Wooden Crate Christmas Centerpiece

When I found this Pepsi crate for sale, I knew I had to buy it.  I just knew there would come a time when I would find a use for it.  I've made this centerpiece using canning jars and pine cones that my brother-in-law brought me along with some greenery and candles.




It love how it glows after dark.

My daughter and I painted the pine cones with white paint and then sprinkled glitter on before the paint dried.

We also painted some Christmas bulbs with Mod Podge and sprinkled glitter on them.

I used Epsom Salt in the bottom of the jars to look like snow and to raise the height of the candles.


 

I added pine sprigs, pine cones, a few red berries and some of the glittered light bulbs.

I love the rustic look of this Pepsi crate.

A week from tonight is Christmas Eve.  I still have miles to go...........

I'm linking up with Metamorphosis Monday over at Between Naps on The Porch blog today.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

My Christmas Quilts

I took photos of some of my Christmas quilts the other day when I unpacked them and thought I would share photos with you.

The Dear Jane blocks in this one were from a swap a few years ago.  The feathered star center is a block that I made for a round robin, and I decided to use it to make a medallion quilt with the Dear Jane blocks instead.



This wall hanging is from my Thimbleberries days.  The gold around the bow is couched on by machine.  I really like it when I use one of the bells and whistles on my machine that seldom gets used.



This is my nine patch and candy cane quilt.  These blocks were part of way over 100 big nine patches that a friend and I sewed to be made into charity quilts.  These red and green ones ended up in the stack together, and I remarked that they would make a neat Christmas quilt.  So in a few days, my friend, Gini, came over with this quilt top.  I appliqued the candy canes in the solid squares and corners, quilted and bound it.  This is a special quilt that brings back happy memories.

A close up of the quilting.

 

 This is my Christmas present quilt made from charm squares.  The tutorial is on my side bar and can be found here.

I quilted a simple paisley design all over the wall hanging and did a swirl in the small outside border.

This is the hanging sleeve that I put on.  I have almost finished a tutorial for the sleeve and will post it in a day or two.

This is my Dear Jane Christmas signature quilt.  This was the first year that we swapped signature blocks with Christmas fabrics on the corners.  So since it was a "first" I thought I should get in on this swap.  I'm not even sure if that swap still happens.  Does anyone know?????

This is one of my antique quilts made by my Grandmother that I never met.  She died in 1923, so this quilt is pretty old.  There is a bit of damage in places, but overall this quilt is in pretty good condition.

 

I hope all of your Christmas preparations are coming along and that you are still finding a little time to stitch.

Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Tree Tomato Cage

I've really been in the mood to decorate for Christmas this year.  Our family tradition is to put the outside lights out on the Friday after Thanksgiving.  That morning I fix a breakfast of bacon, eggs, and cinnamon rolls.  Then later when everyone is almost finished testing strings of lights, I bake chocolate chip cookies and serve them warm along with coffee and hot chocolate.
I really don't have much to do with the part of Christmas that involves decorating outside.

This year I did do just a bit of outside decorating.  Remember the tomato cage ghost that I posted about here?  Now it's a Christmas tree.



I took the ghost apart and washed the sheet to store away for next year, and I left the white lights on the tomato cage.




  I added a string of multi-colored lights and garland.



All of the fall decorations have been cleared away except for the grey pedestal planter

We fastened the tree in the pot with tent stakes (the same ones used to hold the ghost in the ground) and I added some ornament garland and a few small red glittered poinsettias.  

I

Here is how it looks after dark.



I'm thinking about another tree for the other side of the step if I can find another container just like this one.  That is on my list of things to do today.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Nine Patch with Applique' Finish

This is my Nine Patch and Applique' quilt finished.  This one was a long time in the making, but it is one of my favorites.   The borders are hand appliqued'.





I machine quilted it in a diagonal grid and echo quilted around the applique'.

The quilt is approximately 60 inches square, and I really like using it on my dining room table.




The pattern for this quilt is in Quick and Easy Scrap Quilts by Leisure Arts (1996).  I didn't start the quilt the year the book was published, but it has been a UFO for a long time.

 

I'm linking up with Link A Finish Friday over at Richard and Tanya Quilts blog.

I hope you are taking a little time out to stitch today.

Thanks for stopping by!  

A Jelly Roll Race

Usually at our retreat, there is someone that comes up with something that "catches on" whether it be a piece of fabric that the rest of us can't live without, or a pattern, or just an idea of something that a lot of us want to do.  Well this past retreat, it was a jelly roll race.

On Thursday evening after being treated to a great meal provided by Lolly's over in the downstairs of the Davis Mercantile building, several of us decided we were going to race.  We had planned this ahead of time, so of course we had to shop for a jelly roll.  I'm not sure how this happened, but each of us ended up buying a different jelly roll, so it was fun to see the finished quilt tops at show and tell.

 I had quite a bit of technical difficulty when I first started.  I sewed the first five strips together at right angles and then I got all that tangled up in my machine thread.  It took 4 of us to get my mess untangled and to rip out my mistakes so I could keep racing.  I swear I watched the You Tube video of how to do this.

This is my top made from Moda's Marmalade.



This is Gay's quilt made from Moda's Vintage Memories line.



Cheryl's is made from pretty blue and tan batiks.

Fiona's is made from American Jane.

Pam's is made from Blitzen.

This photo is blurry, and I'm not sure of the line of fabric or the maker.  Is this Nancy's maybe?

Rosemary made all 3 of these Dr. Suess quilts during the retreat even though she came from the other side of the room to help me untangle my mess.



Kim's made from a honey bun (1 1/2" strips).  I don't remember the fabric line, but it turned out to be a nice sized table runner.



We had lots of fun and laughs, and if you have a jelly roll laying around I recommend that you watch the video and give this a try.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Catching Up On Easy Street

I've been cutting and sewing the last few days and have finally caught up on the Easy Street Mystery Quilt over at Quiltville, Bonnie Hunter's web site.  Bonnie is posting a clue every Friday for 6 to 8 weeks.  The 4 patches with the grey are from week 1, and the purple flying geese are from week 2.  I've even done the extra credit and have cut the rectangles that will be used in a future step.

I'm using the colors that Bonnie recommends:  purple, lime green and turquoise along with the grey and the black on white backgrounds.  I'm a bit concerned that there are no warm colors in this quilt, but since Bonnie recommended these colors, I decided to go with them and see what happens.

I've also started decorating for Christmas as you can see by the afghan in the background.


 

Thanks for stopping by for a visit today!

Caryl Schuetz AQS Appraiser Lecture and Quilts

On Thursday evening at the Dear Jane Retreat, we were treated to an interesting lecture and slide show about quilts during the Civil War by Caryl Scheutz, Certified AQS Appraiser from Indianapolis.

After the lecture, Caryl showed us 5 of the antique quilts from her personal collection.

You can find Caryl at www.quiltvalues.com

Interesting borders on this one.



The table is in a bad spot, but if you look under the table you can see that one diagonal row in this quilt has the baskets upside down.

Just love this Princess Feather.

This is Caryl in the following two photos, but sadly I only got photos of her back.

A quilt made of signature blocks with no signatures.

 

Thanks for stopping by for a visit today.