Happy Holidays!!

      Here we are at the most wonderful time of the year! I hope you had a fun and filling Thanksgiving-- ours was the perfect mix of kids, dogs, food, and the great outdoors for four straight days! I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it in this new place. My new oven turned out to be awesome-- it is HUGE inside, with three racks. And while I did miss my formal dining room, the company more than made up for it-- squeezed in together, is best. <3

     I even finally cajoled someone into helping me assemble 10,000 Perler beads into a cute cabin! I bought this kit a year or so ago when all the container ships were late for Christmas, and it was 80% off... now I dream of creating an entire Perler bead Christmas village. See, I do have dreams beyond sewing, people!

     While I did quite a bit of cooking, I managed to sneak in plenty of sewing-- did you? Here are my complete Ribbon Runs Through It stars-- if you see any piecing mistakes, speak now or forever hold your piece. [sic] 

     I have one more block to finish-- then it's full on assembly-- but I may just start assembling tonight, then go back to the block when I get tired of assembly. Stitching together those long rows is my least favorite part of quilting. This quilt finishes at 100" x 100"-- it's a big one-- those are long rows!

     My Let's Pop Some Corn table runner is fully popped! After trying the blocks on for size on my various tables, I opted for a smaller five corn layout. That leaves two extra for a pillow, plus the kit had enough fabric for two more corns, or another pillow. I did have to order some extra background fabric for the last two corns that I found it on Etsy. Etsy is a great resource for older fabric that you local quilt shop has run out of. This set will be fabulous in next fall's living room! These are BIG corns-- the pillow is about 18" x 18."

    Then, I finally got a Lori Holt Prairie Meadow block pinned up and ready for hand stitching. I always wanted to try one of her applique quilts, and this stitch-a-long started on my birthday in August, so I took it as a sign and treated myself! After a few moments of doubt mid-assembly, it looks sensational. I love the patchwork background-- I always wanted to do this type of patchwork/applique mix.

     I can't wait to start hand stitching this tomorrow morning-- I haven't had a hand stitch project since about Halloween, when I double down on star blocks. I used Lori's method for the large pieces, Appliquik for the smaller pieces and Applipops for the circles. Lori is fine with this-- she is always telling me, "You are the boss of your own quilt." 

     She apparently does not cut out large parts of shapes that are under other shapes, either. This area has three big shapes layered with stabilizer. So I think I'm going to lift those up and trim all of it back. It's a bit much thickness for hand stitching, and I'm afraid all of that extra stuff will just telescope through when it's quilted.

     This is Block Ten, and I picked it for the Christmassy vibe. It took me quite a while to get this point, and it will probably take me another couple of weeks to stitch it all-- I'm thinking this will be my Block of the Month for next year. 

     My re-dos of the Kris Kringle Cross Stitch Club for hand stitch are looking great, too. I'm hoping to release them on the Sugar Meadow Stitchery Etsy shop soon. I'm switching  digitizing software so you can do, either-- machine stitch or print out a chart. Hand cross stitch is extremely popular right now-- have you pulled out your old kits?

  

     Finally, I stitched out the "2023" motif-- my yearly year design! 

I really didn't change it up this year-- I'm still extremely limited in what supplies I have access to-- most of it will be in boxes until the spring. It's a happy finish, though, and I did find my favorite red truck snow lantern in a completely unrelated box of stuff!

     To end, I'll share with you this sweet photo from Thanksgiving of Mr. SFO and his granddog, Rolo-- you know how it is-- when an animal is in your lap and you can't get up. Or maybe you've just finished Thanksgiving dinner, and you don't want to get up!

     Wishing you a very happy holiday season-- myself, I just can't wait for it all to unfold!

xox

Carol