Happy New Year 2016

(My favourite Christmas tree from Zermatt, Switzerland)

Wishing everyone who drops by to read my blog a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year 2016, with good health and happiness.... Last year seems to have gone by very quickly for me. It must have been all the good time that I had and all the things that I love and enjoyed doing, and still continue to enjoy some of them, quilting is definitely one of those. :-) .... Since I have settled back into the routines after my last trip to San Francisco, I have been very busy with the festive season celebrations, catching up with family and friends, and not to mention all the quilting to be done.!

Before I left for San Francisco, I had one free morning to make a Christmas wreath for the front door. I bought Christmas fabrics from a local fabric shop for the project. It turns out quite nice (I like it, anyway) although it doesn't look exactly like the one in the picture from AllPeopleQuilt.com where I have got the idea from.

(AllPeopleQuilt.com)

I have got a few strips of the fabrics left over from making the wreath. I had an hour free on Christmas afternoon before my big Christmas dinner cook up started, so I made a pot stand by wrapping the strips of fabrics around piping cord while sewing the cord round and round in circle using my domestic Bernina sewing machine (which I also love). The idea isn't new. I have learnt the technique from when I was becoming 'acquainted' with my Bernina when I first acquired it, and have made a few of the similar pot stands previously. My crochet skill comes in handy for the edging, giving a nice finish.

I hope to be around home more this year, with only two overseas trips planned, so far. I'm looking forward to spending more time sewing, quilting and cooking all the yummy dishes while 'fitting in' work here and there in between.!!!! :-)

I did keep myself busy!!

I haven't been that very busy with my work but a few 'major events' have kept me occupied, enough to prevent me from spending time to update my blog.!! Nonetheless, I have managed to finish a few small projects. They keep me grounded and contented. Those events have now passed, and I hope to be able to regularly write more about my handwork to share with everyone who is interested. Here are some photos and brief descriptions of the finished projects.

 These are the latest items that I have made. They are needle cases for my dear friends. Those ones I previously sent to them got lost in the mail, sadly.

 This is a teapot stand I have made for my son's 'Aunties Carlette and Colly' after we visited them at their new home. The pieces sewn were from when I was trying out the cutting technique that I read in a quilting magazine.

St Patrick rose is my favourite. The colour is, of course, yellow. I have got the actual plant in a pot at the front of my house. Fourteen of the roses (from a local florist) greeted me at the front door last week. My dear husband did remember our anniversary. :-) I have got the embroidery pattern, designed by Jennifer Reynolds, from a Handmade magazine borrowed from Hornsby Shire Council library. I changed the colours to my favourite shades of yellow and modified how it's finished.

 I thought to myself that I have to make these Hawaiian leaf cushion covers, designed by Lisa Cox of A Spoonful of Sugar, when I saw the pattern in a Handmade magazine that I borrowed from the local library. It looks different and exotic to me (Mind you, my husband thought it was an alien hand !!). Again, I didn't follow all the instructions.!! I changed the colours to my favourite blue and modified the finish.

 Noelene, one of the lovely ladies in my local sewing group, has given the patterned fabric to me after I told her that I really like its purple flowers with the green leaves and blue background. I cut it up to make a double Irish chain quilt (not yet finished) and used the scraps to make this table runner while trying out the Wiggly wheels pattern (again).

 After talking to Heidi, another lovely lady in the local sewing group, about Dresden Plates, I thought, perhaps, I could sew up just a few plates and make a wall hanging, and how could I not make another Sunflower one. :-)

 My neighbour, Ruth, once remarked to me 'Em, you 'seem' to like Sunflower'. I asked her (with a smile) 'how could you guess?'.

 I'm fond of Tulips and all Dutch things for no particular reason, and my beloved friend is a lovely Dutch lady named 'Marijke'. I bought the fabric while visiting Amsterdam in July this year with Marijke but didn't buy enough for a quilt. Hence, another table runner was made, teamed with scraps in shades of blue, of course. :-)

 This is the back of the table runner. I have decided to keep the Dutch theme and used up all the Dutch Houses fabric, designed by my (another) Dutch friend, Linda Robertus, that I have got left and the Tulip fat quarter given to me by Marijke.

 

We have got only one coffee table in the house. But here is another table runner made from scraps I recently bought from Craft Depot. If I appear to be 'mad' about making table runners...I like to try out techniques that I have read in craft magazines and quilting books. Working on a small project like table runner to try out the techniques is achievable within a reasonable timeframe (together with everything else I do). Also, it does keep me happy with using my two hands to do something I love and enjoy (very much).