Christmas Sewing

I have not really had loads of time to sew lately.  

I'm not sure what I have been doing but I am busy, LOL.  

I finished a cute piece for a friend and I will show that now. 

 It is a surprise for her but since she is not expecting anything she won't realize it is for her, LOL .

 I am calling it a wine mat.  

I hand quilted around the dragon using 6 strands of embroidery floss and 

did straight line quilting using the machine. 

 I am really pleased with the result and hope she likes him too. 

If you click on the photo you should be able to see him larger and 

notice the "eye" placement of fabric.

A friend from IG sent me this amazing Unicorn Thread Gloss.  

You guys, you really need to go to Robot Mom Sews shop and buy some.  

You pull your thread through it and the thread doesn't tangle when you sew with it for hand sewing.  

I used it for my binding thread.  

I happened to use Gutterman thread for this binding.  

It is NOT my favorite hand thread but the color matched.  

Using the thread gloss was a total game changer. 

 No more tangles!

I have three Christmas stockings to make and thought I would see if I could make one last weekend.  My hope was to get the pieced front made, which I did.

Then I decided to "go for it" and actually got the whole stocking made (sans the name).  

I had to print the name out on my computer from work as my home computer doesn't have that font.  I have finished this one and put it in the mail.  

I can't show the name just yet, but soon.

Hubby has been continuing the cleaning and has gotten our family room all cleaned up.  

We might even be able to get it painted before Christmas!!!  

Maybe. 

 This means all the junk that was in that room is now in my living room and must be dealt with. 

My plan for the weekend is to get the living room cleaned up so we can decorate for Christmas the next weekend (after Thanksgiving) and 

also get the upstairs guest room tidied up for my friend, Sue's visit in 2 weeks. 

 So I don't anticipate much sewing over the next few weeks.  

I am leaving on a quilt retreat to California on Dec 5th so there are supplies that I need for that also.

So much to do!

Are you all ready to decorate for Christmas?  Shopping done?  Tips you can share??

~XOP~

Weekend Chatter

I had a really great weekend.  

I got a lot of cleaning and meal prep done in the house on Saturday.  

I spent most of the morning cleaning out the canned good pantry.  

I took everything out of the cupboard, cleaned all the shelves, tossed out all expired food and put everything back inside grouped by what they were.  

I also used a marker to put the expiration on all the canned goods.  

That way if there were 2 cans of the same thing I would know to use the oldest one first.  

I know there is Spam in there but hubby loves it, HAHA.

On Sunday I cleaned some in my sewing room and 

made the binding for the purple quilt you see in the background.  

As you can see Finn was hard at work "helping".

Then I set to work on another paper pieced project I need to make for a friend.  

She doesn't read this so I feel confident showing you this sneak peek.  

As you can see, Cole was holding down the dragon so it could not fly away.  

Cats are such big helpers in the sewing room, aren't they?

Most of the weekend was spent either cleaning, running errands, cooking or sewing.  

I LOVE these kind of weekends!  I can't wait to retire and do this full time!  

Hope you all had a great weekend too!

~XOP~

Friday Chat

I have a little bit of this and a little bit of that to catch you up with.  

We are all settling back into a normal routine now that Finn is home. 

 He and Cole and he and Chris are setting in to their old routines.

On top of this, I trimmed up the Shooting Stars quilt, with some help of course.

I don't think I have shared this quilt yet either.  

I need to get the binding on it but it has been quilted and will be gifted at Christmas time.  

The intended person has no idea I have been making a quilt for them but I don't think 

I will share the quilt until it is gifted.  

I volunteered to do some pattern testing (I know, I know, I shouldn't be taking on one more thing!).  

I did it anyway, so there's that.

One "in progress" shot and one of it all finished. 

 I'm trying to decide if I should try to make the whole quilt or just make this into a pillow. 

 I am leaning toward the pillow. 

Thoughts?

I have also been making major dietary changes in my life.  

I have switched over to a Keto way of eating (WOE).  

It has taken a lot of work to change over what is in my pantry. 

 I have had to find recipes to substitute into my menu that will fit this new WOE. 

 It has taken a bit of my time as more meal prep is required. 

I am actually enjoying it now and I feel a lot better with lower carbohydrates on board.  

I have also lost some more weight. 

 I would say I have about 15 pounds left to lose.  

