So Cute!!

I finished piecing this top together this morning.  It is so darned cute!!  The next step is to embroider the white stripes between the rows.  The pattern says to add the batting, but not the backing and embroider through that.  This will be a new experience for me.

I love the little touches of pink and limey green that add some zip to the color scheme.  This is a pattern from Jen Daly Quilts.  

I think my shopping and wrapping and mailing packages are at an end for this year.  Christmas cards and letters are next.  My list seems to get shorter each year as more people lose interest in sending cards and distance and time seem to drift us apart.

Our daughter is in Saudi Arabia this year and we will spend a day with our son and daughter-in-law to exchange gifts after Christmas.  We also plan to visit friends in my hometown in Indiana after Christmas.  Looking forward to some new traditions and time with loved ones.

Merry Christmas to all.

Christmas Sewing

Somewhere along the line, I found a nice blog called JenDalyQuilts.  Jen has some very sweet designs and has offered a mystery quilt-along the last 3 Christmases.  Her latest one just started this past week.  The good news is they are relatively simple, small and easy to fit into a busy holiday schedule.  I am making last year's mystery quilt right now, although it is not such a mystery to me as I have seen the finished quilt and I Love It.  Here are some of the pieces I have finished.

 A Little Forest

 Some fun ornaments

 Some pretty packages to put under the tree

And lovely pinwheels!

I have one more bunch of blocks to make this weekend and then it is time to assemble.  Much of this is done with paper piecing and goes very quickly.  Jen has  provided all the cutting instructions and made the pieces that are paper pieced slightly oversized so there are no mistakes and the whole thing goes together easily.  I am loving it.  It is fun to work with Christmas fabrics once a year.  

Lots more to do to get ready for the holiday, but we are enjoying the season so much.  Our first snowfall of the winter happened last night.  So we may just have a white Christmas.