Chocolate for the New Year! (And quilted houses)

The Twisted Nut Stitchers went to Poulsbo, WA, a few days ago for our annual holiday bash. First stop was the quilt store, where we pounced on this chocolate fabric and finished off the bolt.

So many possibilities ... pillows, aprons, toilet seat covers, little framed pieces ... or maybe I'll just stretch my yard over a foam core board and hang the whole thing in the sewing room.

Poulsbo is a little Scandinavian town, and it looks like those Vikings made a pit stop at the chocolate shop. My kind of guys.

After the quilt shop, we exchanged our quilt blocks over lunch. Here are the four that I made. A year ago, we each chose a fabric that we liked and gave a piece to each of the other Nuts. Then we had a year to make an 8-inch block for each person, incorporating their fabric.

I knew right away that I wanted to do houses, because we meet each month in each other's homes. But I waited until two days before the deadline to make them because sometimes I just need that deadline pressure.

My houses aren't nearly as cute as the ones is Laura Wasilowski's new book, which we found at the quilt store. She really brings charm to hers with fanciful embroidery using her own hand-dyed threads.

Here are the blocks, showing which fabric I was given for each one. They were really fun to make.

These little buildings that we could see from our restaurant booth reminded me of the houses in my blocks (and of colorful Scandinavian houses).

And at the fabric store, I snapped this photo of fabric cleverly bundled in tree and star shapes.

Have a colorful New Year!