Just a Couple Days to Go!

It's been quite a rainy day here in Sac Town--a good day for staying indoors! But I had a couple of errands to run first. My first errand took me to Bearpaws & Hollyhocks to drop off two of the quilts I'll be teaching and to leave the fabric requirements for Gran to type up tomorrow. I took a photo of the Valentine quilt, All You Need is Love, before I sent it off, just in case I need any visual references when I finalize the pattern directions.

After that, my travels took me to Trader Joe's for some of the things I'll need for our Christmas dinner. By 2:30, though, I was home again and dry. After getting the makings for a pot of chicken soup simmering on the stove, I headed into the Sweat Shop for the rest of the day.

My friend Patty left this comment on last night's blog post: ". . . Knowing you, I bet you are thinking ahead now to the next holiday . . . lol. Always one step ahead of the rest of us!" Yes, Patty does know me pretty well, because that's exactly what I've been doing today! Have you seen Monica's Pennie Pockets over on her Happy Zombie blog? I've been making a few in Valentine's colors. I've taken a photo of the three I've finished, hanging on the Christmas tree in the Sweat Shop--I think they might make nice decorations for the Valentine's Day tree, although they don't show up as well in the photo as they do in person.

Because of the rain and bad weather, the get together at my friend Lisa's house tonight--the one I mentioned yesterday--was cancelled. Well, I guess I should explain that it wasn't just a get together at her house--the plan was to pile into cars and go look at the local Christmas lights displays. With the heavy rain, that plan didn't seem like such a good idea. As it turned out, it was just as well, because it was a nice Sunday afternoon and evening to just stay indoors and sew and listen to Christmas music.

And before I get too far ahead of the calendar, I had a couple Christmas gifts I wanted to show you--one I received and the other one I made.

I was surprised and excited to receive a package from Red Geranium Sharon the other day. She and I have had an ongoing thing about cows, and look what she sent!

I love that little jewel-like cow ornament in the center! It promptly found a place on my barn yard tree in the Sweat Shop where it most definitely shows off to the other cows and sheep.

I made this little wallhanging for Eileen and forgot to take a photo before I sent it off in the mail, so she sent me a photo to share. The pattern is Cardinals from Patch Abilities' Monthly Minis line.

I used the same techniques I used to make the little Santa wallhanging. Eileen takes good care of the birds in her neighborhood, hauling 50 pound bags of bird seed around to make sure they're fed, and the Cardinals made me think of her. Originally I planned to make her a snowflake quilt from a Pieces From the Heart pattern, but other things came up that kept me from making the quilts I planned, so I sent her a "do-it-yourself" gift too! Oh, well, I think we all know that things don't always go as planned, and another project to work on will keep Eileen out of trouble for awhile!

Finally, before I say goodnight, I wanted to alert you that the "Wee Gifties" links in the sidebar will disappear in the next few days, so if there were things there you wanted to make at a future date, please take the time to bookmark the websites.

Goodnight Blogland!