Black Friday....

Ha! and you thought I meant shopping! LOL

Yesterday I took some time to start this wonderful wall quilt from Laurie Simpson (of Minick & Simpson fame).  She had posted a photo of her quilt on her blog and I just fell in love with it.

The pattern, called Candy Cane Bouquet, is in the current issue of Primitive Quilts (Winter 2013) and is done on a gray background.  I prefer the black background like the Peppermint Twist hooked rug done by Polly Minick - also shown in this issue.

Peppermint Twist hooked rug by Polly Minick

The candy canes are lined with fusible interfacing and machine buttonhole stitched to the background.  The frond in the background is fused and also machine buttonhole stitched.

The urn is hand appliqued.  I just love this green floral!

Next I will add the green wool fronds on either side of the urn.  I love the mix of cottons and wools together and the texture that wools adds to the piece.

The frond in the middle is cotton and is fused and machine buttonhole stitched in green.  You can see the hand buttonhole work started on the wool piece.  I am using Valdani variegated perle cotton thread.  

Here is the current issue of Primitive Quilts.  It has some great quilts in it!

Happy Holiday (Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, whatever!) Stitching!

Deb

Thank you! ..and Now It's Time for the Give-Aways!

The Quilting Gallery's Blog Hop has ended and it was so much fun!!!  I want to thank everyone that participated and who stopped by to leave a comment.  I loved reading each one and smiled as I realized we all share so many of the same traditions - baking cookies, decorating the Christmas tree with ornaments from vacations, Thanksgiving dinner, handmade gifts and ornaments.  I could go on and on - some were old family traditions and some were newly started traditions.  It really was wonderful to hear your most treasured holiday tradition.  I even made a few new friends along the way!

...And the winners are!

Sherry Von Fumetti won the Pumpkins & Pomegranates and fall fabric scraps

Charlene McCullough won the patterns Sea Gem and Tuscany Tile Fish.  (Charlene please contact me so I can mail your patterns.)

Thank you again!  This really was a lot of fun and I look forward to doing this again real soon - so please stay tuned!

For those of you in the United States, I wish you a wonderful and Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Stitching!

Deb

Giving Thanks - Quilter's Blog' Hop Party!

The Quilting Gallery is having a Blog Hop with Give-Aways and I have decided to participate!!!  The Blog Hop will start today and will run until November 26.  So join the fun and you might win some give-aways!

If you are not familiar with the Quilting Gallery, here you can meet thousands of quilters from around the world in the quilting bloggers directory.  Browse the quilt shop locator, a unique map-based directory of quilting retailers and professionals.  Find connections in the world-wide directory of quilt guilds and search for the latest in quilting books, patterns and notions in the quilters market.

They also host quilt show-n-tells and lots of freebies!

Now I'm new to this.. so bear with me!  But I hope you join the fun!

Give-Aways!

I will be giving away prizes to two lucky blog hoppers as my Thank You for participating!

The first is a beautiful pattern by Nancy Odom called Joanna's Pumpkins & Pomegranates.  Perfect for the season and perfect for all the appliquers out there!  This finished quilt measures 57 1/2" x 57 1/2".  I am also giving away this stack of fall scraps.  These are big scraps - most almost a full fat quater and one is a full fat quarter.  The polka dot piece is the smallest, but I thought it looked perfect with this group so I decided to include it.

The second give-away are two of my most popular patterns, Tuscany Tile Fish and Sea Gem.  Both are raw edge applique and pieced wall quilts.  These will appeal to the art quilters out there or anyone interested in learning how to do raw edge applique.  Once the center piece is glued together, the quilt is appliqued and quilted in one step.  Lots of fun and lots of creativity!  

How to Enter, How to Win!

Leave a comment below.  One entry per person.  Duplicate entries will be deleted.  The two winners will be randomly selected.  I will email the winners on November 27.  Good luck!

Answer the following: What is your most treasured holiday tradition that you look forward to year after year?  Is it a special gift you make every year?  A trip to see holiday decorations?  A special meal with family or friends?  Please share your traditions! 


Rockefeller Center Skating Rink

Me and my DH

One of my favorite traditions each year is going into New York city to see the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree!  We usually meet my brother and his family there and enjoy the beauty of the city all decked out for the holiday season!

Finished size: 16" x 16"

Here is my most recent holiday project!  Now I just have to quilt it!

Happy Blog Hopping!

Deb

Sunday Stitching - A New Technique!

I wanted to show you what I have been working on.  Now, as you know, when it comes to traditional applique, I am needleturn appliquer and almost always applique by hand. I am not much for machine applique - unless on a kid's quilt, art quilt, etc.  But I saw this technique and cute table topper in the current issue of BH&G American Patchwork & Quilting and thought I would give it a try just to see what it was like.

This is a pattern by Kim Diehl.  I must admit that the applique process was much quicker by machine, but the prep work was a little more labor intensive.  Once my four blocks had the bias stems machine appliqued, I joined them together into a 12 1/2" block.

Pattern pieces are traced onto and then cut out of freezer paper.  The pattern piece is placed dull side down and the seam allowance pressed onto the shiny side of the freezer paper.  

With monofilament thread in the upper part of the machine and regular thread in the bobbin, I machine appliqued with a very small zig-zag stitch around each piece.







Pattern pieces were held in place with a tiny bit of fabric glue from a glue stick.

 

Once the stitching was done, the back of the applique was cut away and the freezer paper removed.  I am not a big fan of cutting way the back of the applique, but I know a lot of quilters applique this way.

Here is the back of my block after it was pressed. 

I love using red & green non-Christmas fabrics in Christmas projects!

I am pleased with how this block turned out even though some stitching is somewhat visible even with the monofilament thread.  It was, of course, much quicker than needleturn applique.  So it is great for certain projects!

Now onto the flying geese pieced inner border!

Of course the perfect way to spend a November Sunday afternoon is wrapped in a quilt made by Mom. : - )

Happy Stitching!

Deb

Clocks Turned Back

Happy Sunday!  

Today we gained an extra hour as we turned our clocks back and returned to Eastern Standard Time (EST).  Most people think of this as an extra hour of sleep... I always think of it as an extra hour of quilting!!!  LOL

My Sweet Heart block for today.

A look at my Sweet Heart quilt thus far.  It has gotten too big to fit on the largest table in my studio.

Enjoy your Sunday sewing.  I have two baby showers this weekend, so not a lot of time spent with a needle in my hand.  But I did enjoy the extra hour I had this morning!

Hope you all had a great Halloween!

Happy Stitching

Deb