Elves In The Studio...

The Dolphin Island quilt is completely finished. It's ready to ship when it comes time to package up and send our Christmas gifts off to their destinations. I've set my projects completion date for December 13th. That will leave plenty of time for all of our gifts to arrive on time to the special people on our list.

"X" marks the spot!

Yesterday, I started (and nearly finished) my next project. These are the fabrics I chose...one chenille cutter bedspread, and cotton soft, yellow floral cotton fabric.

I'd like to assure you that the "cutter" bedspreads came to me with tears or damage. I just can't bring myself to ruin a perfectly good item, so I'm going to be selling three of my vintage chenille bedspreads next week. I'll tell you more about that in a future post.
This is a detail of my current project. It was actually all assembled by 5 pm. You can see pins in the areas where I'll need to topstitch. I "fussy cut" the motifs, so they would be placed where I wanted them on the bodice front and back of this garment.
Once I topstitch the facing edges, I'll sew the sleeve lining to the sleeves, sew on my covered buttons, and then finish by hemming the bottom. I'll finish this one today.
Apparently, all the hustle and bustle of elves in the studio was a little too much for a corgi to bear. My supervisor decided to go on break. Hmmm. Sleeping on the job. No bonus kibbles tonight! (Just kidding. How can I deny this face?)

Making A List...

It's time to start working on my Christmas sewing list. It's not as extensive as it was last year, so I should have an easy coast to get my projects done by my self-imposed December 13th deadline.

Chenille bedspreads (cutters), which will become something warm and sweet. One might even appear in my Etsy shop if I have time after all of my own projects have been wrapped.
Gorgeous blues with an ocean theme to become a cozy quilt for a special young person in our lives. It won't be too large, and I'll machine quilt it myself.

Now that the queen size Lavender Dreams quilt has been completed, I'm confident that finishing the rest of my projects on time will be easy peasy. Care to follow this year's journey?

A "Wild Hare" Christmas...

In November, I got a "wild hare"...but didn't act upon it until November 30th. I had only started one of these projects prior to that date (the pink beaded Nantucket Scallop scarf). Nothing else had been cut, planned or decided until that date.

Since November 30th, I've been sharing my works-in-progress, and I can now officially declare that with one very small exception, all of my projects are finished! Ta Da!!! This "wild hare" has had this designer/blogger/seamstress/wife B-I-Z-Z-YYY! Now, I can slide into Christmas Eve without a project on my machine, stitching away like a little elf. Nope, not this year. But, I will admit, these past 23 days were a little hectic and I can attribute my successful completions to:

1. Having a list that I checked every day
2. Keeping track of my mailing deadlines
3. Three awesome sewing/serging machines
4. Having all my supplies on hand for each project
5. The support and belief from all of you, urging me to completion
6. My loving, understanding, Handsome husband, who always offered to take me out for dinner when he knew that I'd been really busy all day...and who praised me for every single project when I showed it to him.
   

Really, these were all the ways it was possible for me to accomplish this list. Next year, I promise to Handsome, with all of you as my witnesses, that my projects will all be finished by the end of November. There, I've written it down! I've said it! I mean it! I hope I remember it! Thank you to all of you for being my huge, loving, supportive cheering section. No more Christmas (sewing/knitting) Wild Hares next year! (Perhaps I'll bake instead!)

Thanks again to my friend, Shell May from Tales of the Raspberry Rabbits for hosting our "Wild Hare Wednesdays". Visit her blog to see more "wild hare" contributors.

Last, but not least...HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our wonderful grandson. Grandpa and I hope you have the best eighth birthday a boy ever had.

Thanks to everyone who left comments on the Orchestra and Handsome's performance. He loved reading everything y'all said! Oh, and don't forget to go to my Dec. 21st post if you haven't already. You may want to join in my Christmas Giveaway Drawing if you're one of my followers.

Missed It By THIS Much...

For my "Wild Hare" Wednesday post today, I want to tell you that my most recent "Hare" is planning a decor redux before Christmas.
I'm going to be purging many knick knacks and dust magnets from my daily view.

Some will be lovingly packed and stored, but most will be leaving Brynwood for good. I think I'll take photos of the "adoptables" and see what y'all think. I'm just tired of moving, dusting and being frustrated by clutter...a wild hare that I'm sure has some real teeth! (*"You mean, be'oind the rabbit, then?") I'll keep you posted on my progress.

On another note, I finished two of my Grammies Jammies yesterday, but at 9:30 last night, I was just too pooped to tackle the third. I'll be doing the third - and last - of my Jammies today. Darn! I was sooo close, too! Well, better to be fresh and not make any mistakes than to attempt something when I'm tired and make a real mess of it.

I did play around with my ruffler again, and couldn't resist making an extra little something. Man, don't you hate it when I'm vague? Yeah, me too, but it's not without a reeeeallly good reason. Some people check in to see if they can find out what their Christmas (or sometimes birthday) gifts are going to be. We can't be giving away surprises, now, can we?

I'm taking lots of photos as I finish my projects, and I promise - "cross my heart" - that I'll show you everything after Christmas. So, while I'm loving everything I did accomplish by the 15th...I missed my goal "by this much". I agree with my friend, Shell (from Tales of the Raspberry Rabbits), who left a comment on my post yesterday..."Next year, we start in July!!!" You've got a deal, my friend!

