In low gear this week

 I've had a cold most of the week so haven't had any energy to do much.  Intellectually I know it doesn't really matter - I'm retired, and there hasn't been much on this week that I 'had' to do. But it still feels like I've wasted a lot of time.

I finished sewing the binding on the Sunbonnet Sue panel quilt and it was collected by Project Linus to go to someone for Christmas. I hope they like it.  Next I loaded the Thirties Sampler Quilt onto the frame. to jump in at the deep end on stitching in the ditch techniques and trying out simple ruler patterns.  I've stabilised the entire quilt now by stitching around all the blocks, and I am going back to do the quilting patterns on each block.  Thinking how to quilt each block is half the battle, I'm not very creative that way, I'm better at copying things.  Trying to stitch in the ditch using straight rulers has also highlighted how poor my pressing techniques are: the seam allowances are going every which way and even some seamlines are a bit wobbly.  None of that really mattered when I was only stitching all over pantograph patterns but it's making life difficult now that I'm trying to learn to use rulers.

I finished the Robin Christmas ornament and made it up into the ornament. There are several unintentional deviations from the chart but overall it has a charming vintage christmas vibe.

I can show you the tester bag pattern that I made a few weeks ago, as the pattern has now been published. I used some wicker fabric that I bought in Toyo.

The Chinese dollshouse kit is mostly finished for the house portion and the instructions have moved on to the landscaping.

I've been slowly putting up Christmas decorations and Christmas quilts.  The tree is up and almost decorated, I will finish it today.  My Christmas porch vignette is on display in the dining room and looks pretty with the  lights on.  We haven't done the outside lights because the weather has been so cold and wet, maybe we won't bother this year - I have lights hanging in both the front windows. And I hung up this guy from Japan:

Hope your holiday preparations are going well!