Merry Christmas to All!

This week, I've been rushing to get an apron made- which will be a Christmas present for a friend. 

The intended recipient requested an apron of black and white toile and 2 days ago, I broke the upperknife of my serger.  Now these upperknives are made of thick metal, much thicker than a rotary cutter blade so it's mind boggling how I managed to do that.  But a quick visit to AllBrands OC Sewing and we were back in business.  Thanks Jeremiah for quickly replacing the upperknife and re-threading my serger too.  You saved me 45 minutes of having to read the manual and trying to shove three threads into the eye of one needle.

So, here's the apron I completed.  It is reversible and keep in mind that white does make things appear larger than they are.  Ha ha.

Oh yeah, and please ignore the sad state of the potted plants.  They are lucky to be green.

May y'all be blessed with peace and love this Christmas and hopefully, Santa will bring you that something special you've been asking for.

Friendship Group Christmas luncheon

Last Sunday, we had our annual Friendship Group Christmas luncheon and this year we we held it at the Cedar Creek Inn.  We've been together as a group since 2001 and we meet monthly to sew, eat and chat.

For the third year in a row, we picked names and either made a gift or bought a gift for that individual.  So, this year, I'd like to share some of the beautiful gifts and creations with you.

"M" received a beautiful table runner and bird house from "K".

"K" received a table topper and gift card from "L".

"L" received a pattern and a wall hanging from me.

I received a pattern, some fabric and a gift card from "J".

"J" received this clear pegboard and a Kai rotary cutter from "P".

"P" received a beautiful wall hanging from "N".

"N" received a Christmas themed table runner from "S"

"S" received this fragrance warmer from "M" (who also picked up the lunch tab for S as part of her gift).

"L" also made these very cute pincushions for all of us!

   And "K" made her famous fudge and jams for us.  No photo because I ate mine already.

Here are a couple of photos of the goat wallhanging I made.  "L" likes goats and she named this goat Willi (pronounced Villie).  She says it reminds her of the goat across the street from her Oma's house in Germany.  Awww... I love that!  This is a McKenna Ryan pattern.

And finally, I have to post a picture of my furry boots.  I call them my "Winter Wonderland" boots and I love them.  Not a pair to walk a mile in (heck, not even a quarter of a mile), but those who know me know I have a shoe fetish and sometimes, fashion trumps function!

Decorating for Christmas- Part One

My quilt studio is still a mess as I have lots of projects and stuff to put away but the Christmas quilts are now up at the studio.  Here's a quick tour.

The first quilt is called "On Donder!".  It is a Robyn Pandolph pattern which came free with purchase with her Roses de Noel line.  The kit and pattern was a birthday gift to me from my friend Lynn.  Did you know that in older books, the reindeer Donner was known as Donder?  Who knew?  I thought it was a typo until I looked it up on Google.  This quilt was completed in December 2009.  I attached little jingle bells on the antlers so the quilt makes a cute little sound.

This next quilt is called Snow Bound.  It is a free block of the month pattern by Bunny Hill Designs.  I completed this quilt sometime in January or February of this year (2011). This quilt is hand appliqued and machine quilted by me.  It measures 59 x 59.

And finally, here's a quilt called Gingerbread Cookies.  It was completed in May of 2008 and measures 56 x 68.  This quilt took a year to make because of all the hand embroidery and applique work.  This quilt has lots of stories to share.  It was started in June of 2007 when I did a lot of travel for work so I know I have taken it to Florham Park (NJ), Seattle and San Francisco.  The nice thing about hand embroidery is that it is very portable and low maintenance especially if you are only using one color of thread.  The part I liked the least was sewing on the buttons for the gingerbread men's eyes and sewing on a gazillion tiny ribbons.  I was willing to pay to pay someone $0.10 for every ribbon sewn on but I had no takers. ;-)

I know the pink pillows in front of the quilt don't quite go with the quilt.  I will have to put them away and show off a couple of my Christmas pillows.  Stay tuned for that.

(Photo from the internet)

Speaking of gingerbread, I love gingerbread (thus the name of this blog).  My favorite drink is a gingerbread latte from Starbucks.  Ahhhhh...happiness in a cup.  Sadly, it is only available from mid November through mid January.  Super love this drink.  My next favorite drink is a gingerbread shake from Red Robin.  I allow myself one of these shakes per year as it is super high in calories.  And no, I am not sharing.  My favorite room fragrance is from Method called gingerbread spice.  However, I believe it has been discontinued.  Not to fear.  I stocked up on it.  And finally, the best gingerbread cake mix is from Williams Sonoma.  I bake it with sliced pear and served warm with whipped cream on top.

Check back soon.  I will have more quilts to share.