Thanks!

Thank you all for your comments and support. I do feel better having shared my situation with you--now I can get on with this project. No one need know the machinations I go through to sew, but I did want you to understand my pokiness. I have always enjoyed the process more than the end result and I know that working on this quilt will keep me laughing through the holidays.

jude- free-er piecing

i am really getting into this... square snowflakes?

Heidi - need opinion, please :-)

Now that I have the second question if I misspelled the Marry Christmas, I'm not sure anymore if it's a good idea. Maybe I should go with the Merry Christmas ? I thought it would be a play of words, but if its not obvious, there's no fun in it ?
Thanks for your opinions :-))

jude- the trees have a home

i finally just stuck it together. i want a picture effect. and i forgot the chimney so i'll add that later. probably i will make this longish because i want to use it for the front door.

It Bugs Me!

It really bugs me that I'm finding these little
critters so challenging to make. Tonya's
tutorials are excellent and the rotary cutting and sewing are straightforward. But imagine trying to piece this simple block with one hand tied behind your back while your bottom is glued to a chair!

For the longest time, I've been playing a mental game with myself. You know the one--you can't start the quilt because you haven't found the perfect fabrics yet. You can't sit down at the machine because you don't have a big enough chunk of time. The irony is, I have tons of fabric and all the time in the world. I'm just afraid that if I actually try to sew, I'll find that I can't do it anymore. That's a tough issue to face. In some ways it is harder to accept than Multiple Sclerosis itself.

My goal in joining this class is to rekindle some of the joy that quilting has always brought me. I'll be working very slowly, but hopefully enjoying the process none-the-less. Sorry to dump my frustration here. Maybe my BAH! HUMBUG! theme makes more sense now.

Heidi - finished top

-That was fun :-))
Don't know, when I be able to baste and quilt it, now I have to make some Christmas presents first .
Besides the fun, I'm happy, I could use up those Christmas fabric leftovers and found the matching fabrics in my stash.
Now there's only a small 7" square left of the cute angels fabric ( at the bottom ).
Any takers ?

slowly working

Making small bits of progress. I pieced this word, but I don't like the colors of the word with the colors of the windsurfing boards or the background so I think I will set it aside for a different Christmas thingy and piece a different phrase for the windsurfing Santa and reindeer.

I am experimenting with using multiple fabrics for backgrounds and letters within the same word so I can use scraps. I can't decide whether it makes it confusing or if it gives it some quirk. When I free piece the letters I'm pretty good about not wasting fabric, but I cringe thinking about the amount of thread I'm using. I guess I need to come up with a leader and enders project or I need to chain piece, but I'm not practiced enough in my letter making that I can plan that far ahead in construction to chain.

Rose Marie-need opinion

My letters are coming along .... slowly, but surely! Do you see the work 'squeaky snow' on the left? Does the q look like a q? My DH is teasing me about that and if you gals think it looks odd, I'll change it. This is my second go round fussing with the q. There will be a strip of white fabric sewn to the top and bottom of each word, so the bit below the tail on the q will not be there.

There is just one more tree and word to make and then my letters are done!

I bought a couple packages of snowflake buttons and will sew them on throughout the quilt later on. Some have just been pinned on for me to see the effect.

Tonya, hope you are safe in Paris these days! Stay safe!

Have a good evening!

Second guessing

It's me, Sandy, I have been working at this for some time now. I had to redo the letter W twice and I'm still not sure if I like the result. What do you think? I read a comment about the one gal who had the different color house from the rest of the top. You mentioned that it doesn't go with the quilt and should be set aside for something else. Do you think that same way about mine? I have a completely different color for my doorways and windows in the houses. And one of my houses has a wrap - around window. Yeah, I forgot to add a side to it. My husband liked that one and said that's a great idea. I'm unsure of my layout as well.

Maybe I should just give it a rest for a while. Leave it on the floor or my design wall for a week or so and let it grow on me........ :o)

Suggestions?

