Au Revoir, Death Star!

Boo hoo, Christmas is over!  This one was hard to wait for, because I had a couple of gifts for Todd that I was really excited about.

First, I acquired the logo on glass from his grandparents' antique store (Portland, 1970s/80s).  Todd had thought it was long gone - lost or broken.

I was a nervous wreck, waiting on this to ship from the west coast.  Thankfully it arrived in one piece, and Todd was absolutely shocked and thrilled!

The second gift was a homemade one.  I decided to make some 18" x 18" paper-pieced pillow covers for Todd...Star Wars-themed, of course.  I worked on it one weekend (one ENTIRE weekend) when he was out of town.  It was a huge job...some of the pieces were smaller than a half inch!...but I'm really pleased with the result. 

In other crafty news, I knitted a pair of gloves.  I'm on a knitting break right now, but these were made with bulky yarn and didn't take any time at all to do.  I wanted a pair of tight-fitting mittens and these are perfect!

Now I'm officially on break again!

I've been working on my Farm Girl Sampler quilt too.  I made a flying geese border with red gingham fabric.  I'm not a fan of making flying geese...especially 100+ geese.

But I think it adds a nice pop around the quilt edge.

Now all I have to do is order the batting and buy the backing.  I'm excited to get this one done!

I also had the idea, earlier this year, to quilt seasonal wall hangings.  Just small ones to switch out with the seasons, for over the fireplace.  Finding season-appropriate fabric without annoying prints is really hard, but trying to pull together prints/colors that look great on the screen but terrible when they arrive is even worse.  So, although the "autumn" hanging that I've been working on is rather contemporary...

...I like the colors.

These blocks measure 6.5" x 6.5" and obviously haven't been sewn together yet.  I still need to make 4 more and then decide if this is going to be a wall hanging or a wide runner for our table.  I'm not in any hurry so we'll just see what happens!

So although our tree is still up, and our cats are still in "holiday mode" (i.e. allowed to lounge on the forbidden couch ledge)...

...I am moving out of "CHRISTMAS!!!" and into winter.  I wish there was more of a winter here in South Carolina, but I will enjoy what we have.  Beautiful sunsets...

...sunrises...

...and because it rarely freezes here, I can enjoy some other things that I like.

Fern spores...

Beautiful fungus...

Interesting seed pods...

...and colorful flowers and leaves.

We don't need more than a zip-up hoodie to stay warm outside, and inside, the cats take advantage of any sunbeam they can get!

Have a great week!