The Calm Countdown

Although it hasn't always been so, this year these last days before Christmas have been relatively stress-free for me.  (Is it possible I'm becoming wiser with age?)

I've wrapped all the presents except for a couple that are still scheduled to arrive.  (Eeep.  My fingers are crossed, yes, they are.)

The decision has been made (and I can hardly believe it myself) not to bake any more Christmas goodies to have on hand.  I did make a batch of Spritz cookies last weekend for dinner company.  Other than that, I'm not baking any more this year.  Why?  Well, because I received some wonderful treats in the mail from a friend in South Carolina (many thanks again for your thoughtfulness, You-Know-Who!) and a local friend brought over a fantastic assortment of her own baking endeavors.  Anything else produced here would be overkill.  (That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.)

We finally got a few more inches of snow this past week.

Now we're hearing the coming week will bring quite a bit of snow to our area.  Just in time for Christmas, but not so nice for folks who have to travel.  Here's wishing safe travels for any of you who will be on the roads this next week.

Gosh, we've been eating so much good food these past couple/few months.  I don't mean this in the quantity sense but rather in the quality sense.  Our freezers and pantry are stuffed with the fruits (no pun intended) of our labors, and I know all this good food will keep us big and strong.  (And able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.)

Papa Pea did not get his deer this first season that he's hunted in many years.  No matter, as he truly enjoyed spending the time out of doors.  That doesn't mean we don't have venison in the freezer.  Our good neighbor got his deer along with a bachelor friend of his who came to hunt on his property.  We went to their house one night and helped them process the deer.  Good Neighbor is an expert at it, and we wanted to take lessons.  They insisted we take home some of the meat for ourselves, plus we were also given a big bucket of scrumptious scraps to give to Chicken Mama for our granddog's eating pleasure in the next month or so.

Time has been allotted today for working on my new winter quilted shower curtain I'd like to have completed and ready to hang right after the first of the year.

I made the backing (just plain muslin because it will never be seen) and sandwiched it this morning.  After I mark the quilting lines (sooo time-consuming, whine-whine-whine), I'll be ready to begin the machine quilting.  No batting in this particular project; if I do put batting in a shower curtain, which gives the quilting more "definition," the curtain ends up being heavier than I want to deal with.

There's no floor space in our house large enough to lay out a quilt for sandwiching without moving furniture so I do mine on the kitchen table.

I make sure all layers are straight and wrinkle-free, then I start pinning across the center of the quilt and work my way (toward me) to one end.  Then I turn the quilt and work on the other half.

Being able to work on the quilt at this level, rather than on the floor, really saves on the knees and back.  Although even doing it this way, I'll admit my back muscles are happy when I'm done.

I'm eager to get back to my project so I'll sign off here.

Hope your last week before the big holiday is going well and you can find a little time to spend at your sewing machine, or to sit and do handwork, or to read and relax.  A tall order, I know, but it's important to take care of yourself!