A fun party

I got together with some friends recently and we exchanged our Christmas gifts -- later when we could enjoy each other's company. We had a nice brunch, and these are then lovely presents I received.

There are two kitchen towels, a spatula, wooden spoon, lotion, hot chocolate mix and Valentine fat quarters from Pam.  The cute pin cushion was made by Lynn.  The biscotti (I ate one before the picture) is from Kristi, and her daughter made the mug rug.

December 2009, I won 11 tree blocks in the Block Jack at quilt guild and knew immediately what I wanted to do with them.  It took me until September to piece them, I had them quilted 3 days before the party, and only 1 had the binding finished.  I finished the 2nd one during the gathering, then the 3rd that afternoon.  Just this week I finished the last one...for me.  If you are doing your math, I had to make an extra block to get these 4 runners done.  But, no worries, it worked up quick!

 So, I now have a lovely runner for winter time.  I love how it turned out.

Keep on sewing!

I won Blockjack Again!

I am pretty amazed...

I don't win things very often...

But I won the Blockjack blocks for December.

There are 11 blocks with these beautiful trees and red cornerstones. I really enjoyed this block, as I could see a use for it right away.



I was sitting in the meeting, imagining what I would do with the blocks, if I won them, and then they called my name. I was so excited.

Then, later, reality hit and I realized I don't have enough blocks for what I was imagining. I actually need 7 more blocks. So, now I have to rethink my idea, decide if I want to make 7 more blocks, and if so, see if I can get the same red fabric. I definitely won't have time to do it before Christmas.

However, I did work on another Christmas project today.

Last month, I bought a box of sweet rolls by Moda. I actually fell in love with the pattern that came with them. They were Christmas fabrics, and make cute stockings. So, today I made them,
and now they wait for the finishing hand work. I'm still debating whether these will be a decoration at my house, or a surprise for someone else. It is so hard to make something and give it away.

However, the one(s) I would give them away to would more than appreciate the work that went into them.

Next, back to more customer work. Plus, holiday baking, baking for DH's office, church party, etc. etc. etc.

Will I get Christmas cards mailed this year? We will see!

Halloween Quilting Fun

Blockjack for this month is supposed to be Halloween related. I really hesitated doing this one, because it was quite open-ended. We received 2 pieces of fabric and then needed to make it into a 9-inch finished block, adding our own fabric to the block. I took this at the last minute. Then, within 2 days, I finished this! I really liked the candy corn, and it wasn't very difficult to do. I did a strip set with the three colors, added fusable web, and here it is! I like it, and I hope whoever wins likes it, too.


Then, I have had a widget on the side of my blog for about a month (the inchie of the day), and have wanted to try this technique as well. One of the fabrics I have for Halloween did not make the cut for the block jack block. So, I decided to make inchies out of it. I started with 12 of the inchies, but one disappeared while in the embellishment stage. I also put pin backs on them so I can give them to my friends to wear for October and Halloween. They get to choose one tomorrow at our sewing day. I have a couple of different designs. I found that embellishment is my challenge, and I hope to get better with it over time. Special thanks to Nadine Ruggles for her fabulous instructions and the "inchie of the day" as my inspiration!

I Won!!!

I talked before about the block jack in my guild. I made one block of an Irish chain, shown above. I took it to guild meeting today and my name was drawn for the blocks. I was so excited, I whooped in delight. Now, I get to make a quilt out of the 38 blocks I won. I love these and hope they will go together without too much difficulty. I'm sure I won't get them done this week, but perhaps by fall I can get it together.