'tis the season to be silly

It looks crowded, but the elements are more or less here. Still need to do the fiddly stuff and make Santa and the reindeer. Still need to arrange the layout. I'm stumped about where I'm going to take it from here so I'm going to leave it for a few days. I'm not really fussed because this is for my mom and I know that even if it looks like trash she will still think it's awesome. I ditched the HAPPY that I put on the blog earlier. Sometime later I'll make the CHRISTMAS to go with it and make a banner for my MIL.

I'm going home to be with my family for Christmas for the first time in 3 years and I'm pretty stoked. Fellow expats, you know what holidays can be like when you are abroad. My husband and I always have a great Christmas, but there's nothing like being in the same house with family. And it always seems a little extra weird because with all the time zones between us Christmas Day for my family is the day after for me. My mom and I have plans to shut ourselves away and sew, and I need to get last pieces cut for the many UFOs I have so I can take them with me and we can finish while together. I'm going to spend a few days cutting and thinking about this SILLY wallhanging.

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.

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.