Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a 

joyful

Christmas

filled with

happiness and fun

Santa's Coming

I've been good this year, so I'm pretty sure Santa has me on his nice list. Just in case, I made him a quilt and a pillow. Santa's Coming is 44” square, and inspired by Christmas fabric I scored back in July. 

Seems like a perfect spot to settle down for a cozy nap on a drizzly December Monday, don't you think?

We made sugar cookies on Saturday but I'm absolutely certain they will not still be around on Christmas Eve. They are sooo delicious! 

I haven't made cookies or other sweet treats for a while since we have been striving to eat healthier. Christmas is the season to indulge but we will be back on track soon. I like these new smaller jeans way too much to risk gaining weight. 

 

Dear Santa:

I've been good all year,

no matter what

the evidence might suggest...

Calm And Bright

I've been as busy as a little elf in my sewing workshop!

A few Christmas projects were on this year's list. I used the 9” wedge die for a pretty table runner in gray and red. Calm and Bright looks nice on our coffee table with one of Hazel's Christmas Village houses and a candle globe filled with tiny red bells.

The stockings came from my July yard sale fabric, one for the laundry room and another for the kitchen wall. 

I like for our home to be festive but not over the top. I have several holiday items in every room, sometimes only adding greenery, a quilt, or pillows. 

We don't put up a tree, but I decorate our Norfolk Island pine with lightweight ornaments. Then I use some of my old favorite ornaments to add a bit of holiday bling to my regular decor. 

 

I almost forgot about the purse I made in October, probably because I've been using it. It's made with a flowering snowball block. Cutting and sewing the curved seams was easy and accurate, thanks to AccuQuilt's die. The gray prints contrast nicely with bright purple and coral batiks. I finished Snazzy Snowball in an afternoon.

Christmas 

isn't a season.  

It's a feeling.

~Edna Ferber

Thrift Shop

Economy block

What a fun quilt this was to design! I used up some of my smaller scrap pieces in a rainbow of colors. I started by cutting triangles and 2 1/2” squares at random whenever I got the chance. I cut leftovers immediately after working on other projects. I stacked them all in a plastic dish until it got full. 

Thrift Shop

One day in mid-October, I began to sew white triangles with print ones, then put them up on my design wall. I used sixteen different 5” squares for the centers, and sewed economy blocks with black and white print corners. Once I got everything arranged, it reminded me of the riot of colors in a thrift shop. 

Leftover white/print half square triangles made top and bottom accent strips, borders are done in apricot diamond print.  Backing on this 40” x 50” lap quilt features cheerful daisies with black accents on an apricot background. 

I haven't quilted this one yet, being distracted by beach walking and closet catastrophe/sorting/construction. I plan to stitch 1” white vertical lines in a straight stitch when I get back to my sewing machine today.

I know my fabric limits,

I just don't pay attention to them.

As long as I keep sewing,

I'm always need more fabric.  ~me