroad set. I have fond memories of these houses and people being under the tree when I was a little girl.

Yesterday I finally got around to decorating and baking the Christmas butter cookie dough that I made at the beginning of the week. Hubby helped! He's decorating the top tray.

YUM!!

Now on to the crafting! I have added just a few stitches to the Woodland Babies birth announcement. It will get more attention soon.

I have had other stitching that needs to get completed. I machine stitched the binding to the front of my daughter's quilt. 

Now I am hand stitching the binding to the back. I have completed 2 sides and 3 corners. 

I found a spot just to the left of the bottom clip that isn't quilted. The long arm quilter must have missed it. I have to decide how to fix that. It is about the size of a postcard. Any ideas? 

I also sandwiched and basted the second I-Spy quilt. Now I have to machine quilt it. 

 

That will take a few days to do.

Friday night Hubby and I went to the Milleridge Inn, a local restaurant and catering establishment to walk through the shops. Hubby and I had our wedding reception in the Milleridge Cottage almost 40 years ago. There is a little village of shops on site that is decorated for the holiday season. There is a Christmas Shoppe, a general store, a candy store, an ice-cream/lunch shop and a bakery.

Below is the view of the restaurant from the shops.

It was very festive and we bought a loaf of their cinnamon bread from the bakery. Years ago, when you ate at the restaurant there was always a loaf of cinnamon bread served with your meal. Hubby and I haven't eaten there in years since it has changed ownership.

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Make yourself a cup of tea, coffee or cocoa and pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are up to. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Back to crafting

 After having a house filled with our family for almost a week, it has taken just about as long to get back to our daily routine. We used all of the food that I had made ahead of time and didn’t really have a whole lot of leftovers. We enjoyed playing the back yard. It was cold though.

We also used the wagon we have had since our children were little to take the grandchildren to a local park. 

There are several in my neighborhood.

Now that over 10 loads of laundry are completed and the dusting, vacuuming and putting away toys are done, we feel like the house is mostly back to normal. Of course, Hubby caught whatever germs visited and has been dealing with a cough and cold since last Saturday...when everyone left. 

I am well on the way to finishing the second I-Spy quilt. I had cut the colorful little cornerstone squares and sew them to the sashing strips. 

Then I laid everything out for assembly. 

Yesterday I added the border strips and I now have a flimsy. Photo was taken before the borders were added.

 Next I need to layer the backing, batting and flimsy and baste them together for machine quilting.

  My daughter's quilt is back from the long arm quilter. I cut the strips for the binding. I decided not to make the binding scrappy. 

One, I had enough of this fabric to bind the quilt. Second, I felt that the piano key border was busy enough that a more plain binding would show it off best. Hubby doesn't like this fabric. He calls it "frumpy", but it is one of the fabrics in the quilt itself and understated enough not to clash with all of the other fabrics. The binding pieces are sewn together and pressed. 

I think I will start attaching it to the quilt today or tomorrow. 

I've been thinking about my next quilt project once these two are finished. I think I might attempt to make this. I've been wanting to make it for quite some time. I took the instructions out to read them over. I think I have all or almost all the fabric bought already. I may need the white.

I have made great progress on the Woodland Babies birth announcement. The leaves are all stitched and I am busy stitching the tree trunk now.

I also decided on the fabric I will use for the Prairie Schooler Santas pillows.

Hubby and I put up lights for Christmas yesterday. 

We decided not to have the icicle lights hang from the gutters this year. The height has been getting to Hubby more and more and he isn't really feeling great. Also, it will just be Hubby, me and my mother in law for Christmas this year as everyone came for Thanksgiving so the decorating is going to be pared down some. 

 I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are up to.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Thanksgiving

 

I'm wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving full of family, friends, love and joy!

The Second November Stitch Along post

I haven't been spending a lot of time on Three Boats lately as I have had other projects that I have been working on that you can see here.

This is where I was on Three Boats three weeks ago. 

  This is where I am now. This photo was taken yesterday.

You can see that I have filled in most of the tree trunk now. There has been a lot of confetti stitching on that trunk. 

Thanksgiving is this week in the US and I will have a house full of my family all week. Three Boats is being stored out of the way of little hands for the time being.

This Stitch Along is hosted every three weeks by Avis at Sewing Beside the Sea who kindly sends us the needed posting reminders. 

