The holiday season is in full swing

Posted on by quiltedl

Last night, I wrapped up my sewing session by completing the Santa hat quilt block in the Scrappiness is Happiness QAL. I thought it was quite fitting as today is Black Friday – the unofficial start to the Christmas season. Did you join the hordes of shoppers today? Years ago, I would have been decked out in my Christmas sweatshirt at 6 a.m. waiting in line for Joann’s to open. Not today. There wasn’t anything I needed.

Instead, I was in the mood to bake. I have a loaf of scratch-made banana bread in the oven. It’s been a while since I’ve made cookies, muffins or biscuits from scratch. Normally, baking involves a boxed brownie mix or refrigerated cookie dough that hubby likes. Let’s just say it’s definitely much easier than baking from scratch. I’ll enjoy my banana bread, though!

I’m trying to keep my hands busy with sewing, baking, organizing and cleaning. Why? So I don’t stress eat. I already find the whole Christmas season challenging enough to navigate. Add to this hubby’s check-up appointment at MD Anderson is next week. This appointment’s going to be much more involved than his previous ones because two tiny spots were detected on his April scans. I’m thankful he’s had volunteer stints with Team Rubicon to keep him occupied the past few weeks.

Today’s mail delivery brought happy mail – a straight stitch needle plate for the computerized machine I brought home from school. It’s been sitting in the closet since late May waiting for a former coworker to fetch it. I’m thankful she never did. The realization that this machine has an available straight stitch needle plate was a game changer. I now have a larger companion to my 3/4 size Elna STAR! It’s a 10-12 year old Janome DC3050. Sews a beautiful 820 spm (compared to the Elna’s 650 spm) and , is less likely to bounce on a plastic folding table since it weights 18.2 pounds. The perfect choice to take to retreats where I can drive and need a machine that can do a wee bit more than the Elna STAR. Problem solved at a minimal cost! The Baby Lock Jubilant is a fantastic machine, but it currently does not have an available straight stitch plate. The foot holder screw also has a tendency to work loose when sewing, which is highly annoying.