Christmas Wishes

Once again I'm having a break from my blog over the festive season.
Thank you to everyone - both old and new friends who read and comment on my blog, encourage me, give me advice  and tips, book recommendations and recipes.  I love how this blogging community has given me new friends all around the world.

Wishing you all a safe and Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

See you back in 2016.

2015 Finsh-along - Q4 completed

Well this has been the first year I have completed all my goals, plus a couple of extra projects in the finish-along.  Here are my Q4 finishes:

Christmas placemat - pattern from here

Birthday Club gift for Gwyneth - based on Noodlehead's wide open pouch

Rainbow Clutch, ( Grey Clutch) for Mum

X Factor Pillow Swap - done

It is so nice knowing I can start the year with some new projects and finish off some fun, just for me projects in 2016.

Linked up on 2015 Finish- along at On The Windy Side.

Scenes from my Week

From the sewing room

• pretty Liberty scraps from PolkaDotTeaFabrics  ready to be cut up for my scrappy border on the Bloomsbury quilt

From the garden

• looks like I will have fresh beans for Christmas Day

From the Twelve Days of Christmas Ornament swap with my sister

• days 1-4  - hanging and spinning in the breeze - next year we make days 5-8

From the lets practice for Christmas Day files

• the plan is that all the children (teens) will eat at the outside table, weather permitting, however it was too breezy today to set that up for photos.  I have also learned that Pohutukawa flowers in vases bring in ants - lots of them, so I won't be doing that on Christmas Day.

From the "I've joined the colouring book" craze

• A Liberty fabric  colouring book  from my sister, a bit like random quilting, I still agonise over colour placement.

What are you doing this week?

A Rainbow Clutch in Shades of Grey

Remember that pile of fabric that I wanted to turn into a Rainbow Clutch  (that isn't a rainbow )for my Mum. Well it has been made and gifted, so now I can show it off.  Mum had picked a variety of grey fabrics from my stash, which I subsequently narrowed down to two.

The front patterned panel is an Ann Kelle fabric and the grey is a shot cotton from Spotlight.  The lining which you can see in the top photo only, is a delicate floral from Dear Stella.

The pattern is from  Anna Graham's book, Handmade Style.  She gives really clear detailed instructions for all steps of the making process.  However after a couple of attempts at installing the back zipper,  I found it easier to baste  the rear zipper before machine sewing it in.  I did find  that some of the  many layers in places made it slightly more difficult to sew.  Overall I am happy with how it turned out, and as a bonus, this is the last item on my 2015 Finish-Along - Q4 goals, to be completed.

 Happy Birthday  Mum, I hope you enjoy using it this summer.

Weekending

• star jasmine in full bloom in my garden - love it's scent, especially first thing in the morning or in the warm evening air

• trying out a new caramel pavlova recipe for a potential Christmas dessert - I can't remember which magazine I found the recipe in, but there are lots of similar ones on the internet

• playing with potential borders for the Bloomsbury quilt - if I go for this option , the quilt will end up at about 80" square

Hope you have all had a great weekend.

X-Factor Pillow Swap - Holiday Edition

I know there haven't been a lot of sewing posts lately, however, there has been a fair bit of secret sewing going on, which I am finally able to start posting about.  When Tiina  (Cottilello on Flickr) posted that the theme for the X Factor Pillow Swap - Round 12 was Holiday, my immediate thought was Christmas.

In New Zealand because we have a summer Christmas we don't usually decorate with holiday themed pillows and quilts, but I decided to participate anyway.  Nothing wrong with starting a new tradition in my home.

I kept thinking of a Christmas tree pillow, and one night while lying in bed, I had the brilliant idea of using a selection of green fabrics to make Sugar Loaf Blocks. While fossicking through my fabrics, I pulled out this bauble print from Ann Kelle's Jingle collection, which when fussy cut fitted perfectly in the centre of my blocks.

Carefully stitched in a simplistic tree shape with a star in the top block,  a wood grain trunk and various low volume backgrounds I had my pillow top.  Simple quilting and a bright cheery red Christmas print binding (again from the Jingle collection) completed my pillow.

This has now been sent off to it's new owner and I am waiting for my Christmas  pillow to turn up in the post - hopefully in time for Christmas this year.