Secret Santa

Come on now...who can resist a Secret Santa Sewalong?!?!
You would have to be extraordinarily disciplined quilter with nerves of steal, and absolutely no FOMO.
If you've ever read my blog before, you know that's not me!
Temecula is gifting us another free Christmas project...what's not to love?!? 

I sewed their "Countdown to Christmas" mystery 5 years ago and it's still one of my favourite Christmas quilts. The free pattern is still available on their blog - click here.

SO... I'm digging into Christmasy scraps. The first step uses greens, browns and lights. It's not my favourite colour combination, but I like the block, and reds will be added at another step. And I do really like that these old bits and pieces that have been in the Christmas scrap box for a long time are finally finding their way into a project.

What's on your design wall today? 
Are you joining in the Temecula Christmas mystery?
Linking up to Design Wall Monday over at Small Quilts.

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party! 
Make yourself a cup of tea or coffee to enjoy while visiting the blog links of stitchers around the world. It's so inspiring to see what other people are creating with their own two hands.

I am slowly making progress on the Gail Pan "I Stitch Club" project. This is the block I finished yesterday while waiting at the urgent care clinic with my Mom. Waiting rooms are the best places to do some stitching... it's a long wait, so what better way to pass the time than to work on a hand stitching project. It's the perfect small, compact take along project. I think I have finished 17 of these little designs. You can see the first 15 here.

Today I will be tracing another embroidery pattern to stitch and maybe even getting out the winter hand quilting project since the weather is cool enough now.
What are you planning to work on today with the hand stitching community? Link up your blog post below and share your project with us.

   

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

Chocolate Windmills

Using up the scraps from the Carole's Square Dance Mystery, I made another quilt top.  It often happens to me that I get distracted by the scraps from a quilt, and sometimes even end up finishing the by-product before the first quilt is finished (case in point... the dreaded Indian Orange Peel ordeal). This time the original quilt top and the "using up the scraps" quilt top were finished in the same week.

The fabrics in this quilt are all chocolate themed (except the plain background fabric).

No matter how much you are are tempted to, don't lick it. Trust me, it doesn't taste as good as it looks!

I hope that it will soon be a finished quilt with a snuggly minky backing and ready for gift giving season.

Here are the sister quilts on the clothesline... they are from the same genetic material but put together differently!

Thank you to Carole for this fun quiltmaking adventure!

Square Dance Quilt Top

I have finished two quilt tops and am excited to get quilting them now that the cooler weather is here. 
In January Carole began a scrap mystery quilt project called Square Dance. I started sewing my blocks in February at retreat - click here to read about that. The quilt top was sewn together in July (see quilt top here) but I decided to make a little change. I replaced the half star blocks on the left side of the quilt with some 9 patch blocks, and moved the half star blocks to the top right side of the quilt. That change required some unsewing (which my sister helped me with) and rearranging of 8 blocks. I like how the full star blocks look but wish I had enough fabric to add another column of 9 patches on the right side, but I don't. That's okay.
I decided to add a border and presto, just 3 month later ... I present the modified Chocolate Square Dance quilt!

Stop by tomorrow to see the second quilt top I made from the scraps!

P.S. Carole is hosting a fun event in October called "Autumn Jubilee" over at her blog called From My Carolina Home which includes a new mystery quilt project.  She posts about everything from quilting projects, interesting books, home decor, and cooking ideas. There are many draws for wonderful prizes, so hop over and be part of her Autumn celebrations. 

Design Wall - Blockheads

Here is my Blockhead collection so far from last year's patterns. 
One applique block is missing, but is in progress and should be finished soon.
I just couldn't resist putting all the blocks on the design wall to start thinking about a possible layout. For me, it's a little too crowded and visually jarring when the blocks are placed side by side. What do you think?

How about when they are separated a bit? I think that's a little better. It's more restful and each block can be seen easier. I think this  layout will work ... simple sashing and maybe scrappy cornerstones. What do you think? Any ideas you want to throw my way?

Click here to find all these Blockhead patterns.
If you hop over to the Moda blog you can see Tammy's amazing finished Blockheads quilt. It is stunning and I love her layout idea with half the blocks on point and the other half bordered and straight set. I must remember this layout idea for one of my future quilts. 
Hop over to Small Quilts to see more Design Wall posts.

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party!
Last week we had 35 link ups! And because it was Thanksgiving weekend and Monday was a holiday here, I had time to visit everyone. It was a lovely to enjoy a pot of tea and meander through the links and study the shared photographs you take the time to post for our learning and enjoyment... pure delight! 
P.S. Jocelyn... I can't reply to Google plus for some unknown reason, but wanted you to know that I enjoyed seeing and thinking about Jiggs Dinner for Thanksgiving! The leftovers are even more tasty! YUM!

Thank you to each one of you who take the time to share your projects with us. The variety of hand work never ceases to amaze me. 
And if you are ever wondering about how many people drop by to visit... here's the info from my Inlinkz dashboard tally from the hand stitching party last Sunday... 4,714 views so far!

From Gail Pan's I Stitch Club

I had one of those long hard weeks. You know the kind, where everything goes wrong one thing after the other, and the "to-do" list just requires more energy than you have available? 

But in spite of it all I managed to finish stitching Ms Wise Owl. I adore her because in each of the locations where I had time to add a few slow stitches, I was thinking about how hard life can feel sometimes. And although Ms Owl looks a little discombobulated and overwhelmed, she still stands tall, is kind and loving to others, and remains resilient! She's still able to see the stars and stay grounded to the beauty of nature. 
I know I am projecting a lot onto this little stitchery, but she and I just bonded throughout the challenges of this week! 



Hand stitching keeps me mostly sane!

And so ... I'm asking Santa for this mug for Christmas!

What are you hand stitching this week so that you stay mostly sane?
Link up your blog post below and share your projects with us.

   

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

Scrappy Saturday

October is green month over at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. It's time to sew up our little green scraps into something useable.

I started the month making another Circle of Squares block using dark green scraps.









Here is the block collection on the design wall. It only needs one more block to make my goal of 20 blocks. What colour does it need for the last block?

Hop over to the RSC linkup to see more green scraps being used up.