Since the wedding is over there is no particular hurry now though.  

I found a great coconut flour zucchini fritter recipe and adapted to make it in my mini waffle maker.  It was so good!

I made some Maple French Toast bagels too and they were SO good!  

I mistaked and made 6 when I should have made 12 but they are delicious anyway.

Are keto recipes anything you would be interested in reading about? 

I will probably be posting some of my newfound recipes.

So this is what seems to be taking up most of my time lately. 

 I have a few "have to" things to make between now and Christmas.  

Next up will be my swap gift for the Sew Beachy retreat in the beginning of December and binding the quilt I showed a sneak peek of above.  

Then 3 Christmas stockings.  

Life is good and I am happy to have my Finn home.  

Cole is my cat though and is never far from me.  

The other day he brought me his ball (into the sewing room) 

for me to throw so he could fetch it back to me.  

Have a great weekend and wish me luck with my upcoming projects!

~XOP~

Finn Update. HE IS HOME!!!

On Saturday, 5 days after he went missing, our Finn is finally home.  

I got up on Saturday am feeling very depressed. 

 I went to the crazy cat house at the end of our street hoping maybe Finn had found his way to that house since she leaves out food and water and shelters for our local stray cat population. 

 No luck. 

 Later in the morning, a man called.  

He was walking his dog and thought he had seen Finn. 

 I RAN to where he was but no cat.  

Then he told me it might have been a gray long hair cat. 

 There is a long hair gray cat in the area that we see from time to time too.  

A previous young man had told me he had seen Finn and his mom messaged me the address,

 so I walked over to where that was.  

I skulked about back yards calling but again, no luck.  

I did stop and hand out a flyer and the neighbor told me that it was probably the long hair gray cat that lives across the street.  

Whelp, now I know where that cat lives!  

I walked home. 

I stopped at the cat lady's house again and then went tromping through the woods, 

calling Finn the whole time.  

Nope.  

Chris had been at our church working and called to say he would be home soon.  

He got home and wanted to go out and do something. 

 I didn't feel like doing anything but thought I should probably get out of the house. 

 Every time I did anything that gave me joy I felt guilty, like I should be out looking for the cat. 

 I checked the cat lady's house one more time, then we went to the apple orchard. 

 It was so cold and rainy!  

All I could think about was how miserable Finn would be in that weather.

We got home and I puttered around, and we turned on the Hallmark channel. 

 We both love the Christmas shows.  

A new show was on at 8pm, so we settled in to watch.  

After just a little while, Chris shouts out my name, "PAM,  FINNY IS ON THE DECK!"  

I jumped up ran to put my boots and coat on and headed out the door.  

It spooked him when we got up as he could see in our door. 

So the hunt with flashlights was on.  

I went back inside to get a food container and some wet food and his dishes.  

By the time I got back outside Chris was (angrily) shouting my name again.  

I think he had been trying to draw my attention but I had gone back inside for the food.  

He shouted, "He's on the front porch!"

I went around the house in the opposite direction from Chris and there he was.  

Sitting on the bricks meowing VERY loudly at me but not moving.  

I slowly approached him, talking softly the whole time, with tears running down my cheeks.  GRAB!!!  I had him in my arms!!  

His eyes were as big as saucers and he was hissing at me, but he was home!

I took him inside and Chris got some wet food in a dish for him, which he greedily wolfed down.

He was no worse for the wear though.  

PHEW!  

He was very jumpy and walked around checking everything out. 

Meowing the whole time.  He eventually settled down and could not stop purring.  

I want to say that on Friday, I said a rosary asking our blessed Mother to guide Finn home. 

 I promised to say a rosary every day forever if she brought him home. 

 Totally worth it!  

I am so grateful for her divine assistance.

Chris and I want to thank EVERYONE that said a prayer, sent good thoughts, handed out flyers, went looking or offered to come over and help us look and just provided positive moral support. 

Our blessed Mother sent Finn home to us and for that we are eternally grateful! 

I have no words to express our gratitude to each and every one of you! 

THANK YOU!! 

Cole is still not sure it's his brother and alternates bathing him and hissing at him.  

Hopefully that rift mends quickly.  I alternated between crying and cuddling for the rest of the night.  

Our Finny is HOME and once again all is right with the world!  

~XOP~