When I was figuring Christmas projects, I knew I needed to finish the projects to be mailed earlier, and the local stuff could wait, if needed. Per usual, life happened and that's not the way things worked out.
Since I've got lots of non-quilting related Christmas gifts to make, I knew I'd be taking a break from piecing for quite a while. I still FMQ an hour per day, as quilting and binding only get done on my Janome, while most non-quilt related projects get done on my Bernina. Christmas is coming up faster than I'd like to think about, so I'm just not piecing at all right now. I do have some smaller quilted projects planned for Christmas, but they aren't my main focus yet.
Two of my grandsons just asked for Minecraft quilts, when I had just made them both new bed-sized quilts for their last birthdays. I'm not making a new bed-sized quilt every time they ask for one, but I figured I could make them throw-sized quilts for Christmas. They live locally, so I knew if I didn't start them until December, it would be tight, but I'd probably finish in time.
Life is funny sometimes, and since I've been cutting in the evenings, I decided I'd just go ahead and cut those quilts. Then, since I kept having grandkids for multiple days at a time, with only a couple days between, I couldn't get knee deep in Christmas projects, but I could do a little piecing on those off days.
I had picked an easy pattern for the Minecraft quilts, then, since they were smaller, I snagged the time to baste them, and before I knew it, they were finished!
And that's how the Christmas presents I thought I'd be making last minute, ended up being the first finished!
The Minecraft quilts are also finishes #34 and #35 for the year. I happen to have five more quilts basted, so can I make my goal of 40 finishes this year??? Two of the basted quilts are king sized, so we'll have to see. I did a quick count in the quilt closet this morning, and I have just over 40 quilt tops hanging in there, but a few of those need borders, so some are not quite finished. I already have a list of deadline quilts for next year started, so I'll be making some quilt tops too, though I have a lot of non-quilt sewing planned for next year. Could I hit 40 finishes two years in a row??? That would be awesome, and definitely help me lower my number of UFO's. DH retires the end of this year though, and I have no idea what that will do to my sewing time. I guess time will tell, but I'm really hoping to hit 40 finishes this year, 10 more weeks left this year for 5 finishes? I think I can!
I did start some of my other Christmas sewing this week. Most of my Christmas sewing I won't be showing on the blog, but I know the grands getting the Minecraft quilts won't see my blog, so those are safely shown.
Last weekend, DH and I took a drive to Bisbee, AZ, and hit up one of our favorite shops to buy balsamic vinegar. I bought several bottles of balsamic, but we also hit several thrift stores on our way back. DD#2 has me searching for yarn for her, as she's started a crochet business. I did find her some yarn, but I also snagged some fabric, like I needed any more.
One of the thrift shops in Sierra Vista, AZ had at least a dozen bolts of cotton fabric. All of the bolts were at least half full, and each bolt was priced at $20. The bolts were originally 15 yards, and I bought three of them. The two bolts of batiks in the red/orange colorway each have about 8 yards of fabric on them. The bolt of Asian Inspired fabric has about 12 yards. At one point in my life, I likely would have come home with all the bolts. I kept debating if I should buy any of them at all, great price or not. I decided to think about the quilts I have plans to finish in the next 12 months. Since there was quite a bit of yardage on these bolts I could use the fabric for backings. I have at least four quilts, if not five, in a red/orange colorway that need to be basted. Those all need backings, and the two bolts of batiks won't even be enough to back them all, so those were my first choices. I have an Asian Inspired quilt that needs assembling, and it will be king-sized, so that bolt of black? I'll need ten yards of it for the backing on one quilt. I can't even buy the 118" wide backing I'd need for that quilt for $20. 108" wide backing won't be big enough, so it's either the extra wide 118" quilt backing or three lengths of regular quilting cotton sewn with two seams. All of the bolts had really pretty fabrics, and I can't complain about the price. If you saw that deal in a thrift shop, would you have bought any of the bolts, all of them, or only your favorites? I've been trying to be good, but that was too tempting for me to pass completely.
Christmas is all I've been thinking about lately, trying to make a game plan to get everything done in time for mailing. I'm already thinking about Christmas 2025 too, because next year will be a huge transition year for us. We do have a couple of trips planned, one of them being a bucket list trip, but aside from those trips, we are going to try to keep our expenses way down, so that we aren't stressing on our trips, or having to withdraw more money than we've planned for. I'm feeling pretty comfortable with our plans, and getting excited for the retirement adventure! My stash is really going to come into play for gifts next year! I'm so thankful to have it!
No comments:
Post a Comment