TV Tray Ironing Board

When I went to the Utah Valley Quilt Guild Retreat back in November, I saw a few of these TV tray ironing boards. What a clever idea for travel--they fold flat for transport, and don't take up much space in your quilting area. But they are nice and firm and make a good ironing surface when piecing.

I made three this week. One for Trish, whose birthday is this week, and one for Audrey (a late Christmas gift) and one for me (just because). I learned a few things along the way.

I loosely followed a tutorial found here.
I made a few changes:
1. They suggest using home decor fabric that is thicker and more durable. Probably a good idea. I chose regular fabric that I liked. Then I put a layer of muslin underneath. Maybe not as durable, but sure cute!
2. I cut the top fabric 5 inches larger than the TV tray instead of 3 inches. For example, my TV tray was 15" X 19". I cut the fabric 20" X 24".
3. I only used 2 layers of batting and one layer of Insul-Brite. That was plenty.
4. Instead of trimming the batting at right angles at the corners, I trimmed them diagonally. (Took three trays to figure that out.)

My husband manned the staple gun, and did an immaculate job of it. That fabric is not coming off anytime soon.

 

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

In 1941 Stalin was busy trying to eliminate Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia. In order to do that he deported thousands and thousands of people. Many of them were sent to Siberia.

This book is a story about the deportation of a 15 year old girl and her family from Lithuania. It was a compelling read. I was worried about it being too depressing. Somehow it wasn't. Yes, it talks about hard things, but it also talks about the importance of hope and a desire to live. It is a young adult book, and I like the way many of the situations were handled in light of that fact.

I was not aware about this mass deportation at all. At first I was worried that they would be exterminated like Hitler did the Jews, but at least in this story, that didn't happen. It's scary to me that this kind of thing happens so easily without the rest of the world knowing anything about it. China, Germany, Russia and so many other countries have suppressed what we as Americans consider to be unalienable rights. It's a blessing to live here. We need to make sure to exercise our rights to vote and keep the freedoms we have.

December Photos

Things remain hectic around here, and blogging has taken a back seat. So I decided to include some December highlights in this post. It's mostly pictures. 

One thing it lacks is photos of Christmas gifts I made this year. I was so busy trying to get them done in time (all but three got finished) that I sent them off with no pictures to record what I made. I did Christmas pillowcases this year. I swear I took pictures of them when I made them, but can't find the photos. Then I made little quilted bags for a few friends. No pictures of those either. Oh well. I'll try to be better about that.

Here is the last half of our month in photos:

December 16--Ray's birthday. Beth's is the 17th so we had a double celebration. Tri-tip, potato-cheese casserole (most people know this as funeral potatoes), and Caesar salad. Brownies for dessert.

Ray and Joanne Linford, Carolyn and Emily Urban, Bruce, Andrew, Rachel, Ray
Ray, Beth

The Birthday Boy and Birthday Girl: Ray and Beth

 December 18--Trish Derrick and I drove to Wendover to watch my grandchildren in a dance recital.Two plus hours of driving (each way) for about 10 minutes of dancing (total). It was worth it.

Elizabeth

Austin and Matthew. Their dance was choreographed to "The Nightmare Before Christmas"

 December 25--Christmas! The Hanks were here all day, and the Petersen's came in the afternoon. My parents joined us for dinner.

Elizabeth, Matthew, Austin

Elizabeth

Matthew

Austin

Joseph

Audrey

Beth with her Yankees purse. I wanted to keep it.

Andrew

Elizabeth and Rachel

Ray

Elizabeth, my mother, Rachel

Our Christmas pajama picture. The first totally happy one in years. Of course, Andrew isn't in the picture yet.

All the kids (except my Washington grands - oh, how we miss them!) and Beth. Mostly happy... 

Les Miserables

I've seen the play at least a dozen times. It's my all time favorite. I've been excited to see the movie and bought the tickets a few weeks ago. We saw it first thing Christmas morning.

One word: Magnificent.

Merry Christmas!

Here Lies the Librarian by Richard Peck

Here lies another fun book by Richard Peck. I love learning a couple of historical facts while reading his fun stories.

I had a quiet evening to myself last night, and picked up this book. I finished it in less time than it took my husband and son to go see the movie Jack Reacher.

Now back to my other book--a review to come soon, if I get my Christmas stuff all done so that I have time to read.

Saturday

Oh, have I been busy! Running to and fro, and doing all kinds of things. Mostly fun, but not everything. And most of it with a deadline - last Friday. Saturday morning came, and I got up early, and went back to bed and had a long nap. Then I decided to forget everything on my to do list, and relax for the day. 

Ray's been even busier than I have. His has been work related. So I proposed that we spend at least part of our Saturday and go to the new Trader Joe's that just opened a week ago in Salt Lake. (I cannot tell you how excited I am to have them open here!!). Ray was all for it, and we took off. Trader Joe's was mobbed. There were so many people you could hardly maneuver through the aisles. Mostly I just wanted to wander to see it all, and of course picked up a few favorites while we were there (Cat Cookies for me and peanut butter filled pretzels for Ray). Okay, we got a little more than just those two things. The cashier said the store has been that crowded all day every day since they opened. It's the biggest opening in sales that they've had since the 60's. Or so they say.

Next we headed to the heart of Salt Lake - Temple Square, and the new City Creek Mall. It was snowing just the perfect amount. Holiday-beautiful snow, with no snow accumulated on the streets or sidewalks. We popped in at the Apple Store to wave to our nephew David who works there. Then across the street to the Nauvoo Cafe in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. They have the best turkey pot pies there. After our pot pies and some hot chocolate we stood in the lobby and listened to a choir singing. 

Back to City Creek to wander for about twenty minutes. It was so pretty. Then home. It was a great, relaxing afternoon. 

As for all the things I've got to do for next week, I am adopting Scarlett O'Hara's motto: I'll think about that tomorrow.

Waiting in line at Trader Joe's

Christmas tree in the lobby of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building

Me and Ray in front of the tree

Yummy turkey pot pie at the Nauvoo Cafe

Choir singing

City Creek Mall

The tree at City Creek

Secrets at Sea by Richard Peck

Richard Peck is a prolific writer. Thank heavens. I'll be reading more in the future, that's for sure.

Secrets at Sea is about a mouse family that finds it necessary to go to sea with their human family. A very fun story unfolds. I love how they avoid using the word "cat" when talking.

This is the last of my pile of books by him that I got from the library. I'm moving on to some other books right now, but I'll be back for more.