Bits of Red and Green

I'm enjoying sitting by the tree today reading and stitching, and was reminded of two small projects that were made for the bazaar so I thought I'd share them before all of the holiday decos start coming down.

We were asked to make tree decorations for the Holly Bazaar so I dug into my scrap bin and whipped up a dozen little scrappy Christmas trees. No real rhyme or reason to the width of the strips, just sewed a slew of them together and then stitched a tree pattern with a variegated green/blue thread. Almost any combination of fabrics worked but it helped to include prints that had some red in them to liven things up a bit.

They were backed with two different red scraps and a simple ribbon tied with a knot was hand stitched near the top for a hanger. About 4-5 inches tall, they are very sweet. Any decos left at the end of the bazaar were packaged up and delivered to our shut-ins, so they all got to be enjoyed.

And my niece Julia kindly crocheted five more of these adorable little stockings for me this year. I like to stuff them with chocolates and candy canes and package them in clear cello bags. They are fun for the little ones but would be nice at a table setting too. Last year they were put on the bake table but this time around I made sure that they went to the craft table, and, as usual, they were a gone in no time.

We're waiting for an ice storm to roll in overnight so I'm going back to the tree to enjoy my stitching and a nice cup of tea, hoping that it doesn't bring as much bad weather as is forecast....M

Merry Christmas!

With all of the hustle and bustle of Christmas now behind us, I'm settling in to enjoy what I consider my day of indulgence. Usually on Boxing Day I stay in my PJs, find a puzzle and work on it until it's finished in the wee hours of the morning - no running, no meal prep, no nothing, except a little quiet time for moi. This year, I'm switching it up a bit and picking up my cross stitch. There'll be Christmas carols, munchies and likely a holiday bevvy or two - my perfect day of stillness amid all of the hustle and bustle.

Merry Christmas to you and yours and may you find time to enjoy your special moments as well....M

One Quilter's Trash...

You know that saying, "One man's trash in another man's treasure"? Well, there was a little bit of that going on for the Holly Bazaar this year as well. Jan had brought remnants from a friend in to the quilting group so I brought them home to take a good look at them and found 6 panels of this fruit print that had obviously been cut for a project and never used. 

I couldn't get them out of my head and so when matched up with this green and cream, they became the fodder for a set of four placemats.

Originally the green was to be a narrow strip separating the cream and the larger print...

but as time went on I transitioned the green to the binding instead, using only two prints for the placemats themselves. Simple diagonal quilting was enough to finish them off.

And this butterscotch check made for a nice backing.

There were two more panels left so I whipped them up into matching potholders, only this time I used the check instead of the cream print.

In a moment of inspiration I realized that I could lay them both out at the same time to machine quilt them rather than quilt them individually. And one or two strokes with my Hera marker was all that was needed to get them started; I used the guide on my walking foot to do the rest of the spacing. Easy peasy. 

Even with my small projects I like to pin them so things don't shift in the quilting.

I played a little thread chicken along the way. Thankfully I ran out close to the edge, so not a lot of ripping out.

In my wisdom, I didn't take photos of either of the finishes, but they did turn out nicely and now someone is enjoying them on their table. Just love making good use of scraps, both mine and someone else's....M

I Made A Christmas Topper, Too

It's always nice to have good variety on the Holly Bazaar's craft table so during October and November I was busy trying to ensure that happened.

This little topper pattern I found on Pinterest, but I could find neither the maker nor the pattern name, so I made up my own pattern from the image. Interestingly, similar to the nine patch that I showed a few posts ago, it also had a fair bit of black in it, which is unusual for me to use in Christmas pieces.

It was helpful to lay everything out and then systematically work through the pieces and sections, 

starting with the corner units.

After all of the quilting that I put into the last runner the quilting on this one was a breeze!

The inspiration photo that I was working from showed a black binding, which made sense given the black cornerstones, but that just seemed a little too lugubrious for the holidays, 

so I used the red that was in the topper. Much more Christmassy.

And it's backed with a red gingham, which continued to cheer it up.

Ta-da!

It must have sold fairly quickly because I don't remember seeing it hang around on the craft table for very long. I love knowing that my pieces are being enjoyed by others....M

Another Christmas Table Runner

This project might seem like a bit of déjà vu...

primarily because it's made with remnant Peppermint Pines blocks from one of the Holly Bazaar runners that I made in 2022. Love their scrappy, graphic nature.

I loved that red border check and had a hard time reimagining what I could do with a few more blocks, but when I landed on the green and narrow green check I knew that I was onto something.

It's quilted with diamonds that mirror the angle of the trees and I really like the finish, though I cannot help but smile about the amount of thread that it took to do it!

And the fun white polka dot on red backing reminds me of a snappy sports jacket lining - love it! There's just a hint of it showing here, but you get the idea.

This one is quite large, about 16" x 44" so it will definitely make a statement on someone's table....M

My Nine-Patch Christmas Runner

Last time I shared my cute little nine-patch Christmas runner but didn't show you the finished product, so here you go.

Actually, it's not that little. The squares finish off at 2" so it's at least 16" wide, and being 6 blocks long, it's about 45" in length.

Because of it's size, I might see if they want to use it on the Silent Auction Table instead of the Craft Table.

Still can't get over those lovely little quilted stars in the sashing.

I've been sewing like a dervish for the last couple of weeks and have a few more runners, table toppers and placemats made, along with a pair of cute little acorn potholders to show for it. More to come!....M

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