Returning Triumphant

Have you ever had one of those months where you sit down at one point to take a breath and realized 3 weeks has gone by since you did it last? That has been late September - late December for us.

In early September, I accepted a job with a community health non-profit and went through HR processes and training before finally getting to actually start in the office at the end of the month. I LOVE my new job, it utilizes all of my talents and the people I work with are simply amazing at what they do. Additionally, it's a 7 mile commute round trip and for 4 of those miles, I drive the shoreline of Lake Michigan! I'm a pretty luck girl!

On October 9th, my first bridesmaid flew in from Florida and my Maid of Honor arrived the following day. On October 10th, the three of us finished my dress (whew!)  Future Hubby is now just Hubby, because we were married on October 12th at a small-ish ceremony with close friends and family, with a beautiful reception that followed. Pictures of my dress, the girls (and the boys), the country club and more when I get them back from our photographer (very soon).

Photo Credit: Loon Lake Photography

November / December has been a blur of holidays, unpacking wedding gifts, writing thank you notes and trying to make times for ourselves and our hobbies. There has been lots of laughing, reading, movie watching, quilting, knitting and cooking. Stay tuned for updates on all of those fronts.

This is where I'll leave you today. Later I will pick up with my love for my Farmer's Wife Quilt and pictures of all of the Christmas presents I made.... that I can share since they have all been gifted now!

Creeping Dark

In the last two weeks I have noticed the dark beginning to creep in. A few nights ago, after supper, I commented that it looked like we had rain coming in over the lake. The rain never came. The next morning while making a second cup of coffee I commented that it looked like another gray day was ahead.... then I realized I was wrong. Very wrong. The weather that day was forecast to be beautiful. It's dark outside because the seasons are changing. It's been such a long summer, I've forgotten what it is like to not have that beautiful morning light before 7am. Our local weatherman said last night that we will be loosing three minutes of light every evening between now and the winter solstice.

Those who know me, know I will not be mourning the end of summer. As a super fair skinned redhead, summer has never been a favorite. I love the early creeping dark in the evenings, the cool mornings, knowing a 'new year' will be starting again (6 years of college cements September as the start  of the year in your mind for a long time) and a great excuse to put pumpkin in anything.

Autumn will be a busy season here at The Red Homestead. As you may have guessed from this post, there is a wedding coming. By "coming" I mean in October.... of THIS year! From the wedding until Christmas marks Future Hubby's busy season at work. Additionally, I have a super exciting announcement next week that will show you how I will be spending most of my time starting next week (no... it's not a baby or anything that requires feeding). By exciting, I mean exciting for me, I imagine you could probably care less... but I need something to build anticipation here.

Baby gift for Future Hubby's boss, who is due the day of our wedding!

In the meantime, I'm working on my wedding dress. Full sewing of fancy fabric has commenced. After a sewing marathon yesterday, fortified by a big pot of hot black tea and homemade shortbread, all that is left to do is hems on 4 layers of skirt, some hand finishing on the lining and sewing on about 15 pearl shank buttons.... then the whole project is done!

 My beloved 1962 Kennmore, given to me by future FIL after his mother passed away.

I've also been knitting the most mindless things to keep my hands busy, to keep the stress from creeping in. Like a dozen white cotton wash cloths for face washing. From the Yarn Harlot's recipe, using just under a full cone of crochet cotton. I'm so excited to start using these! Such a simple luxury.

Started on August 10th and finished on September 15th, with a few distraction projects along the way.

Quilting has also been happening. My friend, Helen, showed me how to do a disappearing 9-patch at our craft guild night a few weeks ago and I've been in love. I've made multiple lap size blankets in this pattern this month. You can do a 9 block, lap sized blanket with 5 fat quarters and 1/2 yard of solid (the white in mine), plus sashing, binding and backing, which makes this a pretty cost friendly project. It works up amazingly quickly as well. These two things combined make it a great gift project. I'm planning a how-to post when I put my next one together.

The patterned fabric is from a fat quarter bundle I picked up at JoAnn's on sale. Yes, those are handknit socks, in case you were wondering. 

All that is missing from this week is a treat made from pumpkin and a big pot of tea. Thinking we might have to rectify that today.

The Mystique of a Quilt

This time of year, the only thing that can give knitting a run for its money, in my book, is quilting. I can’t help but thinking, as I sit at my sewing machine, that I should quilt and knit all summer so I actually have the cozy products to warm us through the winter months, but c’est la vie, the urge never hits until my toes get cold during the day and I wake up in the morning with a red nose.

A few years back I stumbled across this photo: 

  [ Photo Credit: Cluck Cluck Sew ]

An amazing stack of quilts. Often I think about that photo, and attempt to dream  it into reality in my own home. I envision cuddling up on our second hand sofa with a huge quilt, a cup of tea and a book during the Fall rains, or of hastily piling them on our bed before a February snow storm or of our future children building forts out of them, sprawled across dining room furniture. Then I realized that if I spent as much time quilting as I did entertaining these fantasies I would be half way there already!

So, the quilt a year project came into being. One quilt, in twelve months… sounds simple enough, right? Wrong. I started this little goal in 2008 and the 2012 quilt  is only the second completed quilt.

  [My Finished Quilt Top]

When I say 2012 is completed, I mean the top piecing is done… the quilting is still under deliberation. I’m struggling, weighing the cost of having it beautifully long arm quilted vs. the total pain in the butt and possible disappointment of finished product of attempting to quilt a queen size quilt on my 1962 Kenmore.  What would you do?