Christmas Quilting....

This is the last of my quilting 'jobs' for the year.....

... and it's perfect for this time of year...

 oh my gosh aren't these cute faces?????

This is Toni from The Red Boot Quilt Company newest Christmas Design....

adorable

I pin my quilts and I have a lovely view outside - lots of natural light..

a lovely silvery metallic thread for loops and stars after going around the edge of the applique with a monofilament invisible thread....

... I love the texture of a quilted quilt...

... my preference is custom quilting... going around the shapes and then filling in the background.... I feel it can show off the applique pictures which is of course the main focus of the quilt....

This Christmas quilt is already in Toni's shop - I love it....

Toni has a couple of Christmas freebies ... of course I had to give them a go...

These are the cutest little reindeer ornaments..... I made them up using my home made felt (from woolen blankets and clothing)

of course I couldn't stop at one!!!

The other one this year is mug rugz..... which I love.  I decided to whip these up for me and my friends who sew together regularly on a Tuesday... so we each have one to display and use when we get together....

I chose raw edge applique this time,, gives it a bit of a scribbly outline look which I wanted.

I actually used the raw edge sewing as the quilting too ....

It gives both an outline and the little bit of dimension too.....

Just visit Toni and go to the Freebie page to find these....  

I notice quite a few designers give out freebies at this time of year.... which is a wonderful way of saying thank you to us.

 Some of them have had complaints about it!!! Pfffftttt.... that's a bit ungrateful...  

It's easy to download a freebie - but it's worth taking that little bit of time to drop a line and say thanks....

Then share pictures and links for the designers, follow them on any social media you can... It gets their word out and you are the first to know when there is a new design (or a freebie!)  It's just our way of saying thank you to them.

Since I'm telling you about Toni's lovely Christmas things I'll show you one of her designs that I am making up for a young man

This is Wild Things from Toni's book Happy Quilts....

I'll be starting the quilting on this today

Righto, Gotto Go - I need coffee first!

An afternoon out....

Last weekend we had a really fun special afternoon tea.  

A friend of Michelle's (Robyn) was kind and energetic enough to coordinate the remaking of Michelles lovely Christmas quilt that got stolen and we met for a hand over...

Now the quilt has been needleturn appliqued and stitched, then hand quilted by people all over the world and country.  Blocks were sewn overseas and sent back and the quilt travelled many miles so as many people as possible who wanted to could participate.  All done sneaky so Michelle didn't know anything about it ....

Here is the group of us before Michelle came in... it was quite a 'bloggers' meet though of course there were plenty of non bloggers too.... perhaps you recognise some of us?

Robyn, who coordinated it all is the one holding the beautiful box with the quilt in it...

... she was a little bit emotional about it!!!

... not the original quilt with all her own hard work but I think it is ultra special for different reasons...

I didn't take too many pictures.... and I'm pretty sure you have seen a lot of different ones around blogland.... 

... this little group of us are quite international, interstate....

What fun sewing on a collaborative project such as this... 

I pulled out a UFO this week to work on.....  a table runner that I stitched a few years ago.  I don't even remember the name of the pattern and it has been sent to me by another blogger.  Once I had stitched it and cut the borders I passed the pattern on....

I got as far as sewing the borders on ready for quilting.  (the original pattern had patched blocks for the borders)

... I have kitted it up in a bag with some wadding and backing and fabric for the binding ..... I will keep it for next year but at least some progress has been made!

The runner pattern also had little stitcheries to be made into door hangers.  I didn't do as many log cabin rows and have instead made them into tree ornaments....

... used up a few Christmas scraps ...

... so that's a UFO with progress made .... and 4 little UFO's finished!!! 

Righto, Gotto Go - more UFO's and more ornaments to sew....

Secret Santa ......

Friday night sewing group, a lovely bunch of friends, had a sewing time/Christmas party/secret santa time last week....

We all took yummy snacks to share (that was my Santa hats that melted and fell apart) and a small gift....

I found a pretty little sugar bowl and magnetic pad ..... and a fat quarter of Christmas fabric....

... but I turned the sugar bowl into a mini sewing kit.....

- made a pincushion in the top and stuffed a bunch of useful stuff inside the bowl....

... and all wrapped up in the fat quarter to look like a Christmas pudding! and added a hand made ornament

.... and there was a parcel with my name on it.... 

- it's hard to get a clear picture but there are these two really fun fabrics with a mexican feel.  I do love lizards so they are just right and lovely and bright....

- also a charm and earrings - 

I'm thinking a bag?

There was another lovely pincushion gift but mine needed a little nip and tuck so I will show you after it's plastic surgery is completed......

