Duluth

We are so thrilled that the non quilter in the household "got" the concept of this quilt we have adopted his name for the idea. The "Suburbs" pattern from Cluck, Cluck, Sew, in this iteration is henceforth to be known as "Duluth".

Top finished!

The first version of this pattern was Little Cabins in the Woods.

A Fine Litter of Pups

The bromeliad family is getting bigger.

Pup #1 was adopted out to a good home. Pup #2 is still in the house.

Here comes pup #3.

It too has been birthed, weaned from mom, and after spaying or neutering and getting its shots will also be off to live with another qualified family with a reliable track record for keeping houseplants alive. Housebreaking should be a snap.

Reusable Christmas

The young people in the family, ever aware of how our actions affect the planet, suggested that we strive to use less throw-away wrapping at Christmas time. "Hear, hear", we said and promptly got to hemming fabrics that we had aquired for their jaunty holiday patterns and/or attractive July sale prices, to use as wrap in the style of Japanese Furoshiki.

It was fun to both sew and wrap with these pretty fabrics that had been purchased with no real plan in mind. 

One can only make and use so many stockings, table runners, and tree skirts with all the amazing fabrics available.

These wraps, made in a variety of sizes should hold up for many Christmases to come. 

And, post Christmas there are plenty of other uses for the technique with other fabrics. 

This two bottle wrap is great for gifting, or for transporting party supplies.

Furoshiki also works for carrying loose objects such as a stack of books, awkward items like your potluck casserole, or anything that needs a temporary carrying handle. 

Pre-made fabric pieces like handkerchiefs, scarves and dishtowels work too. And fabric with raw or pinked edges can of course be used and may even double as part of the gift for your favorite sewists.

Here is the basic wrap we used for most of the Christmas packages:

But there are so many more possibilities. Check out Suika Tsutsumi, the watermelon wrap.

And, while it is great to have one more idea for saving the planet, we all know the true value of this project.... reducing our fabric stash and acting like that was our plan all along.

The Good News About Bad Weather

 It is attractive to stay in one's nice warm sewing area vs. being tempted into more post-Christmas sale shopping when the temps are as they are today. 

It is -17F at present with the day's high predicted to be -6F. 

Baby, it's cold outside. 

And that is conducive to the time honored cabin fever tradition of sewing. No more putting off finishing projects when the alternative activities involve five layers of clothing and risking life and limb with frost bite or idiot drivers on slippery roads.

And being well stocked from a recent, sad, going out of business sale of a favorite fabric store there is no reason to venture out for additional stash building.

So finally we have:

A new ironing board cover.

Six new tea towels of MoMo for Moda Japanese cotton/linen.

Six new pillowcases to use up Julie Paschkis fabric. 

A log carrier.

 

And a good start on 68 little houses for a queen size

Suburbs quilt which may be called

Duluth. 

Merry Making with Faux Suede

Getting in the holiday spirit we got back to the sewing machine for a seasonal home accessory update. A very generous friend shared some painterly deer print faux suede from Spoonflower with us. Wish you could feel it. Isn't the design great?

And so fitting as on Christmas Eve eve morning we saw three deer walking right down the middle of Columbia Street. Speculation was that they were doing advance intel for Santa to make the Chippewa Falls run go more smoothly. Probably they were noting details such as the loss of one of our two chimneys when we got new shingles and that our Norway maple has grown another 10 feet up into sleigh airspace. Important time saving tips like that make Santa's job easier for sure.

It must have helped. Santa was very, very good to us.

Party!

Look who's ready for some New Year's Eve fun!

Always the hit of the party. 

Penguins reminiscent of Wallace and Gromit's arch nemesis, Feathers McGraw,

bring smiles in the buffet line.

But nobody wants to take the last one off the platter. 

Who could eat a face like that?

From Betty Crocker's Best Christmas Cookbook.