Giveaway Winner and See You in 2012 !

Firstly, the giveaway winner of my novel The Town That Drowned is ...

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3

Timestamp: 2011-12-11 23:21:42 UTC

Commenter # 3 Liniecat !

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And now, I'm off for a Christmas break from blogging.  It has been a fabulous year and thank you all for being a part of my blogging fun!  See you in 2012.

Christmas Strip Quilt Top Done

 This one is for my son Eli.

 I am going to pin baste it today ...

 ... and hopefully get it quilted soon.  I'm going to do all straight lines.

 I have a red/green/white candy cane variegated thread to use.

Thanks for stopping by.

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My giveaway is still open until 7:00 pm AST tonight.  If you are interested in entering, just scroll down to the giveaway post.

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Posted by Riel Nason on The Q and the U

And Now Back To Our Regularly Scheduled Colour Scheme ...

Ahhhhh, that's more like it.  After the bleh of the selvage angel (In the previous post and THANKS for all the honest comments and suggestions), here is something much more "me."  This is my daughter's Christmas quilt.  LOVE it.

It is a generous double size and hangs down nicely on her bed.

 I alternated between plain 8.5 inch squares and those with a single frame.  The borders are maybe 3.5 inches wide?  The last one may be 4.5 inches?  Anyway, I love the simplicity of the design as it really lets the colour and fabrics show off.

 The fabrics are a mix of about three partial Christmas lines by different manufacturers and several non-seasonal fabrics that I thought worked well.  My favourite fabric is the turquoise with the red fawns shown above.  That is a Michael Miller fabric called Yule Critters.

It was too big to quilt myself, so I sent it out.  (Thanks Tina!)

I used a green polka dot for the binding.  And half the backing is the green shown above.

The rest of the backing is the red and white diagonal check.

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My giveaway is still going on.  Scroll down a few posts to enter if you'd like.

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Thanks for stopping by.  Posted by Riel Nason on The Q and the U

Selvage Angel Progress: Meh.

 So here's the Selvage Angel in progress.  She's pretty bleh.  It's probably a good thing I'm almost done quilting for 2011 (big Christmas quilting and blogging break coming up soon) because I think I'm losing my touch.  And this is in no way an attempt to solicit positive comments, I just want to give an honest presentation of my process here.

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I could say that I don't like the angel because I purposefully used colours I didn't like this time (more muted tones) but I think it is more than that.  I won't go on and on, but I think the design is just too simple without any smaller detail in it to jazz it up. 

 Here's her hair.  More is needed and all raw edges will be tucked under and sewn down.  She also still needs her halo.

 I used selvages for her face too.

 I thought that sewing the selvages at an angle in the wing and piecing it in two parts would make it interesting enough, but ... maybe some quilting detail will help?

I'll add a couple of simple borders and finish it off.  That fabric at the top is just a possibility.  I have others to choose from too.

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Thanks for stopping by.  Posted by Riel Nason on The Q and the U

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And my giveaway is still going on.  Just scroll to the previous post to enter if you'd like.
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And, lastly, I'm joining in some linky fun  at the The Needle and Thread Network

Giveaway !

I have a signed copy of my novel The Town That Drowned to give away.  I've mentioned it plenty of times here before so I won't say anything else other than THANK YOU for all the wonderful messages and comments from everyone who has bought and enjoyed the book.
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To enter the giveaway just leave a comment on this post telling me your favourite storybook(s) as a child.  Mine were Miss Suzy (about a squirrel) and Where the Wild Things Are.  The giveaway is open worldwide.  Just please, please be sure that your email is either attached to your blog profile or you leave your email address in the comment.  I have to be able to contact the winner.  Good luck. (And I'll add a little fabric surprise to the package too)

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The giveaway is open until 7:00 pm AST on Sunday Dec. 11. 

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Posted by Riel Nason on The Q and the U
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Giveaway is now closed.  Winner will be posted on the blog on Monday, Dec. 12.

Christmas Table Runner

 I made this little Christmas table runner yesterday.  It was fast to do because I actually took the bottom row off this quilt in progress to make it.  I knew I wouldn't finish the quilt as it was small and uninspired, but I love these fabrics so much that I wanted to use them as a table runner. 

 The squares are a Sherri Berry Christmas fabric line called 12 Joys of Christmas.  I love the retro images and colours.  The dots and tiles are Denyse Schmidt fabrics from Jo-Anns.

 The squares are 6 inches.  The sashing is maybe 1 3/4 inches?  And the outer border is 2.5 inches. 

 I will try to keep this on our dining room table ... t minus zero until the first spill ...

 I quilted it with a red, green and white variegated thread.

 Here's the binding and backing.

I've started to take out a few Christmas decorations and put them up.  These Santas made an appearance.  And the outdoor lights are going up today.

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Thanks for stopping by.  Come back tomorrow for a Giveaway! 

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Posted by Riel Nason on The Q and the U

Just One Little Christmas Pillowcase

This pillowcase is for Eli.  The main fabric is "Letters to Santa" which is an Alexander Henry fabric from a few years ago.  I put a bit of piping trim on this which I don't always do.  I had some dotted binding left over from Tess's Christmas quilt (which I started to sew on last night) so I trimmed that binding back to a 1/2 inch wide and used it.

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Happy Weekend!  Posted by Riel Nason on The Q and the U

Christmas Strip Quilt Progress

 I've been sewing away on the Christmas strip quilt I'm making.  I must say I love how cheerful it looks.  It is made of fabrics which are predominantly shades of green or red.  A lot of the fabrics also have white in them which really brightens the quilt up.  I used Christmas fabrics as well as non-seasonal ones that I thought mixed in well.

 When sewing all the little pieces together I alternated between red and green fabrics.  I sewed one long, long giant strip together, then cut it up every 63 inches.  I then arranged those strips to make the quilt.  My only rule was that no two pieces which were exactly the same fabric touch each other in the quilt.  Some areas are more green, some more red, but I think it is looking great overall.  I don't have too many strips left to sew in place.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Posted by Riel Nason on The Q and the U