I finished up my contributions to the community project by creating ‘dream catcher stockings’ for 700 foster children. For me Christmas is about ‘giving’. It means everything to me that these stockings will go to children and young adults who often do not have anything to call their own. In the end I sent 3 big stockings that I designed, digitized, and stitched out for the oldest children graduating out of foster care and into transitional adult housing. For the younger children I made 12 small stockings and 10 large stockings.
I was able to ship my Big Christmas stockings and documented instructions to Meaning of Life Designs last Friday. Now I am onto the second community project: as a collective group our goal is to make 700 Christmas stockings for foster children. I am making 14 of the smaller stockings. I prepped and cut all the materials yesterday (Sunday). The plan today is to embroider all of the stocking fronts. The last step will be creating the backing and putting the whole stocking together. These are due by December 1 so should have plenty of time.
Big Stocking ProjectPrepared materials small stockings
We visited one of our local nurseries where I picked up a few herbs, annuals, and seeds. My little memory garden is in a planter wagon my sweetie made for me. Prepped it for the season and added, rosemary, anise hyssop, and curry. I love herb gardens – brush the leaves and it is so soothing to me.
Planted annuals to add some interest and color to the patio area. Choose based on ”thrillers, fillers, and spillers”. Love to watch these come into season.
This week was a very productive week! There was a ton of learning, quilt piecing, quilting on the longarm, embroidering, and even a new paint job on the house.
I finished up month 4 of my digitizing master class. Our project required using our Corel Design skills, Hatch embroidery digitizing skills, to creation of our cut files and embroidery design files. We then stitched out what we created. This month we are learning all about color.
My sweetie has been busy piecing his own quilts. When he finishes his quilt tops, he passes them on to me for the longarm. This week I quilted another ’fish’ themed quilt, a ”Christmas Doxie, and also a ’Touchdown Football’ quilt. (I will post pictures later today)
I was able to longarm my ”Little Red Wagon” quilt and finish up with binding. This was also a learning opportunity. For the first time ever, my machine threw the thread off the upper tension spring (of course when I wasn’t here watching) When I discovered it happened, it had completed two rows and sewn a pleat in the back. Yes, I really did pick out all the stitching. Since there was essentially no top tension, the bobbin thread was just laying on the back. This made for quick picking. Fortunately, I was able to place my zones again and am quite happy with the result. Thank goodness it was on my own quilt, I would have been panicked if it was someone else’s project.
My other project is my “Simply Dreaming Quilt” designed by Sarah Vedeler. I started this quilt right after my Mom passed away last year. I was able to work on Month 07, one of the outer borders. It was the perfect month because it is filled with lots of beautiful flowers. Mom and I used to spend a day in May visiting our favorite nursery together. With the one year anniversary of Mom’s passing, along with Mother’s Day, these beautiful bouquets remind me of our time together.
We also had our house painted this week – by a company and not us! This was a definite first – paying someone to paint our house. The last time we rented scaffolding, replaced siding, added cedar shingles, and painted. The crew that did the house pressure washed one day and spent two really long days painting. Love our new colors – navy, cream, and light gray!
The month of March was a month of mayhem at home. Our adult son bought his first car last fall, after driving our ‘gifted’ 1997 4runner for years. He was on his way to work March 8 and was the 4th car back from a stop light. The front car, as reported by the police, attempted to make a left across oncoming traffic. They were unsuccessful and caused a horrible chain reaction. Ultimately…. the oncoming vehicle hit my son’s car head on, shoved him into the car behind him, and destroyed his car. The angels were watching over him and fortunately he was not physically hurt. This set the tone for our priorities in the month of March.
It took the full month to get his claim setup, have a determination on whether his car was totaled, and settle the claim so he could get another car. In the end, he ended up with my 5 year old Gen5 4runner and I purchased a new Gen5 4runner. This whole process was a learning for our son. He has never been in a car accident in his 12 plus years of driving. To top it off, he works graveyard. Between Covid, graveyard shift, and navigating an accident, it was a tedious process.
The cars are all shuffled and replaced but I was shocked when I realized it was already the middle of April!!!
Our toy dachshund, Missy, is spending her first Christmas without her big brother Patches!! He kept her warm no matter where he was, even if little sister was a pest sometimes!! We took Missy for an outing to find a little jacket for extra warmth. She only weighs 8 pounds and shivers when it is 70 degrees outside!
After patiently letting us try on several different jackets, we treated her to a Pupoccino.
Our jack-russell terrior, Patches, has been my best friend, comforter, and playmate for more than 15 years. He traveled to Glacier National Park, Yellowstone, Lake Chelan, and often local farmers’ markets. He was always the sweetest and smartest little dog I have known. When we rescued our little 8 pound toy Dachshund, he welcomed her and was very patient with his new ‘little sister’ – Missy. He let her be mother hen, allowed her to annoyingly just park herself on him for body heat, and allowed her to think she was a ‘queen’. She is half blind, doesn’t hear, and was rescued from a puppy mill. When she came home, she had no idea what grass was or that she could run and play. Patches made sure she had a better life.
Patches suffered from an inherited neruological issue all his life. Until two years ago, it never affected his quality of life. He ran, jumped, and chased many a squirrel, managing to actually catch one at one point. The last two years, it became really bad. He no longer could really run and play. The last 6 months, he could barely stand, go up/down stairs nor hop on a chair to cuddle. He cried all day and night – never comfortable. We had to say good-bye to him Monday. There is such a huge hole in my heart and Missy seems lost with out him.
Good bye my sweet puppie, be careful catching squirrels this time – you don’t want to be a corncob again.
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