Christmas Brunch

It is only December 6, and I have already attended two Christmas parties! Last night was my husband's company dinner at North Ridge Country Club in Raleigh. Very nice with great food, a DJ and a large dance floor in the ballroom.

This morning my bee, The Whacky Ladies, got together for our annual Christmas brunch. We went to a restaurant in Wake Forest named Brig's, and had a large table in the party room. They let us linger as long as we wanted. It is always fun when we start showing the quilts, and all the waitresses and other customers start oohing and aahing.

So, I have given away one of my secret projects I have been working on this week. We have one of those gift exchanges where you pick a number, and then either select a wrapped gift or "steal" someone else's unwrapped gift. Lots of fun! Mary ended up with my quilted totebag.

I used the basic instructions from Great Big Tote Bag posted on Selvage Blog. But, I just made up some patchwork instead of using selvages. And on this one, I did not bind the whole quilt before folding in half. I finished the edges with zigzag and stitched the sides on my sewing machine, and added a binding just to the top and to the handles. This is how it looks inside.

You can see the quilting on the inside. I attached the bottom with velcro to the bottom of the bag. It is two pieces of Timtex covered with batting and fabric. This gives the bag a little bit of support.

I actually made two of these at the same time, but with slightly different patchwork and a different finishing technique. I will post pics of the other one in the near future after it finds a new home.

Here is a great double-nine-patch Christmas quilt that Paulette brought to the brunch for show-and-tell. What a great idea to use border prints on the backing!

Here is a lovely little purse made by Mary that I received in the gift swap, along with a silvery bookmark from Carolyn and an adorable snowman made by Marilyn.

DH has declared this as the day to finish decorating the house for Christmas. He is stringing lights outside, so I better get busy and bring down the rest of the Christmas stuff. We hope to get the tree up today too.