Meanwhile, back at home I continue with Christmas decorations... these lovely little reindeer are from a pattern by Molly and Mama... 

I only recently got to know about Lauren and her very cute patterns - they are 50% off (PDF patterns) at the moment.  Have a pop by and look at her work - you won't be disappointed.

Lauren is a local Toowoomba girl and is going to be one of the guests at next years Stitchers Day out at The Quilters Angel, I'm looking forward to seeing what she designs for us.

Righto, Gotto Go.... I've still got a few more decorations to finish off (they are actually UFO's that have waited a few years!!)

Sleigh bells ringing......

Santa's sleigh swung by here yesterday...... bringing a parcel almost from the North Pole - from Carin in Sweden....  Thanks Carin.....xx

This was organised through the SSCS overseas swap organised by Chookyblue.  Such a fun swap.  Thanks Chookyblue....xx

The smaller parcel was clearly labelled that I could open it right away so of course I did and inside was the sweetest handmade Christmas stocking ornament.... I love it.  Thanks Carin,

On Sunday I met up with a few bloggers .... including my friend Susan who hand delivered a sweet little angel ornament.  Susan annually makes lovely little angels and I have been lucky enough to exchange ornies with her for a few years now....

Isn't she sweet?  Thanks Susan....xx

... of course angels are best on top of the tree...... 

I also got a non Christmas parcel from Michelle - just because and it came with another wonderful ornament.... a wee gingerbread house..... too sweet

(in the parcel is an Anni Downs card pattern and some of her lovely fabric and a cute little Christmas tree button)  Michelle knows I am an Anni fan.....  Thanks Michelle xx

... well of course the ornaments had to go on the tree, expecially now there are 2 parcels under it....

It's going to be very hard to keep these wrapped for so long!!! haha

(PS I will get a bigger tree - I love hanging up my growing collection of handmade ornaments)

On my last post I mentioned my easy peasy yummy cheese biscuits and I've had a few requests to share the recipe.......

My mum used to make these and I have always enjoyed them.  

Cheese Biscuits

2 cups crushed cheese and onion crisps (I sometimes use salt and vinegar)

100g butter

1 1/2 cups grated strong cheddar cheese

1 1/2 cups flour

pinch salt, pepper, dried mustard and paprika ( I like cayenne pepper too)

Mix all together using your hands to knead the butter in.  It should be a nice softish dough.  Roll into balls and place on a baking tray.  Press down with a fork and bake at 180 for 15 minutes until golden brown.  (do watch as burnt cheese taste is not great)

And I am pleased to say I have caught up on my Splendid Sampler blocks.....

I even did the new one yesterday.....

Righto, Gotto Go..... some quilting calls and I want to get some done before it gets really hot... heatwave going on here ...

I give up......

Being 'that' time of year there are parties and this week I duly did my bit of baking...

First some yummy crunchy cheese biscuits a bit more golden than I hoped....

... then a bunch of mini cupcakes (and a few big ones to leave at home for Hubz)

Icing is easy with the squeezie bag she said (DD) ......  till the end shoots off and there is a giant bleached turd shaped mess over the cupcakes....

... so after cleaning it all up and starting again I finally got my lovely santa hat cup cakes all ready to take out to the Friday night stitching Christmas party.....

a hot night and a bump in the road ...... 

not impressed!

Several of the girls were still kind enough to eat one.....   

so should I give up on the baking?????

This week my first Christmas swap parcel arrived for the 12 days of Christmas FHFS ..... obviously it needed a tree to go under....

... it's a handmade tree.....

... but I haven't given up on catching up on the Splendid Sampler blocks and I have got another bunch done....

... there are a few more that I have done too which means I have caught up (except for bonus blocks) and ready for tomorrows new one! woohoo....

Righto, Gotto Go... the sewing room needs cleaning up after that marathon block stitching event!

Busy week.....

This week I have been busy sewing lots of stuff .. things I have been wanting to do of my own...

I finished this cute set of decorations..... 

...and put the borders on the Wild Things..... and made the binding for it....

(more stripey binding!)

I got out my little vintage Elna, which has been service and we are now playing nicely together....

Us Tuesday girls got together, all of us with our vintage sewing machines and worked on Splendid Sampler blocks....

Lyn forgot her fabric so she kindly did one of the foundation piecing blocks (not my favourite technique) for me.... hers is the one with the 0 and X 's - thanks Lyn

There is still a long way to go with catching up but I am pleased with the progress so far this week....

Righto, Gotto Go... it's officially Summer and we have warnings for a heatwave,  it's December too and that means Christmas parties so I have some baking to do ... and I want to do some more blocks aswell.....