13th UFO finished for 2006

I found some more UFOs packed away and decided to finish this one. It was originally a small wall hanging and I had made all the blocks. Then the pattern was for appliqued hearts to be applied around the border. I decided to make it a bit bigger and leave the hearts off so it would be finished. I'm donating it to the local hospital for use with a premature baby and it's great to have another finish.
I also quilted a special quilt for donation to a child with a leukaemia. She had chosen horses for her theme and the sqs were cross stitched by volunteers.

11th & 12th UFOs finished for the year

I had swapped some Christmas signature sqs in 1998 and 1999 and have combined them to make a Christmas quilt which gives me two more UFOs finished for the year. Our youngest DD and the cta, Tiger, are testing it out on the couch. It's good to have some more finishes from my list of UFOs as well as all the charity quilts I make. I wanted to finish at least 12 for the year so any more are a bonus now.

Early Christmas Gift

I belong to a Christmas swap on one of my Aussie internet groups and we send our designated partner a bag and 12 gifts during the year. The gifts are put away until we open them on Christmas Day. We started this swap because most of us found that we were buying our own Christmas presents from the family and this way we get some lovely surprises. A lot of the gifts are hand made which makes them even more special. The first year I received a Christmas stocking for the gifts, the next year a Santa sack and this year I received this fabulous bag from my partner.
I'm still working on my bag to send her and will post a photo when it's done.
If the gifts are as lovely as the bag, I'm going to be a lucky girl this year.

Life gets in the way

I can't believe that I've neglected to post last week and so much time has elapsed already this week. I've been on night duty and have been busy quilting charity quilts in between time. The last few days I've been sewing bindings on and hand quilting my vintage quilt when I can make time.
My Mum hasn't been well and seems to have suffered a minor stroke so I'm grateful that I was able to spend time with my parents too.
No photos yet as my youngest DD borrowed the camera for her school camp to take photos of her students. Hopefully I'll get some photos up soon.

Another vintage quilt

This is one of my favourite vintage quilts. It's from the US and is a 1930s quilt which was probably larger and the worn outer area had been removed. I rebound it and I love the soft colours and how thin it is. It's beautifully quilted at 8 stitches per inch and every 1/2 inch is covered by quilting.
It's showing a few worn areas but I'm looking after it carefully to preserve it, but still have the joy of looking at it.
These vintage quilts I'm finishing are some of the few I keep for myself. Ibought them from a US antique dealer in the early 1990s. I have lots more to finish off and have added them to my list of UFOs to finish. Hope you enjoy them too.