Hi-Every one's projects are looking great! I am having some trouble with mine. Although I did my letters, and some snowflakes and a couple of trees and a house, I am having trouble getting my components to go together. It might be that my house is too dark? I tried making a Santa today and I kinda like him, but maybe he needs to be in his own quilt. I am not sure if he "fits"? Anyway, I guess I am looking for any suggestions anyone may have in how to work this out, maybe I should add something (probably) or maybe just change the colors of my house, I was thinking green and red for Christmas colors, but maybe it just doesn't go with the background I picked. Or maybe my letters are just too big for my house. Well I guess I'll keep it up and keep looking at it and try to figure it out, and if anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them! Thanks-

Heidi - done with the letters

Anybody need a skinny A, a fat s,a or T ? We could play scrabble with our left-overs !
I'm glad the letters are finished, the elks were much easier :-))
Now I'll continue sewing hearts.

Fitzy - NO pictures, I'm CRABBY

Maybe the words I should be makin' are "BAH HUM BUG"?

I worked feverishly on my letters yesterday. I made every.single.mistake.in.the.book. I sewed 2 pieces to the wrong side of the block- 2 very long framing pieces. Unsewedx2. Resewedx2. I sewed the wrong letter to the wrong word. Unsewed. Resewed. Chopped off a very important part of a letter. Unsewed, replaced letter, resewed.

This is WHY I took this class. I know I'm anal-retentive. I know I am a direction-follower. I WAY prefer to be told what to do than have to make-up my own mind.

Really, I'm trying. This has been an exercise in patience and forgiveness. Seriously. I'm thankful I'm using forgiving modas that have a memory of presewn fabric togetherness! Otherwise this baby would look like swiss cheese!

Is anyone else having troubles? It can't be just me......or can it?

More Progress- Carol E.

Here is more of what I'm working on. The letters go along the top and the right side.


The drum goes in the middle.



The previous blocks I showed you (trees and manger) go underneath. I'm going to make some snowflakes (I think) to go along the left side.

I was so excited to attach these knitting-needle-drumsticks that I already glued them down with a super-glue thing. (I also ironed on some fusible interfacing on the back and will do some kind of loop stitching around the sticks under the mittens. Mittens are not yet attached.) Afterwards I realized that it's going to be tough quilting around those sticks. What was I thinking??? It'll be a challenge I hadn't anticipated.

I love everyone's projects and ideas so far! Looking great! By the way, I futzed with this drum many times before I settled on how it looks now. At first I was going to have a snowman doing the drumming, but that looked utterly stupid. I experimented with different backgrounds, too. Finally settled on this and like it better with no snowman at all... just the drum and the mittens provide enough of the idea.

Gillian's Christmas Stockings

Well, I have made a start. I thought I had a simple design. Just four Christmas stockings hanging cheerfuly.

Here's a sketch.





I will use left over reds and greens.


Well, I've been slicing and sewing. And I'm finding it much more fiddly than I expected. I think I will need to do a lot of planning if I am to avoid set-in seams.

Here's progress so far.



Now that I am this far, I'd like to continue. I can see some embroidery embellishing the surface, in due course. Gold tassels?

Gillian

Brenda's Top

Hi: It's Brenda from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada with my completed quilt top inspired by the first verse of the carol Good King Wencelas.
I do have to mention that though we have a reputation for being incredibly cold here, we've still hovering around the freezing mark with very little snow so far. I used up scraps for this project, which is why there are several blues and darks. I found a piece of a Hoffman Painted Desert print that looks like northern lights to me, which we see in the Northern Hemisphere on clear nights, both winter and summer. I took Tonya's free-pieced philosophy to heart, so there are many seams because I added a bit more fabric to make it work out. ( I'm still slightly afraid of the quilt police --will they think I can't measure?). I've had fun making this, and if I had more weeks until Christmas, I might even try a few more carol-themed quilts. Maybe next year. So I'm about to sandwich it and want to start quilting, but I'm wondering what to do. How would Tonya's free form fans look on this? What should I be quilting with? thread or perle cotton? I'm slightly nervous about all the layers from the seam allowances too.

I've enjoyed following everyone's progress on this blog. It's a great treat to log on and see what you're all working on.

Mine, So Far - Carol E.

Here is what I have done so far, plus a few letters that I haven't photographed yet. I wonder if I am going to wish I had varieties of backgrounds on the trees, like a bunch of you are doing? I guess that's where I tend to experiment the least, with funky backgrounds.

