Progress and Parcels

At last I've been getting on with quilting my Stars table runner which I designed in EQ7. Here's a close up to show the free motion quilting in the border:

I threw caution to the wind and used a gold metallic thread. I have sometimes had problems with this in the past with it breaking but today it behaved beautifully! I also used it in the checkerboard sections and on the stars but used my walking foot for those. I've sewn the binding on (in green) and will finish it by hand hopefully this evening.

We've had snow all week and yesterday it really came down fast. I'd been out the previous day and cleared about 6 inches off my car but by lunchtime it was well covered again!

 We've been feeding the birds but Martin has to go out several times a day to clear patches of ground so they can get to the seed. We have many different types visiting us and there's a constant twittering during daylight hours!

All the local schools went home early yesterday and they were closed today too. The snow is worse in South Yorkshire and my daughter is snowed in at work!

The van bringing my parcel from Amazon with Christmas presents for the family didn't make it through yesterday but arrived today. Soon after that the postman arrived with not one but three little packages for me! I'd ordered some fabric from The Bramble Patch to make another table runner using the Mrs Moen pattern I won last week and also some yo-yo makers from Creative Grids for another project.

The third package came all the way  from the USA. It was my copy of theQuiltmakers 100 Blocks magazine I won in 'The Quilted Fish giveaway - hooray!!

Here it is with my new Christmas fabric which is from the Moda 'Twelve Days of Christmas' range. Thank you Amanda for the magazine - I'm thrilled with it and just love your cupcake block! Amanda designs some fabulous quilts and you can see her patterns here. Well these goodies should keep me busy for the next few days! Happy sewing!