Archie may not be quite ready to forgive us for not taking him to Lake Tahoe with us. He had a great time with our house/pet sitter, but from the look of him with his dagger, he may be harboring some hard feelings about being left behind.
Our sitter reported that he was a good boy and enjoyed all the extra walks and attention, but clearly, he was delighted to have us home again.
You can see that I got right to work on my next sewing project, which is the Winter Village by The Pattern Basket. Fabrics are starched and being supervised by Archie while they dry.
I am going to plunge ahead and make the whole quilt and see how it goes. The quilt is a small lap-sized one, which will be very pretty during the holiday season. I will enjoy working on it this November and December, have it quilted in the new year, and be able to use it in 2026.
I finished the first five red trees, and it wasn’t too bad. I will admit, it took a minute for my brain to absorb the instructions. Unfortunately, the directions are for cutting out the pieces for one tree at a time, and since you have to make fifteen of them (five red, five green, and five grey), it’s a pain to do the math. I kept thinking there must be a way to streamline the instructions, but I didn’t take the time to do it. The results are pleasing, I think.
Since we are talking about trees, I will end with one last picture of a tree by the lake. The weather could not have been better. It started out rainy on Saturday and Sunday, but things cleared up and warmed up by Monday, so it was grand. Fall is the best time to be in the mountains, in my opinion.
Hope your week gets off to a terrific start!
18 Responses
Glad you a restful vacation. Cause the holidays are quickly approaching! The quilt you are working on now is going to be very pretty. I dont know how you do it . My OCD will not allow me to start anything but the smallest item (ie. bowl cozies) until the whatever I am doing is finished. Though it does keep me motivated..
I still have my large design wall covered with the Halloween Figs quilt blocks. I have one more rather elaborate applique block to make, plus some smaller ones. I just have to devote an entire day to it and get it done. Then I can move on without too much guilt.
I, too, finish each quilt before I start the next. Always have. No UFO’s.
The biggest reason nowadays is keeping track of the correct white background fabric. I use a lot of solid white. I don’t mix whites. I use white from the same fabric line so the weaves are the same, when possible. (I also make my binding when I finish the top.)
The second biggest reason is if I am not making a second quilt, I get rid of most of my scraps. My guild has a “free table”. I bag the scraps with a note – my name, what project. My bags are quilt popular, normally they are taken out of my hand before they ever hit the table.
My guild sponsors a UFO challenge most years. Those ladies bring a finished UFO to show and tell, every other month, there is a prize at the end for the participants. It is extremely popular.
This is going to be great!! The pattern looks fun and not too complicated. The best for this time of year!
I agree. I also have the Christmas at Granny’s blocks to make, but they take much more concentration. I hope to pull those out at some point and make a few more.
This will be a nice laptop for Christmas. I have my large Christmas bed quilt all pinned and ready for sewing- if I get the 3 rush rush I’m working on now all done. Michigan is FINALLY having our fall season but not nearly as colorful as normal. I just love the bright reds against the blue blue sky!
It is so funny, the tree in our backyard is so reliable it is almost creepy. The leaves all turn red around mid October and each year, the first of November, they all fall off at once. Our backyard is three inches deep in leaves!
It’s always a relief when you have a good person taking care of Archie, he looks happy. Your holiday quilt is going to be fun to work on over the next few months, what a fun project! Take care!
It cost almost as much as our other vacation expenses to pay her! It was worth it for the peace of mind. Honestly, if a person wanted a good paying part time job, pet sitting is the way to go.
I agree! I know someone who did not own a home and dog sat full time. She and her daughter moved from house to house. They had a home base at a relatives where they kept their extra stuff and stayed on the off days. There were very few off days.
Nicole,
Your Winter Village quilt is going to be lovely. I like a lot of The Pattern Basket patterns. Archie may be miffed but he is tickled pink to have you back home!
She must have played rough with him, he is acting really feisty with me!
So glad you had a great time at Lake Tahoe. This Christmas quilt that you are starting looks to be absolutely wonderful and cozy. It will be so much fun to work on it during the correct season. I made 3 Christmas table runners with those type of trees a couple of years ago, and had to work out the measurements so that the background white pieces were all just one piece, rather than having a half-square triangle piece and then a solid rectangle. (Hope that makes sense). Was much happier with those results than having all those little vertical seams through the background white.
Happy sewing, and nice to see Archie happy to have you back!
I agree, when I can cut down on the number of seams, I always try to do it too.
Archie’s looking cute as ever this morning! I made a quilt a couple of years ago that had those trees. You have to get into a rhythm & just mass produce them once you’re on a roll! Your word ‘fiddly’ comes to mind! Have a good sewing week!
I plan to put on an audio book and get going on the green trees today!
It’s wonderful to hear that y’all had such beautiful weather while in Lake Tahoe and enjoyed the time away so much. Yes, I know how dogs can be eloquent in spreading guilt when left behind but am glad Archie seems a forgiving sort and is ready to play.
Your first trees are looking good but, sorry, I just cannot get my head around red trees. Call me old-fashioned!!
Hope Dennis continues to improve and that your eyes are improving, too.
Hugs!
oh how i do miss lake tahoe. im marooned in the midwest!!! yeah for archie and his new sitter. so nice for you to not have to worry about him enjoying his vacation experience