Hello November

The days in the year are winding down. Our weather has been sunny and chilly over the past week, and we're expecting more of the same through the weekend. The cold makes me want to snuggle up under a quilt with a couple of cats, just to stay warm. Smitty has been burrowing under the covers at night, and I like waking up and feeling his furry body next to me.

When I returned home from grocery shopping yesterday, I did just that...snuggled up under a quilt and took a short nap. I was dragging my feet a little bit getting back to the Semper Fi quilt. Yesterday's effort was to attach border #11 of 15. It was a wide border and I wanted to cut the fabric the long way to avoid having seams. With careful alignment of the edges, I was able to get it done, with reasonably straight edges.

Up until now, I've been able to sew the borders, including the star border, without pinning. This one proved a little too long for that. The first attempt failed, and I ended up with puckers. So I took that out and then set about pinning from the center out. It worked out much better that way, and after a couple of hours, I had the whole quilt rounded. It's getting too large to take a picture without help...or else a better grasp of gymnastics than I possess. Today I'll add two skinny borders, and then I'll be back to making stars for the 14th border. There are 58 stars remaining. It's getting close, but those stars will take me a couple of days.

Finishing this quilt top will be my goal for November's

and I'm mad at myself for missing the finishing party in October, even though I finished my quilt!!!

Also yesterday, I started the first of the 12 Trees for Christmas. These are tiny little stitches. It's going to be good practice. When I look at Mary Corbet's pattern pictures, her stitching looks perfect. Mine...not so much, but I've always believed perfection is highly overrated. I'll do the best I can and call it good.

I expect this will take me a couple more days to finish, and then I'll start on the next one. The whole project might take longer than expected, but it's going to be a good pattern for the holiday season.

As expected, the beads arrived yesterday, and they are tiny! I said, they are tiny! Sorry...I didn't mean to yell.

I use a small needle, although the size escapes me...and look at how they compare with the point of my needle. Fortunately, the needle will go through the holes, and so I should be able to use the same needle for the embroidery and the beading. It's hard to see in this image, but they are lined with silver on the inside. Very pretty. When I looked at the pattern, I was tempted to bag the whole beading effort and just make French knots. But then I decided to guts up and do it with these pretty embellishments.

So there you go...that was the end of my sewing for October. And now...

It's getting dangerously close to Christmas. Buckle up, friends. If you're out and about today, I'm guessing you'll be hearing Christmas carols. As for me, I'm going to stay hidden at home for just a little longer. You can find me in my sewing room.