Giving and receiving......................

Hello Happy Christmas Fans! I hope you are happy, well fed, enjoying the company of family & friends and mostly I hope you are safe! On our way home from Auckland Christmas evening there were two fatal car crashes. Very sad and sickening, a loss of life at anytime of the year is so sad, but at Christmas the hurt must cut deeper.

I wanted to share a couple of the gifts I received. Many of you will know I have a 'thing about snowmen' so when I received the following present in the mail you can imagine how delighted I was!

Two handmade snowmen from a special friend. She has felted vintage wool blankets and jumpers to make their bodies and scarves and hats even their 'carrot' noses!

Here they are again poising with the three bird houses my eldest son gave us. Isn't the red casserole dish fabulous? I thought if they were naughty snowmen then I could always make snowman casserole! mmmmm, second thoughts it will be one watery~ woolly~ carroty~ tasting dish!
We did receive some handmade edible goodies but they have been gobbled up before it even crossed my mind to photograph them! Perhaps Simon ate them??? He is looking very full and content here on our Christmas quilt.

Next to share are just some of the gorgeous cards I received, one is from my 3yr old granddaughter in Australia.

I will be honest and say I wasn't very creative on the handmade Christmas presents this year. I just ran out of steam and creativity.
However over the last few months I have been making some quilts for my ever expanding family!

We gave away exchanging Christmas and birthday presents years ago in our family just because of the volume of people. That said I have been working my way towards making each member a quilt, given around their birthdays but not exclusively for their birthdays.

I enjoyed making my nephew's quilt, very relaxing and therapeutic. Scrap quilts evoke memories when you pick up the next square or strip to place at the machine to run your next seam. "Oh that was from so - and - so's quilt"!

Made largely from my plaid stash, with a few other oddball - not plaids into the mix has resulted in a homely hugable quilt.

The facts:

 "World Fair" Blocks.
Matilda's Own Poly batting.
 Finished size: 64" x 76".
Panto pattern: "Rotorua" by Lorien Quilting ( a good choice I thought as my nephew was born in Rotorua!)
Thread: Perma Core "Mulch".

When cleaning out Mum's knitting bag I found a few of her hankies, I thought they would add a special touch to the labels of some of these quilts, along with a nice verse I found on Pinterest.

                  The next quilt I made for one of my sisters. I used a Layer Cake this time.

My sister loves orange, although this quilt isn't screaming orange it has some nice touches and of course the binding had to be orange!

                                             And the orange and grey spot backing.

Another label........................................

The facts:

Moda Bake Shop Pattern called: "Moda Love". Finished size 73" x 73".
Moda Layer cake: "Comma" Zen Chic & Moda solid.
Matilda's Own poly batting.
Panto pattern: "Marmalade".
Thread: Perma core "Eggshell".

With the temperatures outside too hot for me I am enjoying pottering, a bit of cleaning in the mornings (or not, depending on the mood!) some sewing, lots of conversations over a cup of coffee with my loved one, even some reading and some lovely bush walks.

Happy Holidays!