Thanksgiving One Last Time

Thanksgiving is over for another year. Today I did nothing - well next to nothing if you do not count the second load of dishes, a load of wash, putting things away, and then. . . a long hot soak in the hot tub. I needed that.

String piecing in the raw

What did we do?  Well I cannot speak for the rest of the family but I ordered dinner from Whole Foods weeks ago and spent my time setting the table. 

In the early fall I visited sister Jan at her NC mountain home and spent a good deal of a long weekend doing string piecing on lightweight, non-woven dryer sheets (yes, I am one of those ladies who saves dryer sheets, but not the lint!). Starching, pressing and gluing a center strip across opposing corners, my bag of scraps was pulled into service offering a diverse array of colors, prints, tiny plaids and other strips of scrappy fabrics too numerous to list. OK, the job I have Mother was the glue task, something for her to contribute during her visit. Someone (Jan), mentioned to me that the 'hot' color in housewares now is orange; having a deep red-orange fabric at hand that became the constant center-stripe and creates the diagonal-diamond grid you see above.

Quilted and bound with piped edge.

After stitching scrappy strips onto about a dozen sheets and editing the arrangement for a narrow runner, the next step was asking long-arm quilter Jan Struble to tackle the top quilting with her expert advice on thread color, batt and stitching pattern. Naturally the result was terrific. The table runner measures 18 inches wide by 47 inches long and reveals a mosaic-like sparkle of vivid colors. Many years ago (a previous marriage) the wedding china selected was a vibrant pattern by Aynsley, "Familia Rose" featuring the contrast of bright orange and blue flowers. For more than thirty years I was determined 'someday' to create a table setting just for that china. This year that day arrived (and I am married nearly 25 years to my second and best DH).

Beginning to set the table.

For this special day I also needed orange napkins to fit the pieced fabrics and the tabletop department in A Southern Season offered just the right shade (must remember to wash them separately first). Ideas began to flow as soon as the table started to come together - needed all the cobalt blue glassware I could find that was not already packed into storage. To that end I had found a set of tumblers with a gilt-edge design just a few weeks ago whilst bargain hunting. Shopping for blue, orange and yellow flowers added still more sparkle and I discovered that I had over bought. So sterling silver 'Washington' cups were polished and used to make mini-bouquets for each place setting. 

Finished table setting.

By the time Thursday morning arrived I realized that the 'good' silverware was packed away in storage and I need to give the 'daily' silver a lick 'n spit before adding utensils to the table. 

OK, so I am showing off a bit but consider that such opportunities are rare these days as this is likely our LAST Thanksgiving in this house. Our retirement villa is already underway and we must sell the house in the coming months to be ready for the big move in the summer.

We have hosted Thanksgivings here over the past decade, and more Christmas dinners but this is the one I want to remember. One last glimpse of silver, gold, blue and orange sparkling in the candlelight as we lingered over a traditional dinner.  And for sister Jan, BIL Rich just retired from his career and they could be selling their current home within a year or two. This dinner will serve as benchmark for all of us to remember.

That's my story and now I'm off to begin the Christmas season. Not that it will be a big deal - just a quiet holiday for the two of us. The energy spent on TGs like this comes only once a year.

bbf

Sunday's Showing and would-be Table Runners

AH! Monday, blessed Monday. And I need the rest. Yesterday was a total wipe-out day.

First, as always I did a total workout at the gym to make up a missed Saturday class and just because it's Sunday and DH is watching all the news shows on TV I have to get out of here.  Back home, ready for a shower and something to eat - never happened. 

Minutes after I got to the kitchen to start lunch the phone rang. The house showing service wanted a client showing at 2:30. Thank Gawd it was just 12:30 we had two hours to prep the house. Anyone who has ever sold a house knows where this is going. We jumped into warp speed, making beds, mopping floors, hiding bedding (don't ask) and heading out. Out meaning back to the gym; now I really needed a shower. By 3:00 I had made it to Southern Seasons and had just ordered lunch. Remind me later to tell you about their Salmon BLT.

What would I have been doing?  The last couple of weeks, as time permits, I have been heading to the men's shirt department of the Goodwill to find either small plaids and checks OR blue & white shirts. After working on the diamond-string piecing of the planned scrappy quilt (see last Tuesday's entry),  I had decided to begin another table runner .

WHY I am making runners this size is the question. A question for which I do not have a good answer. Yes, they do look good on the DR table don't they? 

See the tropical parrot and jungle leaf print made several years back to work with the green Depression-era glass wares I once collected. Those dishes have since gone to my sister and now I use the runner for house showings until the sale and then she will get the runner as well.

But that table is history once we sell this house, it is too big for the planning dining area in the new villa. I will miss the bright greens and stark black+white banding but since the green dishes are gone, why keep it? 

The Depression collection that I did keep are the Cobalt blue glasses and dishes and that's where the blue+white scheme began. Have blue and white runners for other relatives, why not one for me? With my new collection of blue-white shirts it was easy to jump into a blue-white combination for the next runner. Trouble is do I want just blue and white, or blue-white with a touch of pure green? Or blue-white with a touch of pure green and yellow? Or blue-white with some jade green, yellow and hot lime to add some jazz?  You see how this could evolve into yet another scrappy quilt. But 'scrappy' in the best possible way.

Whose table adornment this will become is as yet undetermined but I do hope to get some good photos before handing if off. Meantime the scrappy runner got a lot of attention this week.  I show you here the completed piecing and a candidate for the border/backing. This may or may not work, found this scrap of a dark print in blues/teal/rusts and thought I had enough for backing & border but then decided to use the leftover diamond-string units (four up of a 6x9, stitched over a starched dryer sheet), for a couple of travel pillows (just below).

Actually used 24 blocks (= six diamonds) of the made 32 blocks for the runner, leaving the "less" than perfect blocks (2 units of 4-up) to become throw pillows. And the dark-print fabric will become pillow-backing instead of runner-backing. That leaves me hunting for another backing for the runner.

And to the right you will find a picture of the "Sewing Matching" pillow that Kait Neely made for me in the TMQG's "Travel Pillow Swap" in June. Remind me to think twice about doing this again. I was happy to make a pillow for giveaway but when I got the swap pillow home I began to wonder: what will I do with it?

 

Kait has spent SO much time and detail making the pillow and I was tossing it on the guest room bed which will soon be history also as there is no guest room in the new villa. What to do?  I packed it back in a bag and took it to the July meeting and gave it back to Kait. But before that I did take pictures so I can remember what my former swap gift looked like. Still with me?

 

That still does not solve the problem of what size to make the blue-white-with color accents" runner-in-progress, do I want it for the small round table, or just long enough to take pictures and then pass it on to someone else? What do I know? Later.

 

Today is time for Monday afternoon ballroom at the Seymour Center and this month's dance is SALSA. To that end look what I found:  National Dance Day is July 30 (that's next Saturday!).

http://dance.blogs.fox.com/2011/07/07/three-routines-for-national-dance-day-2011/ 

 

And to celebrate Dance Day, Mary Murphy of Fox Network's "So You Think You Can Dance" has choreographed a "National Salsa." Who knew there was a National Dance Day? How come no one told me this before? Thanks to Susan Wartell of my Thursday dance class for the heads up.  

Murphy's dance is the 'beginner' version of three dances you will find on the site but forget the Intermediate and Advanced: the middle one is for aspiring pole dancers and the advanced dance looks more like hip-hop than Salsa. Where is Bobby Darren when you really need him? So DH and I have Salsa to practice before this afternoon's session.

 

And I need some hot tea.  later, bb