I made the manger block without planning how to do the baby or family or animals. I ended up just appliqueing that little manger on there. And I sewed a little heart above the manger. This really is going to be a kind of border on my finished product, so I didn't want these to get too huge.

Some progress

Thank you all for you advice about the presents. I have been having a play with some and they are okay, though quite large. It's funny, I drew several ideas for how to piece the bows, tried them, made these ones, and it only now as I look at the picture that I realise there was a much easier way. I should have pieced the ties on the bows by making one square with the ribbons through it and cutting it into a half square triangle that I could add to corner of the background square. Lucky this is all about learning :o)

Raspberry and Lime & Need Help Please

I am quite slow in introducing myself and just as slow in starting this fun project. I am Lisa from New Zealand, and I am going to make a "Joy to the World" quilt based on this very wonky sketch.


My colours wont be traditional Christmas colours. When I was a little girl and people asked me what my favourite colour was, I would say "Orange and Purple". These days I'm quite fond of the combination of "Raspberry and Lime". I seem to have some of all of those colours in my stash I'm going to ty to crombine them.

I've heeded Tonya's advice and started on something easy - the trees. Here are my first few.


One of things I'd like to includes is some presents. Laura has drawn some very cute ones on her martini quilt design. I'm not quite sure how to go about these, particularly the bows. Any suggestions Tonya? Do I combine piecing and applique?

Cheers
Lisa

Ready to get the motor running (Heather)

Greetings all! I signed up for the group what seems like ages ago, but haven't been able to sew a stitch because I have been away on holiday and entertaining houseguests for the last 2 weeks. Houseguests left this morning and I have 2 1/2 weeks before my next houseguest arrives (peak tourist season for Sydney) so I hope to knock something out for the group between now and then.

Here is the inspiration for my piece:



I gave this Christmas ornament to my mom and I think I'll make a wall hanging for her to go with it. I might create a few reindeer on surfboards to accompany Santa.

I have been sewing for years, but I am a new quilter. Today I made a trip to my friendly neighborhood fabric shop to buy batting for the first time and was knocked over by the choice. Do you have any tips for batting selection? Is there a particular type (wool, cotton, poly, etc) or weight you like to use for hand quilting, and is it different from batting you would use for machine quilting? Is there a batting you tried and would not use again? Why not? Have you ever had anything wild happen with the batting after quilting and washing?

Many thanks to those of you who have left comments on my blog! I'm having a breather now that I'm back from holiday and guests are gone, and I will definitely be checking out your blogs soon.

Habitat for Humbugs

Here I am, one of the first to sign up for Tonya’s class and one of the last to get started. Right now, I’m working and will be busy at least another week. But, that hasn’t stopped me from choosing fabrics for this quirky quilt.

These fabrics are as far away as you can get from what I would normally use. The bright batik was given to me by a friend. Oddly enough, its floral pattern in red and green (albeit an “icky” green) made me think Christmas. Even though they make the perfect habitat for my “humbug,” the fabrics are extremely bold.

Everyone else is doing such wonderful things!

Rose Marie-Winter is Here!

No, seriously .... winter has arrived here in Toronto. We had our first major storm of the new winter season and so glad that DH and I didn't have to drive anywhere yesterday as road traffic was a nightmare (with a capital N)!

This is what I've accomplished this week. Would have done more ..... but wanted you gals to catch up to me! :o)

My letters are a tad too straight and formal and I really need a lemon martini to shake things up a bit.

So .... will plow away and see what there will be to show you all next week!

Have a great weekend!

ideas...

you guys are inspiring me to PIECES! Of course, I forgot that I have a craft fair next weekend so I can't start any quilts until after that - rats!

But I think I have an idea - I want to do some kind of night scene with little houses (or at least one house) lit up inside. Probably some pine trees around it, maybe in the woods - the theme is COZINESS!!!

Finished letters (if not words!)

Hi, Helen from New Zealand here.

Well done everyone on the progress you are making. Love what you've all done. Have to ask what a lemon drop martini is, sound delicious!

