Happy New Year means Quilts for Christmas Gifts

I had a wonderful time creating Christmas gifts this year. Prairie Sunset was for my brother Glen and his family who live in Toronto. In fact his wife Teri is the one who got me set up with this blog - so thanks to her I am now able to post these. Living in Toronto they can now experience the energy of a prairie sunset with the reds, oranges and yellows on that straight horizon line. And for those of us who grew up on the prairie we know that the silhouette of the grain elevator completes the image.

I created this using batiks and hand dyed fabrics - and all of the fabrics have wonderful color variation to help create the image. I used the curved piecing technique. The effect is wonderful - but the curved piecing is easier with the hand dyed fabrics than with the batiks - since the batiks are such a tight weave.

Midnight Snowflakes is a table runner that was a gift for my friend Liz in Calgary. I started this piece over a year ago (when the first round of renovations were underway and I needed a small project to work on that I could do around the construction). It got set aside and then "found" just in time for me to finish it for Liz.

I started with the dark blue batik that has the lovely splash of pink. I cut out snowflakes to applique onto the table runner (yes I felt as though I was back in grade school again - what fun). Then the other snowflakes are done with thread.