Christmas Countdown! Day Twelve

Merry Christmas Eve!
Christmas Tree Quilt by Back Porch Press
completed 2000/measures 36" x 44"

The Wish Quilt 
designed by Bronwyn Hayes/Red Brolly
completed 2010/measures 58" square

 My Christmas Wishes  for You:

Someone to hug...

Time to do the things you enjoy...

...a happy and healthy home filled with laughter...

...and anything else you may wish for!
Happy Holidays my friends!!

 Whew! I don't know about you, but I am exhausted!!
I'm taking a little blogging vacation between Christmas and New Year's--see you next year!

Christmas Countdown! Day Eleven

We're getting close to the end now! 

I hope you have all your decorating, shopping, baking, and wrapping finished and you are able to relax and enjoy being with family and friends or even just a quiet evening with a cup of tea (or other preferred refreshment), enjoying the fruits of your labors!

Since we are counting down the days until Christmas,
I had to include my Temecula 12 Days of Christmas Quilt.
finished 2013/measures 19.5 x 23"
So clever making the number of pieces in the blocks coordinate with the twelve days!

I had to hand quilt this little cutie!
You can find the instructions for this quilt on the sidebar of the Temecula Quilt Company blog.
12 Days of Christmas HERE

And, of course I had to include the latest Temecula Quilt Company Christmas quilt:

Countdown to Christmas 
finished 2013/measures 31.5 x 39.5
This pattern is also available on the Temecula Quilt Company blog.
"Countdown to Christmas" HERE.
I didn't think I would get this one completed this year, 
but:
 SURPRISE!!

Quilted, bound and washed!

I used my clam-shell ruler on this quilt.

Clam Shell Quilting--easy with the ruler, but a bit tedious!

For the first time, I used this batting that Jo Morton swears by for all her quilts.
It's very thin and light and drapes nicely.
After washing, it crinkles up the quilt for an antique look.The batting came from JoAnn Fabrics online-I would definitely use it again.

Labeled too!
I bet you thought: egad! There's that Thimbleberries holly toile again!!!
Nope--this one's from Clothworks!

 One more day to go!

Christmas Countdown! Day Ten

Woolly Day on Moosebay!

12" round woolly mat by Renee Plains of Liberty Star Designs.
I display my tiniest feather tree on this one. 

Love the little snow men faces.
I used a tweedy wool for the background that kind of looks like a night sky. 

This penny mat is included in the same pattern as the little mat above.
It measures 14.5" sort of round.

Variegated red/green thread used to sew the pennies down.
I guess you can see I used the same wool background peeking out from behind the pennies.

A few more little woolly things. 

The holly block is from an old Kansas City Star pattern.
Measures 8.5" x 16.5"
I love this design and made this wool mat to show an alternate application of the patterns when they were our Stitch Therapy project in 2012. 

The pennies on the tongues were especially fun to add.

We are Family pattern. Measures 3.25" x 10"
This tiny punch-needle mat is glued to the wool backing that I cut out to resemble tongues.

A little wool mitten on Osnaburg with a very primitive binding....
not sure where the pattern/idea came from because it's really old!
Measures 7" x 8.25"

This is my own design. I wanted to use a beautiful piece of hand dyed wool that I had in my stash.
O! Mistletoe! measures 16" across.

Mistletoe: a symbol of love, marriage and peace.

Christmas Countdown! Day Nine

Table Runner Day! Can we ever have enough of them? 

Probably not, since they are so fun to make and mostly because they're easy to get finished? 

The Big Easy, four patch mat, and a quilt as you go runner.

The Big Easy by Pieced Tree was the perfect pattern to show off this cute fabric. 
Measures 47.5" from point to point and is 12.5" wide.

These were just some four patches I put together from a charm square exchange. 
Easy peasy! Hand quilted--a rare thing these days!
Measures 16.5" x 20.5"

Striped and scrappy bindings.

