Scrappy Christmas Friends

This Spring, my quilty friend Laura gave me a bucket load of squares - literally two buckets full! It was fun to sort these strip trims into 2", 2.5" and 3" sets. While I sorted I suddenly realized,
"Hey, these squares are all red, pink, and green." I'm sure you're thinking the same thing I did: Scrappy Christmas!

I decided holiday table runners would make many nice gifts. So I chain pieced squares until they felt long enough, just random fun, you know, about 12". Then I "framed" these blocks with end pieces equal to 1/3 the length of the scrappy center. I did large stipple quilting on the scrappy parts, and none on the end sets. If I have time, I'll hand quilt a monogram or Christmas saying there. It took a little longer, but I cut binding to match the end pieces. They are gifts after all, and self binding is so much nicer than bias tape, don't you think? No holiday shopping for me, everyone gets runners this year :) But if there are any extras, you may find one or two in our RHQEtsy shop.

My Twitter friend Sandy Fowler asked to see what I was working on, so here they are. Thanks Sandy, for reminding me I need to blog on even the simple stuff, just because it is fun! Actually, Sandy is an expert on celebrating and turning simple into fun. She wrote a book on it! Here is Sandy's new book, Beyond Eggnog and Mistletoe:  Creating a Stress Free Holiday Season You'll Love.

Beyond Eggnog & Mistletoe looks good "under the tree," right?

You know I blogged on Toginet Radio quilting podcasts in earlier Totally Tech Tuesdays posts. Well guess what, Sandy has a Toginet show too, all about Heart Filled Holidays! And if you love holidays as much as we do, you'll want to check Sandy's Heart Filled Holidays website each month, because it is the only reliable source for finding all those exciting Extra Holidays, like Name Tag Day and Pie Day. Hey Sandy, when is Pie Day? Definitely need to get that on my calendar next year!

Thank you Laura and Sandy,

for sharing your gifts and making our holidays so much nicer!

Happy Holidays! --Mom