advent quilt

We had snow and blowing snow the way it usually comes yesterday so between watching the snow drift and pile I put up Christmas decorations. The Advent quilt is a favorite, it has three times as many buttons as it should so each of my kids could hang an ornament everyday. Then the boys got big and thought they were too big to hang an ornament so daughter hung them all and now I don't even take them off the tree. That's what happens when they grow up and leave home. I should count my blessing here that they did grow up and leave home.  It seems like decades ago ok it really was decades ago I found a Christmas fabric with old fashioned ornaments that were perfect for and Advent tree so I rough cut them and fused them to backing fabric and fussy cut them  and attached a loop. I hand quilted with a gold metallic thread around each of the Santas and under the trees in the background fabric. And no label on the back I think I made it in the early 1990's. I miss the dark reds and dark greens of Christmas from 20 some years ago. --Ann--

simple elegance

I lead the ladies of my church in making new decorations for the Christmas tree in the sanctuary.
Last summer I got wheat from my brother who has a big long title with crop improvement and seed certification. The ladies got together in early November and tied little bundles of wheat heads into sheafs complete with a red ribbon. We also made 5 and 6 point stars from the straw. They were all quite skeptical as to how the decorations would look on the tree. The gold straw with the red balls is a lovely combination against a  fresh evergreen tree. --Ann--

Let us approach Christmas with an expectant hush, rather than a last-minute rush.
Anonymous

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving count your blessings--Ann--

afternoon walk

Latest book list:

1. Quiet by Susan Cain non-fiction this book is about how some people and I am one of them who function better in quiet.
2. Starting Now by Debbie Macomber latest in Blossom Street series.
   
3. Summer Island by Kristin Hannah mother daughter relationships, family secrets and mending fences.
4. A Life in  Hand by Hannah Hinchman about sketching and journaling
   
5. The Devil's Puzzle by Clare O'Donohue quilt mystery
6. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks I will definitely be looking for more of her books, about a small village in England that quarantines itself because of the plague. Book club.
7. Lost and Found in Cedar Cove by Debbie Macomber
8. Dying for Chocolate by Diane Mott Davidson a murder mystery with recipes
9. A Lost Lady by Willa Cather
10. May the Road Rise up to Meet You by Peter Troy about an Irish immigrant coming to America in the mid 1800's, the Civil war and slavery.
11. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce about Harold Fry who is walking the length of England to see an old co worker who is dying, its about his recollections on his life and marriage. Book Club
    
12. Thanksgiving by Ellen Cooney follows a Massachusetts family from 1600 to present day, a fun read for this time of year.

 For me a measure of a good book is how long I think about the characters after I read the book. Harold Fry is a character I am still thinking about weeks after book club. It was cold here over the weekend 17F and I had son's dog so I bundled up to take her for a walk thinking we would just go to the end of the lane and back and she would do the necessary. I had on my flannel lined jeans and hand knit wool socks and comfortable shoes. I had a scarf around my neck, my coat was zipped, a stocking cap on my head and my grey wool mittens on my hands, the sun was shinning and there was almost no wind (always note worthy in South Dakota) almost no wind. So we walked up the road then past the grain bins and I thought about Harold Fry going to the next post box to mail his letter. We walked up the dirt lane to the fence line then to the next fence line, and I thought about Harold Fry going to the next post box, I walked to the cedar trees, another fence line and almost to the big dip in the lane where the snow melt washed out the road years ago. And unlike Harold Fry I turned around to walk home. --Ann--

on the needles

 These socks have knit fast, just can't wait to get to the next color. My stripes matched for a while then the stripe changes on top sock about at the beginning of the gusset the second red stripe followed by green should be the blue and white not the solid blue and there wasn't even a knot. Then I came to a knot in the medium blue between the two navy stripes and now the repeat is reversed to the bottom sock.

 So far the stripes are matching with the red and brown socks, a Blossom Street yarn and oh so soft, daughter started them and decided she wasn't ready for socks. I couldn't keep my hands off the yarn, it is so soft. I also started the blue self striping yarn pulling from the inside of the skein and the stripes are reversed. Wouldn't you expect that the skeins would be wound the same!!??!! But no!!

I knit some reading mitts aka texting mitts with left over yarn from my first sweater I bought way too much yarn for the sweater, one ball makes a pair some special people might be getting mitts for Christmas. I also got darling daughter started on these, and its going much better than the socks. Check out the knitting at Judy's On the Needles  It is getting cold here single digits burrr but great weather for wearing hand knits and knitting, the reading mitts are wonderful for driving. --Ann--

out of the cupboard

 I found this quilt at my Dad's, it was in an old hat box or maybe it was a cheese box,  which might be the topic of another post.  I look at it and sometimes I see red T's with yellow squares in the middle, other times I see delectable mountains or a variation of the bear paw with a red square in the middle and sometimes when I blink I see yellow geese on a wild goose chase. 

And then I saw the stitching in one block, the quilt was made for my mother by her great-grandmother which would make her my Grandpa's grandma or third great grandmother to my children, six generations back. She was 80 years old when she made it and I have no idea what her name was.

The blocks were hand pieced but it was machine quilted in a large grid.  There is no batting in it and the backing is a heavy purple fabric, I wonder if it was a skirt or drapes in an earlier life. 80 years back from 1929...she was born in 1849 so it could have been a skirt from the civil war era up until the ladies shortened their skirts in the 1920's. and it looks like the quilt top was trimmed to fit the backing there must not have been any quilt police back then. Wondering about my ancestors.........--Ann--

Design Wall Monday

The Winding Ways parts are all sewn together. The quilt has made a quarter turn clockwise from the initial arrangement of block parts. Next to add a 6 inch border of the scallop fabric then to machine quilt it. Daughter thinks I should quilt with the concentric tear drops that I do so frequently, I think it needs a double ring of stitching in each circle and all the circles will overlap. I want to accentuate the circles because arranging the parts was like having a flash go off in my face. I was seeing spots like an Afterimage which is what I am calling this quilt. I will need an arc for a 15 inch circle for that and I will be machine quilting while sitting at the machine I know there will be lots of challenges or I can send it to someone to machine quilt it that way. Decisions, decisions. --Ann-- Check out Judy's Design Wall Monday and be inspired. Linking to Nina's off the wall Friday to see more of the design process click Winding Ways in the labels section.