Merry Christmas

Christmas baking finished.....

Thank you The Bountiful Hunter for teaching me this recipe and solving gift-giving for ever.

 Time to give them all away

Merry Christmas all.

 

Merry Xmas

Xmas postcards sent for swap this week.  The bauble detaches to be hung from the tree.

 

More Christmas stitching……..oh no it isn't!

I live in a cul de sac, and therefore it has been very easy to get to know all of our neighbours over the years.  There had been many strange requests but this weekend's is one for the annals - " can you sew a bit of a pantomime cow for me?"*

*No animals were injured in the making of this post.

Christmas is coming...

…..so of course it is time to add a project to the already long list of things to do.
Seriously, my Christmas preparations are much simplified this year, due to several positive changes in family commitments.  I have long admired the work and teaching of Gina Ferrari, but live too far away to take advantage of her classes.  So, in an attempt to make a "non-taught version" of her Xmas wreaths, shown on her great blog,  I splashed out on some 100% wool felt from Creative Quilting, found a bit of yellow silk, got stitching furiously ( a full 200m reel of thread), found a suitable ring ( about 25cm in diameter) and this is the result.

Thank you Gina from a distance.

Merry Christmas to all our readers

Oh Tannenbaum……………

When you don't have room for a real tree, a fabric panel from Ikea can do a sterling job.  Decorated with Procion P dyed fabric baubles, foiled and then mounted on to red felt, all it needs is the pine scent.  Also, there is no risk of our dog mistaking it for a real tree, as has happened in the past.

 

 

Christmas kisses

Hope there are some waiting for you under the mistletoe.

And may all your Christmases be gingerbread coloured……

Felt, white thread, too much snow, lots of film watching, leads to…

Happy Christmas to all our readers.

Dashing through the snow…….

4cm of snow and elder son’s school is closed. 

Pond looks lovely though

At least it is an excuse to get out the Christmas cushions and start loud renditions of the song title thereon, much to children’s embarrassment.

Advent adventures

I enjoy Christmas, mostly for the family traditions and habits that it involves.  Ours started yesterday with putting up the stitched advent calendar, packing off the presents to Australia and spending more time that would seem possible finding the Christmas quilt.  The excuse was that it hadn’t been out for two years as were in Australia for Christmas last year.

  

The wonderful Gina Ferrari is attempting an advent blog, with a post every day through to Christmas – she is really superwoman.

PS if you know anyone who is a beginner quilter, I can recommend “Ultimate Quilting Bible” edited by Marie Clayton – and not only because my Christmas quilt is in it.

Merry christmas all

Feeling a little fraught here as we are off to Australia tonight, and my son announced at the last minute that he has pictures in the school art show this evening.

So what a lovely surprise to open up a parcel and find this great tree of fabric, made by my local quilting friend.

I know that the fabrics are by Fabric Freedom as they were bought at a craft fair for the Downs Association, held in the Normansfield Theatre in Teddington. Visit if you get any opprotunity, it is a beautiful space.

No blogging until 2010, as I will be on the beach. Now, fingers crossed that I will be allowed to take my minuscule needle and blunt ended scissors on the place.

Early Christmas stitching

This is the December block from the 2009 challenge on British Quilt List ( Yahoo). Very quick to do and very effective. This is appliqued and quilted at the same time. I've added a few extra bits of quilting to the trees and a few bits of bling and sequins.

Quilted with my favourite threads, floss from Empress Mills. It does separate terribly, but with a top-stitch needle and the thread spool loose in a bowl, rather than on the spindle it is worth the effort. It has the sheen of much more expensive threads, at a fraction of the price. I was introduced to this thread at a workshop a few years ago with Leslie Morgan.

I've shown the back of this one, as I am really pleased with ow my FMQ has come on this year as a result of this challenge.