Well it was a good day today. It was beautiful and sunny ,and my english daisies were soaking up the rays.

I got all caught up at the office and the Christmas tree taken down there as well.
Did a few groceries , organized some of my paperwork , started laundry ( that job never ends!)
I managed to get another block finished after dinner! Yea. Only 4 left to finish on Christmas Town Sampler.

Chat soon,
Denise

Happy New Year!

Well I am starting off with 2 small finishes today. The first is a little stitchery , it was a pre traced gift from my friend Doreen. I started off by colouring the snowman with white crayon and then stitching the snowman. After it was all finished I tea dyed it.

My snowman will eventually be a pillow front.

My second finish is one of my last 5 blocks I need to complete my Christmas Town Sampler blocks.

Until next time,
Denise

Well I didn’t think that I could fall in love with yet another project, but I have! I will show you one tonight, and the other one ( yes, there are two!) tomorrow or Friday.
The first one is called Sugarplums/ Tales of the Quillt Shop, a collabrative project by HollyMabutas of Eat Cake Graphics and author Terri Thayer.

A Christmas applique quilt , with a story of a quilt shop provided each month with the pattern. It is only $2.25 per month and available as a PDF file so you recieve your pattern and story right away.

Check out Sugarplums right here and tell me it isn’t cute!! Lol

I guess this is the year of starting a lot of projects, and hopefully finishing them as well!

Until next time,
D.

Red just makes me happy. Today is one of the days I just get to pass by the fabric, perhaps touch it if time allows, talk to it and reassure it I will be back! Flowers make me happy too, not quite as much as fabric though!

Reds are Delicious

Don’t forget to check out the BOM section of Esther’s website, she has made her fabric choices for Forget Me Not , with fabric requirements and cutting instructions! It’s so exciting.

Until next time,
D.

I have had such a great last couple weeks! I have new quilting buddies to chat with and work on projects with! It just makes my heart happy! Lol

I’m so excited about a couple of new quilt alongs coming up real soon.

The first is a mystery Block of the month, by Esther Aliu! Wow is all I can say about her projects and incredible talent. Check out Esther’s blog , and you will see the information for ” Forget Me Not“, I can’t wait to start!

Continuing with my paper piecing fever, even though I have not completed my Africian Sunrise, I feel compelled to start the New York Beauty Quilt Along. You can see all the blocks for the quilt here. It starts March 5th, and I am going to give it my best shot! It will be beautiful when it’s all done!!
I hope you follow along with one or both of these amazing quilt alongs.

I think I have figured out that there is nothing better than a group of friends who share the same twisted and obsessive love of fabric and quilting that I do!!!

Until next time,
D.

A month since last post… hmmm, not good. Well, I will blame it on the season — the hustle and bustle of shopping and wrapping and decorating. At least it’s all behind us now, and a brand new year is ahead.

I’m not going to make any unattainable resolutions for the next 12 months. I’m going to try to move more, make better food choices and find a balance in my life. I am also going to use my blog a lot more often to share with you the trials and tribulations of my daily life, and way more sewing goodies, links to awesome blogs, etc. 2011 was a very tough year for me, my Mum passed away suddenly in September, we were very close and I feel lost without her. So I am hoping for a peaceful 2012 , filled with good stuff!

I have been following Temecula Quilt Co.’s blog with the 12 days of Christmas that started on Dec. 25th. It’s fun, a 3 1/2″ block each day for 12 days , then a small mini quilt! Never too late to join in, all the blocks are on the blog!

My Days So Far

The other thing I am really excited about is The Free Motion Quilting Project by Leah Day. If you are at all interested in learning to free motion quilt, but are like me, who has been afraid to just go for it, you have to check this out! Sign up for the newsletter and you wont miss out on her weekly lessons. On January 1st , I free motioned a very small wall hanging. It is far from perfect, but I have to say I felt pretty good I accomplished something! New Year, no restrictions! ( on quilt related stuff! ) :)

Well, that’s it for now, I wish you all a year filled with happy unexpected pleasures and and no pot holes in the road of life!

Until next time,
D.

Have you ever been overwhelmed by the talent in the women that surround you at a guild meeting? I sure have! With my crazy busy life, I celebrate the small victories that’s for sure, a few minutes of cherished machine time is sometimes all I can squeeze in.

But I have been blog surfing and seen some amazing Christmas projects from Ellison Lane Quilts. They have been doing the The Christmas Sampler and there are some amazing blocks and they all have tutorials! Here is a list of all the participants:

Oct 25 – Julianna @ Projektownia Jednoiglec - Block 1: Christmas Truck
Oct 27 – Sara @ Sew Sweetness - Block 2: Santa Claus
Nov 1 – Kaelin @ The Plaid Scottie - Block 3: Christmas Hearth
Nov 3 – Jennie @ Clover and Violet - Block 4 : Scrappy Star
Nov 8 – Elizabeth @ Don’t Call Me Betsy - Block 5: Presents
Nov 10 – Riel @ The Q and the U - Block 6: Snowflake
Nov 15 – Jennifer @ Ellison Lane Quilts - Block 7: Tree
Nov 17 – Lindsay @ Lindsay Sews Block 8: Noel
Nov 22 – Jessica @ SewCraftyJess - Block 9: Ornaments
Nov 23 – Sarah @ Fairy Face Designs - Block 10: Stockings
Nov 29 – Heather & Megan @ Quilt Story
Dec 1 – Kim @ My Go Go Life

She also has a really cute sewing machine cover tutorial worth a peek at!

Click Image to View Tutorial

Then there is the new mystery quilt from Quiltville‘s Bonnie Hunter that’s just started, for any of you so inclined to jump in. It’s called the Orca Bay Mystery, there’s a lot of piecing, but her mystery quilts are amazing! Check it out it might be something you are interested in.

I will leave you with some holiday inspiration!

Until next time,

D.

Ever had one of those weekends where you have everything planned out in your head that you feel you can accomplish, and none of them happen? I still managed to get things done, just not what I would have liked. We gained an hours’ sleep on Saturday night as our clocks “fell” back an hour, so that was a good thing. I finished my #5 SAL block from Sew Happy Me , and have started #6.

Stitch-A-Long Block #5

I wanted to pass on a First Friday Freebie from The Painted Quilt, it is very cute and quite Canadian! Have a look I think you’ll like it.

I have also been part of a Jo Morton’s Club in Bellingham, Washington since last January, we are wrapping up for the year with a block exchange . I did manage to get 15- 4 1/2″ blocks completed as well. We had eight projects for the year I have  finished five.

Jo Morton Blocks for Exchange

Until next time,

D.

The colours of fall are all around me, but I just can’t seem to get away from Christmas these last few days! I came across a “12 Days of Christmas Sampler Quilt Along” from the Sew Sweetness blog. It looks like a lot of fun, the quilt-along is only 6 weeks and starts October 25th. Sara has posted the fabric requirements already, and the quilt will be comprised of 12 blocks, from 12 different bloggers!

It’s a stash friendly project so you can use up some of that Christmas fabric you having been saving (and can’t remember what for!). Each different blogger provides you with a tutorial on the construction of their 12 1/2″ block. How fun is that?! If you are interested check it out at Sew Sweetness.
Im off to dig through my assortment of Christmas fabric.
Until next time,
D

I’m getting excited, our Guild is having our annual retreat in a few weeks. The theme this year is western , it is going to be so much fun. I have completed my block and now have to figure out what I am going to work on while I am there!

Wandering Star Block

Maybe I should catch up on some of the UFO’s I have going on!

Until next time,
D.