November NewFO--Not much progress

Yet another month has flown by and tomorrow starts the last month of 2013. How is that even possible?!? Didn't we just have Christmas a few weeks ago? And where did the riot of color that graced our hills go so quickly? 

Last week as I drove by this favorite spot just north of Baldwin City, KS, the trees were already the bare gray and brown of our winter landscape in Kansas. Oh well... Thanksgiving's turkey is gone, decorations for Christmas are going up all around me, and the year is winding down.

I'm hooking up with Barbara at Cat Patches on her November NewFO Linky Party.  Even if I'm crazy busy with school, I look forward to being able to share my little progress here each month. Let's hope 2014 is a MUCH more productive quilting year! As much as I appreciate the opportunity to get my master's degree and enjoy school, I'm certainly ready to be creative again.

The jelly roll race that I whipped out in October, Pilgrims & Pumpkins (hanging on the right), got completed in time to be hung in the community room at my friend's senior apartment complex for the month of November. My plans to whip up something for December didn't gel due to the end of semester push to complete final projects. Hopefully my plans will get back on track in the sewing room soon so I can take them another fun quilt after the first of the year.

I'm afraid I haven't done much quilting this month at all; although I did get my second fall jelly roll race pinned, quilted with Aurifil 50, and bound. After I finished quilting it, I spread it out on the floor to be sure I hadn't missed any sections and Jacob quickly plopped himself down and rolled up in it. When I'm binding, he always comes over and hides under the quilts and plays peek-a-boo with me while I stitch. It's such a blessing to have him here with me several days a week still.

The binding went on mid-month and now it's folded up waiting to come out of the closet for next fall. I haven't decided what to name this one yet. Maybe "Race to Thanksgiving" which gives a nod to the jelly roll race pattern. It's scrappier than the jelly roll race I made from an actual jelly roll last month. This one used up numerous fat quarters and various scraps in fall fabrics to help whittle down some of the long-untouched stash. I like the motion to it with more shorter pieces breaking it up instead of just the 40" strips. The jelly roll race is definitely a fun and quick way to make a quilt top!

The Stitching Grannies took two days to enjoy carpooling on the northeast Kansas Deck the Walls shop hop. We covered a good distance with hop shops in Overbook, Burlington, Burlingame, Topeka, and Baldwin City. We also stopped at shops not on the hop, but of interest, in Holton and Gardner, plus the annual holiday arts & crafts show in Ottawa. As usual, more was spent than planned and more NewFOs await in the closet to be unloaded from their various bags. This is such a fun group of gals who have quickly become good friends. And, yes, that's Audrey in the highchair, Jacob's little buddy who attends the Stitching Grannies with her gramma. She got to hop with us on Friday and was just an angel!

The other plans I have are to jump into Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt. She posted the first clue the Friday after Thanksgiving and quilters around the world are getting started. This will be my first mystery quilt! I picked up these fat quarters on the shop hop to add to the few I found in my stash. I'm anxious to begin, but have to finish the final class project that has to be complete and uploaded by Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 11pm. Once that's done, then I can breathe again! Today I took a break from school to write this post and did my "Shop Local" bit by picking up a set C of Marti Michell's templates to use with this quilt at Quilting Bits & Pieces. This will be my NewFO for December since I'm sure I won't get any cutting done before mid-week.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with family time and good food. Until school is out I won't even attempt to decorate; however, I did hang my advent calendar up today so Jacob and I can start putting (felt) cookies out of the bowl into the pockets to count down to Christmas. It's so fun having a little one to enjoy these little things with. We're making new memories and traditions together.

More snippets from the sewing room soon,
Liz