A Busy Week before the Holidays

It sure feels like Santa's workshop here in the past week. Friends and family are expecting my wonderful (if I do say so myself!) shortbread, and so I baked five double batches. I think my favorites are the maple shortbread and the chocolate shortbread.

I am also planning ahead for next year! My store of hand-dyed fabrics is looking a little depleted and I am stocking it for next year's teaching trips. I dyed about 60 meters of blues, greens and purples this past week. Ironing will wait until after the holidays.

Since one of the classes I'm teaching in Florida in February is my Sunkissed Poppy, and since I've always wanted to have a blue poppy, I've been testing the pattern with blue fabrics.

We'll see what happens when I line up 11 different blues, from the palest to the deepest, replacing the reds, oranges and yellows in the original design. I'll report back soon.

All of the pieces are fused and cut out. Now I need to assemble them on my base fabric. 

I have also been busy photographing all the steps to make blocks that use free-hand curved piecing techniques. A tutorial will appear on this blog soon. I had a few requests from people who either couldn't find the Northcott fabric that forms the background of the quilt, or who wanted to try cutting the blocks themselves. 

Stay tuned for this tutorial. 

Wishing you peace and joy and all the best of the season!