Special Shares, Peppermint Trees, Quilting "Christmas Presents", Raisin Tea Buns

I read that the last full moon of the year, called the Cold Moon, is tonight and it is going to be very special by how high in the sky it will rise. Such a height won't be seen again till 2043. It's dark here now at 5 o'clock. Yesterday I took this photo of the back yard bathed in moonlight at that time. Unfortunately, the clouds kept sailing past hiding the moon. Sometimes, clouds add much beautiful moodiness to a December winter sky but my photo didn't capture that sadly. 

To celebrate December 2025, I stitched a few trees. I was going to say Christmas trees but these do not look like your typical Christmas trees. Last year, I saw Helen Philips had made a quilt she called Peppermint Trees in pinks and greens. I loved it and found the PDF download for the pattern at her Etsy Shop. These are appliqued with my usual blanket stitch border. In an attempt to have this at least a flimsy for Christmas, I'm sewing the blocks together as I go. Here is the first four combo. This is also a super way to use up those slightly larger scraps too.

One of the reasons I'm really happy to be staying with Helen's pink choice is because I bought a few yards of this pink fabric way back and it isn't the best material. It is just a tiny bit flimsy but will be perfect for a wall quilt. Yes, those were the days when I hadn't learned enough about fabric and couldn't resist a good deal either. Still can't resist a good deal. 

Meanwhile, my hand quilting on Christmas Presents has been a torturous experience so far. Now that's a strong word but I am finding the handling of such a large project very challenging. I've tried it on a table, in a big hoop and now in my floor stand hoop. I can't seem to get comfortable with the stitching no matter how I've set it up. I've read that the floor hoop takes getting used to but I did quilt something else using it and I don't remember having this dilema. 

And figuring out how exactly to quilt it has also been a challenge. I looked at a lot of online similar quilts to see how they were quilted. Many of those hand quilting laid outline stitches around each box and ribbon. Others used machine quilting with a loopy pattern all throughout which was pretty. So far, I've drawn a loopy doodle to use in the white ribbon parts which might be a softening kind of effect to all the straight lines in this quilt. Then maybe I'll do outline stitching for the rest of the block.

Maybe I'm just not settled down enough to work on this particular slow stitching now but I'm determined to make some headway with it. I'm happy as long as I can do that. 

Shares Too Good To Miss

I love this site, the Embroiderers Guild of America. The stitching is magnificent. And they have a lovely selection of free patterns you can download too. HERE is the link.

And this site is one I've returned to countless times over the years for instructions, patterns and ideas to stitch. I'm so happy to share again the Needle 'n Thread Network. Our friend, Mary Corbett, a lifelong embroiderer, has a wonderful page of free embroidery patterns which she keeps adding to. It is quite extensive. Also, she offers many tutorials and links. 

I made raisin tea buns as my baked treat this week. I always add the raisins for Tony. They are great with a little jam and a cup of tea, of course. Good on a cold winter day, one with a blowing snow warning. Here is Rock Recipies recipe for  Newfoundland Raisin Tea Buns.

I love my Morris thermos. What a beautiful shade of blue! But there are also shades of green, orange, tan and cream put together the way only Morris could. These would work well in a quilt, don't you think? It is also useful as I can fill it with tea and take it to the sewing room. Then it stays warm even if forgotten for a while which always happens.

Talking about food made me wonder how many of you know about Mrs. Brown's Kitchen. HERE is the Instagram link where I noticed that among her million followers is Kathy Schmitz which made me smile. Heather is a Newfoundlander who has been successful enough to have a cookbook published. She has a straight forward attitude, uses pretty simple ingredients, and has a way about her that makes me smile. 

I spent time at a thrift store recently and bought a couple of items and I'll share those next post. Something quilty and interesting came home with me. Doesn't it always!

I'm just off now to walk the dogs and will bundle up. It's -10C here in the Ottawa Valley with a brisk wind making it feel like -19C. So how's this lead up to Christmas going for you? All good I hope. Happy Shopping and Stitching too!

So wonderful to have linky parties to share this post with....Sew Can Do and Alycia Quilts.