Christmas Quilts.

Woohoo, SewCalGal's Christmas Quilt Show is open, so here are my entries.

This first quilt could be considered a shameless plug for my book, Pick Four!

It is one I designed for the book and was made and quilted by my friends Lis and Drew.  Almost every woman would love to be given diamonds as a present, but I also had a wish for a red and gold Christmas quilt, so I called this design Diamonds for Christmas.

 This close up shows the gorgeous quilting that Lis did, using a gold thread.

The other quilt I want to show is this one, called Christmas Wreaths, which I made during our 2011 Christmas Quiltalong days.  As soon as I saw this design (called Over and Under) in Scrap Basket Sensations, by Kim Bracket I  imagined it done in red.  I had hoped to have it quilted before the show, but that has not happened, so I'll show it as a flimsy.  Hopefully if you come back in a couple of weeks I'll have it quilted, bound and displayed on a chair.

I hope you are enjoying all the wonderful quilts that will be on show, thank you for visiting, and thanks too to SewCalGal for organising the show and to the generous sponsors who have donated some great prizes. Don't forget to visit SewCalGal here to see the details of how you could win a prize just by looking at quilts, voting for your favourite, etc.

Christmas Quilt Show

... yes, it's that time again.  Tomorrow sees the start of SewCalGal's annual Christmas Quilt Show.  The show is not a competition, and any one can enter quilts of any size (even those you haven't had time to make yet but have designed in EQ6 or EQ7).

Be warned though, there will be loads of great quilts to look at, and you will not get much else done while the show's on.  (Hmm, wonder how I know that?)  Although the show is a competition, there are prizes to be won.

So, I hope to see you at the show some time next week.  To get there, click on the button on my sidebar.

Happy ...

... Thanksgiving to all my American friends.

One day last week ...

... J and F came over for a playday, and just look at what they did:

F set to work making coasters, and I love the fabrics she chose.

J started this table topper, which she finished off at home.

She must have enjoyed making it, cos she's started another one.








As well as becoming a brilliant quiltmaker my the way, J also bakes fantastic cakes, and we enjoyed a wonderful coffee cake this time, sorry, it's all gone so no photos of that!

They both also wanted to say thanks so much to the people who generously sent some markers for them to try.  They will be playing with those and have promised to report back through my blog soon.

I may have been quiet ....

... but I've certainly been busy.

Look what I've done to my snowmen.

Then I made a Christmas wreath.

And as if that wasn't enough, I did this too.

Oops, you're not ...

... mind readers, are you?  Your crystal ball may be a bit cloudy.

Do you remember that at the end of last Saturday's Christmas QAL I suggested that I could set up a Flickr thing or we could all post on our own blogs showing everything we've done, finished or not (mainly "not" for me), and I'll just set up another Linky in my blog so we can all sign up and go visiting.


Well, as Hazel pointed out, not everyone has a Flickr account, and also someone suggested it might be good to hold this Parade on the 2nd Saturday in December, (when we would have had a QAL if we were having one in December).  So, it seems that a Linky Party on Saturday 10 December would be good.  See you all there, or rather, see you all here on your way to the party.

Puzzle solution and winner ...

... I did say that the puzzle I set for Saturday's QAL might be slightly more difficult than others, and it seems I was right.  There were only 5 correct entries who worked out that the coded message was

See You All in 2012 I hope.

The blocks (all from EQ7), were
Spinning Star, Economy block, Economy block = See
Yankee Puzzle, "O", Uneven Nine patch = You
Art Square, Lady of the Lake, Lady of the Lake = All
Irish Chain, Nine Patch = In
2012, Irish Chain = 2012  I
Hovering Hawks, "O", Pinwheel, Economy Square = Hope

and no 4 is Hazel, 

who will be receiving a small gift from me for being such a clever-clogs.

Her Majesty ...

... Princess Dot, packed her spotted handkerchief and left yesterday.

Mr Fixit & I are going to miss her, but the Nomads are very happy to have her in their new home with them.

Christmas QAL - Post 8

Now, just for fun, here's a message for you.

(I did warn you last month that I had had a fiendishly difficult clever idea for a competition.)  All you have to do is take the initial letter of the name of each block, and that will spell out my message.  Once you've solved it, just email the message to me and I will draw a winner on Tuesday, who will receive a small prize.

