Getting Ready for Christmas

I spent the last week working  on a new Christmas table runner which came about when I saw this great block design called Diagonal Delight . The tutorial is by Amanda Murphy and can be found here and here. It is a very versatile block and it was very hard to choose just one layout! However, I managed to do it after trialing many of them. It really helped to have a design board (which is really just a large piece of batting tacked to a wall), and a camera. It's amazing to me how much I see in a photo that I don''t see looking directly at the project!! 

I had some fun with hand stitching using perle cotton in red and green. There is was a lot of white space, so I like the colour that the perle cotton adds.

The fabric is Kumari Garden Holiday and I did do some fussy cutting for the 4 patch parts of the block. A bit wasteful though......I only have fat quarters of each fabric.
However, there is more Kona Snow  than Kumari Holiday in this table runner! So, I didn't make much of a dent in the FQ bundle.

I intended to put borders on it, but it would have been too big for my table. Before binding, it measures 20x60.

I was going to round the corners as I had finally made my first bias binding, but I would have lost all that fussy cutting!!. I used Countdown To Christmas by Sweetwater for the binding. It is such an amazing Christmas fabric, and I have it in red and black as well as this white!

I'm glad this was a small project....started and finished in less than a week!

Wish I could say the same about the pouches I have been working on!! Although, I am done with the zippered ones, thank goodness.

I have 2 framed pouches in the works, also for gifts. Then, in  moment of extreme stupidity, I ordered more frames! What was I thinking?? But, they are just so darn cute, I couldn't resist. I have promised myself that I will order nothing int the way of sewing supplies
  during the month of December......well......except for the frames and the Essex lines. Okay, nothing more!

 I am still hoping to get Dove Revisited, my Drunkard's Path quilt, done before Christmas, but that might be pushing it. My Supreme Slider arrived and I can hardly wait to try it! I also got some of those Little Genie magic bobbin washers that Leah Day recommends.

The Christmas tree went up today, so I'm feeling quite festive! Not too many decorations on the tree...lights, glass icicles, the handmade, sort of old fashioned santa ornaments we made years ago, but always a favourite.

Time for a glass of wine! I think I deserve it!