Be sure to visit Shell's blog for more "Wild Hare Wednesday" posts. Who knows what silly nonsense is overcoming the other participants these days!
* reference to a quote from a Monty Python movie. ;-]

Project Updates...

In my November 29th post, I shared my December 15th deadline to have all my projects completed. I promised to keep you posted on how I was progressing in that regard. Below, you'll find my original list with completed items checked off, or notes where I changed the project or gift idea.

1. Four Three beaded scarves in sumptuous and decadent yarns Finished
   
2. Three sets of Christmas Eve pajamas (an annual tradition for our grandchildren)
   
3. One Ladies Tote with lots of pockets and compartments Finished
4. One Kitchen Ensemble (Sorry I can't give you more detail here. Can't give too much away.) Finished
5. A Set of Handcrafted Ornaments Finished
6. One Lap Quilt
7. Custom Gift Bags in pretty fabrics Finished
8. One Embroidered Pillow
9. Four Apple Photo Books (all the same - another annual tradition) Changed to four music dvds of Handsome's musical performances
   
10. Two Hat and Mitten Sets sewn in cozy warm polar fleece Changed to a Set of Sachets and Machine Embroidered Coffee Cup Cuddlers (Koozies) 1/2 Finished

I'm tickled with all the things I've accomplished so far. By Tuesday (the 15th), I'll be nearly finished. I'll be cutting out the pajama patterns today and sewing them tomorrow. I've decided to put off the Apple books until early in the new year, because none of the images I need to use are installed in my new iMac yet. Instead, there will be music dvds of Handsome's most recent performances, which I'm sure will be a huge hit. All the projects will be finished by Wednesday and on their way, so I'm happy. In keeping with my commitment to avoid holiday stress, I'll be working on my projects, but not to the exclusion of all else. "All work and no play", you know...

We'll start decorating the house and yard on Saturday. (We never been early decorators. Most years, the tree doesn't go up until Christmas Eve, but all of my blog buddies and their beautiful holiday decor photos have inspired me to move up our plans.)

So, for now, I've got gifts to wrap and pack up to ship north. There are special surprises that Handsome always adds to the packages, and we're waiting for them to arrive from the various mail order places. When they arrive, they will be added to what we ship out. I think there will be a lot of happy hearts when they see their gifts this year.

In case you're interested, the tote pattern is called the Professional Tote from The Creative Thimble. You can click here to see or order the pattern.

Sunday In The Studio...

Keeping my word with updates...

I'll start with a photo of my finished knitted scarf...The pattern is "Nantucket Scallop", knit in Tilli Thomas' Flurries Hope yarn. It's 100% Australian merino wool with beads. It's really soft in a sweet shade of pink. I really love this pattern.

Yesterday, I finished two machine embroideries for one of my projects. I'm planning to have six different designs by the time I'm done with them. More on these later.

Then, I chose the fabrics for the tote I'm going to be making. Aren't they beautiful? I still have to pick up cords and chord keepers for the pockets, and because I like to have all my materials together before I start, I won't actually cut fabric for this until later in the week. When I do, I plan to finish the tote the same day.

While Miss Ellie was stitching my embroideries, I started another beaded fringe scarf. It's a beautiful steely blue silk yarn with gunmetal gray beads. Talk about "multi-tasking"! (How else am I going to meet my deadlines?)

I forgot to mention that in the middle of all my holiday work, I took on a commission for a young friend. She's getting married in January and asked me to make a few wedding hankies for her.

I've enlisted the services of one of my Linus friends (Adele, a crocheter extraordinaire) to help me with the hand-worked crochet edge, but I've chosen the look for the embroidery and will do that portion before handing off the vintage Irish linen handkerchiefs for her to finish. I'll show you my work on those after I do the first final embroidery on one of the hankies. So far, I only have prototypes on unbleached muslin for placement which I also did yesterday. More on those soon.

The Elves Will Be Busy...

Thanks to Karen at The Graphics Fairy for this beautiful image!

I've made my "official" (kinda/sorta) list of projects to be finished in time for Christmas shipping and gift giving. These are the projects that will ship to special places across the country, into the homes of loved ones...sons and daughters-in-love, grandchildren, parents, nieces and nephews and a few others. My goal is to have everything completed as close as possible to December 15th so that I can relax the rest of the Christmas season.

So, my friends, I'm sharing this list with you:

1. Four beaded scarves in sumptuous and decadent yarns
   
2. Three sets of Christmas Eve pajamas (an annual tradition for our grandchildren)
3. One Ladies Tote with lots of pockets and compartments
4. One Kitchen Ensemble (Sorry I can't give you more detail here. Can't give too much away.)
   
5. A Set of Handcrafted Ornaments
6. One Lap Quilt
7. Custom Gift Bags in pretty fabrics
8. One Embroidered Pillow
9. Four Apple Photo Books (all the same - another annual tradition)
10. Two Hat and Mitten Sets sewn in cozy warm polar fleece
    

So, now I'll be accountable to you. (Do you think I can do it?) I'll post photos of my projects as I finish them so you can keep me honest. Any good wishes you can send my way (you know, "You can do it, Dee!") will be greatly appreciated as I try to stay on schedule.

One scarf (the pretty pink beaded one I posted the day after Thanksgiving) was finished last night. One down...four to go! I'm telling you - this year, the elves will be busy!