The December Dance

 

Greetings friends!

I may be battling a cold but I'm so glad it's not covid!  How are you doing?

Well here it is, the fourth of December and I wonder if you too are doing the December dance.  You know this little number.  Quilters everywhere are assessing what they completed the past year and imagining what they would like to do in the 2025.  

Some quilters are hurriedly finishing Christmas presents.  As the month progresses, more sewists will clean the sewing room, inventory the UFOs and study their fabric scraps.

My only goal for 2025 is to have fun!

Except for having to apply binding on two quilts, I'm pretty much finished with any projects for the month.  What I do want to do this month is try to make things easier for myself.  My brother is seeing a few specialists this week and I have a feeling 2025 will be focused on caring for him even more (I think he will need some surgeries).

I don't know about you but I can be lax about quilt tops.  I finish them off and then hang them in the sewing room.  Later I'm rushing around when I prepare to take things to Lizzie (my machine quilter).  

So this weekend I measured the tops and prepared quilt backings. 

One thing I like to do is put the top, batting, and backing in one of these garment bags to take to my machine quilter.  I try to do this when I'm not rushed or have a lot on my mind so I put things together properly.  Lizzie likes this as well as it keeps all my stuff together.

I'm also re-organizing my backing fabrics.  I seem to have a wide variety of sizes and although I usually do measure them, I'm trying to simplify that system.  I have piles for each of these categories:

Littles:  table runners, little wall hangings, mug rugs, etc.

Ladder quilts:  this comes in so handy because the width of the ladder is only 15 inches and yet vertically long.

Baby quilts:  I'll make some to fit the backings I have!

Regular size or backings that can be pieced together.

I may end up organizing my batting this way as well (we'll see).

Another task this month is to figure out my next leader and ender project.  I finished this top with the last batch of blocks a few weeks ago and need to figure out the next piece.

I just can't decide if I want to go scrappy or maybe do some 30s repro fabric.  I sure have enough of both. 

How are you ending the sewing year?  

I'd love to know!

Have a safe and happy day!