Happy New Year!

That's me....playing catch up before the new year arrives......  I made this cute owl pincushion as a Christmas gift for my daughter.....she loves anything with owls. Aren't they just so adorable sitting together.

The snowman wallhanging is quilted and binding sewn. I'm keeping a few snowmen decorations out for Jan. The tree and all other decorations are put away for another year.....my how it went by so fast....again!

I wish you Health, Happiness and even more Creativity for 2013. 

Merry Christmas

Wishing you a wonderful Christmas surrounded by family and friends.

Happy Holidays!
Wendy

Christmas, Snow and Reno's

So much has happened this past week....a bit of a long post. I finished the bag for my Mom and mailed it before the snow storm. The bag is bigger than I expected, I should pay attention to the dimensions before deciding on a pattern. If it looks cute in the picture, I dive right in.

It snowed for two days straight, very unexpected. It caused a lot of problems with traffic.  With hills in my area, trucks and buses couldn't make it up, the roads were too slippery. I couldn't leave the house, I'm thinking we got at least 12", ask me how I know this....I shoveled the front walk a few times because DH was away on a business trip. 

Fonz had fun playing in the snow.

In the middle of a snow storm the contractor insisted he could still make it over to install doors. His half hour drive took 3 hours but he made it here. Before: This is the ugly back door off the kitchen.

And After: Isn't it pretty with the big open window, I'm am so thrilled with my new door. The kitchen is much brighter.....I really love how it looks. 

Before: This door is off the dinning room and goes out to a deck on the side of the house. Isn't it the ugliest door......yuck, I've always disliked this door since we bought the house.

And After: Oh so much more light and a pretty door. Oops I took a picture before the tape was removed from glass.  The new doors are solid wood. I agonized over picking the stain colour, and even paid someone to help me (what do I know about stain and doors) and in the end I wasted my money, I didn't like the colour she suggested....I'm so happy with my choice.

Boo is showing us he is in charge of the tree. He plays with the ornaments and climbs up the middle. The tree doesn't look as nice now, Boo has done some rearranging himself and he's definitely happy about it.

Merry Christmas to you and your family.

Tree Ornaments

A few of my favourite handmade tree ornaments as requested by my friend Linda....Thanks Linda for all your encouragement......here they are on the tree.  The redwork ornaments I stitched last year from this tag pattern I found for free here.

I sewed some homespun on the back and added a little stuffing, a small piece of homespun and rusty bell at the top. You can see it better on the picture below. 

Every year I make a couple new ornaments. 

These wool ornaments are from a few years ago. I love them.  

There are 2 more of these I didn't get a picture of. 

Isn't this guy funny, the beard is made of buttons. I didn't make him, I got him in a ornament exchange at the guild. I never did find out who the maker was....it's one of my favourite as well.

Merry Christmas! 

Mini Winter Quilt

Here is my version of Kim Diehl's Winter Quilt freebie. I did the applique with wool and cotton. You can find this free pattern here and the templates here. 

I finished the table runner for my SIL. I know this will be prefect on her table since I use the exact fabrics she bought to cover her dinning room chairs.

I made a couple hot pads to go with the runner.

Happy Quilting. 

Wish Quilt

A quick post of my Wish Quilt progress. Santa is ready with his bag full of toys.  I'm not ready, I still have a few gifts to finish up. The tablerunner for my SIL is done, need to get a picture soon. I've also finished the free Kim Diehl snowman wallhanging, the pattern is here and the templates here. Gotta take a picture of that one too.

I've started on the next block, look at the quilts in the basket and on the chair. She is busy putting the last stitches on the stocking.  This is a free pattern, hop over to Red Brolly and check it out. She has other free patterns. I love them all.

Two stockings are completed for the kids at the Transition House.  Our group donated about 30 of these last year, I hope the stockings will put a smile on a childs face this Christmas.

Happy Stitching.

Table Topper

The table topper was pieced a couple weeks ago and ready for quilting....this is for my sister.....nothing like waiting until the last minute. I hope to have it quilted next week, if all goes as planned. It doesn't have far to travel so I should be good. Check out Darlene's Christmas Through the Year linky party. This is the last month for CTTY. Thanks so much to our fantastic hosts Darlene and Cheryl who did a great job keeping us going all year.

The little braid quilt was just for fun. The quilt group I belong to has a project each month and this is Dec project.  Isn't it sweet, I had fun making this small quilt. I'm still working on the Wish Quilt stitcheries, I hope to have Santa finished soon.

Happy Stitching!

More Wish Quilt

Still making progress on the Wish Quilt. I've finished the Brutus block. This one reminds me of Lula, she loves to chew on ribbons and string. One day I walked in my sewing room and there she was chewing on some ribbon, I pulled it out of her mouth and was surprised at how much she had chewed....the ribbon just kept coming out. Needless to say, I don't leave anything string like laying around anymore....that could have been a big vet bill.

This is the next block already started. I hope I can keep them going. I've also been working on Christmas gifts and can't show anything right now.

Happy Stitching!

Wish Quilt Progress

Making some progress, I've finished my second block of the Wish Quilt. It won't be a finished quilt this Christmas.  I'm going to keep going while I'm excited about stitching these blocks.

Happy Stitching!

