Slow Stitching and December Highlights

The one bit of sewing I have done since being here in our winter home is bind a little wall hanging.

 

Back in the fall sometime, I happened across a stack of what appeared to be orphan blocks that my aunt had made. It has been a year (or maybe two!) since my cousin gave me all his mother's quilting things, so I had sorta' forgotten what all I had. Out of all the blocks in the stack, this little basket appealed to me so much that I quilted it and now have it bound and hanging in our guest room. 

I know why this appealed to me. The floral background fabric is one that I have in my stash and have actually used in a quilt. The other fabrics in the center of this block work perfectly with the floral. Aunt Margaret hand pieced this block, so it was fun to hand quilt it and bind it, thinking about her and how she might have planned on using this block. I didn't see anything else that looked like it was meant to match this, so I suspect she would have used it as the front of a pillow. I did consider that, but went with the little wall hanging instead.

Now for the December highlights. So very little sewing and quilting! So much time for family and friends! That's a fair trade-off, as far as I'm concerned.

TOP ROW: My very dear friend Sharon (who sews with me most Tuesdays!) and I took a walk in Chillicothe's Yoctangee Park to visit a special banner that we Frienzies had placed in the park's Christmas Display. We dedicated the banner to our sweet Frienzies Kay and Lyn, both of whom passed in 2025.  Next, I volunteered for the Greenfield Historical Society's annual Holiday Homes Tour; this dining room is in a historic home near my own, and featured many lovely antique pieces. And last, the Christmas tree is another of Aunt Margaret's projects that I uncovered and finished.

MIDDLE ROW: We hosted our daughters and their families in early December, as I'd finally recovered enough from knee surgery to have them down all at once. It was great having everyone together. Cousins Cate and Reagan (our granddaughters) love playing with the toys in Grandma's basket. The puppets always seem to be popular. And there's the basket block mentioned above that I big-stitch quilted.

BOTTOM ROW: I hosted the Frankfort Girls for our Christmas get-together. We had a lovely brunch followed by a gift exchange. So much fellowship and laughter and goodwill shared with these dear ladies. After Christmas, we had a fun evening of celebrating with all our children and grandchildren! We met for dinner in Columbus at Cap City Diner (Dublin) and then went to Erin's home in Worthington for our family gift-giving. Reagan and Cate had matching pajamas from Gramma Jayne; don't they look darling? The final frame is from Christmas Day, when most of my side of the family converged at our house for a Christmas feast! We had 35 total. We took a picture of 4 generations - Mom, myself, Erin and Cate.

And so we put 2025 to rest; move on to all the great things coming in 2026! I have made a few lists and set a few goals. Those will be shared soon. I guess I will have to revisit "25 once more, as I want to check my goals for last year to see how well I did. 

Since I did mention slow stitching, I will link with Kathy's Quilts and her weekly installment of Slow Sunday Stitching.  

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne

Happy New Year!

I am going to have to do better in 2026! I've blogged so little this past year that I have inadvertently erased an entire post (the one that said Merry Christmas!) Frequency of posting means I remember what to do as well as what NOT to do!

Sorry about that. 

We have survived the 900+ mile trip to our Florida home and are ready to begin a brand new year! We left early New Year's Day and arrived around noon yesterday. Easy traveling when holiday observances keep folks at home rather than on the interstate highways. We made incredibly good time.

We've unpacked the car, cleared out the dust bunnies and are settling in our new 2026 selves. We have made long lists of activities we want to do and places we want to visit. Never fear! Quilt shops and all manner of related endeavors definitely have a high priority for me. I brought several projects, just to be sure I had some variety and also to be sure I wouldn't run out of things to do.

Highest on my list are two projects that have been goals for far too long. Lake Effect and Grandmother's Flower Garden. I will provide details on the individual projects later as I tackle them, but 2026 may be the year that these two very long-standing works in progress (WIPs) are at last finished! Hooray! I honestly think it could happen.

Here's an older picture of Lake Effect. I am filling in blank places in the hexagon parts as well as piecing together the corners on the applique parts. It really does just mean if I stay with this quilt, I can finally have the flimsy finished. It could be soon!

And an older picture of Grandmother's Flower Garden, too. I worked lots and lots on this while here in Florida last winter. I've evened out the sides and the corners; my next step on this quilt is to add a border. 

Typically, I do a round-up of the previous month's highlights, so that will be the topic of my next post. I also will share with you the projects I will work on while here in Florida, as well as the ever-present goals list for the new year. Much to to! I also need to review last year's goals to see how well I did at completing them.

Hope you're having a great day, and

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne