After Christmas

We had a relaxed, mellow Christmas weekend.  Once I had all the supplies laid in by late afternoon on Christmas eve, neither one of us so much as stuck our noses out the door until Saturday when my husband made the regular Saturday run for groceries for his parents.  We watched a few movies, listened to my husband's new CD's, and I alternated knitting and sewing.  We did bestir ourselves to cook a turkey dinner for Christmas day; somehow it wouldn't seem like Christmas without turkey and all the trimmings.

The week before Christmas I made a hat for my husband out of some yarn I found in the stash.  No picture--he's wearing it today since the weather has turned very cold.  That set me off on a hat search around Ravelry and the rest of the internet.  I was looking for something else that would be quick and easy to work on in between Christmas preparation chores.  I found a really nice pattern here for this hat.

Can you see the owl motif?  It worked up very quickly; I think I had it done in less than a day. I'm thinking of getting some tiny buttons and sewing them on for the eyes.  I'd forgotten how satisfying it is to knit hats.  For one thing you don't need to knit a mate! The other great thing about hats is that sizing is less of an issue as long as it fits over your head and doesn't want to fall off too easily. 

I also started on a long-delayed project for a red and white Ohio Stars quilt.  I love Ohio Stars and this has been on the back burner for a long time.  I bought a fat quarter bundle of turkey reds a couple of years ago and I had the plan of the quilt all set in my head, inspired, I thought, by an antique quilt I had seen in a book.  The bundle has been sitting on my shelf all this time, just begging to be used.  This weekend seemed like a good time to start it. 

I used the square in a square ruler to make the little units.  A friend of mine taught this as a class at the LQS a few years ago and it makes crisp, precise blocks.  These blocks will be 8 inches, finished.  You can see the units put together on my design wall (only the top left block is sewn all the way together).  The plan is to make nine of these for a doll quilt or wall hanging.

After I got started on this I went back through my books to find the quilt that I was sure was my inspiration for this one.  I couldn't find it anywhere, but I found enough ideas for other quilts that would keep me busy through the next decade.  Oh boy!