I Have Been Seeing Red...Red Everywhere!

Yes, and loving it.

Here is where I have been playing with my red strips.  I have arranged them more or less in piles of the same length so I can find the right size strip.  As I piece these, it occurred to me that the reason that this string piecing is so much fun is the choosing of the next fabric strip.  I'm always thinking, now, how would this plaid  look next to a gorgeous contemporary print or maybe a civil war repro.  Honestly, this is just play in its purest form for those of us who love our fabrics.  And prints and plaids and stripes, old or new, really fabrics of every sort just play together wonderfully well.

I'm fairly  satisfied with my progress on these red beauties.....at this rate I will finish them in 11 days.  Obviously I'm going to have some catching up to do after this mystery is finished.

Has anybody else noticed that the floor by your cutting mat and/or sewing machine is becoming littered with tiny snippets, too small to even go in the crumb bucket?  My floor is just a mess.  For the last couple of days, I have been barefoot except for some thick socks (to keep my feet warm).
The snippets stick to the bottom of my socks and wherever else I go I leave a trail of them!  When I saw it for the first time, I thought my German Shepherd dog, Ondie, had gotten into my waste basket.  When in doubt, always blame the dog, right?

 

I have all my Orca Bay mystery pieces in a project box.  Part 1, hourglass units, finished.  Part 2, little blue strippie squares, finished.  Part 3, half square triangles, about 2/3 finished.  Part 4, red strippie triangles, well, you saw where I am with those.

Things that will take me away from my beloved Bernina 1230 (her name is Erie Mae) in the coming weeks:

• Christmas preparations in general.
• I am doing Christmas dinner for a large group (I probably won't know exactly how large until they walk in the door).  Makes it hard but I am flexible.  And Christmas dinner will be a buffet instead of the sit-down dinner that I did for Thanksgiving :D
• Shopping for gifts.
• On a more somber note, we are having my DH's mother's funeral on the 20th (the week of Christmas).  We were fortunate to get it booked for a day that we could all come since the church is so busy with Advent activities this time of year.
• We invited DH's Aunt Mary to come out from Canyon, Texas to attend her sister's funeral and visit with us all.  Aunt Mary is a wonderful lady and we are looking forward so much to seeing her.  She will be staying in our guest room for about ten days except for maybe a few visits to other nearby relatives.  This coming Saturday will be for picking her up at the airport.
• I spent yesterday writing Mom's obituary (yes, I call her Mom, but sometimes Barbara).  We also chose prayers, hymns and Bible selections for her funeral.  Today we have to contact the musicians (I sure hope they are available).
• I'm taking my mother to still more doctor appointments.....one lengthy one this afternoon.

I doubt that I'll be complaining about having nothing to do for a while.  Actually, I don't ever complain about nothing to do.  When was the last time that happened?  Not that I can remember! 



Thanks, Bonnie, for the latest mystery quilt!  Piecing on it is keeping me from going to pieces!