I originally made this one as a shop model.
It was my first (and only) quilt as you go project and pretty fun and fast to make.
 It coordinates perfectly with my Winter Wonderland quilt,
so I can leave it out until June here in Minnesota.
Just kidding--maybe April. 

I love the little hollies on the back.
I don't remember the pattern name, but it's big-17" x 47"

I also have this red and green plaid table cloth that I cross-stitched at the corner
(and one of many border print embellished towels-fast and super easy!).

This motif had a companion design that I had planned to stitch on the opposite corner.
Never happened. 

 
I hope your stocking will be filled with good things!

Christmas Countdown! Day Eight

Gingerbread! 

I don't really like it all that much, but I love gingerbread men. 

I'm told that before I learned to read, I had memorized the Gingerbread Man book and would pretend to read it to anyone that would listen.

Run, run, run, as fast as you can...you can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!
Famous last words, Mr. Gingerbread Man.....

It's kind of a horror story really...snip!...snap!...there goes the gingerbread man...yikes!

"Ginger Boys" an Indygo Juction pattern made in 2000.
Measures 30" x 37"

I used buttons from my grandma's button jar for the eyes and  Osnaburg as the background fabric.
 I loved how the blocks were simple nine patches using one partial snowball to make the head. 

This embroidery is also included in the Ginger Boys pattern--Tea and Gingerbread.
It measures 19" x 25.5" made in 2005
I did the embroidery on an old Osnaburg table cloth that I had picked up at a garage sale. 

Both of these little cuties were designed by Cheri Saffiote for Indygo Junction.

You can check out her blog HERE

There's also a cute little pillow included in the pattern.

I love their little faces--don't you just want to eat them up!?!
Snip! Snap!

Christmas Countdown! Day Seven

When I first started embroidering blocks for my Winter Wonderland quilt, I knew I would be using a blue floss. The first block I worked on was the Snow Angel just because it was my favorite block.

 I used what I guess would be called a "counrtry" blue, and before I finished the block I realized that it wouldn't be the right color for my quilt. I ended up using cobalt blue and was much happier with the end results. 

A few years ago, Country Fabrics in Brainerd had a small quilt challenge. It was the perfect opportunity to use my "test" block from Winter Wonderland. I framed the block with little snowball blocks and a snowflake border.

Little stars and crystals in the outer border and finished with a stripe binding.
Store customers voted on the quilts and I won a shop gift certificate!

Completed 2010--measures 21.5" x 24.5"
This is one of my favorite little quilts even if it did start out as a "mistake"!

Another wintry piece I've made is The First Snow designed by Pam Curo of Cottontales.
Pam has a quilt shop, Piecemaker's, that she runs with her parents Ed and Mary in Hackensack 
(about 30 minutes north of my home).
They vend at a lot of the big quilt shows, so you may have met them!

Love that chubby little chickadee!
Made with wool felt--measures 14" across.
I belonged to an applique group at Piecemaker's when Pam designed this mat.
We were the test group and the first to make this cute little mat.

Christmas Countdown! Day Six

 Winter Wonderland by Crabapple Hill Design Studio.
This was completed in 2008 just in time to hang in our local quilt show. It measures 64" x 71.5".

Doesn't everyone love this pattern? The original pattern is done in red, but you know I"m a blue person!
It just seems to me that winter is blue aka COLD!
We did this quilt one year as a Stitch Therapy project.
I was a lot of fun to see the different versions. 

Meg's artwork is so adorable and cute.
There are hundreds of cobalt colored Swarovski hot-fix crystals on the quilt.
Instead of French Knots on the snowflakes, I substituted the tiny crystals. 

I used iridescent thread to quilt some snowflakes in the border. 

If you have the pattern, you know there is a "bonus" block that Meg suggests you put wherever you please.
Since this little snowman is on a sled, he slid off the center into the border!

I don't usually put this much effort into my labels, but Winter Wonderland needed a special one.