WIP Wednesday: the Holiday Denial edition

Although many other quilt bloggers are very sensibly taking a Christmas break from various self-imposed blog challenges, I have adopted my usual policy of ignoring Christmas until the last possible moment in hopes that someone else will do it for me.  By "it" I mean the cooking, cleaning, planning, wrapping, package mailing, and especially the shopping.  I don't really do handmade gifts for Christmas, either.  I did once or twice, but the sheer volume of productivity needed for that in our family and extended family would require me not to have a job as well, so I've decided to make my handmade gifts "just because" gifts at random times of the year, for the most part.

That means that I can continue crafting more or less as usual throughout the holidays, which is good.  It also means that my family is probably starting to lower their expectations of me during this season... which is also good, I guess!  I'll just pretend I don't feel guilty about all the stuff I'm not doing.

I did two Farmer's Wife Quilt blocks this week.  Here's #76 - Sawtooth.  I used scraps from one of Steve's old shirts and the New York fabric I used for some boxers a while back.

#77 - Seasons.  Keeping up with the vintage, reclaimed, and thrifted fabrics theme for this quilt, and hoping that all the different patterns and colors will blend harmoniously when I get it all done.  I'm really not looking forward to block #78, though.

I finished up clue 3 in the Orca Bay Mystery already; actually made a few extra HST's.  I'm enjoying the "in-the-moment" nature of this quilt, and looking forward to the next clue coming out Friday.

At a standstill (still!): the STARS pink/orange/white quilt is still on the quilting frame but I have unpicked all the stitches from the first quilting attempt.  I plan on attempting again with different thread, and then evaluating whether to be a grump and take the Megaquilter back to the dealership again.  I have not been happy with the dealership, but to be honest I don't have time to cart it in and fight that battle, and if I can get it "good enough" with basic tension adjustments, I don't really use it all that often.  Next time it needs maintenance, though, it's definitely going to the nice folks at Hazel Dell House of Sewing Machines and Vacuums.

Today I stopped at Country Manor quilting in Battle Ground and picked up the Pigma Micron pens I'll need for the Crumbs signature quilt.  So I need to begin collecting signatures from all the schoolkids.

Knitting: I finished turning the heels on Steve's socks.  Still working on a baby item and a sweater for myself from my gray Shetland homespun, but not working very fast on any of them.

Spinning: no progress on the wheel, but last week we did cover the Role of women in ancient Rome in my 7th grade class, and I took in my collection of spindles.  I let them try for themselves if they wanted.  We've found that sometimes it works if one person spins while another person drafts, but I don't think any significant yardage of yarn was created.  I still have the spindles in at school and will allow them to try again when we have the time after the quiz Friday.  I should really take some pictures...