It was Wonderful!

Christmas is over and it was wonderful!  Family, friends, smiles and laughter, gifts and giving and delicious food.  Lots of work and lots of joy. 

Tons of thanks to Teresa for the Advent Swap.  So many pretty fabrics and fun surprises.  And the best of all on Christmas morning….a beautiful sewing case to keep threads, scissors and needles.  It is just amazing to look at.

 

I finished my Schnibbles for December and they became gifts…

And now the cleaning up and putting away.  It puts me in the mood to straighten and organize.  I’ve been busy rearranging my sewing space.  It will be nice to have things ready for a Happy New Year of projects!

Last Minute Things

I’m still opening my gift a day from Teresa.  I keep the tags and line them up on the bookcase shelf.  The days are going by so fast…

…maybe too fast.  Yesterday, Mr. Sunshine and I worked on making a last minute gift and now its ready.  Then I got busy on my Gail Pan’s “A Christmas Wish” little quilt and finished it just in the nick of time to put up for this season.  I didn’t want to wait clear till next year to use it, so I buckled down and sewed till the wee hours.  It is pinned over an existing wall hanging for now.

We’re almost ready.

One Thing I Can Share

All this year I have been playing along with May Britt and Kris’s “One Finish A Month” project.  I have quite a few finishes for this month but I can’t post them because they are Christmas surprises.  However, I can show you this one. 

I got this idea from Penny.  It rang a bell when I came across it because I have an overflowing amount of scraps.  So I quickly sat down, cut a bunch of them into strips and sewed them back together into this quilt.  I just finished binding it last night. 

None of the fabrics I used were necessarily bright or bold, but when I put them all together, surrounded them with white and gave them a busy border, I ended up with one cheerful, colorful quilt!  I like it and so does our friend Willow.

Besides Christmas sewing I am also enjoying the Christmas Advent Swap.  First thing after I jump out of bed every morning I open another gift from Teresa.  What a great way to start a day.  Do you notice all the pretty yellow?  Teresa knows what I like and has made it so fun!

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A Gift for You and One for Me

It’s December!  I love the holidays.  Mostly for the spirit they bring of giving and good will.  And who has bigger hearts for giving than quilters and stitchers.  So I wanted to give something back to you.

I designed this little snowman and put him on a pillow.  Just click on the sketch below and you can have a copy to stitch up for any project you choose.

Enjoy!

 

And the gift for me is from Teresa for our Advent Swap…a gift a day till Christmas.

I opened the package to find this cute cuddly kangaroo guarding all the packages in her Christmas bag. 

She let me open the first package…

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…and inside was a Leslie Beck panel for a stocking and Christmas tree skirt.  I’m going to be having some fun.

Thanks bunches Teresa. I’m excited for tomorrow!

I Spy lots of fun!

I joined Karen’s I Spy Swap and sent in 40 five inch fabric squares from each of three fabrics.  Today I received 120 sweet little squares in my mailbox, all different.   Someday they are going to become an I Spy Quilt for grandkids. 

(By the way, did I ever tell you I have another grandchild on the way soon?)

Karen is so generous.  Besides all her hard work to organize this swap and sort all those blocks, she also sent a pretty little gift.  It’s one of her nifty Tool Time Tuesday sewing helpers…a little pincushion, scissor holder on one end of a ribbon and an ingenious spool holder on the other.  It will be very handy.

Thank you so much Karen.  This has been great fun!!

A Little Holiday Sweetness

Guess what I’ve been up to…

 

   

I’ve been busy sewing Happy Zombie’s adorable Itty Bitty Poochie Bags.  They are so tiny and sweet.  And fun to do! 

They’re making me feel like Christmas is just around the corner.

Comfy Cozy House

I fell head over heels for this pretty little house quilt pattern when I first saw it a few years ago in Homespun magazine.  It’s called “Home Among the Vines” and is by Blackbird Designs. 

So when I recently decided we needed something new for a bedroom wall, this came back to mind as the perfect thing to make!  It was a relaxing project, probably because of the simplicity of the pattern and the soft colors I chose.  I think they are very calming.

I put in the last stitch this evening and have it up already.  It makes the room feel comfy cozy. 

Fixed and Finished

 

Everyone pretty quickly found my “oops”.  Thank you for your morale booster comments….very much appreciated and motivating. 

I came back to it all refreshed the next morning, put my dandy little seam ripper to work and had it fixed in no time.  It wasn’t so bad after all.  It’s amazing what a good nights sleep will do.  And now I can even laugh about it.

It looks nice hanging in our family room.

For me, planning the color arrangement for this quilt was sort of like doing a Sudoku puzzle….trying to have only one of each color basket per row or column.  Also the inside box and outside corners.  I thought long and hard but just couldn’t make it work with the diagonals.

Off and running…

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Well, I’ve officially started my Dear Jane blocks.  Teresa was right, I really am having fun with them. 

And they sure are cute little things, finishing at 4 1/2”.  It’s a good thing I just got my new glasses.  I really need them for this project :-)

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Nine down…

…many, many more to go.

Oops!

This little guy is about to get a good workout!

I spent the evening sewing on my November Schnibble, thoroughly enjoying myself and happy with how things were going, when all of a sudden it hit me!

Argh!!

Can you see it?

Next time you see this Schnibble it will be fixed and finished

…but not tonight…I’m off to bed.

Just Not Enough Things to Do

I just barely finished a sampler quilt that took a few years to complete, and I’m working on countless other projects…

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and yet, here is what I’m itching to start on now.

Another sampler quilt!

A Dear Jane quilt!

The one that so many quilters are making.  I have been inspired and tempted by them for some time.  Then Teresa began hers and suggested I would have fun with it.  That put me over the edge, and here I am, starting another project.  I have the book and I bought my background fabric today.  I imagine it will take a few years to finish.  Luckily I will have help here:

http://thatquilt.blogspot.com/

Fun craziness!

And speaking of fun…

Woohoo!  I won Marianne’s giveaway a few days ago and it came in the mail this afternoon.  She sent me the fabric and pattern for a darling Christmas pillowcase and tissues in the cutest little box.

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Thanks so much Marianne.  You made my day!

A Schnibble and A Santa’s Elf

My October Schnibble is finished and hanging on our kitchen wall.  It was a great project.  Thanks to Sinta and Sherri for the motivation. 

 

And here’s a sneaky little peek at some other things I’ve been working on.  I can’t show you more because they are Christmas surprises.  I’ve been having so much fun playing Santa’s elf for some swaps and now I’m very excited for the holidays already.

The Cutest Pumpkin in the Pumpkin Patch

I love Fall.

It has always been my favorite time of year.

Beautiful colors…cooler temperatures…celebrating my birthday…picking apples and choosing pumpkins. 

I got an extra sweet ‘pumpkin’ this year. 

Just had to share.

I sure enjoyed this journey

It’s been just a little over a year since I began stitching this quilt…

and now it is finished.

It sort of felt like a journey as I worked on it… 

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…a beautiful journey!