What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Well, it's that time of the year again.  Halloween is still viewed as an American tradition in this part of the world, but more and more people are getting in to trick or treating each year.  

My Spooky Darlings quilt won't be finished for this Halloween, but it is progressing well.

I live on a street that is well known for Halloween because it's wide and straight and a safe place for kids to trick or treat.  It's Spring in the southern hemisphere and it doesn't get dark here until after 8pm at the moment ...

Day 24 of my Christmas Countdown and it's Christmas Eve.  It's time to bring out my Gingerbread Flower Shop.

the front

the back

Yes, I've finally finished the last cottage in Victoria Sampler's Gingerbread Village. The cross stitching was straight forward, but I was hesitant to do the fancy stitches and the silk ribbon work. 

But I got there, and I'm very happy with the result.  Once again I embroidered my name and the date on the base so people can remember who made these cottages in years to come. 

I'm sad that this ...

Day 22 of my Christmas Countdown and it's my Gingerbread Etui.

I'll be featuring all the other houses from my Gingerbread Village in my 2022 Christmas Countdown, but you can also read more about my Gingerbread Village in the tab at the top of my blog.

Day 20 of my Christmas Countdown and it's the Retreat Cottage from the Gingerbread Village.  

I love the thought of stitchers having their retreat in this log cabin covered in snow.  

I'll be featuring all the other houses from my Gingerbread Village in my 2022 Christmas Countdown, but you can also read more about my Gingerbread Village ...

 Day 18 of my 2022 Christmas Countdown and it's my Gingerbread Quilt Shop.

I do love how Thea has made this shop so appealing to quilters.  The sewing machine mounted above the door way, the beautiful quilts depicted on the sides and back of the shop, and the ladies sitting upstairs above the front door actually quilting! It's all so special and I loved making it.  

Day 14 of my 2022 Christmas Countdown and it's my Candy Cane Cottage.

This is another one of the cottages from the Victoria Sampler Gingerbread Village.  The candy canes are so cleverly designed, and once again, I love the decorative roof. 

There's little bit of hardanger on the windows, but the pattern explains clearly how to do it and it was quite straight forward. 

This is the smallest cottage in the Gingerbread Village and it was quite fiddly getting all those red and white beads place perfectly.  

I'll be featuring all the other houses from my Gingerbread ...

Day 11 and it's my Gingerbread Bakery designed by Victoria Sampler.  

I wish I could churn out sweet Christmas treats like these busy ladies do!

Day 7 of my Christmas Countdown and it's time for another Gingerbread House.

This time it's my Gingerbread Church - the second building in the Victoria Sampler Gingerbread Village.  

I'll be featuring other houses from my Gingerbread Village in my ...

Day 5 of my Christmas Countdown.  

These cute ornaments were designed by Thea Dueck of Victoria Sampler.  I still remember downloading the patterns and then searching through mum's box of embroidery fabrics to find this perfect red fabric. I always get the urge to stitch something Christmassy on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.  

They'll definitely be going on the tree when I get it ...

Yes, in case you missed Day 1 yesterday, I'm doing a Christmas Countdown and I'm going to show you a different handmade decoration each day of December until Christmas Day.  

Today it's my Gingerbread Stitching House.  

This was the first cottage that I made from the Gingerbread Village designed by Victoria Sampler.  I quickly became addicted to the Gingerbread Village and have now made almost all of the cottages.

I've made a lot of special Christmas decorations over the years, so this year I've decided to do a Christmas Countdown and show you a different handmade decoration each day of December until Christmas Day.  It will be like opening a virtual advent calendar.  

I'm going to publish my daily December posts at 8pm New Zealand Daylight Savings Time (like I normally do with my weekly blog posts). The beauty of blogging is that the posts will always be there to look back on.

First up - some little house ornaments to ...

Merry Christmas everyone.  I hope you have a lovely Christmas Day with friends and family.  I know Christmas will be quite different this year for many of you, but I still hope that you have a special day.  

We'll be with my family at my parents' house in Auckland, so that will be nice.    

Merry Christmas to you all - and thank you to ...

 It's December, and I suddenly decided to drop everything and start stitching the Gingerbread Flower Shop by The Victoria Sampler.  

Those of you who have been following my blog for a while will know all about my Gingerbread Village.  

I started making these delightful cottages in 2012.  Each year I bring them out for Christmas and we all enjoy looking at them.  

This time last year I was busy finishing the Gingerbread Retreat Cottage.

And the year before that it was the Gingerbread Needlework Shop.

I do love the Candy Cane Cottage - it's just so sweet (even though ...

I've made most of Thea's Gingerbread Village, and I've got a full page on my blog detailing all my tips and tricks (click here or click on the tab at the top of the page).  The patterns give ...

My latest addition to my Gingerbread Village is finished - it's the Gingerbread Retreat Cottage. Isn't it cute?

I know a lot of people are keen to make their own Gingerbread Villages, but are put off by the need to convert their precious embroidery into a 3D object.

I'm here to reassure you that if you have the right equipment, and take it slowly, you can create beautiful 3D ornaments.

All of these patterns are by Thea Dueck of The Victoria Sampler.