Cleaning Up Loose Ends...

...but not the house (ha ha).

I fell behind on posting when I went on the kitchen painting excursion. And, while I managed to get a new carpet shampooer and clean all the downstairs carpets (which are once again in need of a wash....thank you Paco and Tucker), I managed to fall behind on the day to day house cleaning.  Such a shame.

So, looking around me at the stairs that need vacuuming, the sheets that need changing, I decided to dive right in and...

PLAY IN THE STUDIO!!!!!!!

First up, we finished the Merry Mayhem Mystery quilt top. A quick (not) trip to Patches this week (coupon) to pick the backing, and we'll knock this one out of the park before we begin the two Mid Appalachian Quilters class projects.

A bit of English paper piecing (okay, a LOT of English paper piecing), and we were able to finish the four blocks in this installment of the Vintage Rouge Christmas quilt. The hubs really likes these blocks. Here's one up close and personal....

Will 'ya look at how round those circles are? The little one was a breeze, it's only 2", the bigger one is another story..it's a bit over 7" diameter. Thankfully I only had to do four of them (so far). Now before you think I'm the new Goddess of Dresden, think back to those 'Strip Its' I posted about last month. Those blades are a single cut of fabric. But, I'm going to quilt down the center of each of them when the time comes, and no one (except you) will be the wiser.

Next we spent a lot of time cutting little shapes out of wool and tracing and transferring lettering to some very strange embroidery fabric to prep a kit for this lovely Dickens quote for Christmas. Any bets on whether this gets done for this Christmas? We're going to Florida in early November, so this will likely be the in-flight entertainment.

And the wool arrived for the July wool applique , so that's all cut and fused and waiting to be stitched, backed, and sleeved.

While it's not easy to see, I took a little creative license (and a ruler) to the Aurifil Designer's Block for June. Look at all that yummy Aurifil 12 wt. thread. This will probably be the project I start tonight. Note the large plastic zip pouch. I picked these up at a super special sale on the Elinor Burns site and I use them to kit all my handwork projects. Toss in a small pair of scissors, the needle case, the needle threader, and the Costco reading glasses , and it's grab and go amusement for car rides, waiting rooms, lunch hour, drinks on the terrace...

And since we were kitting Christmas projects, it seemed like a good idea to prep the Halloween handwork. This is a little Crabapple Hill embroidery. The embroidery will attach to wool felt and that can attach to treat bags, or little pillows, or it could be framed in a sweet little desk frame. Should be easy enough to finish by October 31st.

It all looks like fun...way more fun than changing the sheets or vacuuming the stairs...guess that means I better invite the ladies over for Happy Hour Friday, as if I'm ever going to finish cleaning  my house, a little 'threat of guests' wouldn't hurt to provide the much needed kick in the pants motivation for cleaning.

Check back on Friday for another Fast Friday Fabric Giveaway.

In the meantime...stay cool!