Look at That Face!

I finished the first top portion of one of the trivets.  Isn't she great??

Definitely a WIP at this point.  Stay tuned.  Don't forget to go over to 52 Quilters and visit!

Linking up with Let's Bee Social.

~XOP~

Final Christmas Sewing and Gifting

I think I am finally finished with my Christmas sewing. 

 All the trivets have been gifted except for one.  I thought I would show the last three here.  

This peacock one was gifted to my peacock loving daughter.  

Front and bck.

I finished this one for my middle daughter.  It was the only one I was tempted to keep for myself!

I am linking these two up to the Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

I had a wonderful Christmas.  My family spoiled me as they usually do. 

 I love that Kit Kat clock and can't wait to put it up in my sewing room.

I have been wanting to try these Block Loc rulers for a long time and can't wait to try them out!

I was finally able to gift the Tardis quilt to my son for his birthday too.

He loved it and could not wait to wrap up in it.  

I hope everyone out there had a wonderful Christmas. 

 I was hoping to bring in the new year a bit differently.

  Instead of my grand plans, I was, and still am, sick.  UGH.  

I hope this is not a foreshadowing of the year to come..

  I plan to share some New Year goals soon too.  

How was your holiday?

~XOP~

Patchwork Please Trivet Progress

I am totally loving the Patchwork Please trivets.  

They are so much fun to make.  

I want to try several other things in this fabulous book but not before Christmas.

I have made 5 trivets so far and just finished the last one last night. 

 I am hoping you want to see.  They all look so different!

You have already seen these two but I will re-cap:

This one was for my friend Pauline.

This one was gifted to my friend Robin.

This one was gifted to my friend Judith

This one was super special. 

 I used the butterfly fabric in the middle and back and binding that I used in the quilt I gifted to my friend Holly when she was going through her radiation treatment.  

This is the back of the butterfly one.  I love Tamara Kate's fabric!

Someone asked me how I put them together. 

 I paperpieced the tops and then sandwiched like making a quilt using 

Insul-Bright ( heat resistant batting) in the middle and backing then quilted, trimmed and bound them.

Flatter was my friend for nice crisp fabrics and I glue basted the binding and sewed it down on the front by machine.  Much easier than hand stitching it down!

I have a few more to make but they have been really fun. 

 They would make cute mug rugs too  using just regular batting.  

I take my hubby in to the hospital tomorrow late afternoon for his kidney stone removal.  

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.  

I am going to link up the Finish It Up Friday, if I can figure out how to do it with my phone.  

I am writing this a day early so hopefully I can figure it out tomorrow!

I leave you with a shot of Autumn trying her best to be a snowman!

Have a great weekend!!

~XOP~

Christmas Decorating

I spent time on Saturday, most of the day, getting the Christmas decorations out and the tree up. Hubby carried in all the bins full of Christmas cheer.  

He complained that we had too much but when I tried to get rid of something, he was not having it.  Last year he didn't want to help so I only put up the tree.  

Told him if he wasn't helping I wasn't doing.  

This year he was the one asking me if I was going to get it done and chomping at the bit to help me.  A change from last year to be sure!

I sometimes forget how much I love my decorations.  We did get the tree decorated. 

We also got the entire Santa collection put out too.

I have a ceramic Christmas tree that was gifted to my mom when I was a child.  

I loved this tree and it was always a treat to be able to choose where the lights went on it.  

Anyone know where you can get additional lights from?

We also came across this child swinging on a star that used to belong to my grandma. 

 I was wondering what happened to it and was so thrilled to find it in my Christmas things.  

Guess I must have taken it a long time ago and forgotten!  

Sorry for the bad photo!

I have made cross stitched Christmas stockings for my girls

 (the last one nearly did me in, took me 18 years to finish it!).  

I did a simpler version for my husband.

  Now I am wondering if I should make one for my son and one for myself.  

Here is what we have so far.

Mom and dad stockings (I love the cat one!)

Daughter number 1

Daughter number 2

Number one son

I also have an angel collection.  

When I was a girl, my mom and dad had this beautiful angel that went on the top of our tree. 

 She had a porcelain head and the most beautiful gauzy body and wings.  

One year, after I was married, my mom boxed her up and gave her to me.  

That was the beginning.  We were shopping at an antique shop and I found another, 

then another and, well, you can guess where that ended up!  

Now I pick them up when I see them.  

Here is my collection so far.  

I adore the angel in the bright pink feathers!

The angel under the lamp is one of a pair from my grandparents house too.  

I have been busy sewing too.  

We had a Secret Santa thing in the lab.  

I made a trivet to go along with the other gifts for my person.  

It turned out so cute. (again poor lighting)

I also finished another one that will be a gift and just need to bind 2 more.  

I have a few more to make so will show you those as I get them finished.  

The pattern if from Patchwork Please, love that book!

People on IG were asking me about how I finished them. 

 After paper piecing the top I cut a back and Insul-bright batting piece to fit the top,

 with extra all around like this.

I used a monofilament thread from Superior Threads to do the quilting.  

Then I trimmed the piece and put on the binding. 

 I sewed the binding to the back and turned to the front.  

I glue basted the binding around the front and then machine stitched the binding in place on the front, again, I used the monofilament thread.

I am so pleased with how this came out!  

I am making some jars of beer bread to go with the trivets.  

Just add beer, mix , pour 1/4 cup of melted butter over the top and bake.  Such great bread!

 I plan to get a bit more shopping finished today then hope to get all the wrapping finished this week.  Kelsey is home on Saturday and hubby has his "procedure" on Friday.  

How was your weekend? 

~XOP~