Christmas . . . some things just can't wait!

Ok . . . all you ladies in Brandon, who are in the quilt group . . . close your eyes!

Everyone else - look at the Christmas project that will be handed out on December 10th at our Christmas Party! This isn't the whole surprise, but it is part of the surprise. I know I should wait until after the 10th, but this was about the only sewing project I completed this weekend.

I love my little sample - and I don't usually even use pincushions! I use one of those magnetic ones that lets you just take a general aim in that direction and it catches the pin for you - lazy or what? Look at the little vintage buttons I found - these date back to the 50's and 60's and I think they finish off this little project quite nicely.

This is Heather Bailey's pincushion pattern that has been showing up everywhere you look. It was published in "Quilts and More" magazine back in the Summer and she now has a download on her blog. I have taken the pattern and shifted all the photos and directions around so that it now is in the form of a notecard and the pattern pieces will be on the backside, so that you can open the card out and trace your patterns (all in an effort to save paper and bulk). Sure hope that doesn't infringe on anything - I didn't change any wording and I'm not selling it, so it should be OK! Visit her blog (see my sidebar) and get your own download and make a couple of these for gifts - really quite simple - of course I changed a few things for my pincushion. See what you can come up with . . .

And then another thing that just can't seem to wait for Christmas . . . I thought these were called Christmas Cactus?

The pink one has been blooming since Halloween and the peachy colored one for the past couple of weeks. What a bright spot of color these have been creating in my living room and kitchen . . . that one little splash of brilliance . . . these are such amazing blooms! You really need to almost lay on the floor and look up at the bloom to get the best view of the structure of the flower - who created these anyway? Beautifully done!

I'm sure they will all be shrivelled up by Christmas, so I thought I better share the beautiful colors and so very unique blooms right now.

And . . . the sewing continues - I started some more snowmen over the weekend and have everything ready to start machine quilting my MIL quilt - countdown is on . . . 22 days to completion . . .

'til next time,

M.