Its Officially Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

December 1st, or will be in an hour or so.

Here is a project I finished this time last year. The pattern is by Jan Kornfeind, whose website, http://www.countryappliques.com/ is FULL of lovely applique projects.  This particular St. Nick is "Gift Bringer," from the series "Olde World Santas." I sent the wall-hanging to my sister who lives in the Netherlands (notice the "Starry Night/Van Gogh" fabric in the background!). St. Nick was paper-pieced using double-sided iron-on adhesive, then stitched with a fine zig-zag and a few embroidery stitches on my Janome machine, and finally machine-quilted. As we prepare our house for Christmas, I wish we had kept him, but I'll just have to get creative again next year...