Christmas QAL - Post 7

I've been thinking!  Shall I set up a Flickr thing so that we can all post pictures of our Scatty Christmas Stars quilts (doesn't matter if they're not finished yet) and all the other things we've all made during this year's QAL days?

The other idea would be for us all to do one post where we show everything we've done, finished or not (and it'll be mostly "not" in my case), and I'll just set another Linky in my blog so we can all sign up and go visiting.

I thought it might be fun to try and do this, say next week, before everyone really gets too busy.  What do you all think?  Good idea?  Bad idea?  Prefer one option over the other?  Please let me know.

Christmas QAL - Post 6

Did I ever tell you one of my best memories of Christmas?

 One year, when the kids were about 5 and 3, we had gone visiting on Christmas Eve. It was quite late (about 8pm) and dark when we headed home in the car. We got to a pedestrian crossing about a mile from home, and we had to stop to let someone cross the road. Who was that someone?

It was Father Christmas, all dressed up in his red suit and boots, carrying his sack of toys! The kids could not believe their eyes. I wish I'd had a camera with me.

Then they panicked and wanted Daddy to drive home really fast so they could get into bed before he came, otherwise, they knew he wouldn't leave them any presents!

I am sure that never before have two children gone to bed so willingly on Christmas Eve.

Christmas QAL - Post 5

I think this is just fantastic.  I hope you enjoy it too.

Christmas QAL - Post 4

I finally made a decision, I am going to turn my snowmen into a quilt.

I don't seem to have got very far today do I?

I won't be doing any more to it today as it's now evening here in the UK, and it's almost time for Strictly Come Dancing, so I am going to do some handwork in front of the TV this evening.

Oh, and here is the Lancashire Hotpot.  Several people have asked what it it.  It's lamb, carrotts, onions, mushrooms and potatoes in a rosemary gravy, cooked for a looooong time on a low heat.

It's yummy.

Christmas QAL - Post 3

OK, once I'd sorted out all the domestic stuff (including 2 loads of washing for the Nomads, who may have moved into their new home, but they haven't got their washing machine plumbed in yet), I was ready.  All I had to do was decide which of these 5 projects to work on first.

Or maybe I should finish this?

Of course, I had wanted to set Big Bertha up to quilt this, but since Princess Dot is still in residence, I can't do that.

I also wanted to finish this, but the same comment applies

Nor could I quilt any of these.  So I wonder what found myself doing?








Don't forget to sign up on Linky on the Christmas QAL page, so we all know who's at the party and we can go visiting each other.

Christmas QAL - Post 2

 Before I draw up the final timetable, is there any one else out there who would like to host the Christmas Quiltalong for one day during 2012?  I still have a couple of months free, so if you would like to be our hostess-with-the-mostest for a day, please would you email me at sue.abrey@gmail.com ?  The format of the day will be entirely up to you and it's not at all hard work (believe that if you will!) but it is a lot of fun.

Christmas QAL - Post 1

Yes, it's party time.  The last QAL of 2011.  Keep coming back for lots of fun, and don't forget to sign in to Mr Linky, which is on the Christmas QAL tab at the top of the blog.

I'm off to put a Lancashire Hotpot in the oven for the day, then I'll be back.

It's nearly Saturday ...

... and what does that mean ?

Well, here's a clue.

Got it?

No?





OK, here's another clue:


Got it yet?
Yep, it's the last Christmas Quiltalong of 2011.
See you here on Saturday.

Haven't I been quiet?

This time last week my 3 friends and I were all together, chatting, eating, laughing, but the one thing we weren't doing was taking photos. Not one of us thought to take any cos we were too busy chatting, eating and laughing. The weekend went much too fast, and it seemed very, very quiet when they all went home. I spent a lazy couple of days doing a lot of nothing after they left. 

Then, it was time for Mr & Mrs Nomad to move into their new house. The problem was, Mr Nomad was working away this week, and won't be back until tomorrow. Luckily, they have some very good (and very strong) friends on hand to move all the furniture in. I supervised! I can tell you, I now know for sure that I am old. All that supervising (OK I did drive a car which they kept loading up with "stuff", from here to there more than a few times) over a few days, is tiring. I hope I don't have to see another packing box, ever!

So that's why I've been quiet, but don't worry, normal service will be resumed soon.