Ok, telle me the truth...are you humming thatsong now? Cause I am and I fear it may be running through my head all night!
Back in February of this year, I convinced Mr O to agree to spend winter in Arizona again. He liked Arizona but he always says, “I want to go somewhere new, somewhere I haven’t been before.” I on the other hand like familiarity, and I liked the place we usually stayed at, I had a large circle of quilting friends there, I was comfortanle with the area...why wouldn’t I want to back? I love having familiar things around me. That’s why when we go on a road trip I pack so much...I think I suffer with separation anxiety.
If we were travelling there in a U-Haul I would have had no trouble packing but alas we were driving there in our personal vehicle, so many choices had to be made. I had no shortage of fabric at home so Mr O “urged” me to figure out what projects I wanted to make and make kits from what I hadcts for on hand. Brilliant suggestion, but also a lot of work, and what if I forgot something important and necessary for the project? It takes a lot of time and energy to assemble kits for each project and to make sure I prepared enough projects for 4 months; and projects and tools needed for a couple of workshops I was asked to give.
The job seemed insurmountable, especially to someone who was recovering from whooping cough but thankfully I have been blessed with very good friends, one of whom came to my rescue. She offered to come and help me prep kits and it was just the kickstart I needed because as you know, starting the job is half the battle.This friend came to the house 2 or 3 times and helped choose fabrics, AND cut fabric amounts for each of these big projects. Once these projects were prepped, I felt like I was on my way and slowly but surely I managed to get the rest of the kits ready. Thank you Sue!
All totalled I think I packed about 25 different projects for the winter! That does not include my knitting project or the projects I prepped for working on in the car, because it is a long way from New Brunswick to Arizona, especially when you make lengthy stops in Ontario and Colorado! Hope I have enough...I will keep you updated as I check them off my list. ( I even packed printed sheets off the internet for oraganizing my projects and keeping me on track) Genius or insanity?
I saw this little quote on line one day and it made me smile, because I do exactly that!
Along the way I had a lovely visit with my brother, and other family members. My brother lives in a nursing home and is always thrilled to go out on outings. We were able to rent a little cottage and that allowed us to have him come and stay with us for five days. He was thrilled with his mini vacation!
When we brought him back home it was with a new warm winter jacket and boots, a batch of homemade fudge, photos of his mini vacation and a touch of Christmas decorations for his room. All in all a good visit!
I miss you little brother; stay warm, enjoy your treats and have a Merry Christmas. I love you. xx
I told you I brought a few projects to work on in the car. One of them was a sewing box. I painted the box before leaving home and then did the wool cover for it along the way.
The project is from this book. Civil War Sewing Circle by Kathleen Tracey. This is just one of several projects that spoke to me.
The little piece of gold wool that you see here is very special to me. After Mom passed away and we cleaned out her apartment we gave many of mom’s clothes away, but my sister and decided to keep a few items that we thought we could incorporate in some of our special quilting projects. This piece of gold wool is part of one of Mom’s blazers. I miss you mom!
This is the finished project and it holds tiny scissors, needles and thread for whatever project I am working on. I was only 2 days into the trip and already I was finished a project, so on to the next one...a little hand stitching kit I purchased a couple years ago at an amazing little quilt shop in Bethany Ontario. From The Heart. If you haven’t been there and you ever get the opportunity to stop, you wont be sorry.
This is the kit I bought.
The pattern has you making 1/2” hexies and then joining them together then appliqueing them to a background piece of fabric. Sandwich, quilt and bind and then it fits inside this tiny tray. It is great to sit beside your work area and corral you frequently used tools.
I am feeling pretty good about this project. All hand stitched! Not a machine stitch anywhere! All the hexies, made and pieced together, sandwiched and hand quilted and then I attached the binding all around by hand and then sewed the binding down. That was the trickiest part, but I channeled my inner pioneer spirit and soldiered through. I love it! It is about 4.5”. 8.5” and fits the tray perfectly!
My third project is a woolie project.
Pattern by Threads That Bind
I have taken it as far as I can go, because I put the wrong backing piece in my work bag, so I am left with only a knitting project to work on. All in all I am pleased with my progress. All of this was finished before leaving Colorado.(more about Colorado happenings)
It has been a great trip so far. Weather is perfect and accommodations have been good, and Mr O has had lots of interesting activities planned all along the way. The only complaint I have is that wifi is not always the best so I am behind in my posts. Hopefully I will be almost caught up by tomorrow.
