The year is winding down. Library e books that I'm checking out now are due next year. In fact, I've already read a couple and returned them before the year has turned. Keeping up with book due dates really helps me get used to 2025. I am getting more reading in now that singing activities have been finished.
I had a great week working on goals. In fact I added one mainly because I wanted to motivate myself to actually do it. Here's the revised list.
12/16/24
✅1 Concert — done.
✅Make a table runner — finished and given to my friend.
✅✅✅✅Finish grands’ ornaments — finished and wrapped. Photos will be shared after Christmas.
✅Make a bunch of mini cupcakes for the Va Star Guild’s holiday party — done and eaten.
✅Wrap presents — half done. I’ll be at it again Mon or Tue.
✅Added — sew backings together — one sewn together. The other is ironed and waiting for me to sew it together.
Here's the table runner I made for a friend. She's a china painter and has given me several lovely pieces over the years. I didn't start working on this early enough so I had a late night the day before I gave it to her. It was hard to photograph the whole thing so this isn't the best overall pic. We sing in the neighborhood chorus together so I thought the note fabric was appropriate.
I didn't take any pictures of the mini cupcakes -- mainly because they looked badly. I carefully measured the right amount of batter into the cupcake papers. They came out of the oven fine. The next day I frosted them using Duncan Hines chocolate frosting. It tastes like my own homemade frosting so I was making life a little easier. I had gathered some candy canes to crush and sprinkle on the top. After I finished them I decided to stash them in the refrigerator to encourage them to set up. OOPS! The frosting got soggy and the crushed candy canes melted. No wonder there were a lot of them left over. They tasted fine at home but they still looked a mess. And to think I have another 24 of them in the freezer I'm planning on frosting for the kids to have on Christmas. Anyone have experience solving the melting frosting issue? I think I'll put some cocoa and/or powder sugar in the frosting to see if I can make it a little stiffer. Hopefully it will frost easily still. And it won't be going into the refrigerator.
Here's the plans goals for this week....
12/23/24
Bind bow tie quilt
Finish wrapping the presents
Enjoy the family together on Christmas
Put borders on fall quilt
Quilt and bind pinwheel quilt
Pick 12 projects for the UFO Challenge
I actually worked on more projects than listed on my goals last week. Here are some of them.
First up I made a mug caddy as a gift for quilt guild gift exchange. I made a cute mug caddy using a pattern I got along with the mug caddy. I chose to alter it so it wasn't as thick as the one I had. It was a bit of a challenge but in the end it turned out well. Here's my photo of it. Being clever, I wrapped it in the fat quarter I used for this backdrop. The recipient seemed to like it too. I got a wonderful cross body purse. It is a size I use and will hold a more than what I can fit into mine. Win!
I am trying to get a few more quilts finished this year so I loaded another one and got it quilted on Saturday. Here's the photo early in the quilting process. I call this one the old bowtie top as the beginning of it was a bunch of bowtie blocks I made years ago. I picked a fun bright backing for it. I found a blue fabric to use as binding. (It was leftover from a backing for another quilt I've done this fall. Bonus!)
I'll be binding it this week. The quilting design is called Fast and Easy Swirls. And, yes it is both. I've been using it a lot recently.
15 Minutes of Stitching -- I was diligent this week and made sure I stitched every day. Considering everything I got done I must have spent a lot more than 15 minutes a day! Here are the stats.
W/ending 12/22 — 357 days in to 2024.
- 15 minute days/week Dec = 7/7
- 15 minute days/2024 = 346/357 days
- Success rate = 96.92%
Here's wishing all a wonderful holiday season. I'm looking forward to new quilting projects and finishing up some old ones in 2025.
I love the tablerunner for your singing friend, Bonnie! The musical note fabric is perfect for it. Looks like you've been getting a lot done this last week. Merry Christmas!
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