the quilt and the christmas story

i have a very strict policy of not posting about gifts here until they have been opened by the receiver. however, given this quilt is going to my not-yet-born nephew, so he won't be the one to unwrap it, let alone be able to notice its existence for quite some time. and given this is my last post of the year, i thought i might apply that policy a bit loosely in this case.

so here it is, my nephew's finished quilt:

and that's it from me for the year! it's been great fun, let's do it some more in the new year!

and finally, merry christmas to you all!

because:

 Mary was engaged to Joseph and traveled with him to Bethlehem. She was soon going to have a baby, and while they were there, she gave birth to her first-born son. She dressed him in baby clothes and laid him on a bed of hay, because there was no room for them in the inn.

That night in the fields near Bethlehem some shepherds were guarding their sheep. All at once an angel came down to them from the Lord, and the brightness of the Lord's glory flashed around them. The shepherds were frightened. But the angel said, "Don't be afraid! I have good news for you, which will make everyone happy. This very day in King David's hometown a Savior was born for you. He is Christ the Lord.You will know who he is, because you will find him dressed in baby clothes and lying on a bed of hay."Suddenly many other angels came down from heaven and joined in praising God. They said:

    "Praise God in heaven!

   Peace on earth to everyone

   who pleases God."

After the angels had left and gone back to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see what the Lord has told us about." They hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and they saw the baby lying on a bed of hay.

When the shepherds saw Jesus, they told his parents what the angel had said about him. Everyone listened and was surprised. But Mary kept thinking about all this and wondering what it meant.

 Luke chapter 2 verses 6-19

my creative space

i'm tired tonight. work has been really crazy recently, i'm only two days into my working week, and i have already done an extra half a day, and i can't see it calming down anytime soon. so i really don't have much in the way of words, but i still did want to share a few pics of what's been going on in my creative space over the last week. lots of creating...

 sewing the binding on this project
 

 making some mini grannies for this project

 

and a brand new project! i got a jug cover pattern book for my birthday, and so i popped out to spotlight to get some proper crochet cotton and a mini crochet hook. and it's good fun, but the only problem is that i can't talk and follow patterns, so this is a no-one else around kinda project. 

how are your creative space projects going?

crafternoon goodness!

ahh, what a saturday we had. unexpected sunshine. good food and a crafternoon.

 




there was great food (easy peasy chocolate cake, fabulous and melt in your mouth macaroons and blue cheese scones) 




 

 

 
i was working on making a quilted sandwich for my next quilt project

there was drawing and painting going on, but mostly i wanted to show you this: sculpture by my lovely friend. (sorry some of the pics are blue-ish - i forgot to turn the filter off)

 she was sculpting it out of this weird aerated concrete stuff, and it was so much fun!

 

i couldn't believe how great it looked by the end of the crafternoon. the finished product is going to be fabulous!

my creative space

this week reveals my new project. ta da...

i'm making a quilt! i was going for a brown and orange theme to match the back panel fabric. but instead there is turning out to be a bit more of a mix. see, there were a few fabrics that i really wanted to put in (like the blue ellipsoid one on the top right) and so a blue theme got added in. then finally a little bit of plain yellow, which i think helped to de-crowd things colour-wise.

anyway, cutting it out and then sewing it together has been fun. but i am worried about the next step. i actually have no idea how to quilt things, and any helpful suggestions, or directions to good and helpful beginner quilting blogs/how-tos/sites you know would be gratefully received!

here's hoping your creative space is also filled with retro fabricked, family inspired, make-it-up-as-you-go-along kinda craft...

my creative space

so, my creative space this week is full of fabric

pulled from my fabric stash box and 

strewn around the room and 

sorted into colour piles. the first steps in my next project. eek, how exciting...

as always, check out other creative spaces over at kirsty's...

the next project

so, i've been vaguely mentioning my next project for some time now - since i finished my last one actually. its a project that is going to be dear to my heart. see, i've got a nephew on the way he will be my sister's third, after a bit of a gap. her other two were born while our nan was around. and our very crafty nan made them all sorts of things. things like this:

i inherited a whole lot of stuff from my nan, part of which includes her fabric stash. its full of bits and pieces, scraps and chunks. fabrics that remind me of my childhood, of the things she made for me. and the same fabrics that nan used to make things for my sister's kids.

seeing she isn't around to make things for this new nephew-on-the-way, i want to. i want to make something out of her fabrics, out of her legacy. i'm not that great at softies, so i am heading in a slightly different direction. but i am starting to get a picture of what it will look like, and i'll tell you the details as they come together, so its still a bit of a watch this space project. its on its way. like my nephew. fortunately, he isn't due until december, so i've got a bit of time...