Snow Flakes on the Brain

Whew! IT about 2:30am on Saturday, but I actually finished a challenge this week! I was really interested to try Erin's snowflake zendalla template technique from Challenge #35. I thought I would whip out a trial just for fun this evening, never figuring to be done in time to have a weekly entry. I really liked the result and kept going. It does not happen often that each thing I add to a piece makes it even better (making the pressure to choose the next element even greater of course!) but this one seemed to be working out that way. So, when everyone else had gone to bed I had no other barriers and no good 'stopping places'. So here we are, middle of the night and I am scanning in an entry for a challenge!

Since the challenge was to fold paper like I was cutting a snowflake in order to come up with a zendalla template I had snowflakes on my mind. I think it heavily influenced the outcome! This is the original...

This is the result... oddly it looks very little like the original in my opinion. It is about 7" across. I am interested to do this template again and see if the second one also looks 'flakey' or if I can make it look totally different. To see what everyone else who felt called to this challenge came up with check out Challenge #35 on Erin's blog over at The Bright Owl. NOW I am going to sleep!

tanlges include, Black Pearlz, Bunzo, Fescue, Dragonair and Finery

A NEW holiday project... Yay!

Oh Brother! I have a holiday wreath project half quilted. I have a winter/holiday top with backing all ready to go. I have two quilt tops that need quilting for the show deadline in March, one has a back, the other has a back design. None of these much delayed projects will likely get done before the holiday because I have decided that I need to use up the last of the fabric remnants from making the children's stockings. I love this fabric. I bought plenty of it 12 years ago when I made my first child's stocking. I knew I would have lots left over to make the next child's stocking, and the next if it ever came to that. I have made three from the set and that is all I will ever need. All different block patterns, all different backing and cuff material with the same lining. All have solid cuffs of different colors and all sport merry sounding bells.

My husband does not have a stocking from his childhood. As nearly as I can tell his family got new, plain  stockings every year from Santa. I still have the one my mother made for me... a red felt 'french boot' trimmed in lace with my name on it. It is elderly now and worn and I am afraid that Santa will tear through the thinning felt while stuffing in my surprises (because I am always SO good!). I have decided to make two stockings for us from what is left of the childrens' stocking fabric. His will be made of equilateral triangles (3 sides = 3kids) and mine will be made of rail fence blocks (three rails = three kids, two rails of one value = two boys, one rail of a different value = one girl). Ours will have some of all of the fabrics contained on the fronts of theirs, plus some of each backing. I hope to have enough of the lining to do both. I may make the backing of mine out of the actual pieces left from when I made the kids' and his (yes, I still have the extra squares I cut 12 years ago). I may cuff both of ours the same so they will match when the kids are all gone and have taken theirs to their own holiday hearths.

The one on the right is sewn together and needs just a smidge more at the top which I will add with a plain strip as that will be hidden under the cuff anyway. The one on the right is still in the lay-out stage. Already I see two blocks that could be swapped and I will likely need a few more once the seam allowances make this number shrink up a bit. I hope to be able to share the finished product some time before the holidays have come and gone... but you never know with me... I may come up with ANOTHER project that needs to be started immediately! (insert eyeroll here!) To see what other holiday wonders people are working on this week check out Judy's blog at Patchwork Times: Design Wall Monday.

45 minutes

45 minutes... that is how long I have spent in the sewing room in the last month or so. Maybe its been twice that much. I went up there some time back to quilt on a holiday project I want finished and found a few scrap 9 patches I wanted to do something with because they look wintery and got involved in that. I got two of 6 blocks done then and had to stop. Its been at least a full month since then with no action and I managed 45 minutes up there this morning and finished the next two blocks. Now I have no idea what to do with them, haven't made any headway on finishing the holiday project, but the sewing machine and iron were turned on and actually used today so I think that calls for a Design Wall Monday post! What have you been up to this week?