Happy Holidays from Charmed Quilts!

Freddie and Leona are exhibiting nesting behavior. They've gotten into my scraps and have been fashioning themselves nests, strewing them about the workshop. We had a little conversation and they finally agreed they could make do with only a few, because after all, space is limited and we have so much fabric to store! (Do we have any biologists or ecologists amongst our readership? I don't know that dust bunnies have been properly described by Science, but I'm pretty sure it's unusual for any animal to nest in the winter. How fascinating!)

With that little item out of the way, we're working to wrap up 2023 at CQ Headquarters:

1) In the next few days, we'll be doing some year-end cleaning, organization, and restocking. Freddie and Leona will no doubt have fun supervising me after I made them throw out all those half-constructed nests. Dust bunnies can be so sentimental.

2) Fortunately I've finally finished the instructions and diagrams for straight binding (three different methods to choose from!) so now I can move on to more fun things. I still want to have the instructions proofed by another quilter, though, so they've got to be delivered to the Quilt Mafia. If you don't know, the Quilt Mafia will proofread your patterns, but for a price. One day they show up on your doorstep, bundle you into a minivan, and make you baste quilts for six hours. Snacks are provided, but they make you wash your hands and only minimal swearing is tolerated even when you poke yourself. It's a hard life.

3) I found some absolutely darling fabric which I can only describe as granny chic – small scale flowers in four different color ways. I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do with it yet, but it's going to make a few lucky someones super adorable, cheery, feminine quilts.

4) Considering blog topics for 2024, I'm thinking:

• Why the internet will never replace the quilt store.

• Techniques I learned from the Quilt Ladies that I never found in books or on the internet.

• Charm quilts and why they’re the coolest.

• Binding bias and bias binding.

• The hunt for a better needle! In which I test and review needles.

• The case for hand quilting – You should try it. No, seriously.

Do you, my intrepid readers, have any requests? I will happily entertain them and address them if I am able to. Just drop me a line.

Best wishes for the rest of your holiday season and the happiest of new years from Freddie, Leona, and me!