Oh What Fun...!

We're headed off to spend the day doing Christmas baking but since I consider this the official launch to my holiday season I thought I'd show you the finished Log Cabin Christmas placemats. They seemed particularly appropriate to post today because I've lined them with a red that has snippets of the song Jingle Bells scattered across it, along with some bells and holly.

It's a great fabric, more garnet than bright red, which is what I tend to prefer, and it nicely suits as a backing. I used a variegated blue/green thread to quilt them.

They are bound with a green on green leafy fabric that I've had for ages and also love. I thought I had tons of it and was planning to bind the Log Cabin potholders with it as well but I guess it's time for Plan B as I only have a small little strip of it left.

Never knew I needed Christmas placemats but I've got them now, and the nice part is that they have the Official Cookie Tester's seal of approval. Oh ya, and they are finished before midnight Christmas Eve....M

Almost There

Slow and steady has been the pace for this one but it's paying off. I've got the centre panel done and just need to finish off a few more stars before I sew it all together.

There's lots of different fabrics in the centre panel - some holiday prints and some not - and it's just fun to look at. I really love how it has come together - the combination of the reds, greens and yellows are a happy centrepiece for all those wonderful little 4" stars. And the little bit of white & cream thrown in makes it feel 'snowy' too (is that a word?).

It's finally starting to look like its name, Stars All Around.

I'm trying to get as many different reds into the stars as possible for a really patchwork/scrappy feel and have made a few of the stars using a couple of reds too, just to mix it up.

And it's been fun adding in a few interesting background fabrics too. I think this red and green dot might have been from Fig Tree (surprise, surprise!). I'd love to have more of it but these are the remnants from my red & green Flying Geese quilt. I'll enjoy them that much more knowing that there's no more to be had....M

Required Reading

We're ramping up for our annual Christmas Cookie Bakeoff this Saturday and look what arrived in the mail - Bon Appetit's Christmas edition, with a section devoted to cookies. While the cover didn't really say 'Christmas' to me, it did say 'cookies', so I took a quick peek.

It's not the prettiest spread - not sure if they were attempting to make it look like something from Instagram (have clear, bright images gone the way of the DoDo?), but it did have a good refresher section on how to mix, roll, freeze, slice and decorate. These Roasted Almond Thumbprints on the left looked yummy - they fell into the 'anyone can bake cookies (even non-bakers)' category.

Savoury Rosemary and Toasted Caraway Shortbreads caught my eye too and I think that I might have to give them a try.

Then there was this page with painted Sugar Cookies. Not to my liking for sure, but it does have a certain graphic quilt pattern sensibility, doesn't it?

I've done the run to the grocery store for supplies but didn't have all my recipes out to see what it was that I needed so I'd better regroup in the next day or two.









We got our first big snowfall of the season overnight and woke to this beautiful sight so I just had to turn the lights on while it was still dark. It should be nice and festive for our day of baking; time to download some carols to the iPod....M

Starstruck

It's been busy lately so I haven't had much time to stitch, but every now and then I get another of the little 4-inch stars cut and put together. Now there's a pile of 12 and I need 24, so I'll just keep plugging away.
















They are all done in reds with cream backgrounds and will look great alongside the centre panel. I thought that I had a pic of the panel to show you but I guess I just imagined that - next time. It's finished and I'm really happy with how it turned out.

I won't show you all 12 of the stars but I will show you a few just so you get the idea.

Some are more Christmassy than others...

















Love the green dots on this one.

Each one is different but they are all really sweet....M