Let's do this. Let's have a very good New Year.

Fussy Cut Christmas Table Runner.  Quilted and Bound.

A close up, featuring an ear.  

It was nice to finish a Christmas project on Christmas Eve.  I had a friend over for lunch on Christmas Day (in case you are wondering brie ravioli are the bomb) and I made sure to point it out to her and make her adore it.  I'm not entirely pleased with the quilting, but this was my first project that I quilted on my home machine and overall, despite a few puckers on the back, it looks more like a second or third project done on a home machine.   I'm sure my next one will be even better.

Smitten Block #4

Smitten Block #5

These blocks are fun to do and I'm pleased with how they are looking next to each other.  I've now used each of the Heirloom fabrics once and now I get to repeat them but paired differently.

Flock

Flower Basket

And, finally, a poor neglected Spinster update.  I've hit the flowers/friendship blocks so be prepared for a lot of pinks and oranges for the next few blocks.  I made the Flock Block (oh, that sounds dirty) purple to represent purple martins.  My grandparents in Wisconsin had bird houses for purple martins in their back yard.  I never saw any when I visited them so I'm not sure how successful the bird houses were.  I can only imagine my block is a good representation of them.

The Flower Basket block is missing a handle because I'm a rebel and accountable to no one.  Also, I don't want to make a handle.  You might say that it is too obvious to use flower prints on a Flower Basket, but why would you?  I mean really, we all need to work together here.  (Also, it took me four times to get the spell check on my computer to tell me that I had the correct spelling for "obvious.")

Playing around and a story about a food source I hadn't considered.

Smitten Block #3

Scout finds flannel fabric and immediately loses the ability to walk. 

Apparently, I have quilting ADHD.  I decided to crank out a couple of blocks for the Smitten quilt when I thought it would be fun to do some more wonky quilting.  After digging through my fabric to choose something appropriate, I spotted this baby fabric left over from a past project.  Having only 4 projects going right now, it seemed like just the time to start a baby quilt for a random baby yet to be named.  No, nobody I know is having a baby but that shouldn't stop me from being ready for such an eventuality.

By the way, I took a nap when I got home from work after eating an inordinate amount of very good food today.  The nap was interrupted when a cat (not the sweet girl pictured who was napping on my lap) mewed piteously and brought me a dead mouse that he was carrying in his mouth.  I assured him that I had enough to eat today, thank you very much, but that he was a very good provider.  And, that his friend needed to go outside.

FNSI - December part 2

Front and Back of the Fussy Cut Christmas table runner

Tonight I sewed my heart out and finished the back of my Christmas table runner.  I may or may not quilt it this weekend.  I'm thinking of taking my walking foot out for a spin, so that should be fun.  There's not a lot of room for error in this one - my backing is not that much bigger than the front in some places, but I kind of enjoyed just putting it together without getting too caught up with measuring.

I hope that everyone had a good Friday night of crafting and getting ready for Christmas.  I'm going to bake some cookies this weekend and relax before things get too crazy next week.  I am also shocked at the lack of eggnog in this house.  Shocked, I say.

FNSI - December Results

November

Another successful Friday Night Sew-In was had tonight, despite my best efforts to spend way too much time sitting on the couch with the cats.  This is the November block from the Sew Mama Sew's Modern Block of the Month quilt along.  I definitely like the blocks that have straight lines; I like the crispness that comes from that.

But for now, FNSI is over for me.  I'll check out how others did tomorrow and enjoy my full weekend off.  I need to go to the Farmers' Market tomorrow and get a wreath for my door.  This is just my preemptive strike and attempt to show some Christmas spirit so that three ghosts won't be visiting me this Christmas Eve.  Note to the ghosts: if you do visit, I will probably have cookies.

Fussy Cut Christmas

Tonight I finished the fifth and final square for my Fussy Cut Christmas squares.  I'm starting to think that they would make a nice table runner instead of a series of mini quilts.  And, if I make a table runner, I'll only have to bind one quilt instead of several.  Many thanks to Little Girl Cat for keeping the page open in my block book, minus a few points for sitting on the instructions.