Holiday Table Topper

Posts from me three days in a row? Something MUST be up... Ah, I figured it out! I finally don't have any house guests to take care of :) As much as I enjoyed Grandpa Nelson and Gloria Elena's visit, it sure is good to have things back to 'normal' again...

I can't post what I'm working on right now - because it's a secret. My online Thimbleberries group is having a Christmas Tree Skirt exchange and I'm busy choosing the right pattern and fabrics. You'll just have to wait to see photos until after the exchange - because my 'Secret Santa' recipient reads my blog regularly...

So.... I'm posting another one of my purchases! (Haven't been doing too much actual sewing, but I've still been able to get my quilt fix! LOL) I won this table runner on eBay recently, and it came in the mail today! It was sewn and hand appliqued by Marilyn Ginsburg, and hand quilted by a friend of hers. All it needs is binding...

And here's a closeup of the hand quilting:

Seeing beautiful hand quilting like this almost inspires me to get out my hoop and thimble and try again.... Note that I said 'almost' :)

Cashing in my Thimbleberries Bucks...

TB-aholic that I am, I belong to TWO Thimbleberries Clubs - mostly because I want to support as many shops in my area that carry Lynette's fabrics. The shop that I mentioned yesterday, Quilt Basket, is 65 miles away from my home. They carry practically every Thimbleberries product - which is good news for me :) LOL I've been visiting that shop for MANY years (at least eight or nine) and always begged the shop owner, Cathy, to have a Thimbleberries Club meeting at the shop. She had offered TB Club by mail order before, but started the meetings in January, 2005 - and I've been making my monthly visits there ever since!

Then last June, a new quilt shop (Cozy Quilt Shoppe) opened less than 10 miles away from me - and was offering a Thimbleberries Club. Whoo Hoo!!! This shop has been offering pint-size versions of both the big House and Garden quilt and the four seasonal patterns, so I've been able to join in here also. Club members can earn 'Thimbleberries Bucks' at the meetings by (1) showing up; (2) bringing a Show and Tell item; and (3) purchasing a TB item. Well, I 'earned' 56 Bucks this year - and last night was the night to cash them in...

The shop had a silent auction with 18 different prizes - mostly autographed TB patterns and books, as well as some samples of the 'extra' projects offered each month. Each Buck was exchanged for a ticket, and I used 36 of them last night - winning TWO prizes! Here are the patterns that I won:

I've wanted Twilight Village for a LONG time - and even have all of the fabrics collected for that quilt. All I needed was the pattern - whoo hoo! And I really like the Crescent Moon pattern too - especially done with the Autumn Traditions fabrics, like I saw out in Minnesota. Here's a photo of that quilt:

On Tuesday I will be using my other 20 tickets at the day meeting. I hope I'll be as lucky!

Luscious Flannel

I haven't done TOO much shopping lately (especially after I broke the bank out in Minnesota and Wisconsin) but just received a kit I had ordered!

Last month at my Thimbleberries Club meeting in Wappingers Falls, NY, I was 'called' over to the TB flannel section of the shop. There before me were the most velvety flannels that I have come to expect from Thimbleberries. The newest line is called Christmas Street, and Lynette designed a REALLY simple pattern to go along with it. The shop, Quilt Basket, didn't have any patterns in stock, so placed an order that night for the complete kit (so I'd get the 20% TB Club member discount). And it just arrived!

I don't think I'll be getting to sewing it anytime soon, but wanted to buy it now before the fabrics become nearly impossible to find. See, I'm learning :) Even though I love to hunt for missing fabrics, it's a lot easier to just buy the prints when you fall in love with them...

Vintage Thimbleberries

As most of my friends know, I am an unabashed TB-aholic. No - no tuberculosis here... just an addiction to Thimbleberries, especially fabric lines from the past that are hard to find now. I love many of the quilts in Lynette Jensen's older books and patterns, and try my best to duplicate them - hunting down all of the 'original' fabrics to make my replications complete :) Yep, eBay has become one of my favorite websites - much to DH's chagrin - and I have been able to find MANY of the ones I 'need' for various quilts.

Lynette's old Christmas lines are some of my favorites - especially the first one she designed. The Christmas Valley line of fabrics were released back in 1995, but I didn't discover it until much later - WAY after the quilt shops had sold out of the bolts. One quilt that I fell in love with used that fabric line, and it started me on my search. The quilt is called Pine Tree Log Cabin and is featured in the At Home with Thimbleberries book. Over many years I found ALL of the original fabrics - and made this quilt top recently:

I had to make some size modifications because I only had a fat quarter of many of the fabrics. So, instead of the log cabins finishing at 8.75", they're just 7"... and the pine trees in the corner were reduced from 10" finished to 7.5". I also made only 30 log cabin blocks instead of the 40 that the pattern called for, but I'm still happy with the result. Now I just have to send it out to be quilted...

I'm currently working on a kit that I bought from MSCS while I was out in Minnesota. I just have to add the borders and it'll be ready to post here :)