Gift Bag

Every year I make a few lined gift bags to try to use up some Christmas fabric. This time I made a patchwork one to use up small pieces. I only give these bags to people who I know won't throw them in the garbage like used wrapping paper. Believe me, there are people who would do that. I like the idea of a reusable bag that won't end up in the landfill.

Christmas Placemat

Now that this has been gifted, I can post the picture. For a gift exchange, I made this Santa placemat and included some cookies and chocolates. The pattern came from the book, A Vintage Christmas, by Lori Holt. The fabric on the back is really cute, too bad I don't have any of that left. I couldnt resist showing a picture of me with Santa from about 61 or 62 yers ago. :)

Joy's UFO Completed

Linda's friend, Joy gave Linda a quilt top that she wasn't happy with. She didn't want it because the border rose up like a three-dimensional box on the edges of the quilt. Linda went ahead and removed the border, then quilted and bound the rejected UFO. After it was all finished, Linda gave it to Joy for a Christmas gift. Joy was absolutely thrilled that her (not) ugly duckling turned into a swan, thanks to Linda's expertise.

"Bloom" Quilt Is Completed

This pattern, "Bloom" came from the book, Scrap Basket Beauties by Kim Brackett. There was an impending disaster before it was finished. I took it to quilting to hand-stitch the binding. My entire water bottle spilled on the quilt in my carrying bag. Some of the colours started to bleed onto the white background fabric. I frantically blottedthe stained areas with paper towel to try to get rid of the colour leakage. That seemed to work fairly well. After it dried, I couldn't put the quilt in the washing machine yet because the binding wasn't finished being stitched. Now that it's done, I can wash it with Syntropol and colour catcher sheets.That's the problem with making a quilt with a white background, there is always the risk of the colours running. It seems to only happen to me! Other people make quilts all the time with an abundance of white in them, they don't even pre-wash their fabric like I always do. I guess they are luckier than me. The free-motion quilting is an all-over feathers design done with Isacord thread. The wide quilt backing came from Fabricvilled, I bought an entire bolt of it. It's just about used up already. :O

Sewing Machine Pad By Linda H.

Linda has been making Christmas gifts! This gift for Joanne is a pad with storage pockets to go under a sewing machine. Scissors and sewing tools can be put in the pockets for easy access. The pattern came from the Spring 2020 issue of Quilts and More, designed by Monica Solaria-Snow.

Christmas Tree Skirt By Linda H.

Linda made a tree skirt for her friend, Audrey. I think Audrey is going to love her Christmas gift! Linda is going to give it to her early so she can use it this season.

Project From 2018 Completed

I don't even know where this pattern came from. I think I saw something like it on one of the scrap quilt groups on Facebook. It turned out an odd size. 82 1'2"X 103", kind of long and skinny. Probably as a result of putting it together diagonally and not knowing when to quit adding rows. I haven't tried it out on a bed yet to see what it looks like. The pictures had to be taken outside because I had to extend the frame taller than the ceiling to accommodate the whole quilt. The wide backing fabric wasn't large enough, so a row of blocks had to be added. It's free-motion quilted with Isacord thread in an apricot colour.

Barn Quilt

Yesterday our quilting group took a class from Quilter's Palette on making barn quilts. Painting isn't one my my strong skills, but I managed to complete the project without making too much of a mess. I still need to do a few touch-ups. As along as it looks ok if you're going by on a galloping horse, then I'm happy.

Coasters By Linda H.

This is what Linda said about her coasters, "I finally finished the tiny teacup coasters after about 15 years. I left them undone because I was working with little scraps and I ran out of yellow for the last one. It is a close match but not the same. They are paper pieced." Wow, I think they turned out great!

The Stash Buster 2025 Quilt Blocks Are Assembled Into A Top

Jack the Ripper had to help me on more than a few occasions on making this project. One of the rows was turned the wrong way and I had to pick it out. Of course, it couldn't have been the end row, it was a middle row- groan! I removed it, then turned it around and sewed it to the bottom. Then, after the quilt top was completely made, I noticed that one block had black squares that were sewn in wrong. That had to be ripped out and corrected. I'm glad I noticed it before it was quilted. I don't know what kind of quilting design to do on this one yet. I'll have to let that brew for a while in my mind before it goes on the frame.

Fund Raiser Donation

Our quilting group was asked if anybody had an item they could donate to an auction to raise money for the Cancer Society. I dug out an unfinished table runner top and quilted it. This was a mystery project we did in our guild several years ago. We are going to put a minimum bid on our quilts, we don't want something to be auctioned for five dollars! That would be be heartbreaking after all the money, time and work went into making it. The other day I saw a table runner kit in a quilt shop and the price was $57. With the prices of fabric these days it's even expensive to make something small like a table runner. I hope the auction goes well and they raise a lot of money for the cause. Update: They disregarded my minimum bid and sold the table runner for peanuts. That's the last time I will donate an item to them.

October 2025 Quilting Retreat

We had a shorter retreat this time, just one evening and a day. All my Stashbuster 2025 blocks are done, I was also working on those during the spring retreat. Now I just have to finish the sashing and make the blocks into a top. The deadline to complete this stashbuster is the end of December this year, it should be possible to get it finished by then.

Cat Potholders

One of the members of the craft group that we meet with is moving away soon. I made these cat potholders for a farewell gift. Not knowing what she likes, I threw caution to the wind and used bright colours. I thought, either she is going to like them or hate them. It turned out that she did like them, much to my relief. In the past, I have made things that people were not pleased with. You can't win them all. The block pattern came from the book, "Block Magic" by Nancy Johnson-Srebro.

St John's Pavement by Linda H.

Linda made this quilt a year or two ago but I didn't receive the pictures until now. This is what Linda said about her St John's Pavement quilt, "It is my own design, based on a block in one of the Around The Block books. It just has a scrappy centre instead of a single fabric centre." Linda did a great job on this project, I would love to see it in person. :)

Double Shuffle Is Completed

This Double Shuffle pattern came from the Moonkin Stitchery channel on YouTube. I selected the five-inch squares from my bottomless Rubbermaid bin. I've been collecting and cutting that size of squares for more than a few decades. Novelty prints are added here and there to make things interesting. I'm rather fond of the blue and green colour combination. It's not affordable for me to use wide backing fabric on every quilt, so I pieced some fabrics together for this project. This will end up being a donation quilt unless somebody comes along and wants to have it.

Rustler's Leaves By Linda H.

Just in time for Autumn! This is what Linda said about her quilt, "The actual name of the quilt was Rustling Leaves. It was a free pattern n American Patchwork and Quilting by Sue Micheals of Dragonfly Fiberart. I used my precious squirrel print fabric on the back!" It looks warm and cozy, Linda did a great job, as usual. :)