Bits and Pieces

 I decided to participate in a Christmas Postcard Swap hosted by   Sheila at http://sheilasquiltworld.blogspot.com/    My partner was  Linda at  http://bumbleknit.blogspot.ca/      She sent me this wonderful Santa. The quilting detail is wonderful and gives the card so much dimension

In turn I sent Polka Dot Christmas trees.  I actually made 2 of them.  My sister "needed" one too.

I work with  JC who collects post cards of all kinds.  I saw this card on   Sheila's blog  post and she gave me information on where she got the idea. I thought it would be a great card for JC.

This is the top I made for my friend at work who happens to be my boss.  Since I will be retiring in late January this will be our last gift exchange and I thought this would be wonderful.  She is the person who got me into knitting and this pattern is called Fair Isle.  It's by Lee at http://www.freshlypieced.com/2014/10/fair-isle-sew-along   Perfect.  Probably just a little more than I should have bitten off before  reading the instructions.  

The deer is a 13 inch block and the deer is made up of 1 inch finished squares.  The picture below shows my first attempt.  Poor deer had a broken neck.

As you can see she's all better now.  I gave the top to PC earlier this week, she loved it. We cried.  It will go to the long arm quilter right after Christmas. I invested way to much time and energy in it to try and quilt it myself.  It measures in at 72 x 75.

The towels were a last minute gift addition to go with gift cards.  I made 2 sets.

And last but nowhere near least are these Hash Tag blocks. Made for the Heros  from Sydney Australia.   This link takes you to a full explanation 

of where they are going and the how you too can participate.

http://www.mollisparkles.com/2014/12/help-for-sydney-heroes.html

Just in case I don't make it back here in the next week, I am sending out my best wishes to you one and all for a very Merry Christmas.

A very productive vacation

Got back late last night from a wonderful 10 day vacation to Florida.  We arrived on Thanksgiving  and joined our friends at their neighbors for a wonderful Turkey dinner. 

The hosts are people I had only met once in passing.  They heard we would be in town and included us in their festivities.  We arrived as the Turkey was being placed on the table. We had a terrific holiday with lovely people.

Since I knew in advance that we would be joining them I whipped up a set of bowl buddies with matching towels and gift card.  I then made a tote to use as a gift bag. I couldn't very well drag dessert on the plane. tee hee

Since Christmas is fast approaching and time is running short I mailed the central portion of this quilt top along with the border and backing fabric, binding and batting down ahead of time.

This was from Terry at Terry's Treasures where we are doing Charming Star Blocks at no rate at all just a suggested maybe 4 per month.  No pressure unless it was self inflicted

Got it totally finished and have mailed it back to NJ.  It should be here tomorrow

I love the backing fabric, the print is made up of Christmas ornaments

I had sent more than enough fabric to complete the quilt so I made one of those 10 Minute (read as a bit over an hour) Table Runners.

Here it is on my table.  I gave it to our friends. Sorry I didn't take a picture of it on their table.  The colors worked so well in their dinning room.

I also managed to knit 2 Chemo Caps, one on the flight down and one on the flight back.

They are done with size 13 needles and bulky yarn.   They really look great on.

Back to work tomorrow ( maybe to rest up).

Have a great week.