Kris Kringle

As part of our quilting guild, we go out once a year for our Christmas dinner.  Every year we have to provide a gift for someone – anyone, it’s pot luck who you receive and hopefully you receive a nice gift back. 

This year’s theme was a Christmas Cracker with a value up to $15.

I actually did something quite radical really.  The dinner is in another week.  Mine has been finished for a month.  I actually GOT SOMETHING DONE IN TIME! **

I decided to make a mug rug, and a small needle/scissor keep.

It was much easier than I envisaged.  I think I’ve been doing massive quilts for so long I forgot the pleasure of doing the little things.

First of all, I made the mug rug.  I appliqued one side with a sweet cup of tea, and pieced a six inch block.

The block is actually square but the dodgy photography makes it skew-wiff.

I stitched the two together after appliqueing the cup and saucer

Then I quilted it a little, whacked a binding on it, and bob’s your uncle.  From start to finish it took me about probably two hours.  I adore the colours, don’t you?  I was going to do the whole Christmassy fabric thing but we only have those fabrics out for such a long time, I decided to give that a miss.

And the end result looks very nice, yes?

 

After the success of that little venture, I made a small scissor/needle-keep.

That was easy peasy also.  I pieced a whole stack of 1.5” squares together in the same fabric line that I made the mug rug out of.  I made them about the size I thought would work, and then quilted it all together using a nice backing fabric and a remnant of wadding.

I trimmed it all back to size and then bound it much as you would any little quilt.

I included a pocket that ran along the bottom of it, simply stitched in place.  Then a layer of wadding as my needlekeeper, and it was done!

Folded in half it measures about five inches x four inches. 

Once I had made those little lovelies, I needed to fit them into some sort of Christmas cracker.  I didn’t have a clue how to do this, and then I had a flash of brilliance.

The inside of a Pringles packet was the perfect size for my cracker. 

I collected my supplies and had a go.  A little pink ribbon and a very sweet pink teatowel as the outer casing was all I needed.

It couldn’t have been easier.  I just put my needlekeep and mug rug inside the Pringles packet, lay it in the middle of the teatowel and just rolled it up.  All I needed to do was tie the ends with a matching ribbon.

And it is done!  A lovely, not rushed, Christmas gift for one of my quilting friends.

I really hope she likes it.

Till tomorrow,

Suzie

**longtime readers will recognise this is not a normal behavioural pattern for me.

Celtic Solstice

 

Have you started your Celtic Solstice mystery quilt yet?

It went live on our Saturday morning, and I haven’t had time to even step foot in my sewing room, let alone start stitching.  I haven’t even pulled my colours, truth be told but I think I’ll be doing it in Autumny colours – greens, purples, rusts.  We’ll see what I can get together.

But I thought it would be fun if I listed a few of the blogs I can see that are also doing the quilt, and if you’re like me, you’ll want to spend ages surfing through them to see how everyone else is going. 

I hope, if you’re listed below, you’ll see it as a good thing that other quilters want to see how you’re doing.  If not, please let me know and I’ll remove you from my list.

Bonnie also has a linky party happening on Monday, so there’ll be loads more blogs to visit through her website.  But for now – have a little fun surfing.  Hopefully I’ll get into my sewing room later today and have something to show you!

 

http://fabadashery.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/bonnie-hunters-2013-mystery-quilt.html

http://quiltingismything.wordpress.com/2013/11/18/celtic-solstice-mystery-quilt/

http://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/celtic-solstice-are-you-ready-to-rumble.html

http://artbyrhodaforbes.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/celtic-solstice.html

http://dayspringquilter.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/celtic-solstice-countdown.html

http://louisaenright.com/2013/11/22/turkey-tracks-mystery-quilt-celtic-solstice/

http://imalldeckedout.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/celtic-solstice-mystery-quilt.html

http://quiltingafterdark.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/celtic-solstice-bonnie-hunter-mystery.html

http://luannsloosethreads.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/are-you-doing-2013-quiltville-mystery.html

http://quilteddelights.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/starting-celtic-solstice-mystery.html

http://thethriftyquilter.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/celtic-solstice-started-and-little.html

http://pokeytown3.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/sew-alongs.html

http://www.conniekresin.com/2013/11/daydreaming-and-quilting-dont-mix.html

http://drivingmissstacey.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/gearing-up-and-getting-ready-celtic.html

http://kristaquilts.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/friday-update.html

http://irenesquiltingcorner.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/celtic-solstice-mystery.html

http://dayspringquilter.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/and-another-finish.html

http://moderndiary.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/quiltville-mystery-quilts-parade.html

http://ros-the-quilter.blogspot.com.au/

http://madebychrissied.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/a-christmas-quilt-and-this-ones-for-me.html

http://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/celtic-solstice-are-you-ready-to-rumble.html

Suzie

Raggedy Wall Panel

Very little in the sewing department happening today, or this week to be honest.  It’s getting towards the pointy end of the year, and so much is happening.  Christmas shows seem to start earlier and earlier, we’ve already had a couple of them that we’ve had to go to and it’s not even December!  And don’t get me started on how early the Christmas decorations go up in the shops!

