Rug hooking Project

I love my rug hooking guild, but have been unable to attend much of the summer. Or maybe, I haven't made time for it because I am working on a Christmas rug, and I need snow to get in the mood.
My pattern is from a Primitive Quilts magazine.

The design is a minnick and Simpson rug. I wasn't sure I wanted to hook a seasonal rug, but as I have gotten older, I ask my self more Why nots, and I wanted to leave a nativity or new ornament out all year, I have no reason not to do it. And it makes me smile, and I like to smile. So.. I expect that my Christmas rug will remain out all the time.

I decided to make my green boughs scrappy with several different greens. I found a velour skirt at Goodwill that I cut into strips. I think it is a fun texture for the berries.

This is my husband's rug hooking project .

Time to decide

I bought this quilt kit many years ago for My oldest son who graduated from Purdue. I thought it was very appropriate. Now, He is getting a masters degree from Indiana University and married to an IU grad so I am thinking this is no longer appropriate for him. Most of the squares are from 1 1/2 inch  strips, and it would be a little time consuming to make. I don't have any wall space left were I to complete the quilt, so what to do... I love the Purdue colors... but I have so many unfinished, still lovely quilts, to do. sigh....

Time for more soap

I needed another batch of soap for home use. This is banana nut bread. It smells good enough to eat. I wanted a little more swirl to it so that it looks like banana bread as well.

My favorite ingredient in this batch, besides the fragrance, is shea butter. I love how it moisturizes my dry skin.

Next string project

I like to have a string quilting project going all the time. I keep it on my treadle sewing machine in the living room where we might watch tv. I can also catch bits of transition minutes to treadle  few strings together. This quilt really appealed to me when I saw it on pinterest.

I have most of the main blocks sewn, trimmed, and ready to start putting this together.

Not enough bobbins

Close to the end of quilting a customer quilt, I realized that I had not prewound enough bobbins. Sigh.. IT is always a puzzle trying to estimate how many I will need. I know it depends on the size of the quilt, the thread, and the design I am using. But not getting it right means I will have to UNthread the machine to wind the additional bobbins , and then REthread the machine. sigh... My husband bought a box of 100 bobbins for me for Christmas, offering the advice to just fill them up and make extras. So far, that hasn't worked. I have one or two of many different threads left, and I still have to guess. And the bobbins are disappearing.  sigh..... But that box of bobbins was better than candy as a present.

A few Feathers

It is time for a bit of customer quilting. I am using curlz n feathers pantograph on this soon to be a wedding gift quilt. I have so many of my own quilts I want to get done... a practice in patience.

Border Time

I am slowly finishing my quilting projects, in an effort to be a little more intentional with my time. This quilt, Carolina Christmas, is a Bonnie Hunter design from her book, Scraps and Shirttails II. I started this 5 years ago and had the blocks finished quickly, but I don't like doing borders, so this has been relegated to the back of the project closet. Borders are cut, I am motivated, and this will move forward. I am linking to Jo's country junction ufo finishing project.