I got all my letters done and just need to get the last word together. I think the 'o' in 'to' is too large and they are not as wonky as everyone else's. I'm finding it hard to cut unevenly. The next thing is to work on the picture to go with it. It will be a beach scene showing a kiwi with Christmas stockings on. Not sure how I'm going to do that since I am no artist, but I'm having fun anyway.

I paid my sister to watch the baby!

Last Friday I got my sister to watch my 20 month old...so I got to pretend that I went to "work" and I cloistered myself away...it was great. I decided for this class that I was just going to cut fabric and sew it together... hopefully it would turn out ok...normally I plan, plan, plan, and then plan some more. Sometimes all the planning dampens my creativity and I don't actually do anything...this is WAY better. Thanks Tonya!

Regarding the theme...I made the "SNOW" and the flakes then couldn't think of what else to put....I live in the valley in Oregon and what we always do around the holidays is just imagine snow...because we don't usually get it!

jude- making it simple

so i am going with trees. they are fun. and they make me feel peaceful.

Kristin- I couldn't help jumping ahead!

I had a flash on Monday night of how I might use Ryan's Santa drawing on a quilt. He wasn't fitting into the Merry Christmas quilt as I envisioned it, so I decided to make a mini quilt just for him. The words went quickly. I plan to use applique and embroidery to transfer the Santa image to the quilt and he'll be on a round piece of the lighter fabric so he'll show up. I also want to have Ryan draw a tree so I can add that on the left. The letters will have more background fabric added and then I'll applique them on, rather than piece it so I can preserve the plaid pattern on the red fabric.

Finally finished those tricky es

I have now finished my letters, and had great difficulty with the es. I did one before and it turned out fine, but obviously that was a fluke! Anyway, a bit of unpicking (the back of the first one has a great nest of threads on it with the repeated unpicking and resewing!) and then chopping solved the problem and now I'm happy enough with them. I didn't want to write 'Goodwill to all men' with a feminist daughter in the house, so changed it to people, which is less contentious. I've chosen the red fabric for a border round the houses, so will try and get on with that today. If the people we have visiting have to sign the snow under the houses, I think I need deeper snow. So, here goes with the unpicker again!

blogger's let me in....

Hi everyone.... blogger's let me in... not sure what I did earlier... you all seem to be making great progress with your winter hangings... seems I've some catching up to do... I've not being doing much sewing recently I've got sidetracked by paint... ATCs... Chunky book pages.... reading blogs (especially Jude's... hi Jude..) etc... etc... I'll be back as soon .... my blog

I want to play too!

Eee gads I go away for a short trip and come back to find Tonya is doing something fun again. I most certainly want to join in the fun! I know I won’t get mine done before Christmas as I just have way to many things on my plate at the moment but I was able to form my idea onto paper this weekend and don’t think it will take too much to execute it. My friends and I have taken a liking to Lemon Drop Martini’s. Because of this our annual Florida trip this year became the Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Martini trip. My friend Marguerite drew up the martini block and we all made one up and had a drawing for the winner. I wasn’t the lucky one but decided on the spot that I had to have my own Yellow polka dot martini quilt so Tonya’s challenge gives me that opportunity. I love all the ideas so far, isn’t Tonya the best in offering this to us all!
Now to find the perfect limey green/red polka dot fabric for my border before my vacation the week after Christmas!

Tonya and Brenda Sew Trees

Brenda is participating in the class, but doesn't have a blog. Here is her marvelous work in progress:


She explains: "This is Brenda from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Our winters are usually cold and snowy, so my winter quilt focuses on snow. My inspirations for this project were your free-pieced trees and the line from the Christmas carol, Good King Wenceslas: When the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even."

She's doing great, isn't she. I love the word "deep" how it dips in the middle and wonderful trees - especially that little on on the right. Love the mix of fabrics for the background - looks like sunlight glinting off of snow.

Now we go from peaceful to bright. This is where I am on my Christmas quilt. I need to do trunks on trees today and then start moving things around, decide if I need more of anything, less of anything...

Erika - Does this look like

a manger to you?

I was proud of myself when I first finished, but when I look at the picture now, I'm not so sure. I still have to make a star. Maybe that will help. You can also read a bit more about this at my blog.

