Weekly update: a snowy end to November

 

The boys are back! 

The nutcracker collection began with a gift from my mother shortly after we were married.  She gave us two or three more.   I've acquired the rest at TJ Maxx, estate/rummage/garage sales, and thrift shops.   They're all German.  

I made Good Cheer in 2013 from swap blocks.

The rest of the nutcrackers are providing a backup chorus for the Christmas tree.

Just as forecast, it began snowing at noon Saturday and continued all night long.  This was the view from the front door this morning.  9" accumulation.  

I shoveled the front stoop and walk.  My next door neighbor and the neighbor next to him got the driveway cleared at noon.  

I didn't go out at all!

Snow days = sew days, and I did. 

The Blue Shirt Bow Ties quilt is finished.  I had just the right medium blue in the backings stash (2004 on the selvedge but I got it some years later on clearance). 

I quilted it with rust-colored thread using the serpentine stitch. 

Another shirting project!  I cut all the fabric earlier in the week so it was ready to assemble Saturday.

  This is my version of Flutterby, the Running Doe top-along for October. All shirts except for the lime green solid.  (It was the November top-along (finished a couple of weeks ago) that began what turned out to be a month of thrifted shirts.   I have already pulled fabric for the December top-along -- not shirts!) 

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My stated goals for November were to finish 20 placemats, give away 100 yards of fabric, and sew faster. 

Placemats:  check.

Giveaway:  just 2 yards.

Sew faster:  I did pretty well with these finishes in addition to the bow ties.  (I've reported on each one as I've made them.)

Stash report for November:   Fabric OUT 89-3/8 yards.  Fabric IN:  48-1/2 yards, $49, average $1.00 per yard.

Stash report YTC:  Fabric OUT 837-3/8 yards.  Fabric IN: 1338-1/2 yards, $1217, average $1.09 per yard.  

Busy week ahead with two holiday luncheons, a holiday dinner, a concert, and more.  I have some gifts to order and holiday cards to address.   I'm beginning to mull over some quilt projects with 2026 deadlines.  I will not perish from inactivity.

Linking up with OMG report Oh Scrap! Sew and Tell  Monday Musings  Design Wall Monday

P.S.  I wish the old guy were here to enjoy the nutcrackers.   (Photo November 2024.)

Weekly update: tragedy, triumph, estate sale delights, and Indigo Way

 Look at the upper left of the photo.  That dot is a bald eagle.  He's got his eye on a disabled duck in the lake.   Gulls were doing their part to chase the eagle off.  [Taken after the Friday estate sale.]

I was going to post on Wednesday. I was going to post on Friday.  But things happen.

To make a long story short, I've been figuring out how to adapt the household layout to S's limited mobility and particularly to his advancing dementia.  He wrenched his knee last week so going down to the basement family room/sewing studio is out.  That's where our only TV has been until this week when I bought a second one that is now in the living room.  Points to me that I managed to set it up!  (Boy, TVs are much less expensive these days.)   Right now it's on the coffee table. After all the Christmas things are put away I'll do more rearranging and find a better TV stand.   

Our neighbor helped out by taking S's bed off the frame so the mattress/box spring are on the floor -- 6" lower and easier to get into and out of. (If he falls I cannot lift him.)   However, the 24" bathroom door is too narrow for the walker so there's some gymnastics to get to the toilet and tub.  He is adjusting and I'm adjusting.

I got a sore throat overnight Friday.   I took a Covid test at 3:45 a.m. Yep, I've got it.  I dug out a mask, went to urgent care Saturday morning, and got a prescription for Paxlovid.   As I write this Sunday evening I feel much better though I can't be far from a box of Kleenex.   The five-day quarantine goes through Wednesday. 

But I wasn't sick earlier in the week and went to two estate sales.  The first was part IV of Barb M's fabric stash.  ( Part III is here with links to Parts I and II.)  Proceeds from each sale go to a different charity, this time to St. Jude's.  

Average price:  $1.92/yard.  (Note that I'm not saying how many yards!)

The new guys and the old guy.

The second was conducted by Balderdash, a local estate sale company.  I was at the door early and got what I wanted:  four German nutcrackers, tags still on.  

The large ones were $40 each and the small ones were $30 each.  A great buy!

There was some fabric, too, for $1.00 per piece.  

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The new TV set up means that I have to figure out how to bring some sewing things upstairs.   The living room is cluttered enough. I haven't worked it all out yet.   

Meanwhile, I did get some downstairs sewing accomplished.  (Me to S:  "I will be downstairs for an hour."  Twenty minutes later, S hollers, "Nann, where are you?"  Repeat. Repeat.)   

And repeat, repeat until I finished all the units for Part 4 of Indigo Way.  I keep each part in a Snapware box.  

Linking up with Sew and Tell Oh Scrap!  Design Wall Monday

P.S. The nutcracker collection has outgrown the mantel.

 

More indulgences: nutcrackers and thread

Most years on the Sunday after Thanksgiving I bring up the boxes of Christmas decorations from the basement storeroom. This year I managed to bring up two of them before my foot protested.  But I got the nutcrackers arranged on the mantel!   The greenery and mini-lights I put around their feet are still in storage. Since I am now forbidden from going up or down the stairs At All it will be a while before  I complete the arrangement.

The nutcrackers are all German-made by Erzegebirge, Steinbach, or Ulbricht.   My mother gave us four of them on four Christmases in the 80's and 90's. (By chance this year they're all on the left.)  The two on the far right were garage-sale finds. [Can you find the twins?] All of the others are from Marshall's or T. J. Maxx -- far cheaper than full price.  Those stores have a limited selection and some years they don't have any that I like.

This year I indulged and bought two!  These little guys are now in the center.  (Technically the one on the right is a smoker, not a nutcracker.)

Craftsy had a sale on selected sets of Aurifil -- $71.50, regularly $120.00 -- and free shipping.  I indulged!   The sets are named for designers who presumably use these colors -- from  left, Pat Sloan ("perfect box of neutrals"), Ann Kelle, and Angela Walters. Only one color is duplicated among the three sets.  Alas, I won't be able to break open any of the spools and sew with them until I can navigate the stairs!

[Tomorrow I have to go to my primary care physician for a pre-op physical. Mind you, I had a pre-op physical on October 25 for last week's surgery. The hospital requires that the physical be within 30 days of the surgery. Thus I am out of the 30-day window for the December 1 procedure.  And when I have the other foot done -- late January, I hope -- I'll need yet another physical.  Sigh.]