Wedding Patchwork Quilt

I finally cleared the decks enough to start working on the Wedding Patchwork quilt - both physical and mental. This is a really interesting one - there's no common or focus material. It's a stack of material that wedding guests brought with them to the ceremony and now I get to make it into a quilt.

There were a number of pieces that got fussy cuts - just certain parts of the material are going into the quilt. And others that are to be used "sparingly". And there are a couple pieces that just needed the edges trimmed and they will go in as is.

I got nearly all the cutting done and made a couple blocks - from little scraps. And then laid it out on our bed. Can't wait to hear what Michael has to say about this one. It isn't even remotely orderly like most of my stuff.

Here's a couple shots at the lay-out; not that it will stay this way but this will give the owner a chance to see where I'm heading and correct my course if need be.

Christmas Bake Shop

I know I promised not to bore you with too many pictures of the cookies I made for Christmas giving so here are just a couple. We've sampled each of the different kinds and they are all quite yummy. I got to distribute bags of cookies yesterday - very fun.

Anise-Almond Biscotti and Moravian Wafers

 

Double Chocolate and Coconut Macaroons

  

Chocolate Shortbread and Oatmeal Squares

Cinnamon Swirls and Chocolate Chip

 

Pecan Icebox Cookies

All wrapped and ready to deliver

Christmas Placemats

I got 4 placemats put together, quilted and the binding sewn on. I just need to get the binding tacked down before Wednesday and we'll use them for our Christmas dinner. I like this pattern so much I think I'll use it for the yellow and grey fat-quarter bundle I bought a few months ago - it would look great with solids.

 

Christmas Placemats

I found a few pieces in my stash to put along with the fat-quarter bundle I got last year and played with these pieces the other day. I decided to use Laurie Shifrin's Making Waves pattern to make placemats. Don't know if I'll do the table runner - can't think of how I'd use it.

So here we go...

Other Christmas Activity

For the past few years, I've made several different kinds of Christmas cookies to spread around to the people in my life. A couple weeks ago, I told Michael I was thinking about NOT making cookies this year - I'd much rather quilt than spend all day in the kitchen. Much to my surprise, he asked me to reconsider my decision. That so seldom happens, I did reconsider and have spent the past couple days pulling recipes, grocery shopping and finally, yesterday I started making cookies. I got four batches made but only two baked - the other two get to hang out in the freezer for a while so I'll bake them up in a day or so.

The first batch was the most chocolaty cookie I've ever made - 2 pounds of chocolate and 1/2 cup flour (wouldn't want to distract from the chocolate). Michael pronounced them good - high praise from him.

And this is one of my favorite - Anise Almond Biscotti. Delish!

There is plenty more to come but don't know that I'll bore everyone with the details. Just my way of explaining why there isn't any quilting going on up in here.