Espritpatch

Best wishes for the New Year as 2013 draw to a close. Celine

December is nearly over, time to look back on what I finally achieve during this busy, crazy month with the run-up to the magical time of Christmas and Winter Holidays. Lots of baking at home, lots and lots of work eating into my free time and also some sewing (even a few hand-made Christmas gifts). One UFO finished (!), a few Christmas swaps, an Advent Calendar, blocks for the [4x5] bee, hexie blocks, 3 blocks for the lotto, 2 tote bags and one scarf. Linking to Fresh Sewing Day . Celine

Commuting is a waste of time and I do that for about 2 hours everyday. Thankfully my commute is on the train, which means that I can use the time as I want. So when I get a seat (not always in the evening), I usually play with some English Paper Piecing, hexies or others. This month, I had the added pleasure of serious train problems which doubled the commuting time and meant that I finished my cute flower of 1/2' hexies for Isabel for Get Your Hex On . I made these 2 flowers for the Inchy Hexie Swap I also started on my Lucy Boston Patchwork of the Cross blocks , but just! I am hoping to make some progress on those lovely blocks soon as I am already behind! Celine

A very very long-standing UFO since this one has been 8 years in the making. I started the quilt top at my LQS Mystery Night one cold evening of November 2005. I made 16 of the 24 blocks and stashed the whole bag away until last summer.... when I decided that I would ask my fellow Bee for Bee Europa 2013-2014 to help me finish the last 8 blocks I needed for the quilt top.  I got all my blocks and finish the top in September 2013 and left it there for a while knowing that I had been challenged by Nikki in the Lazy Bums to finish it by year-end. So it was time to get it out again earlier this month. I wanted to add a piano-key border but after I had framed it with the Hoffman Sapphire. Here it is tested by the girls! I quilted it on my frame 2 weeks ago in a sea wave pattern. Wave at the top and in the middle, pebbles in the bottom border and after I wrapped up all the Christmas gifts, baking etc, added the binding to finally finish it. I managed to hand sew h

Merry Christmas to you all. Hope your day is filled with peace, joy and love. Celine

I really like handmade Christmas ornament so I couldn't resist a few swaps in the last few weeks. First there was the Modernista Homemade Swap where I made these little ornaments and received this lovely mushroom and mini quilt from Mary Then there was the FLIRTS Winter Swap where I made coasters for Sam who sent me a lovely Christmas Tree and a gorgeous brooch that I wear proudly to jazz up my boring winter coat. And of course, I also received a gorgeous Christmas mini-basket from May filled with the most yummy chocolates for the Lazy Bums swap How cute is this gingerbread button? Lots of Christmas gorgeous goodies. Celine

This month, I finished (at the last minute) nothing new here, my blocks for the [4x5] Modern Quilt Bee I picked the Dutchman's puzzle block to make for my fellow bee: And I also sent out 2 Granny Square blocks to Suzy last week, catching up from November. I love the colour combo she has chosen, her blocks look so different but I only took a picture of one of them! Celine

Work has been really made and I have spent more evenings that I wanted working rather than relaxing/sewing. So my hand-made gifts were really really last minute this year. First I made my annual Lebkuchen for the kids' teachers (the night before school finished!) and then I made another big batch on Friday to distribute to the family, so I think I made about 250 and about 96 mini mince pie in about 24 hours! We shouldn't go hungry! I had planned to give hand-made gifts to my Mum and mother-in-law that I hadn't started until last Wednesday. About 2 years ago I had bought all I needed to make some tote bags but the whole bag of supplies and pattern had been stashed away ever since. I got it out last week to make a start, and I must say I am never better than when I have a tight deadline! I managed this gorgeous cat tote bag for my mother-in-law, I hope she likes it and find it useful. with a lovely black and white polka dots inside Using the same pattern again

Back in the game! I haven't played the Block Lotto for months or even years I guess I think mainly by lack of time and too many other commitments, but this month blocks are so fun and easy I couldn't pass. So I made (only) 3 but I love these little blocks! I really love these and even more Sophie's Christmas quilt . If you want to play too, it is not too late, you have until 31 December to make the blocks, check out the Block Lotto /  page. Wish me luck, I might win the lottery to start the New Year! Celine

Have you seen this (new to me) challenge that Barbara at Cat Patches is organising? The NewFO Challenge 2014 . What is it? The joy of starting new projects with no requirement that you finish them - ever! Sounds fun deosn't it, even if it goes again all the UFO challenges and Lazy Bums effort! But why not really? I have a whole list of projects on my to-do list that I never get around to fo because... they are for me! So let's start with the first one for January, I will try to make a start on my Midnight in the Oasis quilt. I have already selected my fabric, so why not start it? Are you playing too? Linking back to Cat Patches Celine

This month has been crazy at work and at home a bit too. I have worked very long hours with little time to play! Anyway, tonight I decided it was time to finally post my November makes (before December is over!) 6 Granny Bee Blocks, 2 Japanese  + and x blocks, 2 EPP blocks, 5 Broken Herringbone blocks, 3 Dancing Stars Blocks and one little Christmas basket, one set of Christmas coasters, 1 Henna Bed Runner and one Diamond Wall Hanging. Not so bad after all! Let's see what's happening in December next. Linking to Fresh Sewing Day . Celine

I had a busy and productive week and set myself some ambitious targets that I didn't quite meet but at least I finished 2 out of the 3 quilts I had planned by Saturday night. The only one I didn't get done on time was Miss Baby Advent's Calendar. It was pieced, quilted but I still needed to finish the binding, which I did this afternoon. It was so nice and peaceful to just sit there and hand sew while the kids were decorating the tree. I had just gone to give my blood so this was all I needed for the afternoon. I filled it with chocolates as soon as I finished it and Miss Baby had her first chocolate on time. I am not sure whether she has understood the concept of one a day so let's see how many days are eaten before their dates! A good week indeed with 3 finishes and also my first OPAM for December. I am hoping for a few more this month, so stay tuned! Linking to Sew Darn Crafty . Celine

A little while ago, Beth Studley from Love from Beth showed us at the London Modern Quilt Guild samples of the beautiful line of fabric she had designed for Makower called Henna . She also later asked who wanted to take part in a challenge to design "something" with her fabric. Of course I jumped at the chance and towards the end of last month, I received a lovely parcel with 6 FQs of the line and a brief to get my something done by 30 November. If you know me, you'll know that I am usually a last minute person, I probably work better with a deadline! So this week, on top of the Advent calendar and the Diamond Quilt I *had* to finish my Henna Quilt, that I thankfully started piecing last week-end! When I received the fabric I had originally envisaged an applique wall-hanging with one (or more) of these Indian elephants that are heavily decorated, I thought it would work well with such vibrant colours but I was a bit intimidated by the idea and worried about not getting