Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to my fellow bloggers.  

May your celebrations be full of good cheer, good food and good friends.  I hope that 2014 brings you good health and plenty of stitching fun!

(Jumbleberry Santas, a May Blossom pattern by Simone Gooding)

 Happy quilting, Sue SA.

The modern quilt

Finally I finished the modern quilt, started in a class with Lyn Uphill (Riverlea Quilts) earlier this year.  

 The journey has been an interesting one.  I started with colours and prints that I would usually never buy, but felt were more appropriate for the theme.  I had made all the blocks in class, but was at a loss as to how to best put them together.  Lisa came to the rescue at our sewing weekend away in May helping me with the layout design and the top was finished.

The top then had to wait a few months before I was able to tackle the quilting. And in the process I learned that I CAN free motion quilt.  Well enough to finish the quilt and happily tackle other projects with a fresh eye and new approach.  Thank you modern quilt, I learned a great deal along the way!

Baking and binding

I have been busy for the past week doing all the usual Christmas things, baking, buying and wrapping presents, attending social functions and binding!

 I thought it was worthwhile channelling my inner Nana, by using my great grandmother's rolling pin and the pastry recipe my mother in law gave me, which came from her mother in law.

As I was terribly worried that my first real attempt at making my own pastry for mince pies would be a flop.  But obviously good tools and recipe paid off, as they were yummy...but then DH announced he doesn't actually like mince pies and silly muggins has been making them every year we have been married!  

Don't worry I am sure my Dad will help me eat them!

I have a birthday this month, so have a get together with a school friend who has one too and swap pressies.  This was my gift...it helps that her mother has taken up patchwork!  Cannot wait to make something gorgeous with this layer cake after Christmas, I have a pattern already picked out.

More binding completed and some more FMQ on a little "not too Christmas"  table mat, inspired by a picture over HERE (at Snippets of a Quilter blog) and actual the pattern which I altered over HERE at Shabby Fabrics!  The binding pile is now reduced to one quilt, so I am off to play the final few episodes of Downton Abbey on DVD and hopefully finish the binding on the modern quilt. 

Happy quilting, Sue SA.

Quilters Christmas Tree

I had to show you this gorgeous Christmas tree! 

I stole this photo from the Freebies for Crafters blog HERE and they got the tutorial on how make this tree HERE from Home Talk.

Happy quilting, Sue SA.

Quick, hurry its nearly Christmas!

I am on a mission to finish the last of the projects in my sewing room before Christmas.  Saturday I sat and finished the last of the FMQ on my modern quilt.  Only to discover this ...

when I was 3/4 way through trimming the edges!  So there was some huffing, puffing and unpicking!  It is all done now and I am just hand stitching the binding down at my leisure.

The cute elf stitchery I completed while on holidays in Fiji just needed some FMQ on the border and the background and is now complete, hanging loops, label and all, ready to hang now...if I can find a spare hook!

And finally the Autumn table runner that has been on my wish list all year has been completed.  I tried to FMQ around the twisters in a variegated thread and it was harder then it looked.  However it is all done and ready for autumn...early!  I wont say that I am overly pleased, it is nice but not my favorite project.  Mainly because I found this Autumn issue of the French magazine Quilt Mania after I started and I am now busting to make one of the stunning projects from it!

However if I am going to do that I might just need to brush up on my applique skills quick.  Although they had a pattern for cute pieced pumpkins : )  And in the background is the cute paper pieced moose (Margaret Rolfe pattern), which I pretend are reindeer's and have come out for their annual December airing!

The quilt group I belong to had their Christmas break up last week and this was my lovely Secret Santa gift, five fat quarters, plus the one cute bright fat quarter at the bottom - that we all got from the group.

Right got to go, as this was the progress picture of binding awaiting me on Saturday and I am only half way through tackling it!  Oh and I have Christmas baking planned for today, pictures of that later!

Happy quilting Sue SA.

 

Dresden Plate show and tell

The Dresden Plate quilt was made in a class with Heather Ford, using a jelly roll. If you live in Adelaide, Heather teaches classes at Tricias Discount Fabrics, Edwardstown.    

  To say that I am pleased is an understatement...I am strutting around like a proud mother, showing off this baby! The quilt is been given away at Christmas to my husbands niece and it will be hard to part with.

Elaine Kennedy, my friend and long arm quilter, used a cute border pattern along the edge. 

 And dropped a square design over each Dresden Plate, which is a bit hard to see...

but it then formed a secondary pattern in the negative space, that I absolutely love.

 

Although my quilting skills still have room for improvement, I was very pleased with my FMQ efforts on this charity quilt top.  I quilted around most of the big flowers in the border and then stippled in the centre.  My accuracy has improved and because it is a large lap/SB topper I was able to keep going without getting jammed up and having to stop and start all the time.  So there were very few ends to finish off, which was nice! Mum hand stitched half the binding down for me while over visiting, so that helped to get this cutie off my to do list even quicker!

Happy quilting, Sue SA.

Before the power went out...

I received a gorgeous gift from Susan at Thimble stitch in the mail recently...this cute zipper pull.  Of course I needed a NEW cute purse to put it on and so I made one!  I followed all Susan's blog posts (cos she is smart and puts labels on her posts unlike me!) until I found the link she had provided to the free pattern tutorial for the pouch she found here at Noodle-head.

And once you have made one (and worked out your mistakes!) and discovered they are such fun you need to make more, because these are going to be great teacher gifts!  There was a small moment of panic when DH text me to say his plane had landed and the kids and I were all still in our PJ's!  So I had to take time out to wash, dress and drive to the airport!  Luckily DH was content to unpack while I finished them off!

The next day though we woke up without power :(  thank goodness for ipads and that DH insisted on a gas stove top, so coffee and blogging was still possible.  And stitching, well hand work was in order and

so why not make a button garland for my mini Christmas tree!

 So now the Christmas decorations are up, the gardening up to speed and the non electrical housework (yep I washed windows!) is done (amazing what you can achieve when there is no power) I can play today on my sewing machine, right got to go, plenty of UFO's to finish! Happy quilting, Sue SA.