Saturday, December 03, 2005

Christmas Houses

So this is it - the very first liberated, wonky house quilt I ever made, way back in 1996. I started out using Christmas fabric that I no longer liked or even hated. Hey, I was trying out a new technique, didn't want to use fabric I'd hate to waste... As I grew more confident I started throwing in purples and fabrics that I actually loved. So for me this is a weird combination of good and bad. Does make me realize that if you only use fabric you like, you have a much better chance of liking the finished product.

I was proud of myself for figuring out how to make the snowman. Easy but complicated all at the same time. I started out with three squares in graduated sizes and added background fabric to each of the corners to make "circles." He's a little pointy - but he works. This is the first quilt I ever decided to not worry about squaring up and making the edges all straight. I used a ruler and rotary cutter, but only straighted it about 2" at a time. It looks good that way.

I've been sewing up gift bags. Here's one that can be used for any occasion. Well, okay hubby wouldn't be too thrilled to see it for his birthday, but you know what I mean. It's a batik fabric and I fan quilted (spiral pattern) using a variegated pinks n whites perle cotton. In the end, you can barely see the quilting, which was hard enough to do through the batik. I guess the fabric is still the star, and that's not a bad thing.

We actually had a few days of good clear skies here, but it's back to eye-burning today. Yesterday my sweetie (who works Sunday thru Thursday - the standard work week here) and I went to the 10:30 am showing of the new Harry Potter film. Oh boy. Dark, dark movie and not just the lighting. I forgot about that.

I was rather amazed at the number of small kids in the audience. One I'd have thought it was a bit too much for them and two, they were Egyptian. Unless they spend a whole lot of time watching tv, how much English do they really know? They're not old enough to read the arabic subtitles. There was definitely some talking (translating?) throughout the film but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, plus it wasn't as hard for me to tune out as speaking in English would have been.

Boy did my knees (both of 'em) object to being cramped up in the theater. I had to lean on hubby to get out of there. Am I 80-yrs old or what? In general tho, my problem knee is doing really well - definitely much better than it was pre-surgery.

Last night we watched "Christmas in Connecticut" in which Barbara Stanwyck plays a WWII era Martha Stewart - the best homemaker in the world. Or is she? We followed that with "Shop Around the Corner" a Christmas movie with Jimmy Stewart that was the inspiration for "You've Got Mail. " Yes, we were movie bingeing yesterday.

5 comments:

Quilts And Pieces said...

The xmas house quilt is so adorable! I love it! And the snowman is adorable! I think it is such a cute little christmas village.

Oh and I love Christmas in CT and I've seen that Shop around the corner movie also! I just love those old xmas movies. Boy, now I want to cuddle up on the couch and pull some of them out! It is still freezing here!

Finn said...

Love the wonky houses Tonya, they seem very wintery to me..*G*

Good thinking to use fabric that's become ho-hum to you for a new technique. I do that also. Gives a gal some pretty strange orphans...LOL..but all the better..*G* I haven't made enought liberated houses yet to be really comfortable with it, but I'll keep at at..you inspire me!

It's ok if you don't have christmas fabric that you love...cause you have others that you love. For me, the lime green was just soooooooooo not what the fabric places were selling. I'd love to know who designed it..way back then. I'm happy to still have some of it left and that the love has lasted through the years..LOL

Hunter said...

Love the houses. It looks like Winter to me, too. (Or what I remember Winter looking like.)

And you're not the only creaking non-80-year-old. It's raining on other parts of the Island today and hubby and I both got up creaking. :)

Aloha,
Darilyn

Sarah said...

Tonya -

I love the houses! Thanks for sharing.

Hope your knee is doing better.

Sarah

Lucy said...

Ooohhh the christmas houses are perfect! I am at the waitinglist for the liberated book at the quilterslibrary I can't wait to see it ! Lovely quilt tonya