Wish Quilt

I started stitching the Wish Quilt a couple of years ago. I finished this block with the piecing and applique. It got put aside and forgotten. I've been seeing this quilt done by so many around blogland, I didn't want to miss out, so I found the block and now I want to stitch more of this quilt. 

I also had the second block with Santa sleigh and reindeer started, but this one only had the row of flowers stitched. It's all good, this block is ready for me to start stitching right away. 

This quilting picture is "just because", I've been machine quilting for a customer and I'm loving how it's looking. 

I've got some Christmas gifts in the works, some I can show and some I can't show right now, I want to keep it a surprise for the recipient. 

Happy Quilting.

Double Wedding Ring

I'm feeling much better but still a bit tired and congested, I hope this doesn't last much longer, I've got so much sewing still to do before Christmas.....it's coming way too fast. I didn't want to miss the fun at the one day retreat on the weekend, and felt I was well enough to go.

I had this DWR UFO sitting in my closest for a very long time...it was time to get it completed. I finished the outer rings at the retreat. It doesn't show in the picture but I found some of the background fabric had turned a little yellow. A portion of the background fabric I had washed and some not. It wouldn't be noticeable if they weren't next to each other. I'm hoping after it's quilted and washed it will all level out.....keeping my fingers crossed. It was a fun retreat but I was exhausted and rested all the next day.

My daughter came to the retreat, she worked on this cute owl stitchery. Can you believe this is her first attempt at hand embroidery and wool applique. I think her stitching is fantastic!

Before getting sick I made a few vinyl pouches for gifts. These are fun and addicting, I'm enjoying making them and have plans to make a few more. You can see my first pouch here.

Keep Well!
 

Happy Halloween

 

A little needle punched pillow I made a couple years ago.  I found the orange lights this year and simply wrapped the pumpkin with them. I hope you have a spooky Halloween, I'll be spending the day on the couch, a cold hit me like a ton of bricks yesterday. I don't even feel like stitching......I must be sick....time for one of many naps today.

Have a good Halloween!

Redwork Stitching

I finished the stitching for my Birdbrain pattern called Celebrate the Seasons. I wouldn't have done these with the Sulky product that goes through the printer.....I'm loving that stuff.
Next will be to wash off the Sulky, maybe some tea dying and then framing. I have the prefect frame but it needs to be painted, so you know what that means....it could be a while before I get that done. I'm not saying because I'm slow but rather it's raining a lot now and I would wait for a nice day to do the painting.

Keep Well and Happy Stitching.

Smile Friday

This is what happens when I go shopping. Boo loves to jump in the bag....what a silly cat! He makes me laugh.

I finished some redwork blocks last night, I plan to frame them but I'll take a picture first.

Happy Stitching.

Pincushion Finished

Last week was incredibly busy, didn't have time for much sewing. It seemed I was doing more driving than anything else. And to top it all off, I've started priming the living room with the help of my daughter,  I picked up the yellow paint yesterday. It's going to be a big job. I did manage to finish this little pincushion from Kaaren's free patterns.

This is before washing away the Sulky Fabri-Solvy, I love how this product saves on all the work of  tracing the design and is easy to stitch through.  Does anyone else use this product? I love it!

And Speck is quilted and ready to enjoy for the fall.  There was a few squares leftover from the charm pack and I had enough for a small mat, it's not quilted yet, hopefully soon if this week turns out to be less busy.

Happy Quilting and Stitching.

Needle Case

 

Still enjoying all the turkey leftovers, I might make a turkey soup tonight.....I love turkey.

I almost forgot to show my finished Sue Spargo needlecase, I showed it before doing the embellishments here. This is the front of the case with all the embellishing finished.

 

Here is the back.

 

Completely open you can see the front, back and inside sections.

 

Here is the inside with the wool pages for needles and scissors tied in place. I really enjoyed doing the embellishments around everything, there is a lot of stitching in this case. I used cotton, wool and some silk velvet for the appliques. You can find the pattern here. It's free!

Happy Stitching!

Happy Thanksgiving

 

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends. I've made the cranberry sauce, my daughter is making the pumpkin pie today and soon the house will smell of delicious turkey.

 

A cute fabric pumpkin I made yesterday to decorate the table for fall. Thank you Linda for the kit and pattern to make this adorable pumpkin.....I love it!

Have a wonderful turkey day!

One Finish....One Not

 

A little 9-Patch quilted and binding sewn down....woohoo....something finished. Pattern is from Country Lane Quilts free patterns. I haven't felt like I've accomplished much lately, but doing these little ones gives me that feeling of having something finished. 

 

The blocks from the Summer Star Sew Along became this little quilt, I changed the setting and only did 6 of the 8 blocks. I'm happy I participated and got a few done. I'm a bit undecided about the green setting fabric....not sure if it's to busy or maybe when it's quilted it will look fine.

Happy Quilting!

Speck Quilt

My Speck quilt using the Little Bites pattern is finished.  Just need to get the quilting done. I used a Halloween charm pack and some yardage for the background and border which wasn't much. I have a few squares leftover so I might make a even smaller quilt to use them up.

I'm so thrilled I made this little quilt, look at those cute pumpkin faces. I don't remember the fabric line but I know it's older.

Happy Quilting!