Christmas is Coming

 This time of year I am in the middle of getting quilts to customers before their Christmas deadline, getting pattern submittals to fabric companies for winter releases, thinking about getting continuing ed hours for my engineering license that I hang on to for hard times (but always waiting until the 11th hour before I actually DO anything about it)...and then there's Christmas.  The gift buying, the card writing, the decorating that just doesn't quite get done.  It's a mad world of running at top speed and crashing. Plus, add in the extra bonus that 2020 is and it's just a little bit stressful.  I used to REALLY love Christmas and then I became an adult...or what passes for an adult most days anyway and now, I still love Christmas but don't take time to enjoy it.

So, the other day, I took a pause.  I decided I was going to the Salem Candle Tea.  I've gone almost every year since I was maybe 6 years old and I really didn't want to miss this year because it was going to be so different.  Because of COVID, they were doing the candle tea as a drive through.  So, I left the shop, picked up David at the house and we went to the candle tea.

They had different stations set up around the square and as you drive through, you listened to a narrative on an app on your phone.  Instead of singing Christmas carols accompanied by the old organ, here's where we learn about the importance of music to Moravian life and worship.

Instead of heading downstairs to the dining area and watching them make the beeswax candles, there's a demo.

They have a rendition of the kitchen where we would sit down, have coffee and sugar cake and learn about life and chores in the Brothers House.  

Instead of heading to the cellar to see the putz, there was a small display of sample houses.

And just like in the regular tour, the last stop was the telling of the Christmas Story and even though it wasn't the beautiful putz we love to see, it still had that calming, hope-filled effect on me.

But really... the part that made me smile the most was that Shelby got to go to her first candle tea.

 

So, we decided to keep the Christmas pause going and made a run out to Tanglewood for the Festival of Lights.  We haven't driven through them in years.  We hit the back of the line right at the entrance to the park so I thought, we're not far from the gate so that's not so bad...at which David laughed because he knew they had added a road that took the waiting line all the way around the steeplechase field.

It was 2 hours before we got to the gate.  But, we had lots to amuse us.  Shelby was taking in all the sights and sounds.  There was music and lights and people jumping out of their cars to go to the port-a-potties.  From the other cars around us, we could hear kids laughing and people singing...one guy in particular was loudly singing the 12 Days of Christmas and not well.  It was wonderful.

We finally made it to the gate and the "paid" part of the light show lasted about 45 minutes.  There were some new things but mostly the same lights as the last time years ago.  That didn't matter one bit because it was all the other parts...the being together part that mattered.

(But I really did miss that coffee and sugar cake.)

A Different Kind of Thanksgiving

 For many years, we have been fortunate to go to my Aunt Dianne's house for Thanksgiving.  She does all the heavy lifting, cooking a feast and having enough chairs for 25-30 people to partake.  We show up; we drink; we talk and laugh; we eat; we tell stories; we eat some more; we let the kids clean up the mess; we go home.  It is awesome.  For us, it's a short day trip and we get to see nearly everyone in the family plus friends.

Thanks to COVID, this year had to be different and my Dad was determined we were spending Thanksgiving at the beach house.

So, I talked my mom into letting me pick up a smoked turkey from Lowe's and all the fixing from Salem Kitchen so we didn't have to spend all weekend cooking.  It worked out well...so well, that I think she's game to do the same for Christmas.  Thank goodness...

It ended up being a great couple of days, just Mom, Dad, me, David, Shelby and the nephews.  My brother opted for other plans.  It is, after all, a long trip drive for a day trip.

We did our best to social distance and the weather cooperated nicely so there was a lot of deck time.

Deck time usually means story telling and laughter.

Last Thanksgiving while we were gathered around at Dianne's, we would have never imagined what this Thanksgiving would be like.  It's different, but still...a lot to be thankful for.

Halloween 2020

 I love Halloween.  I love all the spooky stuff.  Always have.  I loved going trick or treating as a kid and coming home to watch Frankenstein or whatever scary old movie was on TV while my dad raided my candy.  I loved opening the door and reacting to little kids in their costumes and handing out the best candy.  Where we live now, our house doesn't see many trick or treaters.  It's a pretty steep hill and the end of the trail so most stick to the flatter, more populated area.  A couple of blocks over, there are hundreds and hundreds of trick or treaters and I'm always a little jealous.  So, instead of prepping for lots of scary little guests, I usually spend Halloween day and evening sewing, preferably on something spooky.

Enter 2020 and things are a little weird.  The remnants of Hurricane Zeta decided to crash the party and Thursday morning it was lights out.  This tree down the street took a tumble and took a power pole and transformer down.  I heard there were lots of live wires and a little fire but I was inside trying to decide what to do now that I couldn't quilt.