HOOORRAAY

Finally, I got my link to work and can post to the class. Please look at my blog on the right. I am Sandy at Sandy's Quilter's Block. I love what everyone is doing. You're all so creative. Here is my progress so far. It will be a winter wall hanging with trees, houses, snowflakes and maybe a couple snowmen. Haven't drawn it all out yet, it's just stuck in my head for now. Will find more time over the long weekend.

Heidi - changed theme :-))

So behind my back these 2 elks have changed the theme. They look so happy together, I think I should write 'Marry Christmas ' instead of 'Last Christmas ' ?
Heidi

Heidi - Here she is....

the Lady Elk. Somehow they look as if they have figured it out ... :-)

Thanks so much for this class, there are so many great ideas. I looked through my stash and thought oh, I could use this idea for this fabric and that for another...
My letters are better and I'll use them, but when I looked at the tutorial again, I found out mine are still too straight. I like the crooky look better .
So now I can concentrate on the hearts and letters. And I'm already pondering about the quilting. Tonya, I love your free-hand fans, maybe I'll try them or maybe I should quilt hearts on the lime background ?

Kristin- I'm having so much fun!

These are my first free pieced letters and were so much fun to do! We've decided to write out Merry Christmas in several languages on the border, starting with French. I have only done the first letters of the other phrases, can you tell what they will be?

After the letters are all done I'll add some more background fabric and figure out how to attach them together. We're still thinking about how to do the interior of the quilt. I think this is the first time I've ever worked a quilt from the outside in!

I've been thinking about another quilt too. I want to do a Peace on Earth version with trees and stars. Must concentrate here!

Getting on with the letters

I've started making my letters, and am aiming to say either 'Goodwill to all men/people/mankind/women' or something. I got the first four letters done, and showed it to DD who immediately decided it was a label for her! Thought people would like to see the photo - hopefully will make you laugh!

Resistance is FUTILE!!

HA! I did it!! I get a cookie now!! I've been cackling and giggling for a half hour now- my DB is getting frightened.

The letter fabric is a dark green metallic, and the background is a blue sky with clouds kinda thing. I've run into a problem, though- I've run out of the background, and it was a fat quarter so who knows where it came from. Any ideas?

Jenclair - Still Trying

Although I have no real idea of how this will work out, I've made a couple more letters. Everyone else is so adventurous that the contagion is spreading, and I wish I had more time to experiment! As it is, I make a daily goal of a letter or two and get on to my other projects. Today, "B" and "e" are the on the agenda.I've been surprised at how much the blue fabric (that has sat unwanted for so long) has grown on me and wish there were more of the white on white fabric. A trip to Joann's tomorrow to use my coupons should help with that problem.

I really think I must have missed a lot by not taking the previous class. Even though I'm checking Tonya's tips on making letters, I think the class activity itself must have been quite informative. At any rate, I'm enjoying this process!

Spock Santa Hand

Katie, I sketched a Spock live long and prosper hand. This gets the different lengths of the fingers. It's easy to put in a wrist, just add triangles down at the base of the palm. Unfortunately I got a line in the sketch wrong - ignore the one above the cuff.

Does this make sense?
Have fun piecing it - I'm really looking forward to seeing this project of yours in fabric.

Kimberly-Intro

Hi! I finally got a chance to get started. Sorry it's taken me a while to get going here. Well, I guess I should say a bit about myself. My name is Kimberly, I live in NY (small city outside of Syracuse, not the big city!) I have quilted for about 12 years, but that makes it sound like I am a better quilter than I really am. I found Tonya's tutorials through Bonnie at Quiltville.com and wanted to try her letters. When she did her Halloween tutorials I tried some of those too and had a lot of fun. I still want to do some more, but since we're now into the Winter/Christmas scene I thought this would be fun to do now and then I'll get back to my Halloween stuff and hopefully finish it for next year. As far as what I want to do here, I am thinking the words-Let it Snow with some snowflakes and maybe a house , maybe some trees. I found some cute snowman fabric so I might try to incorporate that too, but not sure how yet. I'm just going to play around a bit I think, and then try to figure how to put it all together when I get a few more elements done. I love what everyone has done so far-it's very inspirational to see it all. Thanks so much, Tonya for doing this class!

McIrish Annie - here's my plan!

