I spent most of the day yesterday baking and making fudge. Last night I sewed the binding on the last four mug rugs that were quilted. I will have all of the mug rugs for sale on my Wandaful Quilts blog.
I forgot to do the photo update on my wax bulb Amaryllis. It is getting taller and no sign that it is going to open yet. I showed it the last 2 weeks on Fridays.
In front of the bulb are my shortbread cookies. I made the green spritz cookies also.
It started snowing early last evening and now the really cold air gets here. Luckily it isn't going to last long and we might be above freezing by mid-week.
I have baked two batches of spritz cookies so far and will do another two for sure. Some will be mailed out in a couple days, the rest shared with many in my own area.
I made two batches of Chex mix yesterday. I only had 5 of the Christmas print bags left from last year. I didn't see them at the store this year but I'll go back and look again.
I spent and hour trying to clear off table tops in my main floor studio. I still have a long way to go on it. I got 4 mug rugs trimmed and binding cut.
It is supposed to be near 0 on Sunday and might be the coldest day the Bears have played football in Chicago. They are playing the Packers who are no strangers to cold weather either so both teams should be OK. It is the people in the stands watching the game that will be suffering.
I just finished one mug rug yesterday. The incentive to do it was that it is a gift for my hairdresser and my hair cut is this morning. Nothing like a deadline to get something done.
She is a non-sewer/quilter so I added my tag so she will know what it is.
How about this for commitment? 30 yards of Hobbs 80/20 batting. My quilts take an average of 2 yards each so that is 15 quilts. Since I usually finish about 20 a year it will probably be at least half this size by the end of 2017. I also use Warm and Natural batting and have a roll of it too. It is mostly for wallhangings because it has scrim in it and hangs nice and straight against the wall. Between the 2 rolls I will probably use close to 40 yards in a year if I can keep up the pace I have been doing.
My champagne colored cactus bloomed yesterday.
It is an unusual color.
One more photo just because it is so pretty. The pottery is a Goodwill find.
I delivered the newest Christmas stocking to my granddaughter yesterday. She had a hook all ready for it.
Here is a closer look at her stocking. I made it in the late 1980s when I was still doing a lot of counted cross stitch. It is the only all cross stitch stocking that I did. The next 2 grandchildren got cross stitch cuffs on their stockings.
I did bindings on mug rugs last night while I watched TV.
It took me a little over 3 1/2 hours to do 10 bindings by machine. That comes out to about 22 minutes each.
If I had finished them by hand they would have taken about 45 minutes each minimum.
I quilted 5 more mug rugs a couple nights ago so they will get trimming and binding soon.
It was -3 degrees when I went to bed late last night. Thursday is supposed to be the coldest day and then snow again.
I quilted some mug rugs but haven't trimmed them or chosen binding yet. I have a huge stack to do but I have a couple Christmas projects to do too. I like to work on a variety of things so a little will get done on each.
I finished sewing the last 24 purple 16 patch blocks. I have 2 alike of every combination and this is one of each. I need to make some more blocks so I will be repeating some of the fabrics. This may be stalled for awhile while I do some deadline sewing.
I made mug rugs for my sister-in-law to give to her girls and I forgot to take pictures of them before they left my house. My niece sent me this photo yesterday and is allowing me to use it on my blog. Several months ago I tried to give away homespun scraps and no one came forward to claim them. I guess that is a good thing because I knew they are one of my niece's favorite types of fabric and would be perfect for her mug rugs.
I just couldn't get motivated yesterday to baste a quilt or load one on my longarm. I decided to clean up my mess from making the mug rugs instead. I finished the binding on six more of them too. These are sew and flip, quilt as you go. Now I'm done with mug rugs for awhile. Hopefully I will be motivated to accomplish something today.
I have had these mug rugs for myself layered with backing and batting for over 3 years. I made a set like them for a cousin's daughter for her bridal shower and knew I wanted some for my red kitchen too.
Both of them have the black beater fabric on the back. I also intended to make a valance out of that fabric for the window by the sink. It would probably only take an hour.......
My driveway was plowed yesterday but at 9 degrees the residue was very icy. I walked very carefully out to get my newspapers. After falling on ice almost 2 years ago I would really rather just stay inside.
I chose more backings and bindings and finished four more mug rugs yesterday. All of these tops have been in a drawer for a year or more.
I had to change thread many times for the quilting thread and then for the binding thread on some of them. These are all in the 8.5" - 9.5" size.