Still.  I’ve two little ones who are still very much into the awe of Christmas and I remember how wonderful that was, and I try very hard to ensure they are having as much fun as they can this season.  And if that means dragging them over the country side so their ballet group can perform in Christmas dances, so be it!

And as there has been so little sewing, I’ve got an oldie but a goodie to show you.  I couldn’t tell you who this designer was, but when this panel arrived at the shop – oh a good fifteen years ago, I think – I knew I had to have one for myself. 

It was such a cutie, and it came in those wonderfully rich, country colours that were so prevalent back in the nineties.  I miss them.

Bit hard to read what the panel says, but it’s all about buttons. 

 

 

I machine quilted the outside, and hand-quilted the cross hatching in the centre.  And if I do say so myself, I think it looks quite nice!

It’s never seen the light of day as a functional quilt, or wall hanging.  I have a cupboard full of things that I have never actually use.  But as I say time and time again, it’s not about the end result, it’s about the pleasure one receives whilst one is making it.  And that’s what it’s all about for me.

Later this week I hope to show you some photos of some little stitching I’ve been doing to give away.  But the computer is not being co-operative (what’s new!) and so I will wait. 

See you soon!

Suzie

Carpenter’s Wheel Cushion

I don’t know if this is something I have shown you before or not.  I had to make a Carpenter’s Wheel block for a combined charity quilt our guild was making.  I’ve always adored the Carpenter’s Wheel – it’s just challenging enough for me without making me want to tear my hair out.

I have blocks that I love, that I keep going back to and this is one that I have always adored.  I may have to make a whole quilt out of it.  Team it with thirties prints, and what better block could you have?

I hope you are enjoying your quilting time.  Life remains hectic here, but I would haven’t have it any other way.

Till tomorrow,

Suzie

Another Flimsy

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve had this sitting on my design wall for a few days now, and I’m just so pleased with it.  It brightens up my room such a lot.  I’m only going to take it down because I’m worried the bias will stretch, as it’s un-quilted. 

I am such a sucker for these thirties prints.  I can see how they would have made such a difference in cheering up depression households.

The design I think came from another blog and I am in no way claiming it was mine – but as I’m so supremely disorganised, I cannot find who the designer was.  Do you know?

Anyway.  Love it to pieces.  Lord only knows how many of these thirties quilts I have now.  Never enough!

Suzie

Pastel Stars Quilt

Hi!

Another in my ‘stuff we made whilst in the shop’ posts.

This one was a made up pattern.  We received the beautiful panel with the children on it (and it’s so familiar to me, I must have read a story book in my youth with it), and knew we had to make something up in it. 

At the same time, we received a lovely Nancy Halvorsen range of fabrics that went beautifully with the panel and we (mainly Mum) just made it up as we went along.   I used to love doing that – you’d add a bit with something you fancied, add something else on the side, and just keep going until the quilt was big enough to call finished.

It was a bit of a bugger though when you were asked ‘Do you have a pattern for that?’  And people always wanted a pattern of the shop samples we made.  Sometimes we were clever and wrote things down as we went along.  Mostly we didn’t.

But this little quilt is very sweet, and we had a lovely time making it.

I look at it now and I realise there are lots of obvious flaws in it – nothing we made in the shop was ‘our best work’, sadly.  But there were only so many hours in the day and admittedly, we did rush through things often.  We wanted to get the quilt up on the wall so we could showcase the fabrics, and we cut corners more often than we should have.

But I figure if a little girl received this, and she’d never had a quilt before, she’d probably adore it.

 

 

 

 

 

Chopped off points in the sawtooth square.  So be it.

The Nancy Halvorsen fabric was just too, too sweet.  I’ve a big bag of scraps left for ‘one day’.  There’s a lot of bags left for ‘one day’.  I hope I live to be 110.

Till tomorrow,

Suzie

Quilt Show–Part Twelve

It’s the final post, so I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing how we set up our quilt show.  We took a lot away from it for next time, and I hope we can learn how to do a bigger and better one.  Life is all about learning, isn’t it?

Till tomorrow

Suzie

Quilt Show–Part Eleven

One more post after this one and then we are done with the quilt show. 

I’ve been sewing up a storm the last few days, trying valiantly to get some UFO’s done.  Hardly going to make a dent in the pile but one can try, yes?

Till tomorrow,

Suzie