Moving from Thanks to Advent

      As I put away some of the fall Thanksgiving décor and prepared for Christmas decorating, I thought it was good timing to put the Thanksgiving holiday just before the Christmas season. It is a good transition of remembering all for which we have to be thankful to preparing for the celebration of the birth of Jesus at Christmas.

We enjoyed beautiful weather here for Thanksgiving Day and I was blessed to enjoy it with a couple of friends and one son. I have much to be thankful for. My leg is healing well and I have been able to spend time at the sewing machine and cutting mat. No quilting yet.

     I worked on Jewel Box Star blocks. 14 blocks are finished and more 4 patches have been pieced.

I plan to make 80 blocks for an 8 by 10 setting twin size quilt. I pulled squares from my nickel stash for all the HST units needed.

The block was the 2018 leader/ender challenge block by Bonnie Hunter. You can find her free pattern here.

    The weather continues to be cool and lovely. I cut units for step 3 of the Seeing StarsSew Along and now the quarter square triangle units are finished.

     I am enjoying my cacti blooms in my garden window. Three colors all blooming at once is beautiful.

     As we move toward Christmas, I continue to be thankful for my many blessings and look forward to spending time with family and friends. Hopefully there will also be time to enjoy some sewing and quilting without stressing on finishing projects.

Wishing you all the joy of the wonderful holiday season.

No Sewing This Week

      A week ago Tuesday I had a partial knee replacement. Before my surgery I planned to do some handwork if I could not use the sewing machine.  Some time ago I started a second crazy quilt project that stalled.  However, I could not get motivated to do any handwork. The only thing I have to share is a top pieced before surgery.  As I was cleaning and sorting scraps, I pulled together some leftovers from a couple of quilts and coordinating scraps. A few were orphan blocks from a 2010 quilt. This is the resulting pieced scrappy top.

I have plenty of other scraps and more orphan blocks which I hope to sort and use. Hope we all can find inspiration to use some scraps to make something.

Enjoy the cooler temperatures and enjoy some time sewing and quilting.

Just in Time for Halloween

    I finished the Halloween table runner 

and it was put into use the day before Halloween. 

At least it will be available for future years to decorate.  Here are a couple of close ups of the blocks.  

My GDs close the designs from a couple of different designers.  The wild cat is part of a free project from FoxChapelPublishing (You do have to sign up with an email address) and selected parts from Marjory A Peck’s “Spooky Hallows” quilt.   I edited and planned the layout.  All block designs were made using fusible applique and stitched down with the quilting. 

   

     A few years ago I used printed panels and made these 2 placemats. 

I recently decided to make a couple more with leftover motifs from the panels.  My GDs planned their blocks. 

Now these 2 are ready to be sandwiched and finished. 

The GDs had fun with the neighbors last night.

Enjoy the cooler temperatures and enjoy some time sewing and quilting.

I'm linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict

and Alycia Quilts.