Autumn isn't finished just yet......

Hello Everyone,

Last Monday, Linda brought her pieced top in to show me. This quilt is called Scrappy Leave from the Maple Leaf Quilts book by Ilene Bartos.  This quilt is a real beauty!  Linda you did a tremendous job!
Everyone that has made this quilt always tells me how much fun it is to make.  I agree.  Each leaf blocks gets prettier and prettier.

Linda loves this quilt so much (as well she should....who wouldn't)....she was absolutely determined to finish it.  Linda took my class last year.  Here is the quilt in the beginning construction phase in class.  She paired strips of batik fabric, the background and the leaf to see how they looked for the next row.

                                    

She stuck with the process and what an heirloom she has to show off every Fall.  Her borders are spectacular!  That was the hardest part for me, to get just the right gradation in the strips when I made this quilt.

Happy Monday everyone.  I'm off to the shop this morning for my workday.  The Christmas music will be on for all to hear.

As always,

Lynn

Pillow Fight Anyone?

Hello Everyone,

The placemats are all done, all twelve of them are just waiting to be quilted. I started pillowcases for all the grand kids last night. This is an easy and fun pattern to whip up some Christmas cheer every time your little ones lay their head on their pillows while dreaming of sugarplums.

The shop hands this pattern out for the Million Pillowcase Challenge.  The directions are on this link, or you can follow mine.  There are also directions for other pillowcases at this site.

These directions are for a standard size pillowcase 20" x 31".  You will use 1/4" seam allowance.  This case is made using three different fabrics: a main fabric, an accent fabric and a cuff.

FABRIC REQUIREMENTS:
3/4 yard main fabric - cut 27" X width of fabric
1/8 yard accent fabric - cut 3" X width of fabric
1/4 yard cuff fabric - cut 9" X width of fabric

Lay the cuff fabric, right side up, raw edges on top, selvedge down the sides.  Fold the accent strip in half lengthwise wrong sides together and press.  Lay the accent piece on top of the cuff lining up the raw edges.

Lay the main fabric right side down and line up raw edges with selvedge on sides.

Roll up the main fabric from the bottom, so the cuff fabric shows,

Take the bottom edge of the cuff and line up the raw edges.  Pin and sew 1/4" from the raw edges.  This will form a tube.

Reach into the tube, pull out main fabric.  All the raw edges will be enclosed in the tube.  Press well.

Now trim the selvedge edges off, so that the unit now measure 41" across.  With wrong sides together sew a scant 1/4' seam down the side and across the bottom.

Turn wrong side out and stitch a generous 1/4' seam along side and bottom.  Turn right side out and press.

I always add a little 'P.S. I love you' tag on the first step of the construction.  I want the little kids to know Grammy loves them every night when they go to sleep.  Doesn't everyone want to know that?

One pillow case down,  five more to go......lay out the cuff fabric..................

I hope you all have a wonderful day and weekend dreaming of sugarplums.

As always,

Lynn

Christmas Placemats

Hello Everyone,

Now I know what Mrs. Claus feels like. Mr. Claus is busy working in his wood shop cranking out special orders, while I'm down in the cozy cabin finishing the Christmas placemats that I started in October. The wood-burning stove is heating up the great room while Bing Crosby serenades me with old-fashioned Christmas carols.  There is about a foot of soggy snow left from the Thanksgiving storms.  I'm surrounded with the spirit of the season.

In my effort to use fabric in my stash, I pulled out every scrap of Christmas fabric that I can turn into gifts.  I'm very old-fashioned when it comes to traditional Christmas fabric.  I've had this Thimbleberries fabric for years and now I'm using it all up in placemats and napkins.

The flying geese ruler makes four flying geese at once, making quick work of this project.  The geese are circling and trying to get themselves organized in this picture.

The geese are all gathered together and heading north in this picture.

The borders go on and they are almost finished.

The next set of four will be made out of this combination of fabrics.

Inviting Christmas cottages........

packages with bows and tags..........

and old world Santa's will be gracing the tables.

I hope you have fun creating today and enjoy the days leading up to Christmas.  Even though times are crazy and busy, this is when many good memories are made.  May your heart respond to the sounds, smells and love that is so special and abundant this time of the year.

As always,

Lynn