It's not a card or quilt!

I went to a Christmas card-making workshop last weekend, and one of my favourite projects from that day is this:
It's a pillar candle, to which we added the rose swirls, using tissue paper, and then very carefully "warmed" the candle so that the paper bonded to the candle. The candle sits on a small glass candle dish, and then on a base, which we also made that day - it's a large can of beans, covered with a section of crimped cardstock, and a strip of designer paper and a ribbon and Voila! - a beautiful gift!
I have a few more projects from that day to share, but I'll have to leave them for another day.....

new swap blocks

I was going to say that I couldn't believe that it had been almost a month since I last posted anything, but then again, I do seem to recall that October was extemely busy, so.....
Thankfully, I finally was able to do two of my favourite things lately - shop for fabric, and create with fabric. I belong to a quilting group on the web, and we currently have two different swaps going. One is a straight-up swap with a partner (you consult with your partner to find out the size she wants, and any theme or colour preferences) and the other is a block lotto - one person chooses a particular pattern, decides on the colour scheme, and then, at the end of the month, she draws the name of one of the block-makers, and that person receives all of the blocks that were made that month.
The blocks here are my block for the lotto, which was a Christmas Star block, and the second one is for my partner, who is making a Christmas quilt, and wanted a Christmas-sy block. I don't have any block designing software, so I go to a site that offers over 1,000 block ideas! I chose one that wasn't specifically a Christmas block, but done up in red, white and green makes it look like Christmas.