Christmassy stuff :)

I'm nowhere near as prolific as others when it comes to making Christmas gifts but that might be because it took me 12 hours this week to make one advent calendar! One down (being collected in an hour) and one to go (giving to Jessica and her sisters tomorrow) ... Last minute Jen strikes again :)

These really are lovely to make, though there's a lot of fiddling about (and burnt fingertips!) ironing all the pockets. The panel is made by Makower and the instructions are very easy to follow. Just add batting, backing fabric and binding ... a mini quilt, really:

I used a gold thread to topstitch the pockets:

The back is a linen fabric I've had in my stash for ages - felt good to use it up and it matches:

And last night, I finished the top of my niece's Christmas Throw (thanks dear Lorna for the comment on what to call my 'thingy'!):

I am ready to start the next calendar:

I have some help today:

Linking up with Amanda Jean @ Crazy Mom Quilts and Sarah @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict:

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

3 finishes, a WIP and a new start ...

Happy weekend!

Why stop at one teddy bear baby quilt when you can make another? Having made the blue one for baby Matthew, last weekend I started on a pink one from these fabrics:

 

This was made for Jacki; our families lived next door to each other in Skelmersdale, Lancashire in the 1970s. We were very close back then, we'd go off on camping holidays a couple of times a year, our Mums and Dads were great friends and Jacki's sister Mandy was my first best mate! We were also part of a dance troup trained by my Mum and their Mum, Aunty Brenda. Here we all are in (I think) 1973/4. That's me in the bottom row (with the end of my arrow on Mandy and Jacki in the centre with the end of her arrow on my older sister, Debbi):

 

When I was aged 7, our family moved to Wales and we still met up for camping holidays and visited for a few years but, sadly, over time we lost touch :( until the end of last year when, out of the blue, Aunty Brenda rang my Mum and through Facebook, I'm back in contact with Mandy and Jacki ... got to love social networks, hey?

So here's the quilt I made this week for Jacki, she's thrilled with it:

 

Love making these teddy bear quilts - I could seriously make baby quilts all day long, couldn't you? My other two finishes are the Christmas Tree mug rug for Pam at work. Made from scraps and a penguin fat quarter, I free motion quilted some stars and loops and straight line appliqued the Christmas tree, star and tinsel. It really didn't take very long to do. I even hand sewed the back of the binding but then, that is my favourite part of quilting:

 

The binding fabric for both of these came from my little binding basket. This is where all my leftovers go until I reuse them:

And the advent calendar made out of a Makower Christmas panel. This was a fun project to sew - the instructions were very clear (half the battle when doing anything for the first time) and this one's actually for us! I have two more to make which I'll be gifting to friends with children:

 

My WIP is a Moda charm square lap quilt for my deputy at work, who's going to be off sick for a few weeks :( started on Wednesday, here's where I'm up to:

 

 

And this weekend, I'm starting on my niece's table runner and mats from this bundle of gorgeousness:

 

LOVE LOVE LOVE my hobby! What are you up to this week? I'll pop over and take a look as well as drooling overall the beautiful things shared at Amanda Jean's Finish it up Friday and Sarah's Confessions of a Fabric Addict:

Christmas stuff and other WIPs :)

I'm loving my quilting the last few weeks. Unusually for me, I have a few things on the go but some are nearly finished so I'm not getting too stressy about it. My biggest problem? I keep adding to my list! Take tonight after dinner, I've started on a new lap quilt for one colleague and a large mug rug for another and they weren't even ideas in my head, never mind written down on a list until 6pm!

Mandy, my loyal deputy, is going to be off work for a few weeks having had an operation on her foot. It's only been 3 days and I miss her already :(  She is so active, hates daytime TV and will be going stir crazy before the first week's convalescing is up! I'm going to visit her during the next week or two so thought I'd make her a little lap quilt out of fabric in my stash - she'll appreciate that :) 

I made her a tote bag last year and she loved the fabric I used - a Moda Lumiere de Noël charm pack and I had another one on the shelf so thought of a pattern that would use all 42 squares and 2 x 1/2 yards of contrasting light and dark fabrics:

I laid out all the squares first so I knew I'd like the layout: 

Then I just put an alternate light and dark 2 1/2" x 5" strip to be sewn on the right hand side and a contrasting 2 1/2" x 7" strip to be sewn on the bottom. So easy! Two rows done, five to go ... at this rate, it'll be finished by the weekend! 

As long as I don't get distracted ... again. I was going to call it a night, remembered I'd promised Pam at work a mug rug and made a start on it. Pam LOVES Christmas - seriously loves it ... all the tinsel and lights :) She even leaves (some) decorations up all year around (bless her!) so what better than a Christmas tree on penguin fabric!?

Still got to appliqué it, baste, quilt and bind it but think this will be another quickie. And I've nearly finished my first advent calendar, just got to bury some knots and hand sew the binding:

Imagine what I'd get done if every day was the weekend ... SIGH ... looking forward to seeing what everyone else has been up to over at Lee's link up: 

You made me 'do a Gwyneth' !!

Yes, you lovely followers you, when I woke up yesterday morning and immediately grabbed my iPad (as you do!) and read all your wonderful comments on Friday's post about my quilting and blogging, I must confess I ... large GULP ... got a little teary :'-)

It woke DH up so I read him some of your comments and then, being the drama queen I am, I did a bit of this:

With my own, "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for xxx and I also want to thank xxx so much for their help and support"... it made us both laugh ... you probably had to be there but take my word for it ... it was funny! Thank you x

And so, drum roll, please ... who is the lucky winner of the Christmas FQs: 

It's: 

Congratulations dear Lorna @ Sew Fresh Quilts who left me this sweeeeeeet comment:

Oh, Jennifer you are a fabby quilting blogger and we love you! Congratulations on your 200th post! That is exciting! Love your house blocks pants bag. Regarding the quilting across and bumping up..... I wish I had an answer for that one. But I am getting pretty good at burying knots!

Thank you for the opportunity to win those festive fat quarters! I have been on a Christmas project kick and would sew love to use those on a table runner or stocking. Did you know there are only 74 days left until Christmas?

Isn't she a darling? 

And, as promised, I have spent a lot of time sewing over the weekend! After a quick trip into Rochester to buy some batting and a little bit of fabric, I made a start on a baby boy quilt for my friend Laura at work, who has given birth to Matthew - pleased to say Mummy and baby both doing well. Inspired by the new fat quarter I bought, (bottom left), I pulled all the other fabric from my stash: 

It wouldn't be me if I chose something easy peasy! Also, why keep it simple and follow the pattern exactly when you can shake it up, add inches and have to work it all out because you want one bigger teddy bear rather than four small ones?!

It's actually been lovely to work on and here's a WIP photo: 

And, just because I could, I made a start on this Makower Advent Calendar (bought the panels weeks ago): 

I've had the best weekend, hope you enjoyed yours too :)