SewCalGal's Christmas Quilt Show

This is my entry to the 2011 Christmas Quilt Show which you will find here: http://sewcalgal.blogspot.com/2011/11/2011-christmas-quilt-show-welcome.html

Darlene of SewCalGal does a wonderful job organizing this event.  The prizes are many and desirable, so thank you to Darlene and the sponsors.

My entry is the Christmas Wreath Quilt I made as part of a mystery qal run by Eric Homemade Ezine.  http://erikhomemade.typepad.com/erik_homemade/





I love the design of this quilt, but I also love that I used crochet to enhance the design by adding crocheted stars to the wreath. 

And I added buttons, decorative machine stitching, and simple fmq. 

I hope you enjoy the Christmas Quilt Show and visit the many bloggers who post an entry.

Thank you for stopping by.

God Bless!

Pretty Finishes and Lovely Wins

I thought I would visit my blog today since I've ignored it shamefully. 

I have finished both the blue Santa table cover and the sleigh runner.  I kept the quilting very simple, just stitching in the ditch or outlining stitches.  Sometimes I like the puffiness of a quilt when the quilting isn't overdone, and sometimes I just don't want to FMQ. 

One sleigh has a white heart and the other a red heart. 

I used the patchwork fabric for the backing, but of course the stitches aren't in the ditch there.  I won this fabric last year.

The table cover has a striped back.

During Moda Fabrics Designers Blog Hop last month I won a fabric bundle from French General.  I love Kaari Marie's sense of color and design. 

The bag contains scraps.  I'll definitely enjoy using them.  Thank you, French General.

I understand Moda is having another blog hop in December or soon after.

I also won a fabric bundle during the Henry Glass Designer Blog Hop.  Jacquelynne of The Noble Wife picked my name to win her prize. 

The fabric has a Christmas theme, and that makes me very happy.  Two patterns were included. 

Before winning I was a follower of The Noble Wife blog because it is like entering a fairy tale.  The images on the fabric give you an idea of her artistic style.  Gentle and pretty.  Thank you, Jacquelynne.

On the 28th of November, SewCalGal's Christmas Quilt Show begins.  Viewing all of the entries will be fun and inspiring.

God Bless You. 

Christmas QAL November - 3rd

I made the quilt sandwich for the table cover but am not ready to quilt it.  Maybe tomorrow.  I picked up a crochet project to work on.  It's another lapghan to donate.

It's a simple double crochet cluster that I put together.  Since the hospital wants 40 inch lapghans and I can't find patterns that size I'm coming up with my own.

Thanks, Sue.  I did accomplish much today, although my photos don't support that contention. 

God Bless and have a great weekend.





Christmas QAL November - 2nd

I have the sleighs appliqued and am trying out fabric for the rest of the runner.  I think I'm going with this patchwork fabric.  Casual but pretty.

I have to wash off the stabilizer so I don't think I'll make much more progress on this for now. 

I think my sleigh has possibilities and will probably make other projects with it.  I need to practise applique.  One thing that helped today was I discovered an applique foot in my sewing machine's kit.  Love using it because it's clear so visibility is good.



Christmas Quilt Along - November - 1st

Sue of Quilt Times is hosting today's qal http://www.quilttimes.blogspot.com , and it's our last for this year.  That's why I wanted to work with Christmas fabrics and images.  I began yesterday so that I could get complete the futzing part and get on with the real work.  Will you be surprized if I told you it took me almost an hour just to pick out the fabric from stash? 

I have wanted to make a sleigh applique table runner for a while now, so a few weeks ago while looking for  designs for cross-stitching I spied an image I liked and copied it on paper.  Then yesterday I enlarged it, re-drew, and finally got it somewhat to what I wanted.

 I have the second sleigh to tweek a bit.

It's cute, isn't it?

I also had a panel and decided to use it for a table cover.  I sewed on the border, so all this needs is sandwich and quilting.  Unfortunately, I didn't choose the backing yet, so I may be MIA while that's done.

Those are my projects so far.  Time to get to work on them.

Veterans Day

 I admired the way the Quilty Pleasures blog is remembering veterans today and want to follow their lead on my blog.  These are the initials of veterans in my life.

AEP, my dad; MEP, by brother; EP, my brother-in-law; JO, TO, JP, AO, all uncles; AL, a cousin;  JL, a young man who gave his life in Viet Nam; VB, a young woman in my parish; and many more. 

1941 nine-patch from Eleanor Burns' Victory Quilts

I know there was no victory after WWI only the end of war, but today we at least remember all the vets who have served in any war. 

God Bless Them.



America The Beautiful, and Sampler Blocks

I have all of the borders on the America the Beautiful quilt. 

Now I'm putting it away until next year, or at least until I have time to quilt it carefully.

I made two blocks for two qal's I've been following.  Janet Wickell of about.com gave us the Churn Dash block for our Scrap Happy Quilt.  She wanted the eleventh block to be an easy one for us, and it is easy and is also one of my favorite classic blocks.

The second block in the Quilt in a Day Treasure Chest Quilt on facebook is the Honey Bee block.  Isn't that a sweet name for a block. 

I had a bunch of blogland issues that I was going to rant about, but have decided to keep them to myself.  Nobody likes a whiner.  But, I do wish the QIAD challenge wasn't a voting one.  I'm disappointed that it is but I'm going to continue with the qal because I love the block patterns and love that they are traditional blocks but ones I haven't made yet.  Eleanor Burns commented on facebook that every finish is a cause to celebrate, and I totally agree.  It's that feeling at the end of the project that is so satisfying, and keeps me going back for more.  Is that addiction or what? :)

SewCalGal's Christmas Quilt Show is coming up November 28th.  Have you got your entry ready? 

Have a wonderful weekend.  Extra hour of sleep or whatever tonight.

God Bless You.