Snowbound . . . Finished!

I've put the finishing touches on my "Snowbound" mini quilt. I decided to do stitcheries rather than applique as it was in the original pattern for this 2010 BOM. My blocks are only 4 1/2 inches square, making this a cute little quilt to add to our Christmas decorating bits and pieces.

I pieced the 9 patches on my treadle sewing machine earlier in the year and put all the blocks together on Francene this week. I then did simple quilting using the same vintage silk thread that I used for the stitcheries.
I did put the last stitch in the stitchery on New Year's Eve, so 2010 is the date on the block (even though, technically, I didn't finish the quilt until 2011 - but I feel a bit of creative license is OK!!).
I am happy to have this little quilt all bound and labelled, ready to be hung up at Christmas.

Thanks so much to Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs for creating this lovely project . . . and check out her blog to see this year's new BOM.

Pattern: Snowbound - 2010 BOM
Designer: Anne Sutton (Bunny Hill Designs)
Publication: http://bunnyhillblog.com

Catalicious BOM Progress

I've been stitching away on Block 5



and Block 6



of Bronwyn Hayes' Catalicious BOM and I think I'm almost done!

My plan was to make a throw for the end of the bed, where our cat spends most of her time . . .



I've pieced the blocks and now the top is done. I just need to quilt and bind it . . . and that will be about the first thing actually finished this year!

Many thanks to Bronwyn for putting up a block each month - there are still another 6 to go, but for me I've done what I set out to achieve. I've enjoyed the quiet stitching on these blocks and I'm sure that the cat will take up residence pretty quickly!

Snowbound BOM

OK, so it's not like I'm in need of another project, but I've been seeing the Snowbound Block of the Month from Bunny Hill - and I really like it! The snowmen are so cute. But  I decided I was going to start . . . and then I had a moment of indecision!

What was it that caught my imagination about this project?

Was it the fabrics (Rural Jardin - who can resist)?

Was it the applique which should go together pretty quickly?

Was it the snowmen?

Actually, it was a bit of all of those things. But . . .

I have decided, for now, to simplify (my life and this project) - so I'm doing it as a stitchery - in miniature!

Each stitchery block with be about 4 /12" square. And I'm using some vintage silk thread that I picked up on my travels a while ago (I knew I loved it but didn't quite know what to do with it).

So . . .

I started with the pattern and a fine (01) Zig pen (I find Pure Brown pretty good for tracing stitcheries) . . .



and traced it onto my fabric (which is the Rural Jardin plain in the aqua) . . .



then I started stitching . . .





There are 5 blocks available so far, with 12 in all to be done. I'm not sure what I'm going to add - maybe some little nine-patch blocks . . . we'll see.



I quite liked stitching with the silk. It's actually not quite as fine as would I would have preferred for this project, but still, I'm using it! I did a bit of Google-ing and it seems that the threads were probably made around 1925. They've held up pretty well - one spool was a little grubby on the outer threads, but most of the others are in pristine condition, with the label bands still in tact! There's something quite appealing to me about working with older things (it's a bit like antique furniture, I suppose). Whoever owned the threads before me must have a had a project in mind at some point, as there are 6 spools of one colour and a couple of another. Just goes to show - one girl's stash is another girl's treasure!