The Annual Sewing Christmas Party

We had our sewing group Christmas party yesterday. I may not get to sewing every Thursday, but I do enjoy our parties. This was a potluck luncheon and we had enough food to feed an army. We do a gift swap—everyone who wants to participate brings a wrapped gift, which gets a number. Each of us draws a number, the gifts get passed out, and we start at #1 and open them. Sometimes the gifts are quilt- or sewing-related. Sometimes they contain food or home dec items. They almost always have chocolate in them. The bag I received held a lovely cheese board, cheese knives, some cheese and crackers, and holiday tea towels. (And a jar of salted chocolate caramels.)

Robin gave me a painted wooden sign that says, “Jesus is the Reason for the Season,” which I hung on my kitchen door.

I sometimes hang a wreath there but haven’t gotten one this season.

Sarah gifted me a bag of goodies as a thank-you for the load of chicken manure we hauled up to her house in September. I really think I got the better end of the deal. 😇 It included half a dozen bars of soap—the husband took the lavender-scented ones, because he is quite partial to lavender—a candle, more salted caramels (there is a pattern here), and a beautiful handwoven tea towel.

Sarah told me that only people she considers “family” get a handwoven gift. I am so lucky to have such wonderful friends!

I wore a holiday dress to the party—a very simple swing dress from Kohls. The fabric is a beefy rayon spandex.

Everyone assumed I had made it. I might have, if I had had similar fabric. This was an impulse purchase, for sure, although it fits well and is very comfortable.

I ran errands in town before the party and picked up some fabric for the binding for the king-sized quilt. I need a bit more than a yard and none of my Kona remnants was big enough. The quilt is so scrappy that I wanted a solid color binding to frame it. That’s the first order of business today—make and attach the binding it so I can sew it down in the evenings. The second task on the list is organizing the room where I store my fabric, because it looks like a tornado went through there. I want to find all the projects that need to be quilted and stack them up next to the Q20.

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We are still waiting to hear about the new work truck, although now that choir practice on Wednesday evenings has been canceled, that opens up the schedule quite a bit for going to Tacoma to retrieve it. Work has slowed down for the husband a bit, but that is temporary. He and the crew will be starting a big foundation project next week.

I heard an ad yesterday on the radio from a local real estate agent. He was hawking a piece of property in our neighborhood. I looked it up last night so the husband and I could have a good laugh. It’s a 2 bedroom, 1 bath house built in 1978, total of 1296 square feet on 2.38 acres with septic and a shared well. (Ask the husband some time about the quality of houses built here in the 1970s and 80s and you’ll get an earful.) The real estate agent described it as a “fixer-upper” because it’s been mostly gutted. Any guesses on the asking price? I’d offer around $100,000 for it, max.

The listing price is $399,000. THAT IS INSANE. I don’t even think the land is worth that, let alone the house. A shared well is a problem. Another hundred thousand or so will be required to make it liveable. That listing is the poster child for how ridiculous the housing market here has become.