Sister's Choice Quilts

Facing Up To Your UFOs

There comes a time in each quilter's life when she needs to face up to the UFO situation. Are you organized? Do you even know what unfinished projects are hidden away in your sewing room? If you went back in time, how many years old are some of your abandoned projects? 2012 was the oldest one I found that I was still interested in. 

Pat Sloan had a YouTube video this week where she talked about UFOs and how to organize them. We tend to stash them away out of sight and ignore them for years on end. She urged us to confront them and make a list of our UFOs and make a plan on how to deal with them.  I highly recommend that you watch her video. I was inspired to get out a notebook and go have a good look at the project bins I have full of almost completed or half-finished quilt projects. 

Worse than the pile of unfinished projects was the list of future projects I had purchased fabric for and planned to make, but never even began the project. 

Pat was super realistic about her UFOs. She said you have to just face the fact that you may have lost interest in a project and no matter what, you will never be inspired to pick it up and complete it. In that case, donate it to a quilt guild or someone who might like to pick it up and complete it. If you are like me, you have a stack of finished tops you have never bothered to have quilted. (That is a post subject for another time). In the case that you have a finished top that you know you will never use, donate it to a group that quilts flimsies (unquilted tops) and gives them to charitable groups. Pat lists several organizations that do this sort of thing. If your local community has a quilt guild, they could be a great resource to you if you want to pass on some of your UFOs.

So I worked on my lists today, mostly from memory. I am sure there are more UFOs in my closets, but these are the ones that stuck in my mind that I'd actually like to complete. 2021 was the worst year I have ever had for starting projects and not seeing them through to a finish. I have a great excuse what with homeschooling my granddaughter during the week and caring for my dad on weekends, but still, it's a lot. I made three lists:

UFOs from 2021 that I'd like to complete in 2022

Older UFOs

Projects I bought fabric for but never started

So you see, I have my work cut out for me. It feels good to face up to these projects, however, and try to make a plan to prioritize them for finishing.

Do you have piles of UFOs? At what point do you say "Forget it, I am never going to finish that" or "Gosh, I still really like that fabric/project and want to finish it". Personally, I see nothing wrong with letting something go if it no longer brings you joy. I don't believe in drowning in guilt over wasted time and money. It may have been fun to work on those 600 half square triangles when you were making them, but now you have lost that loving feeling. Let it go. It's ok.

What do you think? What is your UFO situation?

 

Cooking Up a Storm

Hope your holiday celebrations have been as magnificent as mine have been! Since our son arrived home from Ireland, we have been cooking up a storm. All the dishes he has been craving, and some new experiments as well. On one of his first nights home, we made homemade pasta for linguine and clams. It was so delicious.

We made a rum cake, which was sensational. Wish I could show you a photo of that, but it is long gone. Here is a link to a similar recipe.  

For Christmas, of course there was prime rib roast and mashed potatoes and a fancy salad. Ahren and I did make a really yummy bread wreath that came out great. We had to jerry-rig a tube pan out of a cheesecake pan and a tin can in the center.

Here it is before rising and baking.

And here is the finished result. It was pretty amazing. The recipe is called Pull Apart Garlic Butter Wreath by Half Baked Harvest. It wasn't hard to make and in fact, we had a good laugh while we were cutting out the dough into all those squares. It makes tons, and I mean you could feed 12 people this thing!

It's been so wonderful to have our son home. I do not want to see him go home on Friday. We really have hardly left the house. Of course our weather is really acting up, so it is cozy to just stay in. His sister Sara has come over several times to visit and it's been great to see the two siblings together. And of course, Eva is having a blast with Uncle BroBo.

Happy holidays from our house to yours!

Christmas Mug Rug

I managed to get two little holiday mug rugs made. One for my daughter Sara, and one for me. The one I kept came out kind of funny. All the colorful mittens ended up on one side of the piece! The one I gave to Sara has the print more uniformly distributed. 

That is something to keep in mind if you are working with patterned strips of fabric. Even though mine isn't very symmetrical looking, I am enjoying it. 

I have a friend who works from home, who really enjoys having a seasonal mug rug next to her computer to put her coffee or tea on. I need to steal an hour or so and see if I can make just one more!

The Christmas shopping is all in hand. Most of it has arrived, but there are still quite a few items we are waiting for delivery on. My husband and I even put a dent in the stocking stuffer situation today.  There is a cute shop near us that sells all kinds of spices, soup mixes, local honey etc. They are always a great resource for little somethings to tuck in adult children's stockings.

I feel that things are under control and that now it's time to sit back and enjoy the decorations! I do have a newly quilted Christmas runner that I am loving. I will share pics and details of that tomorrow. Hope your week got off to a terrific start!

Decorating Almost Done

Just the quickest post. It is Sunday night and I am beat. Spent the weekend with my father, and came home Sunday afternoon and my husband and I decorated our Christmas tree. A few changes this year, which I will tell you about.

The past few years I used a gold metallic ribbon throughout the tree, which I loved the look of. This year, we skipped the ribbon. We have a plan to stick in some shiny red berry "picks" to fill in the open spots and add some color. I ordered the picks from Balsam Hill, and with luck, they will come this week. I'll share pictures once I stick them in. 

The other new addition is the "tree collar". That is the woven basket around the base of the tree. I absolutely love the finished look this gives the tree. I like it so much better than the length of cloth draped over the spindly metal legs of the tree that I used to do. This "tree collar" is a woven basket that is wrapped around the tree base and secured in the back. It was made by the Amish, and I think it was worth every penny.

Don't you think it is a nice look? I think it really finishes things off.

Hope you had a great weekend!

