Afternoon bliss

It's a cold but sunny afternoon here in New Mexico, and I'm up in my loft listening to WUMB, reading cool Weblogs, playing with Photoshop... God do I love the kids' naptime. Laz stayed home from school today, which made my usually calm Monday morning more frenetic than I'd like -- it really sucks (for them and for me) when they can't go outside to play. So naptime came a bit early today....

I've finally finished a few languishing quilting projects: three small hangings, done mainly for practice (piecing and especially machine quilting). I definitely like the first one ("Maize") best; the colors in the "Santuario" one don't quite work for me (I think it's the adobe -- too yellowy-orange), and I should have stipple-quilted the adobe and used a different motif for the sky; and the red in "Balloon" seems overpowering. Oh well; I did get a bit better with each one, and they'll cover up some blank wall space!



I'm also putting the binding on Maggie's flannel quilt now -- handsewing that final edge is such a tedious process -- and am ready to start something new. Maybe I'll have some time this afternoon to play around with fabrics, though I suppose I should choose the purpose first, fabrics second. The knitting also continues, with another sweater for Lazarus underway:



I have a few other things on the needles but will probably focus on holiday projects for the next few weeks. Oh, and I have more lights to put up -- I would just put more up every day if we didn't run out, I love them that much -- and might start decorating indoors, too. I'm a holiday nut, I know.