I spent the whole weekend working on the units for Bonnie's latest mystery, and I'm still not caught up. Mereth sewed some of the step 2 units for me, and cut strips for other steps, so I haven't done all the work myself and I can't really complain. I don't have to keep up with everyone else, I could just sew at my own pace, but somehow it doesn't work that way. I couldn't settle to anything else while I knew that huge pile of pieces was waiting for me.
I'm glad I was dedicated enough to keep at it, and now that Bonnie has started putting the blocks together I'm not so anxious; I love the look of the blocks, and I'm sure I'll finish this according to plan. But how does Bonnie do all this work, in so little time? She amazes me.
I'm so glad to have used up so much fabric with this mystery, about 5m of cream neutrals alone, and my stash drawers are getting empty. What a wonderful feeling to look into a drawer and think 'Hmmm, need to go shopping for more neutrals soon...'

I think this will be a lovely Christmas quilt, and I've enjoyed making it so far, even though it's been a marathon effort to keep up. I must be slowing down in my old age.

Lookit all these dog-ears trimmed from the triangles. I keep these and give them to Mereth; it stops my sewing room getting messy from all these tiny scraps, and she has a place for them and welcomes every little snippet. She'll have to show you a picture of what she does with them.

It's been nothing but socialising these last two days, and trying to get some work done in between. We've quilted a lot of Christmas runners and banners lately, and they're all ready to be sent home to their owners. I've managed to put up one tree in the workroom and decorate it with little household items that we find cute. Both of us have a collection of cookie cutters and metal kitchen gadgets, and some are really decorative, so they have made their way on to the tree this year. The yo-yo garland is an on-going project; I save a square of the backing fabric from every quilt we quilt on Millhouse, and make it into a yo-yo. We have added more than 80 this year, and the length is quite impressive. It's all colours and we can't plan it, but I love the variety of fabrics and patterns, and it's interesting to remember the quilts they came from.

On our way out to visit Matt we drive past a field of cows and calves, with the odd bull thrown into the mix. They are all the most gorgeous mix of cream, mocha and chocolate colours, but I think this girl is the prettiest. That spot on her forehead really sets off her dark eyes and dished face. What a darling.