Merry Christmas ... and a last minute present :)

I did tidy up on Sunday and it spurred me on to make an extra last minute gift for dear niece (yes, that's my niece who has more of my Quilty creations than anyone else - including me!) I have made her a coffee table quilt out of some fun Christmas fabrics I had in my stash.

A couple of hours to piece, an hour to wiggly line quilt it and a couple of hours on the binding:

She'll love it! 

Also, I had previously made the 144 HSTs to make a quilt for my frolleague ... inspired by this photo of her rug:

And had such fun placing them - I really did think about each and every one and where it should go (I would like to be more random but, like many of my quilty friends, I just can't let it go!) 

I made the first row - 4x4 - only two more to go - can't wait to finish this up:

And then there was no stopping me - I made some Reindeer napkins too:

Nick's Mum and sister will be here in half an hour; we're having a light bite to eat (in the kitchen - got to save the big table for tomorrow!) then Mum is staying over until Boxing Day. Tomorrow, there will be 7 of us for Christmas Day ... can't wait to have our dear family with us for our first Christmas in our new home:

Linking up with a delightful quilter and friend, the lovely Lorna:

Merry Christmas, I hope you have a most wonderful day, however you are spending it. Blessings to you all xx

WIP Christmas Thingy ... :)

Not sure what to call my new WIP ... it's going to be a 50" x 50" (ish) table cloth / runner / mat /  lap quilt for dear niece. I bought the fabric a couple of weeks ago and it's adorable to sew with:

Decided on a star in a star (think it's called a Rising Star block?) I'm just making it as a one block design with all four fabrics as a starting centrepiece:

Well, at least I was until I put the first star pieces next to the centre and changed it to just the outside star two fabrics:

So far, this is 20" x 20" so the next star will be a bit bigger! Excited to see this coming together so quickly and can't wait to back it with the snowmen fabric! 

By Sunday, I have to make two more of these advent calendars ... yikes! And am still plodding away on my 'Quilt for a Soldier':

Dear Santa, I really have been a good person this year, please PLEASE can I have an extra day a week to make all of these Quilty things????

Linking up with the lovely Lee @ Freshly Pieced

Special Saturday :)

I'm a very lucky lady! We've been Judi's friend for over 15 years, she introduced me and DH and we have shared many happy times over the years. She has three beautiful daughters and yesterday, Jessica (daughter #2) and I spent the day sewing. This day was part of Jess's birthday present, though a bit late as her birthday was actually in May! I've been busy, Jess, sorreeeeeeee :)

We were both very excited when Judi dropped her off at 1030 and couldn't wait to get started. I wouldn't say Jess is indecisive but her reply to most of my questions during the day was, 'I don't mind' - bless her! So, after discussing all the options on what we could make in a day, Jess went for a Christmas mat. And this is when I know why I love the blogging world because on Friday I had seen this post from Jo @ Jo's Country Junction. She had posted this cute Snowmen table runner:

Isn't it gorgeous? And, how generous, Jo has shared her pattern for free! Jess agreed this would be fun to make. Despite the tons little bit of stash in my sewing room, we just HAD to go shopping! There was an altruistic reason for this too - my LQS, Yarnia, was having a fundraising day for Project Linus and I wanted to go along and show my support. They were selling some beautiful quilts - well done, ladies! Some more indecision from Jess meant we came home with two background fabrics!

Once I had gone through some safety bits, I set her up practising sewing a 1/4" on some scraps. Quilting, as I explained, is creatively draining so the body needs extra sugar:

Look at her first ever sewing on a sewing machine - a perfect 1/4" seam - what a clever girl / what a great teacher! (thus was born our mantra for the day!) 

Snowman or snowgirl? We got a decision! Jess picked all the fabrics then drew the hat, arms, scarf and nose onto paper and traced them onto bondaweb. Here they are ready to be appliqued:

I couldn't tempt her to do the appliqué stitches but, after burying 78 knots on Friday, I was more than happy to let her do that bit! 

Ready for quilting, I set her up to make a label:

Every step of the way, I explained what we were doing and encouraged her to have a go ... she really is a bright girl and picked stuff up very quickly. When it came to hand sewing the binding down, she looked at me curiously and asked, 'Why don't you use the machine to do it?' I explained how you can do it on the machine but I like to hand sew but that it does take a bit of time so found her another project - making a cushion. 

Remember she's Miss Indecisive 2013? I had sewn 1/3 of the binding in the 20 minutes - yes 20 - she took to decide which charm squares to use and what arrangement she wanted them in! We did laugh - she couldn't believe it had taken her that long! We took a photo to remind her of the order as she was sewing:

And then she set about sewing them together. This was a bonus ... she was keeping busy whilst I cracked on with the binding. I helped pin but Jess sewed the whole cushion top together and, whilst I was sewing on the label, she was sewing the seams on the envelope backing and ... drum roll, please ... after 5 hours of sewing and laughing and creating a wonderful memory, we had made a Christmas Mat (15" x 15") AND a cushion! 

Jess called her mat, 'My very late Snowgirl' in remembrance of how long it had taken for us to get together - cheeky! 

Thank you, Jessica for a wonderful day :)