First Holiday Gifts

Although it is July, I made my Winter Solstice gift list. The Grandkids are at the age of preferring money, which works for me because it is easy to send. No gifts to buy, wrap & ship. Easy. Yet there are folks on my list who will still be gifted.

It was delightful to get the sizing of the tote correct. For a 12.5" raw block, cut a 6" length to go around three sides.

While this little quilting success brought me joy today, my real goal has always been become able to love better and also to be loved. Here is the quilted tote, clipped for hand sewing binding on it. 

AND of course, this is Rico. Rico & I keep one another company during the day. While I like it that he doesn't talk, I have encouraged his ability to meow. He is always close, and while he doesn't ever sit on my quilt projects, he is not above sitting next to one.

This process is interesting. The first one I tried is in the giveaway box. This is the second tote and it needs hand sewing on the binding and machine sewing the straps.

And rather than sit and finish the three totes that are almost finished, I scrambled to find fabric to make others. And then I started pairing more of the orphans. I am getting ahead of myself. It was almost as if I had to shake myself back to reality.

I did spend time sorting fabrics. My selections are getting down and I want to start making more backs (UFOs) to have them ready. My patterns for them are quite simple; in fact, just joining blocks often in a light/dark/light/dark way.