Happy New Years

Happy New Year's Friends! I wonder what this year holds in store for us?  I can only hope great blessings, small burdens and loving friends to see you through all the days of the year.

So what is on the agenda for this years quilting projects?  I have been doing some thinking on this and come up with the following:

1. quilt for master bedroom
2. finish the Ballantyne quilt
3. use up the bucket of bali scraps
4. finish 3 McKenna Ryan quilts
5. African quilt


And that is it. 
I know a small list but I think it will keep me busy enough I think.

Christmas in July

So its the 25th of July and before you know it is gonna be Christmas.  So keeping that in mind I wanted to show you what I have been up to.  During my Christmas leave ( yes back in Dec and Jan) I spent the time sewing Christmas stuff.  I got some great deals on various Christmas fabrics and some patterns to fire up the creative juices and away I went. 
I decided that many of my friends will be getting tree skirts for their presents.  I also have been making runners and place mats as well and have a few stockings and pillow cases on the list too. 
Without further ado here are my Christmas projects ( or at least some)!

The table square just started out as a large Dresden that I was playing around with to use up old Christmas fabric.  The photo doesn't do it justice - showing off the contrast of creams, whites, golds and fossil fern red with the Christmas print. 

Dresden table square

 I also purchases some strips from Connecting Threads, that I decided to make into these really easy place mats.  Arlene the long arm quilter, did a fantastic job with an all over loop patterns. Using a meter of fabric  and batting, she puts the place mats on top of that on her frame and away she goes.  I find its also a good way to use up some fabric in the stash with out have to piece backs. 

scrappy place mat green edge

scrappy place mat brown edge

 I also purchased this sleigh riding print, a LONG TIME AGO that I decided to use up.  Also practicing my flying geese I added a strip up the side to make it a bit more interesting.

sleigh ride place mat

 As you can see I still had fabric left over from the Dresden above and used it to make some small tree skirts, 30" across.  My parents use a small tree so this will be perfect for them or even a senior in an apartment or nursing home with only a tiny tree.  Tree skirt # 2 has the lovely floral Christmas print as its backing.  I just love that fabric. 

tree skirt 1

tree skirt 2

 So that is my Christmas in July so far. I have a stocking that I need to unearth and complete, along with a few more tree skirts to complete.  We have three trees so far and I have to get at least one done for us before the end of the summer.  Well, what about you?  How is your planning for Christmas going? 

Sliding into the New Year

Well I don't know about anyone else, but at our house we slid into the New Year on a wave of weddings, spa visits and nightly quilting marathons.  Christmas leave was not as relaxing as I had hoped, having to go into work to perform some year end weddings.  It was almost as if I didn't want to get too relaxed in case I couldn't rev myself up again to do these tasks before jumping into the rest of Christmas leave. I found that I was pretty tired working up to Christmas. 

Christmas table center piece using Dresden Plates

a block designed by Oh Fransson for do.Good Stitches. 

Its been a busy time quilting.  I have completed a few tops as well as some cute clutches, coasters and napkins. I even have finished two Christmas presents for later this year!!!! I know, I'm a keener.  But I thought if I made this really useful gift for everyone in different fabrics, then it would make my gift giving a bit easier.  Not to mention by # 12 I should be able to do it in my sleep! 

I have intentionally been trying to whittle down the scrap pile along with the fat quarter bunch  and am making some progress.  So far I have used up 6 meters in the first week of Jan.  If I can keep on using about that every few weeks, then I will be able to move some fabric into the closet.  This block designed by Oh Fransson on the do.Good Stitches on Flickr for January and is a great way to use scraps in a variety of color ways.  http://www.flickr.com/groups/dogoodstitches/discuss/72157625590791581/

If you aren't into modern quilting, you might want to give it a whirl just to say you've tried it!