Starting to Put It Together

I finished all the octagons, squares, and triangles. I'm starting to sew everything together. In my stash, I found a large ball of white, Mary Maxim Mellowspun DK yarn, the same weight as the Stylecraft Special DK used in the afghan which I'm using to sew things together. Using the hidden seaming technique, the white yarn is not visible. Basically, the edges just butt up to each other for a smooth join.

Aligning the 'x's helps keep the edges even with each other. Supposedly there are the same number of stitches in each side of the adjoining shape but I do a bit of easing when things don't seem to be lining up.

I'm this far in the process:

I gave it a light steaming to smooth things out a bit. Acrylic yarn doesn't like high heat as it can 'kill' the acrylic and make the fabric floppy. I dampened a linen tea towel and used it as a pressing cloth. 

I've also started making more octagons and have two finished. I'll also need to do three more granny squares and two more side triangles.

Yesterday was our monthly stitch day. I worked on a couple of projects but mostly gabbed with the other stitchers.

Then I came home and finished the Teresa Kogut 'Jingle Bells' ornament with the bells I had purchased the day before at Kimat Designs' booth at the Quilting at the Lakes quilt show in Buckhorn. I also ordered some '2025' charms which will arrive tomorrow. I like to affix them to ornaments as I finish them. If course I couldn't just order a couple, rather there are dozens coming so I'll share the surplus with my fellow stitchers. 

Jeanette has made it a goal to FFO something every week. That's a bit ambitious for me but I'll definitely be doing more fully finishing for the next little while.

The bells themselves don't 'jingle' but the effect is there. I have two other patterns in this series:

and

that I haven't stitched yet. I did, however, complete her other star ornament  in 2022 which I need to locate and FFO.

XS149 Star Shaped Snowman

Looking back on my blog post on the subject, I mused about adding 'bling' to it. Great idea. Maybe on the tips of the boughs and on its eyes.

• I watched the rest of the first season of 'Departure' on Netflix. I found it to be a bit contrived but do enjoy anything Archie Panjabi is in. It's also probably one of Christopher Plummer's last roles. The second season starts with another transportation disaster. Of interest to me was it starting at Union Station in Toronto and involving crossing into the US at Windsor. Once the disaster happened, I determined it to be pretty similar to the formula in the first season. Lots of 'red herrings'. Sometimes I get confused/frustrated with too many of them.
• I also started watching the Netflix docuseries on the Dallas Cowboys. Skip was an avid NFL fan so it's kinda comforting watching it. I remember him talking about Jerry Jones and have seen Jimmy Johnson interviewed. He was a bit of a dick in the early years with the Cowboys. Skip would have enjoyed the doc and would have filled me in on a lot of the public's response to the various events depicted.