Little by little, it's all coming together as it seems to do, year by year.  There's the usual knitting (as you, Gentle Readers, well know!)  The Xmas Socks are now finished altogether.  You heard the saga of my son's HERE.  Lessons learned...these are for my daughter.  That said, I continue to wonder if they're not a bit big...

Gina's Xmas Socks - in honour of her cat, Princess
Yarn: Reinvent from Ancient Arts Fibre Crafts
Colour-way: Maine Coon Kali
Pattern: A Good Plain Sock - Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
(my fave 'plain vanilla sock')

My neighbours, John (aka "My Handy Guy Nearby") and Edna invited me over on Monday past for a glass of wine, coffee and conversation...and I took them these, in appreciation for all their help (especially from John!) over the past year...

John's How Quiet Mitts
Yarn: Vintage DK from Berocco
Colour: #2107 - "Cracked Pepper"
Pattern: How Quiet Mitts
Designer: Helen Stewart

Edna's How Quiet Mitts
Yarn: Finn from Universal Yarns
Colour #107 - "Jam"

With all of these finished and either given away or (almost) wrapped up, I've turned to other knitting...such as a pair of socks for a friend of my daughter's -- a commission that I won't speak much about just yet.  Let's just say that the item has been cast on and progress is being made! 😉

Then there is the Annual Mystery from Bonnie Hunter -- and as you might know (or at least guess!) -- once again I am smitten!  While participants don't have to use Bonnie's colour palate, I love this year's selections, and have a fair amount of the fabric already in my stash, so I'm sticking with it!

I posted about Clue #1 in my last post.  Since then I've completed clues #2 and #3 and am working away on #4:

Clue #2 finished!

Clue #3 finished!

I like working on my own, but often Mystery Quilt sections are fun to do when you're sewing with a friend.  This past Monday, my friend G and I spent the better part of the day together -- each of us working on our on projects.  She was turning a fabric bundle -- a panel and several matching fabrics -- into assorted wall-hangings.  She'd never before worked 'by the seat of her pants' (i.e., without a pattern) so we had fun as she auditioned the matching fabrics and the two of us consulted about how she wanted to feature the larger blocks vs the smaller ones.  In the end she created a wall hanging with great colour co-ordination and design lay-out -- and she's ready to work out the others that lie waiting for her creative juices to flow!

While G. was working out her panel/hanging, I finished Clue #3 in the mystery.

Today I moved on to Clue #4:

Clue #4...under construction!

"Under construction".  Yep.  I need several dozen "packets" of units...and have (or so it would appear!) a paucity of fabrics in Bonnie's colour palate -- the one I want to use!  😟  And -- my LQS is closed until the new year!!

Hmmm...methinks I'll just have to go with the flow...make up what I can make and shop (!) come January!

Blessedly, I'll be working in the Shop part-time through January and into February (after the doors have been shut) to ensure inventory is accurate and to pack up what is being kept in the online Shop and for pop-up sales, so I won't have to make extra trips to town for "missing" fabric.

In addition to the Mystery, I've continued sorting scraps using Bonnie's Scrap Users' System.  The pile has gone from this:

to this...

It really is smaller -- it's not crammed in there, just 'resting'!

Sorted and sliced strings

Sorted squares and rectangles
-- lights, mediums and darks in several sizes

And the past few days, I managed to finish cutting enough blocks in my Postage Stamp Quilt Project to begin assembling the top!  I have 81 blocks -- currently 6 1/2" unfinished -- that will turn into a top (before borders -- and there will be borders!) measuring about 54" square.  Here's what's assembled thus far, hanging on my design wall with sibling blocks nearby:

Now, Gentle Readers, I recognize that little (if any) of this work qualifies as "art" -- certainly none of this work will produce studio quilts...BUT all feed my brain with colour, keep my hands busy, and allow me to ponder away at assorted photos I've taken in the last few weeks, just readying themselves to be recreated in textiles.

This "stuff" I've been doing is my down time, my relaxation.  New work is in the offing -- after Christmas.  

Meanwhile I work on this quasi-utilitarian colour play...and wish you and yours a very Happy Hanukkah and a very Merry Christmas!

I leave you now with these wishes, with a link to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday...and with these few thoughts I penned earlier about my current process...

In Bits and Pieces

 Christmas is coming 

in bits and pieces.

That's how I'm living my life this year.

  

Things are getting done --

 a bit here, a bit there.  

All that is necessary:

cards sent

gifts wrapped,

several mailed.

The creche is up

sans Magi, who don't 

show up

till Epiphany.

The wee tree

will go up the morning

of the Eve 

of Christmas, 

so my children, though grown

can decorate it.

Groceries...

yes, those await.

I go to town tomorrow.

There will be a roast

and vegetables

and wine

and sweets;

there will be Scrooge,

popcorn, 

board games

and sleep.

There will be the Queen

and long walks,

a pancake brunch

and long talks.

All under the dome of Love

that came down 

over two thousand years ago

to show us who 

we could be,

if we would only 

believe.