More Christmas Baking

Sort of....................
Yummy Oatmeal Cookies with a cheery holiday twist.

Smarties
Leftover Halloween Smarties
(I don't know why hubby buys them as neither if us eat them)

Cheery Christmas cookies ( Pastel shades of Smarties just don't sing like the old reds and blues and greens and yellows.)

Didn't Sleep Well

I monkey mind half the night away when I haven't worked out every last detail in my head.
And this is all before I start. I don't usually do mock ups or trials but today I did this.

I worked on this ALL DAY. It's only 5 different fabrics, grey and silver.
Why did it take all day?...........

Because it's only this big. Each square started at 3/4 inch to finish at 1/4 inch. I was thinking of doing the whole thing, all 25 colours this way...................... really................!
Diddly, diddly...........................................

25 Shades of Grey OR...... a Canadian Winter HA!

My head has been going around in circles and I don't enjoy that. The way to fix it was to break the chain. I finished the Paper pieced trees to stand alone.
It's small but I thought it charming when I first saw it......and still do. But I added a couple of twists. One was the silver tree.
I knew I was going to embellish this piece and still am. BUT it needed a kick. In a number of pieces I've viewed on line a punch comes from an unexpected colour.
So I added one evergreen. I actually had the whole piece assembled and took it apart to add this guy.

And as the others were paper pieced I though it should be the same so I sketched out a pattern and Voila!

  Isn't he cute? I'm still deciding whether to deck it out as a Christmas Trees......hummmmmmmm.

So here's the whole. Its sweet but not exciting........yet. I can see a few tiny cardinals and squirrels etc.
Maybe a lot!

This will be finished with a black border but I haven't decided the width. My head was toying with the idea of quilting a lot of scroll work, in silver. I have to think about that one for a while.

Catching Up!

I didn't realize a whole week had passed. I have been busy but it's not like me to not have SOMETHING to offer! ( But my Christmas shopping is done!)

Two get togethers this week, first the monthly Guild meeting, our Christmas meeting. It was fun. All the splinter groups presented an idea of what we were doing. I didn't have to speak. That was perfect.
We've had quite a few new members join this fall so it was a way to introduce and invite them to join in and get to know some of us better. I remember feeling on the outside. I almost stopped attending. This group didn't have anything to offer me. Then, on a whim I joined a small group. What a difference. I discovered another member lived just down the street, and I've gained a lot of good friends and a zillion acquaintances.

My second get together, at my home (I love not having to go out in the evening), was my Landscape group. As per instructions last month, we each brought 10 fat eights in a range in one colour. We divided this and everyone took home a colour chart. Our goal is to better our ability to depict light and it's tones, whether it be in daylight or shadow. We all want to move past the "grey day" depictions we feel stuck in. Quite a challenge, believe me. Its easy with paint but hard with cloth. We all see our shortcomings but haven't yet found a comfortable path past this road block.

So here is my chart. Everyone has the same selection but some mounted them differently.

Surprise! Winning Block!

Remember this? A block for the Plowing Match, next August?

Last weekend, I heard from the head of the organization assembling the raffle quilts....And I won first prize! 80 were submitted.

(And I wasn't really sure this piece was even in the ball park!)

(Up date - April 7 - Both my blocks, this map and the "Iris" are featured in the finished quilt being offered as 1st prize at the IPM quilt raffle in September.)