The First Christmas Runner Finish

I'm always very leery of machine quilting pieces so it can take a bit of time to drum up the courage to begin, but happily, this runner came together quite nicely.

I started out thinking I'd just do a simple set of diagonal lines so as not to wreck anything, but it just wasn't enough. So I moved to making it a cross-hatch pattern. Still lacking a little, so I opted to add another line of quilting on either side of every second line of quilting that was already there. 

Bingo! It added just enough interest and left me with a surprising bonus - these cute little stars in the sashing. Almost like I had planned it 😉. Not.

The quilting looked nice on the green gingham backing too.

And, it must have been my lucky day because when it was time to bind it I found a remnant candy cane stripe that was seemingly made for it.

This one was fun to stitch down.

It's all finished up but in my excitement I forgot to take a pic for you, so that will come. 

One additional fabric that I wanted to share with you is this cute red and white print. Love the fabric but I particularly love the selvage which contains one of my favourite quotes from Audrey Hepburn which I will leave with you, despite the fact that  the landscape is now covered in snow: To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow....M

Ho, Ho, Holiday Sewing

Thankfully I did a little sewing for the bazaar a few weeks ago because there certainly hasn't been any movement on that front lately. 

I looked through my ideas file and landed on a cute little runner made from a very basic nine-patch block. After everything was cut I sorted all the squares into their eventual blocks so as to avoid any duplicates.

For me, this one works so well because of the fabrics, and this is the fabric that launched it all - a sweet little landscape of trees and houses from the Sweetwater line called Blizzard. I picked up a piece about a year ago and have been giving it the side-eye all year hoping to come up with a good project for it.

And I also dipped into my Christmas fabrics and pulled out these Thimbleberries faves from years ago with sprigs of holly and sweet little mittens. I can't even begin to remember how old they are, but I still love them and use them judiciously. You know, because you'd hate to use them up!

The blocks are fun...

and each one very different from the next, which I love.

I have to say that I don't usually use black in a Christmas quilt/runner, but I like it here, and it really set the tone for what the rest of the fabrics might be. I quilted this one myself so that paused things for a bit, but it turned out really well. I'll share that with you next time. 

Hopefully there's a wave of ho, ho, holiday inspiration hits me today because I still have a few more bazaar projects that I'd like to get to and time is running out...M

Snoop Dogg and Me, We're Buds Now

There's about two weeks to go before the Holly Bazaar so it's time to buckle down and finalize the sewing and baking lists. Thinking that I'd like to try a new recipe or two this time around, I whipped up a batch of Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies. But not just any recipe, Snoop Dogg's recipe. Between you and me, I wouldn't have imagined baking chocolate chip cookies high on a rapper's list, but I guess I shouldn't judge 😉.

Some of you may know that The Official Cookie Tester is probably one of Canada's biggest consumers of peanut butter so I thought that these were a pretty safe bet to try - even if they were a bomb I was pretty sure that my trusty taster would enjoy them with a cuppa or two.

So, while he was running errands, out came the mixer. It's a quick recipe so the first pan was coming out of the oven as he returned home. My instincts were not wrong - they are both crunchy and chewy, and went very nicely with the mug of hot chocolate that he whipped up to go with them. 

Now, the labels that I put on my baking are not nearly large enough to include 'Snoop Dogg's Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies' so I'll have to do some editing. And, I'm not certain that most of the gals who attend the bazaar will even know who Snoop Dogg is (though given his friendship with Martha Stewart, maybe I am underestimating that demographic...), but I'm pretty sure that if they like a peanut butter and/or a chocolate chip cookie they will enjoy these.....M

Saying Goodbye to Pumpkins

My pumpkins always come in after Halloween, and and this year that includes my Turkey Trot flimsy.

The original plan was to include it in this year's Quilts for Survivors (QFS) shipment, but the timeline for its delivery was moved up unexpectedly and this one was still on the design wall with work to be done. Not to worry, it can become the seed for next year's shipment (sort of like sourdough starter 😉).

It so cute with all of those squirrels and pumpkins and leaves framed in autumn-coloured polka dots! And it's nice and scrappy, too.

I'm getting better at cutting my remnants into strips and squares and the 2 1/2" pile came in handy for all of the 16-patch blocks.

Still love these little squirrels in their cozy sweaters.

Hopefully all of those fun fall creatures put a smile on someone's face - they still do for me!

At 48" x 64" it meets the size that QFS is looking for, but occasionally I look at it and wonder if it needs a border. Today I'm thinking that it doesn't.....M