Week 47: November 22 - 28

 Saturday - my Christmas stocking

 Sunday - giraffe in progress

 

 Monday - scoping out fabrics

 Tuesday - Christmas cactus blooming

 Wednesday - shopping and scoping and a Night Before Christmas gift bag (that I didn't buy)

Thursday's feast -- after everyone but me had gone through the line

Black Friday shopping (or rather standing in line)...

Gingham Giraffe

My DIL's brother had a baby about two months ago and I've been wanting to make him a quilt.  We had invited them over for Thanksgiving so I had a hard, fast deadline for the quilt. I spent a good part of Wednesday quilting and binding so it was ready for Thursday a.m.

I quilted around the giraffe (duh) and then did random straight lines through the rest of the quilt.

The blocks were not perfectly lined up (which is an understatement), but I think the random lines helped cover that up.  Overall, I am really happy with it.  I was really upset with myself for not re-doing the blocks and making sure they were all lined up ..

The backing was a flannel I had in my stash and I think it worked really well.

Another finish!! (The eighth one this year -- not sure I'll get nine done, but if I push through the Grinch quilt, I might make it.  (#9 on my list)).

Turkey Trot 2014

So for the second year, we participated in the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning.  I'm hoping to make it a family tradition but so far only two of my kids have participated and my YD wasn't able to this year because of her broken leg.  It's a 5K, or a 10K if you prefer, and you can either walk it or run it.  The kids ran, hubby and I walked.

 

Here's a picture from last year ...

A crowd shot, just before we began.  I think about 26,000 people participated.  It's a fun time.  Now I need to get the rest of the family involved ...

Week 46: Nov. 15-21

 Saturday ..

 Sunday - quilt for Uncle Dan's baby

Monday - Christmas gifts to be made

Tuesday ...

 Wednesday - Christmas cactus beginning to bloom

 Thursday - the drive home

 Friday

15 Minutes to Stitch - Mid-Month Report

My sewing has been sporadic at best lately, but I'm hoping to shoot for 15 minutes a day or close to it for the next month.  I have a couple of projects that I need to work on but I'm discouraged by them and have stayed away from the sewing machine.  The first is this quilt ...

I made the first and third rows and was jazzed but when I added the second row, nothing lined up.  I measured correctly but they just didn't line up -- probably differing quality of fabrics.  So I put it down and did nothing for a few weeks.  I finally decided this past week to take the rows apart and sew them as blocks so I could adjust the size as I went along. The first night, I got the fabric out and looked at it and then put it away without doing anything. Then on Saturday, I finally did something.

I've done about twice this amount .. want to try and finish it by Thanksgiving.  We'll just have to see how that goes.

The other project is the Grinch quilt.  I really need to face my fears on that one.

I'm linking up with Kate at Life In Pieces to keep me accountable.

Week 45: November 8-14

Saturday - coffee with Jody

Sunday - Money bags

Monday - the mess by my bed

Tuesday - Smile away

Wednesday .. nothing

Thursday - getting the cast off

Friday - Orchid in my office -- blooming again

Cleaning out the Storage Unit

So, this week, we flew east to clean out my dad's storage locker.  Sorry, no pictures of before and after though I should have had those. 

We spent a good part of Thursday putting the stuff in the car and taking it to his house to sort and give away ..

Steamer trunk? one of my nieces will probably take this as she wants something to get into.  She's so tiny, she could probably use it as a bed.

 

A couple of angel ornaments/decorations.

On Friday and Saturday, we sorted.  Since I have to fly (and my house is full), I was only able to set aside a few things that I will get later.

I grabbed a few patterns .. definitely 70s

and some money bags -- not sure how I can use these but I need to find some way -- they are very cool.

That's about it for now.  My sister took an old phonograph or Victrola or something .. maybe she'll take a picture for me so I can post it ...

Anyway, it's good to have this finished (emptying the storage locker) ... makes me realize that I need to be careful what I keep and get rid of stuff that I don't want/need.  Sometimes, it's hard to see things/stuff and not want it, but then I remember, it's only stuff and if I don't need it, so why do I still want it ???

Melvin

I scanned three pictures of my Grandpa (my father's father), Melvin Kelly, today.  I have the pictures on my wall, but thought I would share them here.  He was born 5 September 1899 so I imagine these pictures were taken in early 1900.

Week 44: November 1-7

Saturday - binding

Sunday- Halloween-ing up a picture

 Monday - I almost forgot ...

Tuesday - log cabin quilt

Wednesday - Happy Birthday! (down on the farm)

  Thursday - Jessie on a small chair

Friday - cousins!