Well, I know that lots of you have already started constructing blocks and letters but I have another project that I have to finish before I can start cutting and sewing anything for this winter class.

But here is my idea! I usually just take pencils and draw a picture of how I want something to look and then worry about the construction aspects later. I'm quite an artist Huh??? This may not get done for Christmas but I hope to get a start on the letters and some of the wonky houses and trees over the long Thanksgiving weekend.

I'm not married to the wording so that may change but I like the layout alot.

You guys are really burning it up out there! It made me feel guilty enuf to pull out my pencils and paper and get this scratched out.

Rose Marie from Canada

Hello to all …. I’m late introducing myself here! First off, married 30 yrs., am retired, mid-50’s and home is in a suburb of Toronto. Craft wise for my career, I worked in craft heaven (store similar to Michael’s) as a purchaser/inventory control manager. So …. I am used to having everything under control …. that is until now! :o)

My theme is winter and this is what I’ve done so far. Blue and white will be my predominant colours. Those letters are hard! The first letter I started with was the W. What was I thinking? Should have started with the I first. Anyway, my first W ended up in the garbage after parts were removed to add to the R. Waste not.

There will be snow people and they will be appliquéd on using a buttonhole stitch. Felt is being used and I am stuffing them to give a 3-D effect. And, since I’m from Canada, there will be an igloo. There will be letters running along the remaining three borders and more trees.

This may be all the photos for a while as it looks like my camera just went on the fritz. Here is hoping that it is just the camera card that is the problem.

I have tried to leave comments on your blogs, but keep getting an error message from Blogger. Is anyone else having the same problem?

Have a great day, eh!

Katie in NJ/PA

So, technology and I don't get along, and I don't own a scanner. I do, however, own a camera phone and know how to text. This is the best pic I could manage of my sketch. Anyone have any ideas how to do the hand better? Trekkies will know how it's supposed to look... :)

Next decision from Lynda in England

I didn't put anything about me on my first post. I live in Leicestershire in the middle of England, have two children in their twenties and teach part-time. DS lives in London, so I have taken over his bedroom as my sewing room - note to self: he'll be coming home for Christmas so will need to be able to find his bed. Start clearing up now!

I have put chimneys on my houses and sewn them together into strips.

I'm happier with them now. I tried some white fabric underneath them for snow but it looked very stark. Unfortunately I don't have any more of the snowflake fabric I've used for the sky, so I think I'll dye some fabric in the microwave today to use for snow and possible background for the letters. Wonder if my boss will let me have tomorrow off to get on with them?

Recipe for Katie - sorry it is off-topic

Apologies to everyone in advance!! this is for Katie of Tao of Katie.

Hi Katie

Thanks for visiting my blog. You have your settings as no-reply so that when you leave a comment I can't email you back directly.

This is my hot cross buns recipe. I now use a bread maker to knead the dough (using the dough function so it stops at the right time) and then I take it out after the first rising and shape it into buns

tsp = teaspoon (5 ml)
tbsp - tablespoon (20 ml)

200ml milk
100ml boiling water
3 tsp Surebake yeast (a dried yeast with improvers in it)
3 cups white flour
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter
1 cup dried fruit
2 tsp mixed spice

I throw all this in the bread maker and when it has finished its thing shape it into 24 buns which I put in the pan to rise as per the picture. When they have "rizzed"enough I pipe a cross on them made from 2 tbsp cornflour, 2 tbsp white flour 1/4 tsp baking powder, pinch salt, 2 tbsp milk (approx) all mixed together. I bake them at 220 degrees Celsius for 10 min and then 180 degrees for another 5 min. After taking them out of the oven I glaze them with a mixture of 1 tbsp sugar dissolved in t tbsp boiling water.

Yummy!

Erika -Brainstorming

Hello, all! I'm really excited about joining this class. I don't get much time to quilt, but I intend to get something done. I don't have an image in my head yet, but I have made a list of ideas. Here it is.

• baby Jesus
• manger
• angels
• shepherds
• star
• friends and family
• FOOD

I've always wanted to make an advent quilt, but I'm not sure how to make that happen with this project. I also don't want to fall into my personal trap of biting off more that I can chew.

