Christmas QAL! Nov pt6

I've had a most constructive evening!

I've finished a couple of dozen tree ornaments, and finished doing a little undemanding knitting.

This little scarf goes really well with this new (to me) green corduroy coat, and with weather turning, it'll get used very soon indeed.  Like Joanna, I've got away with a fleece up until this week, but now the coats and scarves have to come out.

I don't mind, I love to be wrapped up against the cold - and I loved knitting the scarf sat by the fire this evening!

So now I'm wrapping things up here, and getting a cup of hot chocolate for supper.  It's been a busy day what with the run this morning too - here's me showing off my runner's medal!

Thank you for your company, ladies, I've enjoyed seeing what you've all been getting up to throughout the weekend.

I hope that we can all meet up again in December over at QuiltSue's place for a show-off session - we may be lucky enough to get some of her delicious home cooking too ...

Christmas QAL! Nov pt5

I'm back from my race and have brought home with me my entrants' medal, a respectable time, and a ridiculous amount of Kingsbury Water Park's mud about my person.

That's all washed off in huge bubble bath, though, and I'm ready to sew - and this is where those lovely jingly bells come it!

I've been making some tree decorations for a stall at mum's church Christmas fete in a couple of weeks time, and they've turned out rather lovely so I think I may keep a few back!

So easy to make too - I took a charm pack of Christmas fabrics

Put two pieces together back to back sandwiching some fusible interfacing between them.




I quartered each square, they cut round the double sided little squares with pinking shears.





I put then together in pairs, with a piece of ribbon between them as a hanger, and zig-zagged on the machine along the diagonal

I curled the points together on each side and secured with a star and a bead, and put a bead and a bell on the bottom to finish.

Christmas QAL! Nov pt4

Good morning, good morning - and what a glorious blue-sky, bright, sharp, sunshiny autumn day it is!

I'm very glad that it is such a beautiful day, as I'm off in a mo to take part in a cross country race in a local nature reserve.  Until we get warmed up, it's going to be cold; and despite today's lovely sunshine, recent heavy rain means that it's going to be wet underfoot.

Last weekend when I went out for a practise around the route I came back looking like this, so I'm really glad that I will be wearing my trail shoes which at least should keep me upright in the mud!

I'll be back by lunchtime, and as long as I don't actually come last, I'll be happy - and after a soak in the bath, I'll be ready to sew.  In the meantime, make yourselves comfy and and have a choccy. Go on - you know you want to!

Christmas QAL! Nov pt3

Who fancies some CHOCOLATES?  Yup - thought so.

Here's something to satisfy the sweetest of sweet tooths, and they are easy peasy to make to - hurrah!

All you need to do is sift 12oz of icing sugar into a bowl and mix in a whisked egg white.  Knead it all together (it needs a bit of working on) and it will start to resemble plasticine.

Add a few drops of colourant and flavouring/essence of your choice.  I did peppermint, and also orange.

Cut or roll into itty bitty pieces and leave over night on greaseproof paper in the fridge.

Eat as they are, or decorate with melted chocolate.

That's it - and they are SO TASTY, I cannot tell you.  Go on, have a nibble!

Christmas QAL! Nov pt2

I've got my jobs for the day done, and have found some time to do something new - applique!

On my Challenge quilt, I have a flame in gold to sew onto each candle, so I ironed some fusible interfacing to my gold fabric, then drew and cut out two copies of the flame and hand stitched them into place with gold metallic thread.

I must look up applique techniques on Youtube - my method made sense to me, but I've no idea if that's the way everybody else does it!

Now I have also been playing with these beautiful bells, and we'll come back to them later.  Funny things, bells - my mum always says that she couldn't move out of the area because she just has to go outside and listen to her parish church bells pealing in the New Year, and I remember as a child being allowed to stay up until midnight, and going out into the cold night air and hearing them too.

Church bells, jingle bells, school bells - what do they mean to you? 

And while you're thinking about that (and you have signed in to Mr Linky so we can all share what you're up to this weekend?), I'm off to the kitchen to make something CHOCOLATY! Yum! 

Christmas QAL! Nov pt1

Good morning, good morning!

It's the CHRISTMAS QUILTALONG this weekend, and I'm here to host the party!

I have one or two chores to do before I can play with my challenge quilt, so if you want to get yourselves signed in on the Mr Linky here, or on the tab at the top of the page, and make yourselves at home, I'll be right back!

Christmas music on the CD, coffee on the hob, biscuits in the tin - help yourselves...

Christmas Quiltalong Eve

Do you know what I'm looking forward to?? Tomorrow morning!  It is my final turn as hostess for the 2013 Christmas Quiltalong, before my co-hostess, Joanna, and I hand the baton over to QuiltSue for one last hurrah in December!

So do say you'll join me?

Get those bells a-jinglin' because they are going to feature over the weekend, along with the chocolate that I promised you!

Have you had a go at Sue's fiendish challenge to make a non-red-or-green Christmas quilt? Or will you be working on your own Christmas projects, perhaps.  As Sue reminded us today, Christmas is just 47 days away! Eek!

So c'mon join the party! I'll have Mr Linky ready and waiting on Saturday morning, and you can get there to sign in by clicking here, or on the Quiltalong tab at the top of the page.

Christmas in November!

Well, I don't know about you, but we have a serious case of AUTUMN in the English midlands - the nights are drawing in, the leaves are changing colour and falling off the trees, and there has been a distinct nip in the air the last couple of mornings.
The park looks like this:







And I've been playing 'catch a falling leaf', and winning! 









But for one weekend only in November, it will be CHRISTMAS around the quilting world, when it is my pleasure to be your hostess for this Christmas QAL stitching session - we will, of course be having one final weekend in December where we can gatecrash the lovely QuiltSue herself like a bunch of hooligans and show off all that we've been doing these past few months.
But meanwhile, you are all invited over to my place this weekend to come and finish off (ha!) your Christmas challenge pieces (no red or green in a Christmas quilt? Madness, I say!) and join in with some fun and games.  
I think that you all had a whole heap of fun over at Joanna's last month, whilst I was on my holidays, and we're all going to have quite a weekend again!  

I can promise you something involving this...






And something involving these...






And, actually, something involving these - but you don't have to join in that one if you don't want to! Tee hee!

So do come along and join the fun!  I'll have a Mr Linky set up on the QAL tab at the top there, and I'm looking forward to seeing you all!