Merry Christmas

The Christmas trees are up, the house is decorated, the new Christmas quilt is hung on the wall in the dining room, and this afternoon I am wrapping gifts. We are really looking forward to dinner with family tomorrow evening and celebrating Christmas Eve.

I hope you will be enjoying time with your family and friends, and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

A Christmas Quilt

This Christmas quilt is from a pattern called Berry Wreath published in the the Nov/Dec 2011 issue of Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting. I changed the design of the leaves on the wreaths to make my version slightly different from the original.  The quilt top was finished before Christmas last year but I never did find the time to quilt it. 

This year I am ready to get the quilting done and hang it on the wall in the dinning room for the holiday season.

To make pin basting easy I put large sheet of cardboard over the dining room table and secured the quilt backing and batting to the cardboard with big binder clips.  Then, with the quilt on top of that, I can pin right through the layers without worrying about damaging the table top underneath.

To quilt this I am using embroidery motifs from an OESD design pack called Continuous Line Christmas.

The designs are stitching out really nice. I am using King Tut 40wt quilting thread with a matching color Aurifil 50wt in the bobbin and after figuring out that a slight tension adjustment was needed I am not having any more thread breaks.

Granny Square Blocks

I am making progress on these blocks.  Just a few more to finish and I will add the sashing (yellow fabric) and border (green fabric).

More Granny Squares

I've completed a few more granny squares.  This is small progress because another 25 blocks are needed to  make the quilt I have in mind.  Its a good thing this is a long weekend so I will have lots of time for sewing...

and some time to crochet.  I bought this pretty white and pink cotton yarn and made a quick little dish cloth last night.  My family will all be getting crocheted dish cloths for Christmas this year ;-)

No sewing today

Instead, a wonderful afternoon at a friend's cottage.....thanks Nancy!

Granny Squares

Lately I've seen posts from other quilting bloggers who are making granny square blocks so I thought it would be fun to make some too.  I'm using a pattern called "Confetti Cake" from The Pattern Basket

These are the fabrics I selected from my stash to make the quilt.....

and here are the first two blocks I finished this morning.

My Quilting Room

I haven't been doing much sewing lately.  I've been spending my spare time painting two unfinished pieces of furniture - a bookcase and a small cabinet. I've had them for ages but never got around to painting them until now.

A couple of posts back I showed you my sewing room, so I thought you might also like to see where I quilt.  Set up in the basement I have a Bernina quilt frame with my Bernina 830 sewing machine on the carriage.

There is actually quite a bit of natural light coming in through those windows on a sunny afternoon

On the two bottom shelves of the now green bookcase I've put my finished quilt tops that are waiting to go on the frame.

The TV corner is set up for my hubby who likes to join me downstairs when I'm quilting.

 The newly painted white cabinet holds my collection of quilt magazines and books.

On the frame is a quilt  I made several years ago from a pattern by The Vintage Spool.  I haven't started quilting it yet but I will post photos of  progress once I get started.

New Pincushion

This lovely pincushion pattern is the design of Margot Languedoc of the The Pattern Basket.  They are so cute and easy to make, I couldn't resist making two!

I love them, but....

this is what my sewing room really looks like on a Saturday afternoon.

Sewing Room Makeover

I haven’t been a very good blogger over the past few months.  Things have been busy around our house....the garden needed work, the house got a new roof and all the upstairs rooms got crown molding and a fresh coat of paint.  One of the most exciting, but time consuming, projects was a makeover for my sewing room.  Gone are the dark green and beige walls and a couple of old pieces of furniture. Now my room is lighter and brighter and it feels like a whole new space. Here are a few photos to give you a tour.

Bloggers' Quilt Festival Spring 2012

I am very happy to once again be participating in Bloggers' Quilt Festival hosted by Amy's Creative Side.  This time around I am sharing my "Sarah Ann" quilt (named after my daughter). 

This is not a new quilt.  I designed and made this quilt eight years ago choosing scraps in groups of three matching fabrics for each of the individual blocks, then randomly sewed the blocks together without worrying about colour placement.  That was not so easy for me  - I tend to plan and organized even my scrappiest quilts.

"Sarah Ann" is one of my favourites quilts and it hangs on the wall in our family room

Thanks Amy for hosting this great event.  Click on the button to visit all the other entries in Bloggers' Quilt Festival Spring 2012.

another quilt quilted

Quilting is done and this quilt is ready for binding.


I quilted an all over design (a panto from Urban Elementz) which turned out really nice.

Next on the frame will be this quilt which is a pattern from a several years ago by The Vintage Spool.  My plan is to quilt a feather border, matching feather wreaths in the plain blocks and a stipple background.

Ready for Quilting

Finally pieced together, this quilt is off my design wall and ready to go on the frame.

Quilting Finish 4

My pretty little hearts quilt is quilted and off the frame. Tonight I'm putting on the binding and then I think this quilt will look perfect on the wall in our guest room.

Hearts and Bows pattern is by Judy Smith, published in "Romantic Quilts" from Australian Patchwork & Quilting Magazine (2004).

New Fabric

Here's what came for me in the mail yesterday - a beautiful bundle of fat quarters from my sister Margot Languedoc of The Pattern Basket.  This is her new fabric line called Butterfields and you can see it here on her blog.  I will be busy this weekend deciding what to make with this gorgeous fabric (maybe something with bunnies).

I think this fabric is my favourite.....

Well, maybe this one.....

Oh, nevermind, I love them all - thanks Margot!