Monthly Archives: December 2006

Merry Christmas!

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Merry Christmas to all the loyal readers of this blog!

The tree is up and surrounded by presents, the house is decorated, the breakfast has been made (I make a make-ahead breakfast called Christmas AM Wife Saver), and the baking has been taken care of (Thanks Mom! ). There is nothing to do now but wait for morning.

We went to the Christmas Eve service at our church and true to tradition, after we got back home, while everyone is still wearing their good clothes, we took our traditional Christmas pictures. We usually take the pictures in front of the Christmas tree–however, everyone has grown up now and we all dwarf the tree when we stand in front of it. So the next best backdrop is one of my Christmas quilts in the dining room.

Dusty’s Stocking

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This is the latest quilty thing that I have been working on. I dug out my tried and true stocking pattern and directions last night. This is a stocking for my daughter’s boyfriend. He will be joining us Christmas morning so he needs his own stocking.

Like every year–my list of things that I want to accomplish before Christmas usually exceeds the time I have available. This was the last thing on my list and I thought I had run out of time. I considered buying a stocking but after going out looking Friday night and seeing what was available, I decided that I would find the time to make one. I can’t believe what junk the stores are selling.

This stocking is particularly suited for the recipient as he considers himself somewhat of a cowboy. My husband says it is even “cowboy sized” as it is plenty big enough for stuffing full of all kinds of things. It even has a picture of the “red guy” that is usually banned from my house. Those of you who understand my preference for snowmen over Santa will understand that comment. *LOL*

Paw Approved

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My mother commissioned me to make a table topper for her sister for Christmas. We mailed off the table topper at the beginning of this month so that it would make it to its destination in plenty of time for Christmas. When my aunt called to say that the parcel had arrived, my mother told her to go ahead and open it and enjoy it. She did.

What we suspected would happen, in fact did happen. The topper is also being enjoyed by my aunt’s roommate, Misty. This is a picture of Misty sitting on the table topper.

I think all of us who quilt are not surprised to see Misty attracted to this quilt. After all, when I was sewing the binding on this one, my cat was wanting to lay on it.

I would say this quilt has definitely been “paw approved”!

Pin Cushions for Tuesday Night Quilters

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These are the pin cushions that I made for the members of the Tuesday Night Quilters’ group. Back in November when we were working on our hexagon table toppers, I noticed that not everyone had nice thin pins that are suitable for quilt piecing. I decided that I would give everyone a package of Clover Quilting Pins for Christmas. It didn’t seem right to give pins without a pin cushion to go with them so I made each person their own pin cushion. This is a picture of the completed pin cushions.


If you are interested in making your own pin cushion, the directions can be found by following this link:

http://whipup.net/2006/03/01/stickin-it-to-the-pincushion/

The only tips that I would add to these instructions are:

1. An old CD makes the perfect sized circle template for this project.

2. I traced my circle onto a square of quilting cotton and then I sandwiched my cotton square with my wool square and sewed the two pieces together – right sides together following the pencil line. After I was finished sewing on the pencil line that I drew for my circle, I trimmed the seam allowance down to 1/4″ away from the sewn line. It is much easier to sew your circle shape before it is cut out and then trim it down to size than to try to keep two circle shapes together as you sew your circles maintaining a 1/4″ seam allowance.

More Christmas Quilts

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These are two quilts that are currently hanging in my entrance.

This first quilt is a small wall hanging that I made in 1999. This quilt is called, “Snowmen Melt Your Heart.”

This quilt is made from Shoe Fly blocks and was finished in 2002. Both quilts share the same snowman print fabric for their borders.