Christmas Gifts and Cup Cakes

Now that Christmas is over and presents have been given, I can show you the table topper I made for my sister. I did use a pattern from Kim Diehl called "Old Fashioned Hospitality," which is in her book called "Simple Comforts." I made it for my sister to use as a table topper. Since the finished size of the original quilt was too large for my sister's table, I omitted the outside borders (which I loved, by the way) to cut the size of the quilt down to around 40" square. The original quilt is more like 60" X 60". My sister moved from New England to Tennessee; she loves the New England symbol of welcome...the pineapple.

The center of the quilt is pieced; I used fusible applique to add the pieces. The vines were a real pain to do. Placement was really difficult and making all that bias wasn't much fun. HOWEVER, my sister was pleased with the result and so was I.

These are some closeups of the machine quilting done on my Janome 6500. The quilt is VERY densely quilted (as are most of the quilts I machine quilt). I used some freehand feathers I learned in my class with Sharon Shamber. 

I did get a bit too close to the edge of the quilt with those feathers.

Instead of using a fused fabric for the small dark circles, I made yoyos. I like the texture the yoyos add to the piece.

Today, I finished another cupcake pincushion. The pattern is from Pieceful Designs (www.piecefuldesigns.com) called "With a Cherry on Top." These are so much fun to make. The one from my previous post was given as a Christmas gift to a quilting friend. This one is all mine!