Friday, December 28, 2012

Christmas Crafting

Quiet on the blog lately, I know, life has a way of taking up all of my time :)

I did a little bit of Christmas crafting this year :) I started out with 4 quilted tote bags for four work friends (we've been spending time together as a group for years now). They're featured in a previous post :)

I made a quilt for my mom:


This is the 9-patch pattern from Crazy Mom Quilts' quilt along, and it's the second time I've made this pattern. This time I added 2 extra rows of 9-patches and removed the borders. It measured 66" x 82" before washing, which should work for draping over the back of a couch when it's not being snuggled under (my mom likes to curl up on the couch with her books). I chose a gold/brown/orange colour scheme, with a few greens and reds thrown in. It's backed with a deep brown solid and bound in a beige leaf print.
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And I made a quilt for my grand-niece Emilie:


This started as a quilting bee project, with the scrap-busters group on Flickr. I received 8 scrappy string blocks in the swap, and made the other 22 myself. It was a HUGE amount of work, and so very difficult getting all of those white lines to join up and all of those bias edges to stay straight, but I think it might be my favourite quilt that I've made, ever. It was really hard to give this one away!
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I also made calendars for my mom and mother-in-law. This has become a bit of a tradition, I've been making them annually for many years (I should try and figure out just how many years... it's at least 8 anyway)

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And finally I made a little pouch for J-man, to hold the tablet that we got him for Christmas (we got one for his sister too, but I haven't yet made a pouch for her)


A Hot Wheels licensed fabric, lightly quilted with random straight orange lines and lined with a soft minky to protect the screen, with a velcro flap and handle to keep everything contained.

It was an ambitious Christmas but I got everything that I wanted to make made :) Now I have other projects to start, including baby quilts for a couple of expecting coworkers and an attempt at Project Life (probably digital).


Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Christmas 2012

The bits let us sleep in until 7am Christmas morning, which would have been a lovely treat had the biggest kid of them all not been bouncing on the bed at 6, anxious for the littles to wake up :)


We had a lovely, quiet morning and early afternoon at home, then headed into the city to have dinner at the sister-in-law's home with most of C's family. I took exactly zero pictures, even though the littles were surrounded by their cute cousins. I guess I was distracted by all of the yummy food!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours :)


Saturday, December 8, 2012

Tote bags

I made 4 quilted tote bags for my four office mates with whom I enjoy hanging out, chatting, etc. Hard to believe that we're been working together 6 and a half years. We got together last evening for our annual Christmas cookie exchange, this year made all the sweeter with the addition of sharing our favourite wines and cheeses. I didn't take any pictures of our gathering, but I did snap this shot of the tote bags.


I didn't use a pattern, they're just simple 20 inch square quilted panels with a coordinating lining and handles. I topstitched them after turning but the lining isn't tacked down. They're reasonably substantial, should be able to hold a load of groceries or a towel and a bunch of books for a beach day.