Our Tree-Cutting Tradition

I could write a book about our annual tree cutting expeditions—it’s always an experience! To start with we get lost almost every year and drive forever to find the tree farm.  For the past several years we’ve gone to the same place and we still get lost.  The good news this year is that we saved the postcard the tree farm mailed and drove straight to it.  The bad news is that we had pouring rain.  We’ve cut trees in all kinds of weather but this was the first year we had rain. Many years we’ve had knee-deep snow and sub-zero temps so overall it wasn’t too bad.

We go to Whispering Pines Tree Farm in Saxeville.  They do a nice job of pruning the trees so you can always find one that’s nicely shaped. 

We have a tendency to underestimate how big a tree is when it’s in the field so some years we end up with a huge tree that has to be cut down to fit in the family room. I’ve finally figured out that I need to look at it with Jim standing next to it to get a better idea of how big it is. 

We ended up getting a nice tree (not this one) and didn’t have a single mishap.  We even sprung for a new tree stand so we didn’t have to fight to get it in the stand and straight.  We’ll probably decorate it tomorrow while we watch football.  I always like the fresh pine scent in the house.  I hope the cats don’t knock it over.  So far they haven’t shown much interest but we still might anchor it to the ceiling!

I was able to sneak in a little sewing today.  I pressed the Courtyard Maze top and sewed borders on Santa’s Little Helpers and 12 Days of Christmas.  My tip for the day is to sew borders with the border on top. For some reason, when I do that the borders are nice and flat.  I used to sew them with the quilt top on top so I could make sure the seams didn’t turn, but when I did it that way the borders ended up wavy.  It might just be a fluke but I’m sticking with it!

After the borders I sewed and pressed backings for all three and then got the batting cut.  They are now ready for quilting.  I’m hoping to get up early in the morning and get one loaded.  It would be nice to get at east two of them quilted tomorrow.  I’m planning to do freehand allover designs so the quilting should go fast.  I’ll post photos when I get them finished.