Book Coach, Editor, Author
A thread I’ve been following on Facebook prompts me to write this post. You may not thank me, but I humbly offer up what I consider to be the worst Christmas song ever.
EVER.
It is about a cat that freezes to death on Christmas eve saving the life of a mouse. And Santa arrives too late. Do you believe it? It makes me cry and I hate that because it is such a stupid song.
So tell me…what tops your list for worst Christmas song ever? I’ll make a post dedicated to them.
I like to make quilts and I like to give them to people. I like that feeling of giving someone something so special. Something full of my thoughts of them that is a reminder of me. Something that they can pull over themselves when they are chilly, put on the bed or the back of the couch for decoration, make a tent out or pull over their heads for comfort if they are young. Something for everyday use or something reserved for special. General purpose or heirloom, they’re all part of that lovin’ feelin’.
This Christmas I got to experience the feeling of being on the receiving end of such a special gift.
This beautiful quilt is called twisted tea time and was made by Danielle Marchewa (check out her blog!) She used a Hello Luscious jellyroll by Basic Grey.
I’m not sure how it got its name, but I love it! Dee and I don’t manage to get together very often – especially considering we live walking distance from each other – but when we do manage, we always drink tea. And, well…we both consider ourselves to be a little bit twisted…just a little (in a good way, of course!) Meaning that we aren’t ordinary, ya know? We’re….rock & roll girly girl meets vintage hippy biker chick. Or something like that. Yaaaah!
Well, actually, she probably called it twisted tea time because we like to have tea time together. And because of the way she twisted the blocks to make the neat patterns.
The quilt actually wasn’t a surprise. One day in October (I think), Dee came over for tea and brought it with her to show me what she was working on. After I oooh’d and ahhhh’d over it, she broke down and told me that it was for me. She was just bursting to say something! Lol!
Another reason this quilt is so special to me is because Dee was going to be having major surgery.
She told me that she was saving the hand quilting to do during her recovery time, so she would have busy work for her hands during the time she wouldn’t be allowed to do anything strenuous. Wow! Talk about meaning in a quilt! I am wrapped up in a lot more than fabric when I snuggle under this baby!
Dee is one of the most patient, generous people that I know. |She is always making things and doing things for other people. And even though she has often been in pain from chronic illness, she shows a brave and happy face to the world and always seems able to see the bright side of life. She’s just a genuine all-round nice person and I love her to death.
I took the quilt out to the cabin over the weekend and really lucked out on the weather. I wanted to take some good photos of Dee’s quilt and surprise her with this post.
I love it!
Thank you, Dee!
I hadn’t been blogging as much as I’d like leading up to Christmas because I had literally been spending every single spare minute working on finishing a quilt for my son. Now that Christmas is over I can let you in on the secret!
It was in the mid -20s and windy on Christmas Eve when I took these pictures. We were both bundled up, but it was so cold, we had to work fast!
As usual, I had a little help. Sammy gave his approval on the blue binding, and had a little play of tug-o-war before I sewed it on.
I needed to have it finished, wrapped and under the tree by the time I went to bed on Christmas Eve.
I wanted to make as many of my gifts home-made this year, and from materials I already had on hand as much as possible. I had a bit of nice grey fabric that would make a good backing for a small lap quilt, and a few 5″ charm packs of Petite Odile by French General. Because I was short on time, I simply sewed them together until the size was sufficient for the backing I had on hand.
I bound it with a piece of French General Woad Blue, also from my stash.
Each square is hand quilted with red thread in an orange peel design. This is what took so long. I literally quilted until my fingers bled! Yiikes! But I got it done in time! Yay! And bonus…now I’ve got some good calluses on my fingers for more quilting in the new year!
I named the lap quilt “Mon Fils Bien-Aimé”, which is a lovely old-fashioned way to say my beloved son in French.
The quilt is sweet and cozy and old-fashioned and just the right size to snuggle under in a comfortable chair with a good book no matter how old or young you are, even if you are a young man of 27. (Santa also brought him “The Hunger Games” to read, a new mug and a selection of hot chocolates to enjoy with the quilt, lol!)
I’m so glad he likes it!
Close your eyes
Listen
Let it wash over you
Merry Christmas.
Today is Fresh Sewing Day and Small Blog Meet over at Lily’s Quilts. Two linky parties for the price of one!
Small Blog Meet is for bloggers with fewer than 50 followers. I definitely fall into that category! And Fresh Sewing Day is for telling what you’ve been up to the last month.
Sew…I’ve decided to have a home-made Christmas this year. And not only that – I have decided to have a home-made Christmas that involves buying as few supplies as possible. That means working out of my various stashes. And since I’ve decided this rather late, I’m scrambling to see what I can create in the little amount of time that I have (which basically means in the evenings after work).
slippers…
and the helpers had to get in on the picture-taking action of course!
and more slippers…
And yesterday I made a quilt top which will be for my son. (I won’t tell you how old my son is, but let’s just say he is closer to 30 than I am, lol!) I’m certain he doesn’t read his mother’s crafting blog, so I feel safe to show you! Now this is NOT the fabulous quilt I have planned for him. I want to make him a full-sized bed quilt with Little Black Dress by Basic Grey. And I will! As soon as I can afford the fabric! So maybe next Christmas? But for this year I want to give him a small little lap quilt that can be put over the back of a chair and pulled over the lap or shoulders when needed. 🙂 My problem was that I didn’t have anything in my stash that I thought he would really like! So I went rooting around in the bottom of the stash and found a chunk of grey. Where did that come from? No idea…I think someone gave it to me years ago. Now, I thought, this is something that my son would like! He likes grey! It would make the perfect backing. More rooting around ensued and I came up with 4 charm packs that I had purchased back when Craftsy was still shipping to Canada. And guess what…(no, they aren’t grey)…they are Petite Odile by French General! I love French General! Love love love. I know my son won’t love it the way I do, but the colours are nice for a man, and he does like vintage and whimsy and antique.
Being short on time, I took the easy route and simply sewed all the squares together. Three charm packs worked perfectly and I still have one left over!
It will be sandwiched today, and will finish at 41 x 55″. A bit of an odd dimension, but I’ll take it. I am going to call the quilt “mon fille” or whatever the French word for my child or my son is! (help! if you speak French!)
Anybody else doing a stash-busting home-made Christmas? Inquiring minds want to know!
Kelly got home today from nearly 2 weeks in Vancouver & the Fraser Valley, and he came bearing gifts! I had sent him with a shopping list for Hamels Fabrics in Chilliwack along with a quilt top that I wanted him to pick border & binding fabric for. He has a great colour sense and I knew he would make good choices. Here’s what he brought back with him:
The fabric is gorgeous and his choices for borders and binding were brilliant… exactly what I was hoping for. But did you notice that cutie-pie of a sewing machine?
It’s called a Sew Cute. It sews only straight stitches, comes with a foot control, has a see-thru bobbin case, runs on four AA batteries and comes with an AC/DC adapter, is 8″ tall and weighs 826 grams. And it’s yellow! It will be absolutely perfect for using out at the cabin. I can’t wait to try it out! Yay! Kelly did GOOD!
But wait! Kelly did even better than that! I had sent him down with the shopping list for fabric, but he came home with one thing that I totally didn’t expect.
He bought me….wait for it! … purple Fluevogs!!! YES! Yesyesyes! Whoop! OMG, I can’t contain myself!
Thank you Kelly! You are the absolute bestest husband EVER!!! Here is my reaction when I opened them:
Wa hoo!