Fantastic Quilt Week

What a fantastic quilt week it's been for me. I feel like Christmas has arrived early for me. The only thing missing at the moment is being called to the table for brunch. I do smell a hint of cinnamon in the air and hear carols playing in the background of my mind. Let me unfold by week for you.

First, my friend Lynn helped me start on my Dear Jane quilt. I have been putting this aside far too long and decided it was time to bite the bullet. I decided to use 1940's fabric with a muslin background. Since 1940's fabric is difficult to find I don't know if I will have enough fabric variety in my stash but then I was never one to do things the easy way. This photo is my first block. It is one of the border triangles in the DJ quilt and was paper pieced. I have to say that I have never sewed with such small pieces before and found it possible to hold and sew. I sewed the block using a HANDCRANK machine. Yes, they still exist and I love them. I have now started my DJ journey and will show you my progress from time to time.

Next came an envelope with this lovely hexagon inside from my new friend, Linda. She and I are participants in the Inchy Hexagon exchange. I had requested pink petals with a dark green centre and this is what Linda sewed for me. She included a lovely card as well. I love the use of the stripes. Stripes are something people seem to either avoid or ignore. I think they do so much for such a small amount of design. I am of the opinion that stripes should be brought out to the forefront, either by promoting the product or more frequent use by quilters, so their beauty can be appreciated. Those dots you see are the paper pieces left in so the person can align the patch in order to sew it together.

Then the postman dropped this off in my mailbox. I was the lucky winner of Leona's giveaway recently and was I thrilled! Wait until I show you what lovely Leona sent me. She started off with a Cornbread stuffing recipe (which I must try) and two great cards as you can see. As I unfolded the package I found....

a hardcover book on vintage aprons. That subject is something I have been interested in for a while now and what a great reference book to receive. I used to make and wear aprons when I was young because that "was what you are supposed to do". Consequently I had always wondered what women in the past made themselves, what designs they made and fabric patterns used. Hopefully I will be able to sit and read this weekend and find out the answer to that question. But that was not all.

Leona also included a pincushion that was the perfect size for one of my sewing areas. It is already in use. She also gave me a button bag and a safety pin bag. How cute is that! It won't take me a minute to fill that button bag because I have quite a few of them. Very handy indeed but more is still to come.

As a final gift Leona included 4 yards of various Christmas fabric and a Christmas pattern as well. Talk about being giddy. For those of you not aware, Christmas is my most favourite holiday (and it's not about gifts) so receiving this fabric just put me over the edge. I could feel the love and generosity. Thank you so much to my new friend, Leona.

Last but not least I did manage to get some sewing done in between all this excitement. I made a Christmas block for the Australian Christmas block swap.

This block is for Larain in Australia. She had requested a star block of my choice pieced in traditional Christmas colours of red/green. I decided to try my hand at this star pattern, which is paper pieced, to find out if it comes together quickly. I must confess it took longer than anticipated and more fabric than anticipated but the process was fun and I might make the pattern again. I hope Larain approves.