Oh Christmas POUT, Oh Christmas POUT...

The chorus had its tech rehearsal last night (for our December 2nd show) and we're sorted for all the Christmas gigs in the next 3 to 4 weeks, so I feel as though I'm on the countdown toward finishing the holiday season. As a result, I was quite relaxed during my day "off" today. That's the funny reality about performers/performing: by the 2nd week in December, we're done! It takes two more weeks for the rest of the world to catch up with the fact that Christmas is "over".

After accomplishing the two tasks I had promised myself I'd do (clean the litter boxes, catch up on Mom's finances/bills), for my reward I spent most of the afternoon planning Mom's December banner. It didn't take long to go from an idea of four 4" blocks and a series of 2" blocks as borders, to the idea of three 5" blocks with snowflake fabric (for the first day of Winter) separating and bordering them.

Fabric pull:

Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah

For the Christmas tree, I wanted to use that string of lights (upper left in photo) that I knew I had purchased decades ago. Originally it had been my intention to make a vest from a Christmas lights fabric and embellish it with those. That was back (25-ish years) when I wore real clothes, had a job at which my clothes could be seen, and it mattered what I wore. But I never made that vest. Instead, the fabric and lights ended up in the Christmas POUT drawer.

At least I knew where to look for those lights today, thanks to the reorganization back in February:

But--holy mackerel!--what a surprise I got when I opened and emptied that drawer!

First out was a partial wall-hanging with its pattern. I remember making this as part of a bee project, or possibly a day-long class.

On the design wall. Still needs its corners to square it up. I still like it though, so that's something!

Next was a collection of Christmas-themed fabrics and scraps (and those lights), along with a whole LOT of bits 'n' bobs that went straight into the trash (not shown).

Then came the bottom portion of the drawer:

Good heavens, how many Star of Bethlehem blocks did I make back then?!?

I had intended to hand-quilt this . . .

. . . using this in the middle:

Now I'm thinking: not gonna happen. I'm going to do something on the machine and get this POUT finished and hung up in my bedroom as a nice holiday decoration. The other two stars can ferment age gracefully a bit longer in the POUT drawer.

I never took the time to learn about Kwanzaa before today. I'm so sorry for that oversight, and so very grateful that this banner project has broadened my horizons these past 10 months!