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

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is our Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada, so time for the pumpkins to shine. Usually the leaves on the trees have a spectacular showing this time of year, but it's been so dry of late that many have already fallen. Regardless, the weekend weather is beautiful and I hope that all of those who are celebrating are enjoying your fill of turkey and pumpkin pie.

Planning to start sewing the rows for my Turkey Trot together today - lots of pumpkins, leaves, turkeys and fall colours in this one. Because our Quilts for Survivors shipment went north sooner than I had expected, it missed getting included in this year's bundle, but I'll get it together and it can be the start of next year's. One more thing to be thankful for....M

Just Pinch Me!

Finally! Miss P (a.k.a. Posh Penelope) has emerged from the laundry room, freshly pressed and ready for her debut.

She's just about as lovely as can be, almost shimmering in the sunlight with all of those different prints at play, and so much fun to look at.

This one was a long, long time in the making but I'm thrilled with the final product and will now turn my head to how she might be quilted.

I think that I have the backing selected but after quickly tossing her on our bed to see how she fits I'm starting to wonder if there's going to be a need for a border. I don't like a skimpy quilt. This one fits, but just, and I like them to land at the bottom of the mattress. 

It will have to be just the right fabric because I do love the clean graphic lines of the quilt and don't want to interfere with that.

Obviously more time to think about that but today I'll just revel in the finish, and smile at those tiny 1/2" squares at the centre of each blossom.

The corner triangles are equally interesting.

This one will definitely be a favourite....M

Rollin' Out My Pumpkins

I've teased about sharing my Miss P flimsy with you, but she's still sitting in the laundry room waiting for a good press, in large part because of these boxes. We've been busy pulling together this year's Quilts for Survivors shipment. Last Sunday they were displayed in the church along with a garland of some of the blocks that we'd made and this week everything came down and was boxed for Jean and her husband to drive them north to Timmins. Big job! Simultaneously, I was organizing a special 100th anniversary dinner at our church so things have been just a tad off the rails.

Needless to say, my house could use a little attention. It's wonderful to have all of those quilts and flimsies (41) and the 34 quilt blocks packaged up and out of the house but it's already October and there's nary a sign of a mum or a pumpkin on my front porch. 

So, I pulled out my rustic Cinderella Pumpkin placemats for a quick seasonal fix. These were finished up in November/December last year so this autumn will be their inaugural run. Still really love them.

In part because each pumpkin is made from a different fabric thanks to a very generous Roberta who let me raid her beautiful stash. It's hard to pick a favourite, but that's part of the fun.

You will recall that they were originally supposed to be all in one runner but I changed that to placemats and added that little picot 'shelf' for each pumpkin to sit upon. It's made from the same brown that I backed them in and is a nice touch; they needed a little something extra. 

And you know that I just love those little pumpkins quilted throughout - such a terrific panto. Roberta used a variegated thread and it adds to much depth.

This will be a great way to start getting me into the mood for Thanksgiving - next weekend, yikes!....M

Hello Minnie My Old Friend

This time of year there's always a lot on my plate, to the point that I seem to start losing time in one-week chunks, and this year is no exception, which is why I love to have some hand quilting to help calm things down a bit. Minnie to the rescue!

She has been in the hoop for some time now but I don't honestly know that I've picked up a needle all year, until recently. It's so good to be back.

Reacquainting myself with all of the different diamond hexies in this quilt and their colour combinations is so much fun. It's becomes a bit of a game to see how many I can quilt in one sitting. She is by no means close to being finished so that means many more hours of enjoyment for me.

Another project that has been keeping me busy is Miss P. Spoiler alert: she's all together now. Miracle of miracles! I will give it a good press and have something to show you pretty soon, hopefully in the my next post....M

The Joy of a Slow Sunday

The Wonder Clips at the top of this photo tell the story of my day today: slow stitching binding on Falling Leaves.

When the calendar flips over into September I'm always on high alert because it's time to get some Holly Bazaar projects under way. But this year it also means finishing up this raffle quilt for the church.

The binding was cut and pressed yesterday and I managed to get it sewn on before hitting the sack (it's a large quilt - 88" x 100" - so there was a fair bit of gratuitous wrestling to get that job done). And that put me in good shape for today. This is the beautiful backing fabric.

That's what I'm binding it with, and it's looking really nice against that piano key border. It's currently about half finished so I'm happy with that. Linking up with Kathy and the slow stitchers who are joining her today...M

My Need For Speed

You know me, I rarely work on one project at a time, often motivated by the last thing I pass in the sewing room or see on my TO DO list, and often by the need to feel that progress is able to be made more quickly somewhere else. Well, here is proof positive that I am consistent.

To break up my date with the pincushion in assembling the Miss P blocks (so close!) I started another Quilts for Survivors project. I'd been mulling this one for a while as an experiment for how to use this cute autumn-themed print with funky little turkeys, 

pumpkins and leaves,

and a nattily dressed squirrel. I'm calling it Turkey Trot.

It's fairly simple but I think it does a good job of showing off the fabrics. I raided my 2.5" remnants and also cut several additional 2.5" squares - many of which are remnants from the Falling Leaves charity quilt - for scrappy 16-patch blocks. 

Once I had pairs sewn together I set out sets of 8 so that I would be sure to get the colour distribution that I wanted, and then it was easy to work through the pile.

And then I framed 4.5" squares of my larger print with a tiny polka dot in coordinating colours. Very fun, I must say.

The framed blocks came together very quickly and the 16-patch blocks followed a few days later. I am loving the combination of prints - very autumnal, which is timely as our weather has suddenly turned cooler. 

It's not together quite yet but it's now time to return to my pins and finish getting Miss P together....M