Five Days Until Christmas and an Anniversary

Thirty-five years ago today, I was getting married. Where did the years go? They went into two wonderful children and the wonderful men they married and who take such good care of them and four spectacular grandchildren. They also went into a wonderful career in Nutrition and Clinical Research and the best staff one could ever have. We have had lots of ups and downs, but somehow stuck together through it all. We were married while my husband was beginning his doctoral program. Our children were born when he was a post-doc. And now, we’re both retired–a little early but just in time to enjoy life a little bit.

Today, I have to take my car to be repaired and inspected. Over all these years we have never had but one car because we live in Chapel Hill and have a wonderful free public bus system. Our buses are Carolina blue, of course. We can go anywhere anytime for free–and that sure beats paying car insurance. And if there is a location in town that the bus doesn’t go, there is a service that takes you there for $1.50. If you have a disability, we have EZ Rider service which takes you door to door in a handicap equipped van. But not having my car for a day means no driving to Durham for shopping!

Enough of that and back to quilting. Here’s what I finished this weekend. I cut these myself, but if you have an Accuquilt Studio die cutting system, there is a die exactly this size for stockings (Die No. 50745). These were made using a red Fossil Fern fabric with Sulky Rayon thread for the snowflake embroidery. I embroidered these through a thin batting. After making two of them that were quilted on front and back, I decided only the front needed batting, so the back is just a layer of the red fabric. I lined them with unbleached muslin. The names are embroidered onto Kona cotton. I think I’m going to love my embroidery machine.