Goodies from far away

Yesterday as I was walking out the door to meet my sewing group "Seams like Sisters" for a little holiday gathering, hubby walked in with the mail. And I had a package from Maria in Australia! I opened it up right away of course! Look at this wonderful mini spools quilt she sent for me to hang in my sewing room! I just love the strip pieced spools and the darling sewing border fabric! Maria also included this adorable fat quarter. Christmas Kookaburras! Who knew?

I don't know if I will ever be able to cut into this beauty! Maybe it will become a pretty Christmas pillow for my couch so I can enjoy it in all it's splendor? I think that would be best.

Thank you so much Maria! You really know how to make a girl's day!

candy sleighs

Last week at Bring 'n Brag, one of the ladies showed us how she made candy sleighs for Christmas gifts. update! The lady who showed us the sleighs is Lois. Thanks Lois! Joellen and I decided we needed to make our own!

They were fun to make. We made a dozen of them in about an hour and a half (plus wasted time driving around town looking for Christmas ribbon!) I think it was much easier doing them together so we had extra hands. One person to hold while the other one glues... especially for the first step! First you glue a kitkat bar to two candy canes to create the base. We used hot glue and ran a strip of glue down each candy cane.

Next, attach 10 mini hershey bars on top, with just a drop of glue for each. You stack them in a pyramid, first 4, then 3, then 2, then 1, like this:

After all the glue is hard and secure, glue ribbon around your "packages" and a bow on the top. That's it! so cute and fun and your recipient can keep it as a decoration or take it apart and eat all the candy!

some of our finished sleighs

I think you should all make some. Come on. You know you want to!

2011 ornament swap #1

This year I am involved in four different ornament swaps! The first one is an internet swap. Lindsay from Lindsay Sews organized this first one. I was paired with Lizette. Yesterday I mailed her ornament off to her. When I got home from the post office these TWO ornaments were in my mailbox from her! They are handstitched on wool felt, which you all know I love. And get this! The little round one is decorated on BOTH SIDES!

Thank you Lizette! They are so lovely!

my ticker tape stack is growing!

Blocks nine and ten are done! Navy and pink.... I really enjoy doing these and can't believe we're almost halfway done! This is going to be one huge quilt with 24 blocks.

And I bought some fabric the other day, just LOVE this line! I had no idea what I was going to do with it when I bought it, but now a new pattern is brewing in my head...

I can't wait to show you what I'm planning! Maybe it will be a tutorial here on the blog if it turns out the way I hope it will. Not sure anything will happen with it before Christmas, to be honest. You'll just have to stay tuned!

ornament factory

Remember last year when I went a little crazy making ornaments? Well I am back at it. I got a late start this year, so there are not as many, but I'm still cranking them out... I have several swaps coming up & some that need to find their way to the post office soon... sew sew sew! Hope you are keeping busy with your crafting too...

Sewing for Christmas

Blogging is so hard for me this time of year. So many of the things I am working on are Christmas gifts for people I love. And most of them pop in here to see what I am up to.... thus ruining my surprises! But today I finished up something I can share with you. Leigh Anne asked me a couple weeks ago if she could have her Christmas stocking. The one I hang on our mantle every year. The one that goes right in the middle, right after mine & her dads, but before her brother & sister's. Nope, I couldn't part with it. It doesn't matter that she is all grown up, lives far away from us and can't be home for Christmas this year (boohoo!) So, instead of sending her the stocking that Santa has filled for her at our house year after year, I made her a brand new stocking to hang on the mantle in her sweet apartment! What do you think? I think it turned out very happy.

I will be taking it to her in a couple of weeks when I go to see her graduate from college! What??? How in heavens name did that happen already? I looked back and my very first blog post here I was crying the blues about her leaving for college, and now she is DONE! Don't worry, there will be many pictures of that special event & I will share them all with you here. Meanwhile, back to the sewing room I go! How is your Christmas sewing going?

pears

Yesterday Happiness is Quilting had their Market Review party. They did it different this time... with stations set up throughout the store where you could watch demos for new products. It was really fun! I picked up a few patterns, including this pear pincushion pattern... It's by Sewn into the Fabric, a new one on me. But it was easy to make (obviously! I have already made three of them!)

Honestly, they are a little fiddly & fussy to make. You see, they are quite tiny. Even the pattern says Size: little. That amused me. This next picture puts it into perspective. You can see how tiny they are next to my sewing machine:

Awesome little Christmas gifts! And they only took some little scraps of fabric, felt & buttons from my stash. I stuffed them with crushed walnut shells to give them some shape & weight. Oh, and I bought the pineapple pattern too. I'm sure I will have some of those to share with you soon!