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Friday 21 December 2012

Merry Christmas

I received an early Christmas present and now have to confess that I have already opened it. This year I joined a group called the Southern Cross Crazies. They are a friendly bunch of women who all love crazy quilting and now and again have a swap or round robin to keep everyone motivated and enthused.

This year they decided to have a Christmas Cracker swap. We were given directions on size and content and were secretly given the name of the person that we were to send our cracker to. There was a data base where we could say what colours we prefer and our likes and dislikes. That is a good idea because as anyone who has done any crazy patchwork knows, it takes a long time to complete something and if you are giving it away, you certainly want the recipient to like it.

I dutifully sent off the Christmas Cracker that I made to Alison and she wrote back to me saying how much she loved it. Imagine my surprise when I received my Christmas Cracker and it was from Alison! We both got each others name in the swap. You can see the pictures of the Christmas Cracker that I made for Alison here.

Here is the absolutely beautiful Christmas Cracker that I received from Alison.

Christmas Cracker from Alison

It is larger than it looks in the photo, it measure about 16" long and was beautifully embroidered.
I looked at the cracker for two weeks because it was so beautiful, I wanted to enjoy just looking at it.
Everyone else was opening their crackers and saying how much they loved them and I knew that I had to open mine as well.

I was overwhelmed by all the beautiful goodies inside. It's hard to believe that Alison could pack so much into such a small space.

Christmas Cracker contents
It was filled with laces, fabric, thread, ribbon, buttons, beads and a scissor fob and needle book!
When I opened the cracker I could see the embroidery more clearly.

Cracker opened
Here are some close up photos of the contents.

Silk Fabric
Images
Lace

Needle case and scissor fob

Threads, ribbons and beads
You can see that I was thoroughly spoilt.

It was a lovely finish to the year. Everyone enjoyed it so much that we are going to do it again next year.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone.
Now is the time to relax and have a break after all the hard work we have done this year. I always look forward to a new year but I think it's also important to look back on the past year and remember all that you have accomplished. Sometimes we are too busy to stop and remember it all.

See you next year!!

Bye for now,
Linda

Tuesday 18 December 2012

CQJP 2012 December

It's time to post the last block of the Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2012 (CQJP 2012). I had a busy year as usual but I managed to keep up with making a crazy quilt block every month this year. My theme was Christmas and here is my December block. It measure 6", so this is one of the smaller ones.

CQJP 2012 December
There are still a couple of charms and beads to sew onto the block but I'll add them after it is quilted.

I have made 12 blocks but I am actually going to make a thirteenth block to tie them all together to make a quilt. I have a vague idea of what the final block will look like but I won't be designing it until after Christmas.

All the Christmas decorations in the shops weren't a surprise this year and I didn't even feel as if they were too early like I usually do because I have been playing around with Christmas all year! I'll be pleased to finish this quilt and start working on something else.

I have decided not to participate in CQJP 2013because I still have this quilt to finish plus all my other plans. It's been a fun experience though and if they run another in 2014 I might join in again.

Bye for now,
Linda

Tuesday 11 December 2012

Charm Bracelet

I received an exciting package in the mail last month. I had received a newsletter from the
 Quilted Crow earlier in the year and they mentioned a block of the month that they were running where every 2 months you would receive a little quilt charm that was actually a miniature quilt block and also a pattern and some fabric to make a quilt that matched the charms.

I haven't participated in a block of the month for years and on an impulse I signed up for it. For the past few years I have been busy doing applique and crazy quilting so I haven't done any traditional pieced blocks for a long time and thought it would be fun to some piecing again.

I signed up for this quite a few months ago and I had completely forgotten about it until a package arrived.



It was very exciting to open it and this is what I found.

Pattern, fabric and charm bracelet




Inside the little box were the charm bracelet and the first little charm which is a log cabin block.

Charm bracelet


As you can see from the fabrics it is very traditional and country style but I think it will be fun for a change. The little charm is actually made of fabric and it is a micro miniature block. I don't know how they made them so small.
It is ¾" square.
 
The charms and blocks will arrive every two months. I'll make this block up over the holidays.
 
Bye for now,
Linda

Tuesday 4 December 2012

Christmas Cracker

I belong to an on-line group called the Southern Cross Crazies and earlier this year a challenge was put out to the members to participate in a Christmas Cracker Swap.

The idea was to make a 8" x 13" crazy quilt block and wrap it around a 7" paper towel roll and fill the roll with little crazy quilting goodies and fabric. We all had to put our names  on a list and write our likes and dislikes down as well. We were given a name and we had to keep the recipient' name secret so it would be a surprise when they opened them at Christmas.

People have been posting pictures of their finished crackers and they all look wonderful.

Here is a photo of my finished Christmas Cracker.

Christmas Cracker 2012
I decided to use silk fabrics in greens and mauves, so first I got out those fabrics to try and plan the block.

Fabrics for Cracker
I decided to use an underwater theme and thought the colours would suit the look that I was after. I drew the pattern onto calico and foundation pieced the block.

Christmas Cracker base
 

I put some fish in the centre and tried to make the stitches look undersea and watery.


You can see that I added some more fish and a sea horse, squid and some shells.

I filled it with some silk fabric, lace, thread and beads etc.

Cracker contents

It's amazing how much you can fit in a 7" paper towel roll.

We are posting them off this week. I wonder what my Christmas Cracker will look like?

Bye for now,
Linda