1st day after Christmas (Michael's quilt), Elsie & Cookie

So, in the days leading up to Christmas….the “12 days of Christmas” song kept playing around in my head…and I decided to try a little 12 days of my own…..a challenge to accomplish 12 projects (some quilting, some sewing…maybe some food) over the next 12 days…so sing along (you all know the tune…right?)

***On the first day after Christmas my honey let me be;

The result i-is what you now see ***

This is a quilt I made for Michael for Christmas...and got all labeled and bound for my first after Christmas project.  This quilt actually has a tale all its own...

The tale of Michael’s quilt….one fine September day I went on a retreat with my friends.  I took along 8 different blue fabrics to make a quilt for my dearest honey…there were just a few blips along the way.  First, I didn’t read the pattern fully and completely.  Now, when I did the tumbling blocks, I knew I didn’t know how to do them, so I read the directions and read the directions and read the directions.  But with Michael’s quilt, it was 9 patches and solid blocks….piece of cake!  What quilter doesn’t know how to make 9 patches and solid blocks???  That was mistake number 1.  The quilt was set on point…if you remember my problems with the blue/green/purple quilt back in October/November, then you KNOW how my brain resists understanding quilts set on point…that was mistake number 2.  We didn’t have a design wall at retreat that was big enough to lay the whole quilt out.  We were laying it on the floor, but eventually I had to pack it all up and bring it home….and I neglected to label the rows before doing that…mistake number 3.  When I got home, I needed a LARGE space of time when Michael wasn’t going to be home.  That didn’t happen right away, so I started working on another quilt…I THOUGTHT I only needed squares out of the remaining 3 colors of Michael's quilt (6 & 7 & 8) so I cut up colors 1 through 5 for the new quilt that I started….can you guess…mistake number 4 (since it turned out once I finally got back to working on Michael’s quilt that I also needed more of colors #4 & #5...which if I had read the directions better...I might have realized).  When I finally got back to working on Michael’s quilt, I decided that I could cut the strips for color number 6…didn’t have my glasses on…just glanced at the book…and after not cutting strips for this quilt for 2 weeks, I cut a ton of strips at 1-1/4 inches…instead of 1-3/4 inches….mistake number 5.  I spent a fruitless 2 weeks trying to re-find more fabric on line…ordered it twice…it came in VERY purple-y…not blue.  Finally Jeannie found me another blue that I could use….so I finally completed that set of blocks.  AND finally Michael had a golfing tournament that included dinner…he was gone from NOON until 7 PM, so I excitedly starting laying out his quilt on my studio design wall.  That was a nightmare in itself…I thought I had screwed the whole thing up…was writing every 5 minutes to BG on IM about how it was ALL WRONG and I didn’t understand how Janice didn’t see it at retreat, since she was helping me lay it out on the floor.  Well….it was just my brain going wonky again…I HAD done it correctly…Janice HAD kept me on track at retreat.  The problem was, I needed additional blocks for color numbers 4 and 5…..and I already cut up and used that fabric in the new quilt I started  :~(.  So, now I start ripping apart rows so that I can cannibalize blocks out of them to make other rows and I finally figure out that I am 4 rows short and that that will make this rectangular quilt into a square quilt….not big enough for Michael :~(.  I pile everything back into a box and put it in the corner of my sewing room and am thoroughly depressed and not sure where I want to go from here.  Fast forward to the end of November when I have my regular Tuesday morning time with Nancy H.  She convinces me that of course I can get another whole top done by Christmas….and I believe her!!!!!  Jan and I go shopping the next week and I get all new fabric (I did get to use 2 colors from my stash…so only had to get 6 additional) and I begin again.  I won’t go into the trials and tribulations of the second quilt…these mostly relate to the weather and how it interfered with Michael going golfing…and so interfered with me working on the quilt…and all of those days on the blog when I just said I was sewing on things (and NOT getting my food gifts done…a fact that Michael noticed :~), but it is finally done and my honey LOVES it…so, it was all SO worth it.

 

Stay tuned for the 2nd day after Christmas project.

 

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As for what else happed on Friday (12/26), it was a beautiful day….it got into the 60’s and the sun was shining.  Michael spent time at the golf course doing some practicing…I had a lovely visit from Jan…we got to talk a lot and she got a very long scarf all bound off, and I finished off Michael’s quilt.  At one point I was downstairs sewing, and Michael was on the computer, and we had company....both squished together on one of the small sofa throw pillows:

 

 

For dinner we were invited to Paula & Doug’s house….and Jeannie & Jim were there when we arrived.  Paula made shepard’s pie for dinner (now why don’t I ever make that…it tasted great….I think everyone had second helpings...and maybe thirds  :~) and green beans.  There was a lot of lively discussion during and after dinner, and we played SCREWED and SHEIST for a couple of hours, and fit dessert in there as well.  It was a very nice evening and we didn’t get home until after 10:30.  We did just a bit of reading and then headed to bed.