Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!  Hope you are ready for the holiday weekend, it certainly snuck up quickly this year. Up until today, we have been having July-like weather which has made any holiday prep hard to get excited about.  But we finally have more "fall like" weather for Florida, below 75 degrees, and it is a welcome change!

I am actually ahead of schedule for a change.  I have been cleaning my house over the last couple of weeks to get a jump on the to-do list before the holidays.  What a great feeling to be done with all of it.  The grocery shopping is completed, the dining table is set, and the kitchen prep will begin on Wednesday.

Over the last month or so I have been tackling my endless list of DIY projects.  We needed additional seating in our dining room for the holidays and my husband found four of these chairs at a Good Will store for only $5.00 each!  You can see they were originally Harvest Gold circa 1968!  The fabric on the seats was even uglier.  But with several coats of white paint and a pretty blue stripe fabric, I transformed them into something that will work for us as well as blend in with our existing dining décor. 

I haven't done a whole lot of sewing but I did finish one quilt top since my last post, a simple red and white nine-patch snowball quilt. 

I got so inspired to make this quilt after I received the book, Red &White Quilts Infinite Variety.  If you haven't gotten your copy of this fabulous book yet, definitely put this at the TOP of your wish list, it is by far one of the best quilt books EVER!  I take it to bed with me at night and drool over this fabulous quilt collection, (then dream about the quilts!).  This isn't a "how-to" or instructional quilt book, but it is probably the best I have seen as far as photos, with over 653 pictures of the quilts.  Incredible doesn't begin to describe it!  It will inspire you beyond belief, every quilter needs this book! 

My only red room in my house is our laundry room, so eventually I want to make several crib-size red and white quilts for in there.  Of course, I will also use them at Christmas, too! 

In the evenings I have been trying to work on projects to reduce my boxes of 1 1/4" fabric strips.  The fabric hoarding is getting out of control!  This locker-hooked rag rug was made from all the leftovers from the log cabin quilt I made my husband last year.  Since his study is the only room in our house that has darker colors in it, I knew the likelihood of making other quilts with these was slim.

It worked out perfectly since his study has an exterior door that opens onto our back porch, and the colors match his eclectic taste and things that he likes to collect.  And the best part is, it used up over 10 yards of fabric!

I also finished up a small hexagon flower quilt top I've been English paper-piecing for awhile now.  This is made only from small bits of scraps from my scrap bins, I did not cut into yardage at all for this.  It was a blast to make, I absolutely love doing the hand piecing.  I took it with me everywhere, in the car, on the plane, in hotel rooms, in front of the television in the evenings.  Before you know it, you have hundreds of these little flowers made.     

I still need to quilt it, but in the mean time, it hangs proudly with some of my other vintage quilt tops.  And it the colors blend perfectly!

So that brings you up-to-date on some of what I've been up to.  And once Thanksgiving is over, we will be jumping head first into Christmas decorations!  But I WILL NOT be hitting the Black Friday sales, that is one thing I definitely choose to steer clear from.

Here's to wishing each and every one of you a wonderful, safe and Happy Thanksgiving with your loved ones, family and friends!  Cheers!