It's December. And I am doing the best I can to embrace the season and the cold long winter months ahead.
That's about as positive as I can get with the whole thing - I'm trying!
And then there are those days where even the best intentions create a complete cluster - I kid you not!
For instance, when housekeeper Susan arrived yesterday to finish prepping the house so we'd be ready for the December Quiltvillians' arrival yesterday afternoon she let me know by text message that "The house is 80 degrees!! I can't get the Hen Den fireplace to turn off!"
This is not Susan. But it was this hot in the house!
Martha had come by to help make beds. We had some other guests stopping by at 11am to tour the house - some friends whose daughter is rehabbing an old farm house in the area and who wanted to see what we had done with the mini splits for heat/air on the ground floor.
Martha and I headed over - she doing her best to help me remain calm while we opened windows and turned on ceiling fans.
It turns out that when the hubster relit the pilot light and changed the batteries in the remote that there is an obscure little slider button on the back of the remote box that is attached to the stove that has 3 settings. Off. Remote. On.
The slider thing was partway between Remote and On...and chose ON to stay on instead of running by thermostat which the REMOTE setting would allow it to do.
Baby, it was cooking inside!
We slid the slider button firmly into REMOTE position and the flame instantly turned off. Thank goodness.
While we were laughing during our tour with all of the ceiling fans on turbo, I was so grateful that the house would cool down enough by - oh, maybe BEDTIME so that we wouldn't have to circumvent the situation by turning the A/C back on this season.
The long visit with our guests lead to a trip to town for some groceries and needed things and by the time I was back it was only an hour before the Quiltvillians would start arriving.
ONE printer-friendly PDF was written and uploaded - I've made it all the way up to the String Spider Web tutorial under the Free Patterns tab. But that's not nearly as interesting as what I really wanted to be doing:
Pressing fun hunks and chunks for cutting more triangles for this:
So I can add them to this:
And sew them into these:
Bad lighting.
But the stack is growing!
(Only yesterday there was also NO sewing.)
You know, sometimes you've just got to give it up and play with the dogs. Some days there is just no way to carve out more creativity time - and the living beings within my four walls need to be at the front of my attention span.
Dinner. Some TV. Some flipping through my phone to check on things. The sewing can wait for another day.
And this is today's sunrise!
The December Quiltvillians were nearly all settled in by the time I had to leave at 5pm last night due to these blasted driving restrictions.
With this being the last retreat of the year, I was thinking forward until we open again in February - if days start getting longer at the end of December, when will dusk fall in February?
Is this the last group I'll have to skedaddle out of there at 5pm for? I hope so.
More #chilhowiequilt shares!
These look so great, everyone!
And of course you know what happens tomorrow?
Be watching for Part Two of Chilhowie to be live here on the blog. Soon after it posts, it will be linked under the Chilhowie Mystery Tab at the top of the blog where you'll find the introduction and all previous parts if you are new.
I'll be putting on the finishing touches today so everything is ready to hit publish tomorrow morning.
Anything fun happening for your day today?
Quiltville Quote of the Day -
Others might not understand the decisions you make for your life, and that's okay.
You don't have to explain yourself to the masses.
Keep your peace through the upcoming holidays at all costs.
have a lovely Thursday, everyone!
19 comments:
Today - haircut and tinsel ....... red and green....
Yesterday I finally admitted to myself that I wasn't going to get a quilt gift finished in time, and the pressure was too much. So now I'm relaxed and can do some donation sewing for the holidays. Today- Christmas pillowcases!
another reason to be glad each passing day brings us closer to Spring and we will have worked our way thru Winter... even tho we don't have icy snow and cold, by 5 o'clock p.m, it's too dark and I cannot drive... really shortens my productive time "out there" as I have to, must be on my way home by 4... sigh, on the upside, your sunrises are gorgeous and each one brings us closer to the preferred season... AND am waiting with all the patience i can muster for my CraftOptics to arrive... Your adventures with the Inn are providing a lot of learning experiences! Giggles and grins from Cats in Carlsbad CA
Heard on the news that the last day of Nov and 12th of Feb are same length
Oh My, So this year the Mystery time is really to keep your mind off the Cold too. Things that operate by Remote are a pain sometimes. I dread the SNOW and ICE and Inversion that we have here in the Walla Walla Valley. I have to think that the upcoming Newall hanging is up! we count the days by the good things we can find.ar is our Birthday time as well...It gets me through, along with some stitching. Changed the calendars and our Bed. Advent wall haging is up. Turning on some happy Christmas music and remembering why we Celebrate this Holiday.
Thanks for the quote today. I needed that reminder. Sometimes, other things need your attention too. So glad it was just the button on the remote. That was an easy fix and everybody got a laugh.
Wow did the winds blow last night!
Wicked.much
Much better today. Hope you have a great sewing ...
Writing Christmas cards and later a craft show and pizza with friends. Lite day while waiting for the next Chilhowie pdf! Thank you Bonnie for sharing your talents with us.
RE: your updates to the Free Patterns Tab. I've been doing some digital housekeeping/purging lately, too. It's tedious, but sometimes necessary.
I just want to say that I appreciate you taking the time and effort to do the tedious work of updating that older content. I've used several of your free patterns and refer back to that tab often. Thanks for all the time and work you put into that great resource!
This time of year I'm always trying to "beat sundown"! I can't drive after dark either. Even dusk is hard for me. Cataract surgery on the left eye on the 13th and a couple weeks later the right one. Not sure if it will help my night sight but looking forward to being able to see more than a blur during the day!!! Really affecting my piecing! It took me all day yesterday and at least a yard of fabric to paper piece one half of a six inch butterfly block for the gift to our Guild president!
I love your sunrise shots! Breathtaking! I can only imagine them in person. I am neck deep in finishing gift making to get things in the mail. Nothing like last minute pressure to spur your on, right?! LOL
Nice to see someone from Walla Walla on the blog. One of my younger brothers has lived there for quite awhile now ( I am the oldest of nine 6 boys an 3 girls and still live in SD where we all grew up). We visited once for just a day in spring.
Well I would not have minded the hot rooms. But then I wear a sweatshirt in July...to the beach...Looking forward to tomorrows steps. Thank you Bonnie for giving me a great mystery to relax with during the holidays. It takes a lot of work and I appreciate it.
Another beautiful sunrise!! The Mister is hanging Christmas Lights on the house... a first for me since I have been here! :) The digital age can be tricky. Glad it was a simple fix and didn't require anything more than the push of a button. Thank you for updating the free patterns, I do use your patterns and also frequently refer people to you when they are asking about scrap patterns! Looking forward to Clue #2!! Happy quilting and playing with the furbabies!
I so enjoy your sunrises as well. We live in a river canyon and miss both the sunrise and sunsets with sunsets being my favorite. Thanks for being you - Happy Holidays!
I had cataract surgery in October last year for one eye followed by the second eye in December. Boy, did it make a massive difference! I can drive at night now with no issues and can actually see colors again! White is now white and not cream again! Best wishes!
How did you break it to the person that the quilt wouldn't be finished? I have a quilt for my sister that is for my nephew and wife that I know will not be finished quilting. I don't know how to break it to her. I Have too much snow and other things to deal with. I don't want the pressure, so I screw things up. Thanks!
My Mom once gave me an empty box as she was still sewing the large size Raggedy Ann that I wanted. When I opened the box she explained that to me and then showed me the doll in progress. I think you should tell her that you want to do a good job and it just won't be done in time. Maybe she can get creative with a "gift is coming" certificate?
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