Quilt Shop Purchases and "Class"

I thought I'd share photos of a couple things I bought at the quilt shop the other night. The first photo is of the Pumpkin Boy panel from Thimbleberries. They've come out with several reproductions of the original Cover Story quilt panels and they're kind of cute. I've "collected" a couple of the original, "vintage" panels but since I didn't have this one--and since I love Halloween!--I decided it needed to come home with me, along with two coordinating fabrics for borders.

I also picked up a cute little Halloween kit--I love that black cat! It reminds me of my older cat. Then I had to bring home a few odds and ends--sale yardage and a couple fat quarters as well as one of those small patterns that work well with charms.

With these purchases, I now have "kits" for three more Halloween projects. No, I don't think I'll make them for this holiday. In fact, I went to the grocery store today and picked up a couple Christmas magazines. I guess I have a short holiday attention span!

The "class" I signed up for tonight is more of a group of women getting together to sew than an actual class where there's any teaching and learning going on. The quilt shop picked out three projects from the newest Thimbleberries Christmas book for everyone to work on, and all three projects feature snowmen. There's a stocking, a table runner, and a table topper or lap quilt. The shop isn't making kits up, though--everyone just brings their own fabric or buys it there. And which project will I work on? Well . . . . You guys know I'm kind of a rebel, right? So after signing up for the "class," I came home and got the book down off my shelf and found a completely different project I wanted to work on. Here's a photo from the book:

It's not that I don't like snowmen--I do! But I decorate with snowmen in my bathroom and I just couldn't see putting a table runner, table topper, or stocking in there!

Tonight I pulled fabric from my stash. See all those appliqued mittens in the pattern above? Of course I love to applique, but I'm not fond of fusible machine applique and I don't have time to hand applique all of those darn mittens, so I decided to pick a "feature" fabric to use in place of the mitten blocks. I went ahead and pieced the 9-patch blocks and cut the alternate squares and put them up on my design wall. Here's what mine looks like so far:

Of course, I still have to sew the blocks together and then add all those borders, but I just might be able to get the top done during class. The feature fabric shows cabins in the snow, and there's a bit of blue in there which will go nicely in my kitchen, so I've decided to make a table topper and try to keep the colors happy and bright. I'll let you know how far I get in my next post. Of course, I may end up just chatting and eating (they're feeding us dinner) and not getting a whole lot done, but at least I have a head start! And I'm sure it will be a fun way to spend a Friday night!

Have a happy Friday!