Christmas makes

Here are a few other things that I have been making recently for Christmas...

Stockings front...

...and back, after emptying...

...some owls...

...a wee bag for my Mum...

some coasters for my brother....

I also made my husband an apron too, as he was making the Christmas dinner.  All seemed to go down fairly well.

That's nature

My husband and I went for a walk today and took some pictures of the amazing ethereal view across the bay to Arran.

Some weekend sewing...

I was really pleased to get a bit of sewing done this weekend.  First of all I made LOTS of flying geese for my class quilt.

I also made a couple of little neckerchief bibs for my little twin niece and nephew, Mia and George. 

They are finished with velcro dots and are effectively reversible. I'm quite pleased with them.

Santa swap

Sheila has arranged a little santa swap for members of her classes.  As I go along to the Wednesday night class every fortnight I was able to join in.  I have never done a swap before, so it was all totally new to me.  I got some details of what colour and style my partner would like and decided to make this mug rug.

I am quite pleased with how it has turned out, although if I were to do it again I would do the binding very different - it's a bit wonky, but I think still passable.  I would be happy to have it out at home, so hopefully my swap parter will like it too.

Hoots!

I decided to make some quick decorations to keep me entertained.

The first one is quite autumnal and is hanging on the cabinet in my lounge right now.

And here is the second more wintery one under construction...

I'm quite pleased with them, so I'm sure there will be more to come!

Treats!

  I got a lovely present this morning from my husband - this cute little jelly roll!

Now to decide what to do with these 17 colourful strips!

 

I recently saw a nice lego bag pattern on the 12 Gifts of Christmas blog hop, and I am wondering about using these strips for something like that.  I would welcome any thoughts about what I can turn my little roll into.  In the meantime I am going to occupy myself with some other brightly coloured treats! ...

Seasonal small quilt

Today I'm sharing a little quilt I made some time ago now by hand.  It has four blocks, one for each season.  Here is the Autumn block, which I like a lot because of the little sheep!....

 And here are all the seasons together hanging where it lives in my hallway at home.

A good project for lots of little scraps!

Watching the weather

 Well, I didn't get any quilting done this weekend, but I was out and about stocking up on inspiration.  My husband and I headed up to Achnasheen with some friends and spend Saturday walking up Fionn Bheinn, a lovely hill with some spectacular views.

The weather was very good.  We could see for miles.  The few clouds and showers there were could be watched from a distance as they rolled up the glens and produced beautiful rainbows.

 We reached the top just in time for lunch!

Now to see how we can channel this inspiration into something creative!

Fabric, fabric, fabric

What lovely fabrics are on show on Lynne's blog, and a giveaway too!




Solids are so useful, but so often when there are choices to be made when out shopping it's the patters that win the day!  I bought a lots of lovely patterned material for my latest quilt and it was only afterwards and at the last minute that I went out and bought a load of plain fabric for the background.  Lesson learned!

I've also been checking out some new fabrics too, and I just love the nature inspired November release from birch fabrics.  In particular the owl and tree motif fabris in the circa 52 range are just soooo cute and organic too!  The only problem is I don't think I'll be able to wait until Christmas!!! :)

Framing a quilt?

I made this mini quilt in 2008.  It was to mark the wedding of my friends Karen and Lewis who got married at Duck Bay, Loch Lomond.  I made two similar ones, the best one being a wedding present for the happy couple.  This was the one I kept, and now I want to display it.  It has even more extra sentimental value now because it turns out I met my husband at that wedding too!

I want to hang the quilt on the wall, but it is small and light and flaps about if left as it is.  I wonder about putting it in a frame, but have never framed a quilt before, not even a very small one like this.  I wonder if it is a good idea, and if so what type of frame.  One with glass, or not?  A deep one?  Black like the binding, or perhaps white or wooden?  All suggestions welcome!

Initial inspiration

Some natural inspiration from the west coast of Scotland to start my blog!