That sounds nice! I am also in the middle making a quilt. A couple of them, actually. One as a gift (which is almost finished) and another to keep. The gift quilt is a pieced quilt with star blocks in different blue fabrics. It will be a Christmas gift for my parents-in-law. The quilt I'm keeping is a holiday applique quilt. I've kind of been making it up as I go along. Not usually how I do things, but it's been fun! I have a third quilt that is in the very beginning stages, but it's been packed away until after the holidays. Too many quilts at once!

I don't have any other craft projects going at the moment, but I'm considering making candles to give as gifts this year. I've never made candles before, and though it might be fun to try!

Sorry, can't help you on the glue...I would have suggested Crazy Glue.

I knit an extra long afghan for my partner's father's 70th (right before Christmas). He's 6'8" so afghans never really cover him up properly. This one definitely will, and we got Donegal (Ireland) wool for it, which is where a good number of my ancestors are from, and where I still have relatives. It's blue to match his eyes, and I'm super happy with how it turned out.

I'm also knitting wash cloths for my sister, who loves the texture for exfoliating her face.

I'm knitting a scarf for my niece, as well as a matching one for her Kitt doll.

I'm doing jewelry for all my nieces, out of beads and also shrinky dinks (fun!).

I'm making little pillows out of pretty fabrics stuffed with Oregon lavender. I started making some for our house and realized they would be nice presents too.

Can you tell I'm trying to scale back my over-consumer-y past Christmases? Not a chance I can go all out with no job this year. I'm still trolling about etsy and other places looking for good ideas.

loiseau, what's your etsy store name?

Sil: I don't want to directly link my name here in that Googly way, but my user ID is 17220... I think if you just put that in the usual shop URL you should find me.

You guys are way more handy than I. I think I'm no good at things that require strict adherence to patterns, which is why I never really enjoyed knitting, and why I often abandon projects mid-stream.

My approach to this quilt (if it can even be called an approach -- or a quilt, for that matter) was just to cut-cut-cut-cut squares (not an even, perfect size, just as close as I could easily get) and then sew-sew-sew them together on my machine. I have four rows done right now, and I guess after I have all the rows I'll sew them together to build vertically. I've never done any quilting before (except a handmade baby quilt that looked alright but I never finished) so I have no idea how people usually do this. I don't even know if it'll all go together when I try to sew the rows!

At least I'm not *trying* for perfection, so it should look charmingly haphazard once it's done -- or at least the haphazard part. I don't expect that the blocks will line up horizontally or anything, since I couldn't be arsed to measure each one.

The good thing about felted wool is that it doesn't need finishing per se -- if a row is too long I can just trim that block, since they're not all equal sizes for me.

I guess I'm a lazy crafter!

Ugh, maybe now I'm talking myself into feeling it's going to look like crap. I have such a hard time showing people the stuff I make as it is, so I hope once I finish I won't just hide it in a box and pretend it never happened. There's too much effort, time, money and love going into this thing, and it would be a shame if my usual self-doubts won over.

I also haven't decided what to do with it once it's done -- should I fill and back it? With the felted squares maybe it would look cute as just a blanket with no backing. Stuffing it might be overkill, plus I'm not confident in my ability to back it in a way that looks decent. Suggestions?

I don't think I have the patience for quilting, though I would love to try. As it is, I learned how to knit a couple of years ago, but seriously only like to do scarves and maybe hats because my attention span is nil. Though I'm thinking of just knitting lots of squares, and making an afgan from them, or even doing a bunch of scarves, but then sewing them together to make an afgan. Yeah. Someday, after I finish the two scarves I've already begun (I unraveled another one simply because I wasn't happy with the way it was turning out).

I don't think I have the patience for quilting, though I would love to try. As it is, I learned how to knit a couple of years ago, but seriously only like to do scarves and m

This kind of quilting has been super-simple, which is the only reason it's actually happening. I just cut the squares and now I'm zipping them through the sewing machine. (Hand-sewing would have been nicer as a gift, I know, but my hand-sewing would take forever and be WAY less durable.)

I knitted a scarf exactly once, about five years ago. I wanted to do more but found that patterns and new stitches were too confusing and I don't have the patience to do gauge swatches and stuff. (I also don't bother doing the allergy test when I dye my hair!)

I'm not so sure that hand sewing would be nicer, plus it'd take 4000 years (at least for me). I think it sounds really lovely loiseau, and I don't think you should doubt it. I also agree with you on not backing it, I think it would fit the quilt better, but that's my thought.

(understood too about google, thanks for the number)

I didn't get into knitting very much until one of my friends suggested we get together once per week with a bottle of wine and knit. And then she moved.

And then another friend, a much better knitter than me, also liked the idea, and so we started getting together once per week with wine or beer after work. It was such an awesome stress-relief after working 50-60 hour weeks (IT industry) that we all looked forward to it (it grew to maybe five people or so weekly). The repetition really helped me practice, and suddenly things that sounded hard didn't anymore. Not to mention that I always had someone more experienced to ask dumb questions. And then I moved.

So now I pop a movie in, grab a bottle of wine and knit, and I'm really excited that I've started to do stuff that formerly would freak me out. I am gearing up for my first sweater after the holidays, we'll see.

for the glue I'd use an epoxy. Either something like E6000 or if it's really heavy a 2 part epoxy like Duro

I was going to suggest E6000 as well. My husband used to make jewelry and this is what he always used when he needed an adhesive.

I have a lot of ideas in my head. I don't know if I'll sew anything for the holidays. I do want to make this table runner and napkins for myself. It's so cute!

I just started breaking needles on my sewing machine -- and I was up for working on Frankenquilt, too! I ordered a downloadable manual online -- my machine is an old Kenmore from the 60s, so I have no reference, and I'm not much of a mechanic, so I can't figure out how to either move the plate forward or the needle backward a tiny bit. It seems to be striking the plate *just* before the hole when I'm sewing thicker blocks. Unless it's the type of needle I'm using? I think they're just multi-purpose. Maybe I should be using a special thick-fabric needle? I know there are special ones for denim and leather.

I've always been intimidated by those mixy glues, but I'll give E6000 a try if I can find it here. The pinback came off when my purse strap pulled it a bit, but I'm thinking in the winter when the adhesive is cold these things will happen more easily. I also have a metal pin from when I was kid that pulled from its back as well, and both parts are metal -- I've gotta try to fix that too.

LoriFLA -- that runner is so cute! I love quilted things. They just look so homey. The fabrics she used are great, too. Fabric quilting looks fun even just for the choice of fabrics -- whenever I go to the fabric store I always look at all the little patterned broadcloths they have. So many choices. Online is even better!

I love the table runner and napkins too...hmm, maybe a future project!

loiseau, I'm sure your quilt will be great! I don't always follow a pattern either--I definitely have some projects I love that I made by just haphazardly cutting and then sewing things together. To answer your backing question, I think I'd probably put a backing on it, but not any stuffing or batting. I'd use a nice soft fabric (maybe flannel?). Put the backing and the quilt top together inside out, sew around most of the seams, flip it right side out, and finish off the seam. Does that make sense? Like making a pillow, but without the stuffing.

We should have a photo thread to show off when we've all finished our projects!