Creating · Something to Think About

Christmas Is Coming!

Elizabeth E.4 Comments

Christmas has come to the bedroom.

I think that’s one of the enjoyable things about the holidays: reacquainting yourself with packed-away treasures.  This quilt took me about half a year to make, but I love looking at each individual star, and thinking about how all quilts, people, puppies and babies are like: each unique in its own way.

I’ve been busy baking and cooking, a side effect from having too much grading.

I made Stuffed Pumpkin. . .

and Pear-Persimmon bread, which is wonderful. And then. . .

I had to give you the recipe for Pear, Cranberry and Gingersnap Crumble for the holidays.  It serves a bunch, and is really festive looking.  And delicious.

All the links are to my recipe blog, one that I set up to share the things I bake and make.  Today’s goal is to make my annual homemade Christmas Caramels.  Here’s a shot from the year before, as I wrap them.

I’m sure that each of you has a traditional holiday recipe that you pull out every year and make.  While this makes extra work for ourselves, in some way, Christmas is a time to put away the usual and do the unusual, to show love and caring for everyone in our lives.  I’d been dragging my feet on getting the decorations up this week — thinking, as we put out the nutcrackers and nativity sets — that no little children would be coming to see our Christmas.  But yesterday that all changed as we made arrangements for our grandchildren to spend the night!.  We’ll pick them up at 5:00 p.m.,  go to see the Muppets movie, then come back here, settle in to our evening.  In the morning, I plan to make waffles and they’ll all squeeze orange juice with their grandpa, another tradition.  My son will come and retrieve them mid-morning.  Just knowing that some children would come for Christmas made all the difference.  I was able to set up the Christmas Village, get the garlands hung and the advent calendar put up in one fell swoop yesterday afternoon.

  Here’s hoping you have some children involved in your celebrations this year!

WIP

Quilt Frolic is Almost to Her Party

Elizabeth E.8 Comments

Okay.  As I bemoaned mentioned to Cindy, my Quilting Mojo has been in short supply lately, whether it be the rejection from Road or post-trip let-down or the stacks and stacks of grading that has come in at the end of the semester (and research papers still to arrive–next week). Or the talk I had to give in church.  Or the 60 pretzel sticks I’ve been asked to make for a holiday party.  Or the fact that my Christmas boxes have disgorged their contents all over the living room, but I haven’t had time to put out the trinkets, nutcrackers, swags, bells and whistles and favorite-seen-only-once-a-year Christmas objects.  Welcome to the Holidaze?

So it’s best to go back and pick up on some older projects when the energy level is down, and that’s why I like WIP Wednesdays with Lee, as #1–it gives you something to focus on mid-week, and #2–I can pull out one of those pieces on my in-progress list and start getting it done.  Thanks, Lee!

So, here’s Quilt Frolic–almost done.  This quilt had come back from Cathy, my quilter, just before I left to New York, and as most quilts do, it sat quietly waiting for me to return and to finish it.  It’s in progress with the binding half-way sewn on.

This pattern was from Film in the Fridge, published in a magazine, and if you click on Quilt Frolic in the tag cloud to your right, you can get more information about it.

The back is a conglomeration of fabrics.  It took forever to sew this together, and usual, the jury is still out on whether pieced backs are “my thing.”

Detail of the back.  This pattern is a fun way to use those large-scale prints, but still have them controlled.

Hey–I even got the labels printed out and sewn on.  I hated it when I realized I’d switched the dimensions of this quilt.  So now it’s really short and really wide, instead of the other way around.  This ought to tell you what a brain fog I’ve been in.

And the little story about why I call it Quilt Frolic.

Here’s a bit of Christmas: the red and white table runner I made this summer, with contributions by my readers.  (Thank you again from the bottom of my quilty heart!) I put two of the nutcrackers on it–voila!  I’ve decorated at least one surface.  Now to do the rest. . .

Quilt Shops

Purl Soho

Elizabeth E.1 Comment

In New York City, everything is at they say it is.  If they say it’s grand and wonderful and amazing, it is. (It is.)  If they say to pronounce Houston, as in Houston Street, as “How-ston,” then you do.  And anything south of Houston is known as SoHo, using the first two letters of south and Houston.  I learned that one right away, as someone was giving me directions to see Purl Soho.

I’d come to New York City with my daughter Barbara, in order to create some memories and have some fun.  We’d been doing lots of stuff together the past couple of days, but decided to split up this morning so she could accomplish one of her goals of buying a purse, and I could get to a fabric shop or two.

This section of town is right above Little Italy, which is above Chinatown, which is where I had started that morning with my daughter, who was determined to “buy a purse.”  (She bought four.)  The picture above is the corner of Broome and Mercer, and just down on the left is. . .

. . . PurlSoho.  Whoopee!

The sun is finally shining after two days of rain, as you can see in this shot just inside the front door.

A wall of fabric in hoops.  Sometimes we forget that fabric shops like their stash, too.

While this shop is not a “supermarket” type of store in terms of size, its ideas and creative fabrics are supersized.   I wanted to buy a quarter-yard or more of everything in there, but how would I get it home in my suitcase?  They have mail order, so I was comforted that I could get what I wanted once I arrived home — and their warehouse is in the neighboring county from me.  Close, actually, when compared to NYC.

Blurry shot of the back of the shop.

And blurry shot of their yarn wall.  Such color!

About this time, my daughter found me (love having cell phones!), exhausted from two and half days of non-stop go go go, so we went to some place close and delish for lunch: Le Pain Quotidien, where I had this artsy cobb-type salad.

She had the Belgian waffle.

Then we both headed home on the subway, and crashed for a couple of hours.