Make-A-List Monday - It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Hi, all!

As I write this, it is the shortest day of the year - the winter solstice.  The days will start getting longer from here on out, but with the cold weather, it's a great time for quilting! I hope each of you will have some time in the next couple of weeks during the holiday to get in some fun sewing time...

But for now, it's time to see how last week's list went.  Here goes...

1.  Prepare luncheon for our church staff on Wednesday.  (This involves a lot of cooking on Tuesday!)

Done!  And of course, I forgot to take pictures - but we had a great spread of ham, sweet potato casserole, warm potato salad, green beans, broccoli salad, cranberry relish, and rolls, plus pies for dessert for the twenty-plus staff members to enjoy!

2.  Sewing with the folks at church on Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

Done!  Wednesday night, I actually managed to finish a quilt top and back for it, and Thursday morning I spent pressing and folding blue scraps so they can be cut into usable sizes next.

3.  Lilli's Christmas program at school Thursday night.

So much fun!  The second grade did a production of "A Bug's Christmas", with the termites invading and stealing the lights from the Christmas tree (they're HUNGRY!) and the fireflies coming in to save the day!

4.  Supervise cookie-making on Friday with the grandkids - all three, because school lets out that day!

My husband is such a great Papa - he baked cookies with Lilli all morning!  I supervised decorating of sugar cookies with the little ones - they had a blast - then we moved upstairs to play while Lilli and Papa baked.  Both littles are w-a-y too interested in the hot ovens to make baking with them around safe!

While we were upstairs playing, Emmy found a roll of fabric ribbon.  The look on her face reminds me of me with fabric!!

5.  Work on an antique quilt top repair job for a friend.

In progress!  I'm happy to say this project is coming along well - I finally figured out that I can secure the illusion over the worn pieces using my sewing machine and invisible thread, and that is moving the process along much faster!  But there's a lot to repair on this quilt, and I've got a long way to go!

Here's a  pic of the repair work in progress...

... and here's a really good example of why this quilt is worth the extensive repairs I'm making!  The embroidery on this quilt is quite stunning - I can't wait to show you the quilt in its entirety!

6.  Finish wrapping the Christmas presents.

Done - and actually early! I'm so happy I won't be wrapping for hours on Christmas eve!

7.  Keep up with any quilt ministry needs that come up.

Done! It was a quiet week, only two quilts...

This quilt went to a gentleman just diagnosed with terminal cancer...

And this quilt is now covering a woman with serious kidney issues.

We also received this wonderful picture of a recipient of the quilts we sent to an Ethiopian orphanage earlier this month. That smile says it all!

I finished the binding on this sweet baby quilt, too - those sunflowers are 3-D and so cute!!! The top was donated to the ministry, and Lisa, one of the ministry members, quilted it on Grace, our BlockRockIt.

So all in all, a really good week. I feel like I'm ready for Christmas, plus I'm making good headway on the quilt repair job, which has been sitting around for much too long.  Let's see what's in store for this week!

1.  Finish the repair work on the antique quilt top.

2.  Make a back for the top and determine the best way to finish it.

3.  Have a very merry Christmas!

4.  Keep up with any quilt ministry needs that come up.

That's going to be all for this week - I would really like to finish the antique quilt top before the new year and put it back into my friend's hands.  He's been waiting way too long, having told me that there wasn't any rush (always a mistake - I work much better under a deadline!)  Then it will be time for my annual quilting studio clean-up!

So now, the question is - - - what are YOU working on this week?

Hugs and Merry Christmas!

Sarah