Usually, our power doesn't stay off for long.  It's a little benefit of living in the path of two large hospitals.  They are usually pretty quick to get us back on line so that the traffic signals are online for emergency vehicles.  In 21 years of living here, I don't remember but one other time that we had no power overnight.  Well, we were out of luck this time because that transformer only fed our little block so we were low on the priority list.  When we did finally get an estimated time for power restoration, it was Sunday at 11:45pm.  Sigh...so much for my work schedule.  In the back of my mind, I kept hearing "I plan, God laughs."

So, I decided to take a break.  I have this great little lithium battery that I bought to power my booth at shows so I put it to work.  It charged my phone, my tablet and ran a lamp.  Shelby and I hunkered down on the couch with an audio book and started binding quilts.  I got into a habit when I was doing shows of basting the binding down so I could quickly hang the quilt in the booth...thinking I would bind them for real later.  I have 21 quilts to bind.

I got three quilts bound before the power came back on Saturday late afternoon and was a little sad my mini vacation was over.

But, it was Halloween and Halloween means I work on something spooky.

A few weeks ago, my Sew Original friends got me hooked on machine embroidery.  When I saw the Kimberbell Boo-levard bench pillow, I had to do it.  By the end of the class, I was trying to figure out how to rearrange my sewing area so I could leave my embroidery unit hooked up all the time.

I think it's appropriate that I finished my Boo-levard on Halloween night. I even tug out some old ghost buttons that I think moved here from Raleigh with me almost 24 years ago.

Now all I need is a bench.

A Much Needed Retreat

This weekend has been much anticipated for months and months and in spite of all that is going on in the world right now, we made it happen.  I got to spend the weekend with nine of the most wonderful people in the most wonderful place. 

Usually at retreats, I am a woman on a mission, trying to piece as much as possible.  I've been known to get 5 or 6 tops completed in a weekend.  Not this time.  It was a slower pace but I did manage to get two finished.

This is one of my new patterns, All Souls.  If you like it, you can find it on my etsy site here.  

This is a little squirrel quilt that's on the cover of the latest Simply Moderne magazine and I had to make it.

I enjoyed the first morning frost of the year with this view and a cup of coffee.

On Saturday, a few of us took a break and hiked along a dirt road.  The beautiful New River, a few wildflowers blooming, lovely old abandoned buildings, wooly worms and deer too fast to photograph (the deer were...the woolies not so much).

 

This was such a wonderful, laid back group.  We sewed, talked, laughed until the wee hours...appropriately socially distanced of course.  

Here we all are showing off our quilts on the veranda of Quiltville Inn.  

We ate wonderful food, drank coffee on the porch and had smores around the fire pit.  Shelley introduced me to grappa and I'm a fan.  Cyndi, the Halloween Fairy left us gifts every night for us to find on our sewing machines the next morning.

We all agreed that the best part was being able to be together...carefully with buckets of sanitizer but together.  We have all missed that (the together, not the sanitizer...).  My dear friend, Bonnie has created a safe haven and we are all already counting the days until we return to Quiltville Inn.

Featured Quilter

 Since we haven't been able to hold guild meetings during the pandemic, one of the things our quilt guild started doing was having a "featured quilter/artist" every week or so.  It's been fun to read about our guild members and get a little glimpse into their life, work and sewing space.  It was my turn last week so I thought I'd share it here too...

Hi there!  I’m Lisa Alley, your featured quilter this week.  I’ve been quilting since 1991 and have been a member of Forsyth Piecers & Quilters Guild since about 1999.  I moved to Winston-Salem from Raleigh in 1997 but I grew up south of Greensboro and have lived in North Carolina all my life (though I’m sure you can’t tell that from my accent AT ALL).   After 20-some years working as a civil engineer, I was given a gift of losing my job.  Well, that day it didn’t seem to be much of a gift but looking back it was most definitely a gift because here I am living the dream as a quilt pattern designer, longarm quilter, quilt judge, guild program lecturer and teacher and quilt show vendor.  One thing about the COVID-19 lockdown is my job title has shortened quite a bit and though I do miss the quilt shows and people, I am digging being home.  I am blessed to have a wonderful studio space that we built when it became obvious that professional quilter person was going to remain my title and I needed a serious workspace.

How about a little studio tour…

 So… keep in mind, I did not straighten up my studio for these photos.  It is what it is...a full-time-wide-slam-open-in the middle of deadlines-sweat shop.

 

This is from the front door.  The studio is behind our little Ardmore house and is actually bigger square footage-wise than the house.  When I told the builder (my dad) what I wanted (which was basically four walls, a floor, a roof, a couple of windows and a couple of doors), he responded with a plan that included a second floor.  He said I would need the storage space and he was right.

To the left out of the picture is my desk and office space...which looks like a paper mill exploded.  I would say it’s because the Hoffman Fabric fall catalog is getting ready to come out and I’m frantically writing patterns (and that’s true) but it basically looks like explosion aftermath all the time.

