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Only 365 days till Christmas

So the big day has come and gone. We had 14 sit down for a roast turkey Christmas dinner and then about 30 people for tea. All in a three bed semi! Not forgetting the two dogs. Everything went very smoothly and we are now eating our way through the left overs. We are now sitting, watching match of the day and Newcastle's win against Bolton.







It all got a bit too much for the doggies at the end of the day - here we are sitting on Daddy's lap surrounded by Christmas presents on the kitchen floor!
I was very lucky with my presents: I got lots of quilty books, two jelly rolls, three black work kits, four of the Quilt Aid kits and lovely personalised calendar. And all the home made gifts that I have spent the last few months making were very well received. As everyone has opened their presents, so I can now share a few more of my finishes with you.
First up is a mug rug I made for my Dad. My Dad is a morris dancer and I am a quilter and I wanted to combine the two. A google search combining morris dancing and quilting doesn't return a great deal so I was left with no choice but to design something myself.

The stitchery designs are entirely mine - my first attempt at something entirely from my own little head. The one on the left is playing amelodeon (the instrument my Dad plays) and the one on the right is dancing with the typical hankies. They both have flowers in the hats and bells on their ankles. I also put together the piecing myself - stupidly including partial seaming, which althought I regretted once I realised, actually worked quite well! I bought the fabrics at Harrogate and the green and brown ones are Moda by Sandy Gervais. I have no idea what the orange stripe is!

I also made two mug rugs for Linda. I started with a set of four mugs and designed two mug rugs to match. I drew the owl design myself but it is very much based on the designs on the mug. The fabrics were the ones I bought when we visited Guernsey.

And then I made four more mug rugs for my Mum. These are all from the Farmer's Wife book: Calico Puzzle (orange), Waste Knot (blue), Noon and Night (yellow and green), and Country Farm (pink, purple and yellow). She has a bit of a thing at the moment for batiks, so these were an easy choice, and she really liked them.I also finally finished (at 3pm on Christmas Eve) the Night Before Christmas mini quilt for Aunty Barbara. This is a fantastic design from Cinderberry Stitches, and I will be making it again (possibly twice).
I also managed to finish off the second set of Blossom placemat and two mug rugs: the Blossom "teapot rug" is from the Vignette Magazine from Leanne Beasley and the two mug rugs are Farmer's Wife again: Calico Puzzle and Churn Dash.(The lighting in the photo isn't great)Two projects that I had hoped to get finished for Christmas did not get finished: My Mum has asked for a stained-glass-window-effect wall hanging. The colours will all be batiks, and the "leading" will be black bias binding. I have started drafting it, but I realised very early on, that I wouldn't be able to hand sew on all of the binding before Christmas. This will be a project for the new year.

The other project that didn't get finished was a lap quilt for Linda. I have bought all the fabric - Melrose by Red Rooster Fabrics. Linda has also bought some of the fabrics to make some sham curtains for her living room, so when I saw the kit, I had to buy it! This will be another project for the new year.

Of course, I have many many projects for the new year...
I hope everyone else had a fantastic day!

PS. Mum absolutely loved loved loved her bag!

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