His and Hers

One of my Christmas sewing projects: aprons for our kids. That was fun!

More Christmas Sharing

I stitched up some of these little mini quilts (6” x 7”) to give away. One of my favorite Christmas thoughts is:

“The best gift of all, is love”

Sweet Christmas

Just one week left ‘til Christmas and it seems I’m still sewing away. I stitched up a whole bunch of Happy Zombies darling Pennie Pockets yesterday and filled them with sweets. Then my husband and I had fun this evening spreading Christmas cheer and giving them to friends.

Beautiful Words

I fell in love with this very clever idea from Little Birdie Secrets . Blocks that can be turned and arranged to spell different words. I spent my morning making a set of my own. they now sit on my kitchen window sill to daily encourage me with lovely positive thoughts.

Just a touch of 'special'

I kept thinking it just needed something more and this is what I came up with. NOW it is done. Amazing what little extra touches can do isn't it?

And NOW back to Christmas sewing!!

Sidetracked

I have plenty of Christmas sewing that needs to be finished quickly, but I got myself sidetracked big time with a personal project. For a while I’ve been giving thought to making myself a new tote….what pattern, what fabric, etc. Around and around in my mind it goes. Then, Jackie’s black and white challenge got me to thinking in terms of black and white. Hmmm…this could be fun. I started playing with my fabric, just to see what looked good, but then, of course, I couldn’t stop and spent two days deeply involved in sewing myself a tote. This is what I came up with. I added yellow as an accent color, after all it is my favorite color. The pattern was challenging but I loved every minute spent on it.


Now back to Christmas sewing…only 2 weeks left!

Beautiful Christmas

Over the Thanksgiving holidays the womenfolk in our family spent hours around the dining room table playing with beads. A while ago, my sister-in-law, Rhonda, was looking at earrings and decided that they would look good on a Christmas tree. So that’s what we did. We made Christmas ornaments using earring hooks to hang them with. I put them on my tree last night and decided it added a nice touch. They sparkle so pretty in the tree lights, these pictures just don’t do them justice.

Last night my husband helped me get out the decorations and we made our home look like Christmas. It is a wonderful time of year and I went to bed feeling happy.

Saturday Evening Project

I keep my supplies in plastic shoe boxes with index cards for labels set inside so I can easly find the contents. Although it has kept things orderly and organized for me, I did notice today that it wasn’t very pretty. With all the crafting and sewing things right there on hand, you’d think I could do better than that! So I went to work on my computer and created new labels that dress things up a bit. Now that feels so much better. And it will be easy to change labels if I change my arrangement. (I always change my mind). I feel like I accomplished a little something today.

Construction Boom

My little Christmas Cottage neighborhood just grew and grew. Seems there was a building boom going on. The little blocks are just too fun and I couldn't help it, I found myself making more of them so now instead of a wallhanging, as I originally planned, I have a quilt.

I have been working on the landscaping (sashing) a bit. This green seemed to go with every block. I'm thinking of sewing red buttons at the intersections and I still have to find the right fabric for borders.

I may not be able to snuggle under it by this Christmas, but it will definitely be there, full of fun memories, for many Christmas's to come.

Playing House

They're here!! My cottages arrived in the mail today and I have been playing with little houses ever since....admiring them and arranging them and having a great time enjoying them.

Thank you so much to the awesome ladies in my group: Cheri, Stephanie, Karen, Eileen, Sarah, Emily Kathy, Bekka, Teresa, Terri and Nanette. I love your sweet little cottages. Beautiful work and so creative!

I can't wait to put them all together into a wallhanging for this Christmas season. I know exactly where it will be displayed.

I want to especially thank you Terri and Nanette for all your work in putting this together so we could all have so much fun. I really appreciate you a ton. And thanks for the sweet little extra surprise. I won't tell here so that it will still be a surprise to everyone else.

Forever Friends

I watched my daughters grow up together, not only as sisters but also as friends. They are adults now and still good friends. I’m always so grateful they have each other to turn to and rely on. I saw this pattern designed by Amanda Brook and immediately fell in love with it because it reminded me of my girls:

Amanda had a giveaway on her blog and this pattern was a part of it. To my surprise... I won a copy of this adorable pattern!! Happy, happy me!! It just arrived in the mail and I am excited to start working on it. As I stitch, I will cherish good memories of my little girls and their friendship.

Mini Quilts

I have seen walls with miniature quilt collections on them and always wanted to do one some day. Well today was the day. I dug out all the miniature quilts I had made and arranged them on my sewing room wall...around a wallhanging that was already there. And I am happy with it.

It makes me want to start a new one. I love miniature quilts. You can test different patterns with less fabric and less time (sometimes). They can be a little tedious, like the black, red and white Monkey Wrench quilt. I unpicked that sooooo many times because I had things backwards, upside down or whatever. But it was worth it because I now enjoy it. It is 15" x 18" and the smallest quit, the pink, yellow and green Hole in the Barn Door is 8" x 9".

Tiny Basket

All over quilting blogland I've been seeing these darling little baskets by Pink Penguin. I made one too and was surprised at how tiny and cute they are....and how easy they are to make. And this is one of those projects where you can't stop at just one. I will be making more. I changed my design just a little, instead of piecing blocks, mine is a solid panel. But it's still Pink Penguin's pattern. This one sits on my desk and has been very useful already. Thank you Pink Penguin.

Back in therapy

Yeah! I have a new iron. I followed the suggestions of Mary Kay, Carrie and Jackie and bought a Rowenta. Its not a cheap iron. Hopefully it will last and last for a long while. It's a nice iron but it always takes time to get used to something new. But now I'm back in therapy.....er....business.

This is what I was working on when the iron died. I've had this printed panel in my UFO drawer for too long. So nice to have it finally finished and it was a very fun project. A little like putting a puzzle together in some places. I had to sit up and think while I worked. I am going to hang it by my sewing machine in my sewing room.

Crisis!

Yesterday my iron died right in the middle of a project. Argh! I can't live without my iron! I can't sew without my iron! This is a serious situation!! It's enough to make this sewer frantic. So today I have to go shopping for an iron. My DH researched them on-line last night. Seems irons today have a 2 year expected life span. This iron has been my helpmate for about 7+ years of daily use. It replaced one I had for 15+ years.

Building Houses

I have been stitching the cute little cottage blocks designed by Nanette for the Christmas Cottage Exchange. I have to make 12 but I honestly don't know if I will be able to stop there. They are just too fun.