Merry Christmas!

 The little hearts I've been making are the only gifts I've made this year. 

I've also been making little stitcheries for an international swap I'm involved in. I'll show you what I've made and what I've received next year. No handmade gifts for family members this year though! That was a gift from me to me. 😉 

In honor of the holiday...

This quilt began as a row-by-row round robin in my local quilt guild. I added the sampler blocks down the sides to widen the original product. It was finished in 2008. It spends the holidays on our living room couch. 

During a secret Santa gift exchange in the same guild I received this little embroidered pillow.

I absolutely love it. (It's not as yellow in real life.) 

And with that, let me wish all my friends and readers the happiest of Christmases or whatever you celebrate at this time of year. 😊

Scrap Happy in December

 When I'm cutting scraps into patches for future use there are inevitably tiny scraps that are too small for the piecing I do but are too big to be thrown away as far as I'm concerned. So they get tossed into one of three lunch-size paper bags.

Warm colors in one bag, neutrals in another, and cool colors in the third. 

Slow stitching has finally justified hanging onto these little bits. For the past couple of weeks I've been digging into these bags to create the foundations for some embellished hearts.

 Each of these hearts are about 4" high and 3.5" wide. I use an eight inch length of ribbon for the hanging loops. The scrap fabrics are sewn to a scrap piece of batting and another scrap of batting goes between the stitched front and the felt I use for the back of the hearts.

 

The laces, appliques, and buttons are all salvaged from one source or another. I'm using only ribbons from my stash and the embroidery threads I have on hand.

The only elements that are new would be the occasional charm. However, they were not purchased specifically for this project.

Scrap Happy Day is hosted by Kate in Australia and Gun in Sweden. We post things we've been able to make out of scrap or recycled materials on the 15th of each month in our respective time zones. Current participants span the globe. If you'd like to join in next year just leave a comment with Kate or Gun. In the meantime, have a safe and happy holiday season!

Kate, Gun, Eva, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, 
Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, 
Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
Nóilin, Viv, Karrin, Amo, Alissa, 
Lynn, Tierney and Hannah

Just the Beginning

Last month I shared the palette I'd pulled for a new project.

 I made up a handful of blocks right away. The first was this Four Corners block (all of these blocks will finish at 12").

Then I tried it out in blues.

Next I pieced four quarters that can be arranged in a variety of configurations. Each variant has its' own name of course. I don't have the brain power at the moment to recall which is which. 

I know one design is called Crowns.

Another might be Lost Ships.

There's probably another name but it escapes me at the moment. 

Care to take a guess which arrangement I decided to go with? 

Ta daa:

I may still make up another version, perhaps in blues again. Or even more than one! 

The last block I made is a variation of Aunt Sukey's Choice.

I'm planning to do at least one more of this one also. It's fun to play around with color and value placements to see how different the block looks from one to another. 

There are no specific plans at this point for how many blocks to make or how they will be set or anything like that. For now I'm just going to have fun trying out block designs and/or making some of my more favorite blocks. Well, I say for now but in reality it will probably be the new year before I return to this particular project. 😊