Grab yourself a cup of coffee or tea and take some time to visit the other bloggers below who are part of this stitch-along. There is a wide variety of stitching projects. These talented stitchers are from all over the world, so please allow for the time differences and check back for each post. 

Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret,

 Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, 

Cathie, Linda, MaryMargaret, Cindy, Helen

Thanks for stopping by! 

Progress

I’m almost finished with the first I-Spy quilt. 

It is all quilted. 

I made the label and am now hand sewing the binding to the back. I really love the backing fabric.

I’ve been very busy this week making food for the freezer so that dinners don’t require much thought while everyone is here.

 This is a pot of meatballs and sausage for Monday when my son, daughter in law and grandson arrive. Here is the recipe. It is from a long ago Family Circle Magazine. You can see that it is well used. I make this several times a year. I don't add the mushrooms as I am don't really like them.

I also made beef and turkey taco fillings for other dinners or lunches. There has been a request for take out from a local italian restaurant so that covers yet another dinner. 

I’m on a baking kick lately also. I had two bananas going bad so I made two loaves of Sweet Banana Yeast Bread.

I also made Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip cookies for a sweet treat. 

I made healthy Maple Oatmeal Banana Mini Muffins too for snacks for the little ones.

I’ve been working on the Woodland Babies birth announcement. Almost all the leaves on the tree are stitched. 

I doubt there will be any crafting this week with two toddlers here from Tuesday to Saturday and a whole lot of holiday cooking to be done for Thursday. For those of you who celebrate this week, have a Happy Thanksgiving!

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are up to.

Thanks for stopping by!

Another finish

Santa is all stitched. 

I plan on finishing the two Prairie Schooler Santas as pillows after Thanksgiving. 

I am making headway on the Woodland Babies birth announcement now. I’m working on the leaves of the tree. 

All of the blocks for the second I-Spy quilt have been trimmed and pressed. I laid them out on a bed and then gathered together the twelve rows of 10 blocks. 

I have 9 of those rows assembled now. 

Only 3 more to go and then I have to cut the cornerstones for the sashing rows. 

I’ve been in a baking mood lately. I made cranberry orange breads from my Better Homes and Garden New Cook book. You can find the recipe here. I also made Taste of Home pumpkin scones with cranberry butter. All were delicious. I forgot to take photos. 

I’m back in Physical Therapy again. I made the mistake of wearing a shoe with a slight heel when I went outlet shopping several weeks ago and my right hip has been bothering me ever since. I thought it was bursitis, but the orthopedist says it’s sciatica. I have a pain med and physical therapy. It’s interfering with my daily walk and sleeping mostly. Otherwise I’m doing okay. It doesn't interfere with my crafting. LOL

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Take some time to have a cup of tea, coffee or hot chocolate and pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are up to.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sigh

 That is the way I feel this week. It’s a sad sigh for the United States, women, people of color and the world. Now you may not agree with me, but I ask that you be kind. That is all I will say on the subject. 

I have been spending a good deal of time crafting and avoiding the news lately. I have finished the hand quilting of the whole cloth pillow top.

 I have to choose the pillow back fabric and assemble it. I bought some cording a couple of weeks ago. 

The Prairie Schooler Santa is almost done. I’m in the midst of stitching the white parts.

When he is done, I will assemble the two that I made this year into small pillows. 

I have made a tiny start on the Woodland Animals birth announcement. Just a couple of leaves at the top of the tree.

I haven't done any quilting on the first I-Spy quilt, but I did manage to find the color thread that I wanted at my local Michael's store. Sadly, the JoAnns that I usually shop at has virtually no thread and is in quite a disarray with boxes of stock stacked in various places in the store. It is really depressing. 

I have been working on the second I-Spy quilt. I had to draw diagonal lines on 480 little black squares to accurately sew them to the fussy cut blocks.

Then I just chain pieced the four corners around 20 blocks at a time until all 120 blocks were done. This was completed over a few days.

Now I am cutting the 1 1/2" by 3 1/2" rectangles for the sashing. The 1 1/2" strips were already cut so they just needed to be cut into 3 1/2" pieces.

I will trim and press all of the blocks next and then lay them out to arrange them and add the sashing. There is more to do than I thought to finish this second one. 

Last weekend we visited our daughter and her family. Our granddaughter had fun playing with Grandpa.

We will see them again for Thanksgiving when the whole family will be staying with us for several days. 

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Sit down with a cup of tea or coffee and pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching. I certainly have plenty of slow stitching to choose from.

Thanks for stopping by!