Some Christmas finishes

 I finished these two placemats to match the two I made last year using Kate Spain fabric...

 And two potholders with some of same fabrics..........

 Here are the swap blocks from our Sloanie group in 2012 that I finally got into a top to hang...
but will quilt it later....just had to get it hung before Christmas!

 Some of the steps of the Bonnie Hunter mystery..........I don't have very much done so far....

The next photos are family photos and the first one I love of Kali (GGD) looking at our iTwinkle tree that changes patterns, colors, etc using the iPad.

 Kali watching the John Deere train set up on my cutting table....

 Then family on Christmas Eve.....

Happy Holidays everyone.....
I will link with crazy mom quilts and with Freemotion by the River.....

Christmas tablemat 12x12

 I finished this little tabletopper last night during halftime of the Aztec basketball game.  The game was way too exciting to do any quilting during the game.  And our Aztecs won in a thriller!

About this Christmas mat...I used four-patches that I had left over from 2011 when I made a mat that was similar but it is bigger.  The four-patches were made from charm squares.  I needed a 12x12 mat for an end table with a Christmas theme.  This could also be used as a candle mat.
The fabric is 12 days of Christmas by Kate Spain.

Closeup photo before I did the hand quilting.  The machine quilting is decorative stitch #332 on my
Bernina at default setting (5.5 x3.2).  The thread is varigated Yuletide by Superior and for the hand quilting I used aurifil 12 wt #5006 (tart finishing set from Fat Quarter Shop).

I am linking to crazy mom quilts finish it up Friday.....
And to Linky Tuesday...Freemotion by the River

Smiles and hugs....Caryl

Christmas tabletopper 4-patch and rectangles

 Here is the tabletopper I made last weekend and took to a party this week...
It finished at 12 x 20

 I started with jelly roll strips and made into twosies and then 4 patches..
The rectangles are cut at 4½".....

 I sewed right sides together and with batting and stitched around the edge leaving an opening for turning.

 Here is the other side...

 close up view of stitching with variegated thread....

 On my Bernina I used #643 stitch 4 length and 5.5 width...

 Then I wrote words.......hope..........peace.............love............joy...........

Every year we have a gift exchange and play the game where we draw numbers and #1 goes first and chooses a present.  Then #2 can either "take" that present or choose another wrapped present and on down the line and back to #1 again to keep their present or "take" another.  Does anyone else do these kind of games at their parties?  Every year I usually try to make something in addition to taking some kind of decoration for these parties.

I had a lot of new people commenting on my last post and thank you.  I will check your blogs, if you have one, and get back to you soon.

Smiles and hugs....Caryl

Linking to finish it up Friday and Link a Finish Friday
And Linky Party Tuesday

Hexie tree mug rug

This might be larger than the usual mug rug...

It is 9½ x 13...

 It started with some hexies I had been making with scraps of Kate Spain 12 days of Christmas...

 For the background I decided to use fabric from Ho Ho Ho Jolly Christmas by Camelot Cottons with
snowflakes as the top fabric and presents and trees at the bottom....
I sewed the hexies onto the fabric with batting behind.....

I used some squares for the side from the Kate Spain fabric....
And this photo is before I quilted the layers together....
I decided to not use a binding and just sew right sides together and turn and..
then topstitch around the edge...

Here is the back from the Ho Ho Ho fabric....
Another fun project to do.

Smiles and hugs....Caryl

I will be for the first time to Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation Needle & Thread Thursday.
Also will link with finish it up Friday and Link a Finish Friday.

And also linking to Connie at Linky Party Tuesday.

Hexagons with mylar templates

I have been searching for some hand work to do at my little quilt group that meets every Tuesday evening.......

Several weeks ago I ran across a blog post that made me want to try hexagons.....

Lots of people are doing them and I had not had an interest until I read a blog post at

the scrappy appleyard

where she did a tutorial using mylar templates...

and John'aLee sells them so I ordered some and the photo above shows some I did with

scraps of fabric by Kate Spain.......

they aren't sewn together yet....just basted on the back.....

I tried using paper templates first but I prefer using the mylar.....

 

I was thinking tonight I haven't finished anything in January....

BUT I have started some new things....

and I wanted to share these hexagons.....

I have also started following a quilt along at the same website...

Rancher's Daughter Quilt Along.....

come join us....it will be fun!!

Smiles and hugs....Caryl

12 days of Christmas tabletopper

Here is the finish....blogged in June about charm squares to 4-patches here... I also had an update in Nov.... I forgot to use the walking foot when I started this decorative stitch in the center... and also forgot to put the feed dogs back up...oops.... after I figured it out what I had done...it was much better....

I did the stem stitch for the words and a running stitch along some of the seams... I'm keeping this one for me....the other two I did this month were for gifts... Smiles and hugs....Caryl

Secret Santa Swap fun

Pat Sloan's QuiltMashUp group had a swap earlier this month...

I decided to join in the fun....

Here is a little Santa bucket on the tabletopper I made....

I personalized the tabletopper for my swap partner.... and I used Kate Spain 12 days of Christmas fabric....

this photo shows all the goodies I put in the package... I also had some almond roca in the snowflake box.... the little snowman changes colors... I put some photos on flickr of what I got from my swap partner.... this was a very fun swap... Smiles and hugs....Caryl

persistence

oh no!! I did it again!! I misspelled a word in my quilt!! I didn't notice it until I looked at the photo.... I have done this before....and I used to be a really good speller!!!....I decided to just leave it..... sometimes it is funny to see if people notice mistakes....hee hee.......... the reason I took this photo was to show my binding progress on the giddy postage stamp quilt... and also to show the blue backing....

another project is the 12 days of Chrismtas tabletopper... with the hand stitching merry christmas started.....

the next photo shows the machine stitching and the hand stitching...

last evening I wanted to capture the dark pink color across the sky... with the moon coming up.... also captured some blue hour.... Smiles and hugs....Caryl

another quilt along with Rachel

in my last post I mentioned I joined a quilt along...
it is the synchronized squares quilt along with psiquilt....
2 layer cakes is what you need....
I am using Kate Spain's 12 days of Christmas...

getting started with the preparing stage.....
it is still time to join in the fun...
there is a flickr group too...

Smiles and hugs....Caryl

charm squares 4 fun

Last month Moda Bake Shop had a tutorial for using charm squares here
and I like to try new ways to use charm squares....
so I made 30 4-patch blocks...

here is how I did it....
put right sides together of two charm squares...
sew on the right side and on the left side...
with the seams on the right and left cut down the middle...

press seams open and put right sides together....
be sure to mix up the patterns for a variety of blocks...
with the seams going left/right sew on right side and on the left side...

cut down the middle with the seams on left and right...
press seams open and you have a 4-patch....

I sewed 9 4-patch blocks together...
this made a 12 1/2" block...

I used some red from a jelly roll for the borders...
I used 12 days of Christmas by Kate Spain for this top...

I discovered with this process that I don't like to press seams open...
and I much prefer my method I used for my fall essence tabletopper...
but it is fun to try new methods...

AND...I am glad I also have a layer cake in this same fabric line...
there is a quilt along that I have joined....
Smiles and hugs....Caryl