Ready for Christmas

What a difference a bright day makes! It's been so dark this week it's been impossible to take photos until this morning.

Our Christmas tree is up and decorated. Some of the tree ornaments belonged to my grandparents, and I can remember seeing them on their tree when I was little.

My snowmen and trees themed mantel.

The tiny tree at the extreme right was made by one of my daughters when she was younger.

I did get the pink and navy quilt finished. I thought the blue-grey borders might tone down the stronger colours a bit.
I used a Little Quilts pattern for the layout, but made my version smaller.

The pink and navy crocheted pansy is from an old Leisure Arts pattern. I glued a magnet on the back, so now I can have a flower on my fridge.


Here's where I take an end-of-year blogging break. I hope you have a very happy Christmas!

One Finished, Another Started

Here's my finished red and blue doll quilt. I had to wait for a bright day to take the photos.

Any machine quilting is so much easier on a small size quilt.

Like these colours?

From red and blue I've moved on to pink and navy. I thought I might just have time to get one more small project finished before Christmas preparations take over. Presents to wrap, mince pies to bake!

These blocks will be 2 inches finished. They look so neat because I make them a bit bigger than I want them, then trim them down, lol!

It's been cold here this week, and actually frosty in the mornings, but it's sunny as well. Cold, calm and bright is my kind of weather.

We'll be getting our Christmas tree this weekend. Hope there's some left!

Busy, Busy

I don't seem to have had much free time lately, mainly because Ive been trying to get some Christmas shopping done. My problem is that I trail around the shops looking, but end up not buying anything, so I've spent the time but I've nothing to show for it! Add to that the usual mundane tasks around the house and the lack of light, and where's the day gone?
I have done some Christmas shopping online though, mainly books.
I've managed to get some sewing done, but it's taking me longer than usual. I've made some progress, but not much, on quilting the doll quilt from my last post.
One of the things I like about machine quilting is that it forces you to slow down and think what you're doing. I've got all the straight lines in and I'm doing hearts on the off-white squares.

Are you sick of crochet pictures? This is just a bit of fun. I like baskets as a design motif and I'm finding myself increasingly drawn to all things old-fashioned and retro looking. The pattern was in my book of crochet potholders and I just couldn't help myself:) It was very quick to make. The leaves were my own addition. I'm loving the look and texture of crochet.
I'm not sure I can bring myself to actually use it for getting things out of the oven. My utility room has red as an accent colour, so I might just hang it up in there, where I can look at it whenever I load the washing machine.