Thanksgiving Done, Now on to Christmas...

 First, you need Christmas trees. Here is my modern Christmas Tree quilt from the QAL brought to you by Christa, of Christa Quilts. It's not too late to make one and they are pretty quick to make, even when you go crazy like me and piece all the background.  Let's just say it didn't start out that way, but it evolved.

 Happily, the back is all one piece, so no piecing was needed there. This is wall hanging size in case you were wondering.

 One more shot of the trees and the quilting, which is straight lines in each row of trees, alternating between horizontal and vertical for each row.

 An early gift for me! I really needed a new one of these. I rarely carry a purse any more, so my wristlet got worn and dirty. Well, it was mostly white, so no surprise there.  This time, a dirt hiding color...brown, with a bit of red.

 It holds my iPhone and my i.d. and debit card. I can stuff a couple of dollars in there too and that's all I need to carry with me. I clip  my keys to the strap and off I go.

    One more shot of the back...isn't it lovely? Pattern is by Caroline of Trillium Designs.

 And a new pillow for the couch, not that it needs one, but I wanted to make a Christmas pillow this year. I got the idea for this one on Ellison Lane during a Christmas themed blog hop. I think all the links and tutorials are still available there if you are interested.I have one more pillow form to use and have a plan for it.

 The back is an envelope closure using this cute fabric I bought last year from Joann's on line.

 Here is a close up. I love all the little windows with Christmas scenes in them.

 This is the scene out my back window. I made a bunch of these little red birds a couple of years ago and I love hanging them on the tree, in the windows and just about everywhere. I have 18-20 of them. Yes, I got carried away.

So get your minions and get stitching! There is still lots of time to whip up some Christmas stuff. These are bath mitts for my grandsons, made from a tutorial by Amy Friend at During Quiet Time.

Let Them Eat Cake

As the storm swirls around us here, not too bad, I want to share my weekend finish with you.  Remember these?

I pieced these for the Texting While Sewing contest that Amy Friend hosted this summer.  Well, I finally quilted and bound them and I want to show you how nice they turned out.  I made them into two wall hangings.

 The tiered cake is one hanging all by itself.  I added two more borders to the original one and binding was Kona pink...can't recall the exact color.

 I pebble quilted the white background and stitched in the ditch around the cake and the stand, as well as around the borders.  I love the way the pebble quilting mimics the dots on the cake.

 The other two blocks, I paired up for this wall hanging.  I gave it the same treatment, two more borders, this time using a lighter Kona pink for the border and the binding.

 Keeping with the theme of the background quilting mimicking the cake, I did roses on this one...

and straight lines on this one.  More stitching in the ditch around the cakes, stands and borders too.

I am so pleased with how they turned out.  I hope you like them.  They are going to go live on the dining room wall at my daughter's house.  She was the one who came up with the concept originally, so they kind of need to go to her.  I can go visit them.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Texting While Sewing #3

This is my third and final entry for Amy Friend's During Quiet Time Texting While Sewing Contest.  It is number 3 in a set of blocks that will become a wall hanging.

 This one is made using Bonnie and Camille's Vintage Modern.  I had a layer cake of it (pun not intended) and thought the stripe in a gentle pink made a perfect cake.  I used the same Make Life and Sunkissed fabrics for the cake stand and the frame so that all three would look like a set when put together.

The topper of this cake is a tiny fussy cut strip of what I think look like strawberries, again from the Vintage Modern fabric layer cake.  This whole cake looks sleek and modern to me.

So in case you missed the other two, here they are again:

I want to thank Amy for this great idea she had.  This was so much fun to do and really made me work outside my comfort zone.  I loved making these.  And thanks to my daughter who helped me with the idea and the initial sketches of these cakes.  As a baker, it should have been an obvious choice, but she pointed me in the right direction.

Texting While Sewing #2

This is the second cake block I made for Amy Friend of During Quiet Time, Texting While Sewing contest.

This is actually the first one I made. 

Here is a closer look.  I like this one too.  I used a soft pink floral for the cake and the same Sweetwater Make Life print for the cake stand.  I also framed it with the same Sunkissed text fabric.  I feel like each cake got better than the one before it.

Texting While Sewing #1

Amy Friend of During Quiet Time  is hosting Texting While Sewing this week.  I love some text fabric.  I knew I wanted to play along.  Some of these are really cool.  I ended up doing three as a set.  This one is my first and most favorite.

 I used Riley Blake Ombre Dots for the cake.  I love the look of the gentle fading from layer to layer.

 The cake stand is made from Sweetwater's Make Life fabric line.  I thought it was perfect for this.

The "frame" of the picture is Sweetwater's Sunkissed line text fabric in grey and pink.  I tried to mimic the lightly drawn flowers as the topper of the cake.  As I said, this block is my favorite.  But in other posts, I will show you the other two, as this turned out to be a set of three which will be wall hangings.