Just in the Nick of Time

I finished my Big Block Baby Quilt for my niece just in the nick of time and sent it off. The USPS tells me it will get there Christmas Eve Day. I really enjoyed this project. It worked up quickly (despite the little available time I had to work on it) and was fun to quilt with an all over design and I did just a bit of quilting with rulers.

I did a bit of ruler work in the solid blue triangles, since that's the only place where it had a chance to show. A triangle, star, Celtic knot, and the letter A (for Abbie!) into a triangle. I used bark blue thread for the quilting in these spaces and while it shows up a bunch on the back now, I'm confident that one wash and the minky will cover up the stitching.

I finished the binding by machine. I stitched the binding onto the back first (with regular thread) and then stitched it down on the front with a tiny blanket stitch with very fine invisible thread. I made sure to tie off all ends very securely.

 I used the built-in walking foot attachment on my Janome 8200 for the binding and I also wore my Machingers gloves on my left hand to help me guide the quilt as I stitched. This dry winter air makes things slippery and the grip of the gloves really helps. By the way, did you know you can get these in size extra small at my shop? My hands aren't tiny, but my fingers are somewhat short. The extra small leaves no extra space at the tips of my fingers. Very (ahem...) handy.

I mailed off the last of my Christmas presents today and I'm all done with the kids' presents. Hubby is in charge of wrapping them. Shopping isn't much of a deal here as we keep Christmas pretty simple but the kids are so excited! Since they're out of school, we're planning on doing more baking and some crafting too.

Is it done? I'm sure she wonders....

Craftsy is having their last sale of the year and all classes are up to 50% off including my own. If you're done with your shopping for others, it might be time for you to buy a little something for yourself OR to "Gift a Class" to someone else as a last minute gift that doesn't require wrapping or shipping. Use my Instructor's link to get the best prices and to put a tiny bit of jingle in my pocket at no cost to you: http://www.craftsy.com/ext/AmyJohnson_holiday

This video reminds me I better make sure my hubby hasn't lost his list of my gift suggestions. I usually tell him I don't need anything and he takes that as "Don't get me anything" and then he doesn't. Silly man. You'd think that after 22 Christmases he'd learn that I do like a little something to unwrap even if it's not much. (Then again after 22 years, you'd think I'd be used to him taking me at my word about not needing a present.) I hate for him to spend money on something I won't like though, so this year I gave him a little list to choose from.

How about you? Are you done with Christmas shopping? Does your significant other need some help when it comes to shopping? Do you give a list too?