Christmas sewing

I've been in denial that Christmas is upon us.  Despite the cold winter weather, the Christmas spirit has been notably absent.  The tree, chopped down, brought home and put up the day after Thanksgiving, still sits half decorated.  We've made two paper ornaments (ten more to go).  Christmas presents are in the early stages of being made (and by early I mean that I have only just hatched a plan this very morning with the help of Pinterest and a cup of coffee). 

The holiday spirit I felt when this picture was taken has fled the building.  I blame the Spare the Air alerts we've had the past couple of weeks.  Cold weather, and we can't light the fireplace.  How am I supposed to get into the holiday spirit without a crackling fire?   

Before presents can be worked on, though, these must be finished. 

Rumor of a just-after-Christmas visit from my sister and her husband necessitates that I finish these pronto so that they can grace my table for a family holiday dinner.  My fingers are crossed that they are able to make it.  Distance means holidays spent with family other than my husband and children are few and far between.

Now that my bout of Bah! Humbug! has been properly documented, time to get on to the holiday sewing.  Fellow handmade holiday-makers, have you finished your holiday makes?

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Crazy Penny

Risking frostbitten toes this morning, I managed to take a photo of my finished Penny Patchwork quilt top. 

The recipe is from the Penny Patch Quilt-along at Stitched in Color.  Because of the scrappy nature of my version, it looks a little crazy.  But my family loves it.  There was a chorus of "oooh... pretty!" from my children, and my husband declared it his favorite of all the quilts I've made so far.

And speaking of recipes, I made this little gem yesterday.   

I saw a picture of a chocolate-glazed banana cake at JulieLou, and Julie was kind enough to share with me the recipe she used.  The only modification I made to was to replace 1/4 cup of white sugar with brown sugar to make it a little richer.  I would have added walnuts, but the littlest one has a nut allergy.  I used this recipe for chocolate glaze, but replaced the water with milk, then added a couple of ounces of melted milk chocolate.  Divine.

Pennies and Scraps

As I look around my sewing room, I am overwhelmed by the jumble of fabric, sewing machines and WIP's cluttering the space.  Fabric scraps from other projects litter the floor, having spilled out of the buckets and baskets meant to contain them.  This is a problem.  The entryway-turned-sewing room is the first thing anyone sees upon entering the house, and right now it's giving off a hoarder vibe. 

Things are in disarray because I've chosen to ignore the mess in favor of sewing.  By taking part in the Marcelle Medallion and Modern Maples fun, I've come out of self-imposed exile and find myself jumping into sew-alongs with gleeful abandon.  So before Marcelle Medallion or Modern Maples are even finished, I've already joined the Penny Patch Quilt-along at Stitched in Color.

I love the simplicity of design of the Penny Patch quilt.  It's squares upon squares- different sizes, but all squares, nonetheless.  This lends itself easily to power chain-piecing.  If you decide to join in the fun, Rachel has an excellent post about choosing a color scheme.  Because I kept waffling back and forth between color palettes and couldn't commit to just one, I'm going to make a scrappy version of the quilt.  Going through the scraps seems a perfect start to cleaning up the sewing room.

Linking up to the Penny Patch linky party at Stitched in Color and to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.