Let the Decorating Begin

My husband and I spent half of yesterday decorating the house.  The tree is up but has no ornaments on it. If you recall, my husband has an extensive collection of Christopher Radko ornaments and is quite particular about putting them on the tree.  I am happy to leave that aspect of the holiday decor to him. 

The photo above is of my hall table. The lighting wasn't so great when I took the picture, but you get the idea. The star behind the Merry Christmas sign lights up, but I forgot to turn on the switch for the photo.

We made many, many trips out to the garage, where we have a wall of storage cupboards for holiday decor. This holiday snow globe is so much fun.

My husband and I look around the house at all the holiday decor we have accumulated over the 50+ years we have been together and shake our heads. He would just as soon put every single item out somewhere, but I have to curtail his impulses. Less is more. Pick the things you love the most and let the others have a year off. Every year we have the same argument. "Just because we own it doesn't mean we have to put it out". That would be my argument. He, on the other hand, feels it is a betrayal not to include the items that were important to us at previous times in our lives. I like an edited look, he wants to see it all.

Do you experience these conflicting feelings too?

David's Tea Advent Calendar

This is my advent calendar for the season. Eva and I love having an advent calendar to share and this is what we chose. I think I mentioned it before. It is kind of pricey, but I think we will enjoy it. Also, it looks nice out on the counter. It is from David's Tea, a Canadian company. 24 Days of Tea.

It's so darn cute. Each day we open the appropriate box and find a tiny canister of tea that serves two people. There are all sorts of fun holiday flavors with fun names like "Sleigh Ride", "Let It Snow", "Zest Wishes", "Candy Cane Crush", "Jingle Bell Chai" and so on.

What was super fun is that I was able to get a tea mug for Eva to use. It changes color when it is filled with hot tea!

Here it is empty.

Once filled with hot water, a design appears from the bottom up.

Here is the front.

And the back. She's going to love it! I tried to get her to try it out, but she refuses to use it before December 1.

Do you do an advent calendar with your kids or grandchildren?

That was quite a conversation we had about irons in yesterday's post! If you haven't done so, do go read all the comments. Thanks to so many of you for weighing in.

RIP T-Fal Iron

And another one bit the dust...

I have a checkered history with irons. Ozzie used to pull them off the ironing table and chew the cords through. He did that to two or three irons.

Besides that particular canine hazard to any irons under my roof, I seem to kill them off fairly quickly myself. After having several pricey Rowenta irons kick the bucket within a year's time, I really started to question the wisdom of spending much on an iron for sewing.

When I sew, I leave them on, sometimes all day if I am in my sewing room working on a project. That probably takes a toll. I have had very expensive irons, and quite moderately priced irons. I remember purchasing several cheap Shark steam irons at Costco back in the days when Ozzie regularly executed them.

The T-Fal iron in the photo at the top of this post has lasted me longer than most. I think I have had it over two years, maybe three. That is a record of longevity for an iron under my care. However, it started spitting yucky rusty water, naturally when I was ironing something white. Plus, it mostly won't turn on and heat up anymore, so I guess it's done. I haven't had much occasion to sew lately, so it hasn't been that inconvenient. 

What kind of iron do you recommend? Do you keep your irons for decades, or do they die on you quickly like mine do?  Do you spend much on an iron? I'd love to read your comments on the subject!

 

New Arrangement and Perfect Machine Binding

I took apart a couple of old fall arrangements and created a new one. I didn't have to spend a dime. I quite like how it looks with my new table topper.

That bird is so well camouflaged. Can you even see him? I am enjoying the colors in the little table topper. You wouldn't think aqua would work in a fall color scheme, but it works well.

I attached the binding on by machine and could not be happier with how it turned out! This technique is perfect to use with smaller projects where you never even see the underside of the piece.

Honestly, with thread that matches perfectly, you cannot even see those stitches. If you haven't tried machine binding, I urge you to give it a try. What a time saver. Check out Vanessa's tutorial.

The Magic Tree

In front of my father's house, there is a magic tree. It is some kind of Japanese maple that turns a beautiful reddish-orange in the fall. Violets grow underneath it, which flower in spring. There is something fairy-tale-ish about this tree. You may think it is an ordinary tree at first glance, but look a little deeper.

This is the backside of the tree.

Shouldn't there be a goose laying a golden egg, or a tiny princess chatting with a frog under those branches? Or at the very least, a tricky gnome? I think this tree looks like it belongs in a magic forest.

My husband and I decorated our living room mantle on Thursday. It looks very fallish, but I am not sure it rivals the tree in my father's front yard.

Donuts

Sorry for the radio silence this week. Lots going on/not much going on. That is, I've been busy, but not with anything interesting! No sewing going on, that is for sure.

But what I do have for you today is donuts. Eva and I made Ina Garten's recipe for Baked Cinnamon Donuts and I'm telling you, they are worth the price of the special donut pans. The beauty of this donut recipe is that they are baked not fried. So, healthy donuts, right?

They were super easy to make and we got almost two dozen out of the recipe. They were so good right out of the oven that it is a miracle we had any left to put on the tray.

Hope you are all having a great week.

We had the storm of the century last weekend. The atmospheric river typhoon bomb or whatever the weathercasters were calling it. I can tell you there was a lot of wind and rain involved. My husband measured over 5 inches in our backyard and my son-in-law got over 6 inches on his rain gauge. Which is pretty unprecedented in our area of the state. When I got home from the Bay Area Sunday afternoon, our neighborhood looked like a war zone with broken tree branches and debris blown all over. Not sure if the drought is over, but we certainly got drenched. Supposedly the storm is headed East, so watch out!