Here’s what’s directly in front of you...sweat shop central.  I’m always piecing two quilts at a time.  I use one as the “leader/ender” for the other until one is finished then I cut out another quilt and it becomes the leader/ender.  If you’re not familiar with the concept of leader/ender, check out Bonnie Hunter’s website. 

Here’s a little swing to the right so you can see the fabric stash.  Frightening, huh?

I’ve been longarm quilting for folks throughout the lockdown which has been a godsend since all income from judging, programs, quilt show vending and teaching gigs vanished. 

Big swing to the right and here’s my little sitting area. Out that door is a little deck and lots of birds, squirrels, chipmunks and the occasional rabbit.  I get a text from my husband, David, almost every day as he leaves work requesting drinks on the veranda….and here we are doing what we do.

Ugh...COVID hair...

So, when the shelter-in-place order began mid-March, I was already sequestered at home and I don’t know about everyone else but for me, I started to feel like I was living my own Groundhog Day.  I felt like I was getting nothing accomplished so I started keeping a list so I could see I was being productive.  I kept the list until I left the house in mid-June to go to Bonnie Hunter’s to COVID safety test Quiltville Inn.  Here are some stats because I just can’t help myself...I do love data:

· Cut out and pieced 22 quilts

· Quilted 34 quilts

· Bound 9 quilts

· Made 250+ masks

· Wrote 6 patterns

· Stuffed a few 1,000 patterns

· Sent projects to 4 fabric companies

 Here are a few of the quilts I finished...

Aliquot went to Florida via Hoffman Fabrics.

 

Animal Crackers was in the Children’s Special Issue of Quiltmania and is somewhere in France right now.

 

Fa La La is hanging at Sew Original.

 

Gathering is staying home with me.

 

Solstice with an owl is staying home with me.

 

Tidings

 

Driftwood

 

Solstice with the swans—actually made two of these.

 

Beloved

 

Facet

 

Tidings, Driftwood, Solstice Swans (both of them), Beloved and Facet all went to California to Hoffman to tour around with reps or trunk shows.  They will all (except one swan) eventually come back to me.  Even before COVID, my quilts travel more than I do!''

So that's it...lock down life in a nut shell!

Miss Thing

Today is Shelby's 15th birthday...or at least it's close enough.  We really have no idea when her actual birthday is.  We just know she was 8 weeks old when she came home with us and we calculated backwards to September 1st.  

I can't remember if I've share the story or not so here it is again just in case.  We had been talking about getting a dog for some time but could not get on the same page as to which breed.  He wanted a Rottweiller and while I love those big goofballs, we live in a small house with a small yard on a busy road.  Small spaces for a big dog just aren't fair and he/she would get out and that would be tragic

It was a Friday because David and I were leaving work to drive to the beach for festival weekend with the family.  We worked downtown in the same building.  My office was downstairs in a back corner and his was upstairs.  One of the women that worked for a different company upstairs came walking by David with a bundle in her arms and asked "You want to adopt a puppy?"  David looks at that little floof and says "do not take that dog down to see my wife."  And, of course, she bee-lined it to my office.  

I look up and she hands me this sweet little 1 pound furball who promptly snuggles up in my elbow to nap.  I never gave her back.  

(The story was that the woman got Shelby (then named Gracie) for her mom who then said she couldn't take care of her.  The woman couldn't keep her because she had big dogs so she brought her into work hoping someone could take her.)

So I message David and ask him what we're going to name our dog.  He said a word but he got over it pretty quickly.  I mean...look at this face.  How could you not take that home?

So, we left work early, went to the pet store and got all the dog stuff...bed, food, toys, leash, crate.

We discussed names until we got to Etc Crafts in Cary (now Cary Quilting Company) and while wandering around gathering quilting supplies, ladies were trying to help us come up with a name.  Someone said Shelby and it just fit.  No idea why she came up with it but it stuck.

She rode on my shoulder the whole way to the beach and hardly made a sound...until my nephews blew into the house.  One high BARK and that has set the tone for her relationship with them ever since.  

The crate...we tried.  We made it nice and nesty and put her in there when we were going to bed.  She whined and cried...we moved our heads to the foot of the bed so she could see us.  She whined and cried...and we put our hands near the door so she knew we were near.  She whined and cried...and I took her out and put her in the bed with us and that's where she has slept ever since.

She pretty much goes where I go.  She loves people (most people) and is not much on other dogs especially big dogs.

She is an expert beggar

and a professional napper

In the last couple of years, she's had to deal with surgery and crate rest and wearing the cone and new diets but she's stoic and brave and keeps on wagging and sassing.

It's amazing how one split second can change your whole life.  Had David not been walking down that hall...had I not been sitting at my desk...there's no telling what our lives would be.  They would not be as joy-filled.  I do know that.