I'm really inspired by the work that has already been posted. I guess I better get sketching!
I'm over in the sidebar (MommaQuilts). It's a new blog, so there isn't much there yet.

I'm Here, Too!

I got seriously behind. I haven't even introduced myself yet. I'm Carol from Minnesota. I have tried several quilts using Tonya's method, and I don't think I'll ever really master this genre, but it's fun trying. Tonya is a great inspiration!

For my wallhanging I want to do something about music. It is a very important part of Christmas for me. I have a rough sketch I made in about 30 seconds, and I have been mulling over the idea since I drew. So far, nothing in fabric yet. (I failed when trying to upload the sketch.. maybe next time.)

Heidi, I LOVE your elk! And the person who is doing the direction pole to towns named like Christmas? What a great idea!!!

Maybe I'll work on my idea a little later today, after a nap. (I have a cold which has drained my energy.)

P.S. My blog is Giraffe Dreams... link is over there on the right.

Failed at the first hurdle!

I was so excited when I saw this class posted! I have tried one or to of Tonya's ideas before, and welcomed the idea of creating a personal Christmas hanging. I thought deeply about what Christmas means to me.

It means - family getting together

- meeting up with friends

- parties

- presents and all the other stuff of course

- lots of cooking (and eating)

- lots of drinking

- relaxing and catching up with people.

I'm not religious, but I love this time of goodwill and love.

My first thoughts were to make a merry Christmas quilt with different drinks on it, but decided to focus on the togetherness side of Christmas. So far, so good.

However, I forgot that the quilt needs to be improvisational, and made some lovely houses - I did draw them myself on an 8 inch piece of paper, but they look rather traditional! I wanted the quirkiness to come from the different people at the windows and other elements I plan to add later. (Honest!)

Here are the houses with different people (and creatures) at the windows and doors, waiting for their chimney pots. I want to add some snow in front of the houses to make an album quilt, and get all the visitors to our house over the Christmas period to sign their names. I'm also planning to do some words. 'Goodwill to all men' is the current favourite.

Now I'm off to cook the tea and think about chimneys.

Katie in NJ/PA

I'm trying not to squeal with excitement. This is a HUGE step in my quilting world, and I'm so honored to be invited to participate with all of you much more experienced quilters.

I'm 27, a combat veteran, and I'm VERY silly. I usually think outside the box, EXCEPT for my quilts. I'm a great copyer, not great with colour, and I tend to like more traditional patterns. I joined this group to get me to think outside the (nine-patch, no triangles, straight lines) box. Like I said, I'm a copyer, so when Tonya posted her Santa Alien, I loved it, but I had to tweak it. I suppose owning every season of The Next Generation on DVD makes me a Trekkie (and late-night debates about whether a character from the holodeck and a starfleet officer could have children and all the logistics therein), and I really must be, because when I saw it I mentally removed an eye and changed the skin colour, et voila, Vulcan. Santa Spock. That's my idea for this winter class, and we'll see just how far I can throw my templates, rulers, and Borg-like quest for perfection.

aside: My blog is linked in the sidebar, but only recently are there craft posts and very few of them at that. The rest is insight into my life. If you have the time and inclination, I welcome readers. I have strong, currently unpopular opinions. You've been warned... :)

I'm a miser...

I had an hour today and I convinced my son that we needed some craft time. He worked on dismantling his chair with the socket wrench, I made this.
It was such fun...I think that I should read the tutorials again and maybe print them out...because there was much throwing away and seam tearing. I think that I also might make mine somewhat ambi-seasonal because I just love this word and this material and think that it would look nice in the craft room all the time.

Is it easier to do smaller letters when you are more of a pro?? and Why am I such a fabric miser? :)

Kristin- some of our ideas

I didn't have the time last weekend to plan the quilt like I thought I would, but I did make some mental notes of ideas. My 14 year old daughter had the idea to use these 5 inch squares as baubles on a tree. I also want to use a Santa drawing my son did last year. We were also talking about what words to put on it and Chloe thinks we should have Merry Christmas in several languages around the borders. I would like to make some funky houses with these fabics as well. My mental picture of this thing keeps changing, but hopefully I'll have time for some sewing next weekend and can get to work on the letters! I love all the inspiration here. It's great to see all the wonderful ideas and photos.