Shopping and a Little Finish

All those tempting sales that have been going on for the past month have just been too much for me!

Fig Tree put together this lovely package of Christmas colored prints . . . I couldn’t resist.

And then there was the scrap bags that she had put on sale – those just sent me over the top and I had to have a few of those bags.  There are some of the strike-offs from California Girl and pieces of Buttercup and all kinds of other big and little lovely prints from other collections.  The nice thing about buying scrap bags from the designer is that all the scraps blend . . . bonus, or what?!?!?

I finished another little miniature quilt for a present – tick another one off the list.

The finished measurement on this one was 10” x 10” and the corner blocks were 1” square finished.  That makes the other ones about 3/4” finished.  Talk about using up scraps . . . now I know why I have been putting all the scraps from previous quilts into baggies!

Oh, and then The Fat Quarter Shop had a 50% off sale on Reindeer Games a few weeks ago . . . couldn’t resist that one.  I also ordered the background cream and the two border fabrics on spec.  Not sure which quilt to make with this line, but I do have my eye on this free pattern over at the Moda Website –

from the Basic Grey Jovial collection or maybe this one . . .

All Wrapped Up made with 

 Flurry by Kate Spain.

(click on the red link for the pdf pattern pages)

If you haven’t been over to the Moda site for a while (or ever) – head over and have a look at the collections and some of the free patterns they have to offer.  I found a couple new ones that I have added to my collection – just what I need!

Have a great week.

I’m still here . . .

The days have certainly gotten away from me.

I know I’m not the only one that is stressing over this but  as long as we are all participating in this full blown holiday season we will muddle through.  Why don’t I just start sooner?!?!!?  It sounds so simple.

How come we can think of great gift ideas during the year for people, but once December hits the brain goes blank.  I know . . . make a list.  Easier said than done sometimes.  There are already too many other lists on the go!

I really do enjoy getting the house in order and all the preparation that goes into the season.  This will be the weekend that we try and get all of the decorations done up and hopefully finish off the shopping, wrapping and other organizing.  Need to get some parcels in the mail early next week . . . I better put that on a list.

I am longing for some down time to quilt and create but maybe there will be a snowday to take care of that wish.   I sure hope so, because I’d like to make a few more of these little cards to use as tags – they are so simple and easy to make – once you get the graphics done up.

Here are some links to find the letters to use . . . some free, some not . . .

Alphabet Photos

or

Shanty-to-Chic

are great places to start looking at how you might like to use these alphabet letters in gifts.  Be warned though – this is time consuming, but hopefully a very appreciated Christmas gift.

I have managed to make a couple of big mittens to give as gifts . . . and I’m just in the process of getting my ingredients together to make up a few gift jars.

from Paula Deen

and

from Tip Junkie

and then maybe make up a batch of these to wrap up and put in the mitten also -

Budding Baketress

For some other great ideas for Christmas gifts head on over to My Pinterest and take a look around at my pins as well as cruise around and see what everyone else is up to as well.

I’m just finishing off this little miniature quilt (10” x 10”) for my MIL’s Christmas present.  She downsized this year and moved into a very small apartment so I thought this would be the perfect “little” giftie that would fit just about anywhere.

Plus these pieces make great conversation generators and I think she’ll really enjoy it.

I’m also trying to work on a couple of techie gifts that are very time consuming and I’ve also started another miniature quilt for a friend who may be moving in the next while.

Always something going on . . . have a great weekend.