Carol from Just Let Me Quilt has been hosting this fun and sew very taste tempting blog hop for several years now and I think it’s my fifth year joining in. It’s one of my favourites and gets me thinking of the holidays, so I’d like to thank her for such a great way to kick off the holiday season.
I’d like to apologize right off the top for not having been able to get around to visit everyone in the last couple of hops. Real life has just been crazy busy and computer time has suffered.
Every year I try to start planning a project for this hop in September or early October. This year was no different. A pattern was chosen, fabrics were pulled and cut:
Then in October I was needed by my Guild to rejoin the Board and become the Program Coordinator again so several hours days were spent trying to get November, December and January events and classes sorted and booked.
At our Board Meeting we were reminded that the organization that does the Christmas Hampers for both families and Seniors needed gifts for adults.
Time was short with a bunch of appointments and tests needing to be attended for both my husband and myself necessitating in my getting creative with what I had on hand. It’s also winter and the snow shovelling has become mostly my chore this year.
I checked my stash of quilt tops to see if my idea would work, and came upon the perfect flimsies that had been donated to me in a treasure box by Denise.
I took two coordinating quilts and unstitched them in to four patch blocks. I then cut some leftover fleece from other sewing projects in to the same size as the four patches. Then I matched a four patch with a fleece backing and sewed them together as I do my raggy quilts. Once I snipped the seam allowances I popped it in to the washer and dryer. The quilt is now a perfect, cuddly throw with some fun Christmas print fabric.
Next on the list was to use a pile of blocks I had made from leftover piece of a panel fabric. I trimmed the leftover fabric in to the little blocks and then I did some wonky log cabin borders on the motif blocks. This was a project from my UFO list that I had been put aside for some reason and I had never managed to get back to finishing. Once the blocks were squared up, they went together quickly.
In keeping with trying to donate as much as possible since the demand for Hampers has almost quadrupled since the start of the Pandemic and the resulting inflation, I checked my bin of backing fabric and found a perfect piece of pre-quilted red, fuzzy backing fabric. I pin basted it and did some straight line quilting with my walking foot, squared it up and it’s ready for binding.
Next on my list was another project with leftover pieces from two different panels which had been tucked away.
Again I added some wonky borders and trimmed up the blocks to size. I sewed the blocks in to strips and then added them to the same cozy, pre-quilted backing using a quilt as you go method. I squared it up and it’s ready for the binding to be hand stitched. Binding is done, too! 😁
I apologize for the photos. It’s been snowing again for several days and I haven’t been able to get outside to do any photography. Both of these lap quilts will be at my Guild before the deadline of Dec.11th. 😁
My final project for the Christmas Hampers was one of my usual gifts; a covered journal. I made this one a bit different than my last few years by adding a ribbon page marker. Last year the organizers told me they were a hit so I was going to make several, but hadn’t been to the shop where I buy my notebooks so I just had one notebook to cover.
In the meantime while I was trying to put together the blocks for my planned project, Samantha, my inner squirrel decided I needed to be distracted by a DrEAMi project. As most of you know Sandra from MMM Quilts is the best at enabling us and encouraging us to let our squirrels run amok. She did it again when she was releasing her fun new pattern, Rainbow Neighborhood. You can read about it here and the pattern is on sale this week in her Etsy Shop.
The pattern includes twin, throw, cushion and bench pillow patterns.
I knew I didn’t have time to finish a quilt and didn’t have any pillow forms, so I decided to make the Bench cushion and do a slight variation to fit my son and DIL’s dining table. It’s a lovely farm table and table runners need to be a specific size. It’s 4:00 on Wednesday as I’m writing this. I just finished the binding and I will be able to get it in the mail tomorrow and it will be on time for a Christmas delivery.
This is a great pattern that you can customize and really make it your own. I love the various blocks to make the houses from. Wendy from Pieceful Thoughts of my Quilting Life also use Sandra’s pattern to make a cushion and has some intriguing ideas to do this quilt as a BOM or for different seasons. 😉
Here for your enjoyment is a little video of Samantha in her Christmas finery. She takes pride in being the only Christmas decoration in my home since my DH is the world’s biggest Grinch! When she isn’t tempting me to just drop what I’m working on and start something else, she sits by my machine and always makes me smile.
The next thing I have to share is a recipe that came to be created when my brother discovered he has Celiac Disease. My sister in law and I switched making dinners on Saturday evenings and both tried to come up with great menus, making everything gluten free. It was my turn to cook Christmas dinner and my brother has always enjoyed the dressing. He always said it was his favourite part of the meal. Back in those days, gluten free bread wasn’t readily available and any I had baked didn’t taste very good. My solution: mashed potato stuffing! I cooked up 5 lbs of potatoes, mashed them, added almost 1/4 lb of butter, chopped onions, celery and my seasoning (after checking that they were safe for my brother to eat). Since we had 5 children between us, I also made a pan of regular dressing, added some chicken broth and cooked it in the oven beside the turkey. Everyone was happy and the look on my brother’s face when I handed him the serving bowl of dressing was priceless. I have since discovered that mashed potato dressing is common in Prince Edward Island. 🤶🏻
No Cookie Exchange is complete without a cookie recipe. My favourite is a shortbread recipe. It is a traditional favourite that gets made every year. I do change it up a bit. I prefer to make my shortbread lemony or nutty. Just click on the photo for a downloadable copy of my recipe.
I’ve included the full list of participants in case you missed visiting anyone’s blog. 😁
December 5
December 6
Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
December 7
Pinker n’ Punkin Quilting & Stitching
December 8
Thank you for stopping by to read my contribution to this fun hop. I love reading and responding to any comments and take it as a wonderful compliment! 😉 Carol
Quilt Schmilt 
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