The Holiday Season Begins!

Here in my remote corner of the planet, the holiday season begins (for me anyway) with our quilt guild's Annual Tea & Auction!  It is an event filled with everything I love ... friends ... handmade quilts ... all wrapped together into one community wide tea party!  You can read more about the actual event at our guild's blog here and here.

My first auction item began as a kit I bought at Front Porch Quilts in Walker, Minnesota.  I always stop by this shop on my drive between the Twin Cities and Bemidji.

The kit included fabric from Holly & Taylor and was meant to be four placemats using panel squares.  I decided to piece the placemats together into a tablerunner.  My thinking was that four placemats were not enough for most holiday gatherings ... sew .... three placemats became a tablerunner.  See the seam running down the center of the small green squares? That is where I seamed the placemats together.

With this kind of help ... it is a wonder I get anything done! ;-)  Too much fun!

I am not a very accomplished machine quilter ... sew ... I love when I can just "stitch in the ditch"!

Here it is hanging at the auction!  We never dare complain about the sun ... it rarely reveals itself ... but the back light it caused made photos difficult that day.  Still ... you get an idea of how it looked finished.

My second auction item came from a kit I purchased this summer from The Thimbleberries Studio Store. I love the panels that were a part of their holiday fabric line this year!  Yep, I came home with the kit for the quilt hanging in the center of this photo too!

I was so busy trying to get this project done in time, I forgot to take photos!  Nothing like waiting until the last minute ... it adds to the fun! ;-)

Here it is ... finished ... just in time! ;-)

Members volunteer to decorate the tables.  I decided to go with a Thanksgiving theme this year.

The quilt that serves as part of the centerpiece was a "Six Pack" from Fourth & Main Quilt Shop in Cannon Falls, Minnesota.

If you find these Pumpkin Spice truffles by Godiva  while you're out and about ... snag yourself some!  Do. Not. Hesitate!  They are delicious!

As the holiday season approaches, the days get much shorter here in my remote corner of the planet.  The work of our hands ... the warmth of friendship ... the traditions of community ... all work together to sustain us through the holidays and remaining winter months.  I love my dillydally life ... I am grateful.

Do what you love.  Embrace the holidays.  Do dillydally!

Mrs. DillyDally