Be*mused

Happy holidays!

I brought this hand-stitched textile piece home from my trip to China in September and meant to tell you the story about how I acquired it.  Somehow, I forgot to share it and when I was scrolling through my photo files today to find something festive to post here, this won out over my selection of usual holiday shots. The colors are certainly right!

I'll be stepping away for a bit to celebrate Christmas with family.  I want to wish you all a happy and healthy holiday season and, if you're traveling, safe travels.  And now, when I get back, I'll be reminded to tell you my story. 

Hurry, scurry

The week before Christmas is always a busy one, no matter how I schedule nor how modest our holiday plans.  It's nice to have a project ongoing, so when I need a little break, I can slip into the sewing room and escape to my stitchy world.  Honestly though, this project is probably causing some of my last minute stress, as I've been slipping in there more often than I should be.  I can't help it.

After lots of block making and fussing & fidgeting with colors and prints, I decided last Monday to sew the center section together and start working on the border designs.  But something nagged at me.  The center looked a little boring.  No matter how I switched things around, it was leaving me a little *meh*.

I removed the center blocks and considered a new direction.  How about an appliqué block?  Hmmm.  I did what I always do first when looking for some inspiration, pulled out my stack of pages from old Quilt Engagement Calendars. I don't know why I am even tempted by new quilt books, the antique quilts in this trove are enough to keep me busy with ideas for the rest of my life and they never fail to provide me with a new direction when I'm searching for one.

This time was no different.  I flipped through a number of photos before a block in an old album quilt jumped off the page at me.  Coincidentally and, I know, quite unbelievably, I am friends with the owner of that quilt and happened to have tracings of the actual blocks in my closet.  I quickly dug them out and sure enough, the block still looked perfect for what I had in mind.  It needed resizing, and I decided the orientation would be better reversed so I took some time to redraft it.

Fabric selections followed and then, of course, I had to cut out a few pieces to see if I was on the right track.  How could I resist stitching a few leaves ~ and then a few more?  I thnk it's going to work.

This, friends, is why my Christmas cards aren't done yet.

That time of year

It comes faster and faster each year, doesn't it?  Somehow I always feel that Christmas is later in the month than it is, and find myself after Thanksgiving, scurrying around with one eye on the calendar regarding mailing deadlines.  With both kids living overseas, this seems to be my usual stressor.  As I write this, I'm glancing out the window, waiting for a last UPS delivery to wrap and insert into a packed box.  Then I'll be off to the post office where I'll exhale a big sigh of relief and come home to finish up the decorating and write out a few cards. 

I have a new little quilt to add to my holiday decor this year, a collaboration between Lori & Kathie which they donated to be sold to benefit the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative ~ AAQI.  It's such a worthy cause and there are so many wonderful quilts for sale.  Do check out the site if you haven't visited yet. I was lucky to snag this one ~ the striped binding! ~ and thrilled to have a quilt made by two blog friends. 

I'm still working on the basket quilt but when I found this free cross-stitch graph on Pinterest, I had to dig out a piece of linen and some red floss.  I've been chipping away at it here and there when I have a few minutes. It's small, maybe 3½" square, and could be made into a pincushion or a little ornament. I think it's a charmer!  Here's the link ~ click on the 'maison rouge' link under the final photo in the blog post.  (Actually, a pair of little winter house charts.)

My delivery just arrived and 'Santa UPS' has brought something for me, too ~ my order from the Fat Quarter Shop's recent big sale.  Looks like I'll be doing a wash after my post office run!