Vintage Holiday 2

I haven't made a Christmas quilt for quite a few years and now I've made two in the last couple of months.  I loved making "Vintage Holiday 2", designed by Camille Roskelley (Thimble Blossoms).  It's a great scrap quilt and lots of little, favourite fabric pieces can be used.

Karen quilted it in one of my favourite designs and the backing was a very lucky find - love that "Hello Darling" fabric.

This year I wanted to avoid last-minute Christmas decorating and started clearing out the loungeroom and family room in early November.  Over the next few weeks the house was decorated and the last ornament was put up on Sunday afternoon - it's been very gradual this year.  There are a couple of new additions:  the train under the Christmas tree and the little boxes that make up the Christmas tree on the table between the two lounge chairs.

 

 

A bit of Christmas fun:

Lots Happening

I love it when parcels arrive from Sew Lux Fabrics in USA - they are always wrapped to beautifully.

These are the sashing, backing and binding fabrics for Vintage Holiday 2 - a very sweet Christmas quilt.

Karen sent a photo of the quilt on her frame yesterday - I'm picking it up tonight and will bind it over the next couple of days.

On Saturday night the stitching girls had dinner together.  Our friend Paula is going to Finland for Christmas, so it was lovely to be able to catch up with the girls before Paula left for her holiday.  I received my first Christmas present for this year - a fantastic, beautifully made cross-body bag from Karen.  Very well-chosen colours.

Our family has had a very big few days.  Monday was Mum's 90th birthday and we had a family party on Sunday.  Mum loved having her family and some very close friends all there together.

Elizabeth made the birthday cake using Mum's favourite flavours:  ginger, lemon and marmalade.

On Monday afternoon the Village where Mum lives hosted an afternoon tea for her - another lovely event, and then on Monday night Mum insisted on taking us out for dinner.  I think she needed a good rest yesterday.

There has been some decorating at my place.  These lovely pink glitter Christmas bells are to be attached to a Christmas present I'm making.

Chain -piecing is very relaxing - just mindless sewing where I don't have to think too much about what I'm doing.  "Cakewalk" is an excellent pattern for this.  I've had this FigTree fabrics Cakewalk cut out since last April and have enjoyed sewing all the squares together over the last week or so in between party preparations and Christmas decorating.

Back to Christmas sewing next week.

Ziggy's Quilt

A friend of Jenni's had a baby boy a couple of months ago and Jenni asked me to make him a quilt with the David Bowie lightning flash. I really had no idea how to go about making this quilt top and tried not to think about until Jenni reminded me two weeks ago.  She sent me a sketch of what she wanted and I felt more confident to start.

The quilt top only took a few nights to put together and Karen was able to quilt it for me the day after I dropped it off.  Picked it up yesterday afternoon and last night the binding was stitched down.

 

This year I wanted to start the Christmas decorating early as I have lots happening in December, so most days for the last two weeks I've spent an hour or so putting out Christmas stuff.  Almost finished.  Yesterday Mum and ChaCha decorated the tree - had trouble trying to keep Mum off the ladder.

Handmade with Love

Picked up "Handmade with Love" quilt from Karen on Wednesday night.  I haven't made a Christmas quilt for many years and this one was super quick to make with all the large pieces.

I love the "Rainbow Hearts" quilting design.  Will definitely use this one again.  The backing is one of my favourite Bonnie and Camille prints from their "Handmade" range - Karen has this for sale.

I took these photos of the quilt on Saturday morning - notice there are no bedside lights.

My dear friend, Lynell, turned up on Sunday morning as we had planned to go shopping for the day, and she brought my new bedside lights with her.  Lynell has been making these for most of this year.  To say I am thrilled to bits is an understatement.

 

We bought the crystal bases in Sydney a few months ago.

So very happy now that my bedroom is finished.

Last week I finished trimming the last of the hourglass blocks that make up the Scrappy Star blocks

and all the Scrappy Stars are together.  There are a few extra so I can switch the colours around if necessary.  A 5" charm square goes between each star.

ChaCha's Christmas dress is also finished.

A bit more Christmas sewing/stitching/crocheting to get on with over the next weeks.

Had a great weekend - Mum and I visited Michael and Gulli on Saturday and then Lynell, Robyn and I went on our annual Christmas trek to IKEA.  We met up with our friend Wendy and, as usual, couldn't believe how quickly the time went by.  Lovely dinner in our favourite Thai restaurant in Sutherland and then tartufo and coffee in another restaurant.

Little Star

Christmas sewing has taken over The Pink Room for the last couple of weeks.  One Scrappy Star made last week.  Might make some more this week - 37 to go.

Working on presents for my sweethearts:

and Vintage Holiday 2 blocks.  I hope the sashing fabric arrives soon so Karen can quilt it.

Had such a great weekend.  Went to Sydney to Elizabeth, Matt and ChaCha, picked up Michael and Gulliver and we spent the day at Coogee Beach and the nearby park.  The little ones love to play together and are always so excited to see each other.

Sunday afternoon I made ChaCha's Christmas dress from another pattern I've had since about 1981.

Michael, Peta and Gulliver spent Sunday at Newtown Fair - looks like Gulli really enjoyed his icecream.

Off Track

The "Handmade with Love" blocks were so quick and fun to put together.  Took me longer to decide on which fabrics to use than it did to make the blocks.

And then the layout seemed to take forever, so I had to just make some decisions and sew the quilt top together.

Finished off a little all-in-one for ChaCha (from another pattern I had used for her mum) but when I tried it on her it was too short in the body.  Took the zip out and added some ribbing.  Tried it on ChaCha the next morning and was told "Needs a zip Nanna" - 2 year olds are too clever these days :)

The new zip has been sewn in and GG is finishing off the handsewing.

Not many "Scrappy Stars" last week - enjoying the Christmas quilt blocks too much.

A friend of mine became a Grandma again a few weeks ago, so "Off Track" will be going to the new baby next time she visits him.

I've used the last of my cute washing line cotton flannel on the back - makes the quilt very snuggly.

Once "Handmade with Love" was together I still felt like making more Christmas blocks, so "Vintage Holiday 2" is well under way.  These blocks end up being ornament-shaped.  Background fabric is cut out and I'm waiting for the sashing and backing fabrics to arrive.

On Saturday The Schoolgirls and I went to see "Beautiful" - what a fabulous show!  Loved it so much.  I wanted it to start again as soon as it finished.   Mum and I went to see "Three Summers" on Sunday afternoon - such a lovely Australian movie, written and directed by Ben Elton, with  great humour, quirky characters, terrific music.

Some fabrics to add to the stack for "Medley" and "Line Dried" arrived yesterday - probably won't start "Line Dried" until next year - more Ohio Star blocks.

One more thing to crochet this year - a Christmas present for Gulliver.  His Dad sent me a link to a pattern he'd somehow come across on FaceBook and let me know that Gulliver might like an All Terrain Armored Transport (AT-AT Walker) from Star Wars.