Winter Dotee Dolls

I made these dolls around this time last year and totally forgot to blog about them. So I decided to post about them now. They were for a swap in one of my groups.

It was the first time I had ever made dotee dolls.  They were fun to make, but I wasn't smitten by them and haven't made any more since then.  That is also probably why I forgot to blog about them last year.

It was hard to get a good picture of their face without it washing out, so I took a photo of one inside where the sun wasn't so bright.

Mini Tree Quilted and Bound

I finished the quilting and bound up my mini tree quilt today.
Just in time to pack it up with the other Christmas decorations.

At least it will be something new for next season along with all the other Christmas decorations I got on sale the couple of days after Christmas.  Once a whole year has gone by I usually have forgotten what I bought and carefully packed away.  So each year it is like opening little surprises when I get out the decorations.

Prairie Point Christmas - Le Petite #3

Here is my version of Prairie Point Christmas for the Le Petite Small Projects.
I made a very mini version. It measures 9.5 x 15 inches.

I had a whole pile of Christmas fabrics already cut into 2 inch squares so I decided to go ahead and use those.

It turned out pretty cute, but it also turned out a little shorter and fatter than the original.

I think I spaced my prairie points too far apart on the first row and by the second row when I realized things weren't going according to the picture, I didn't feel like ripping it all out, so I have a short fat tree.

  Right now it is only spray basted because I am not sure how I want to quilt it.

I don't want to rush it and screw it up, so I will think on how to quilt it for awhile.

Gift for a Friend

I made these dishcloths for one of my friends for Christmas. Two are knitted and the other two are crocheted. I made them earlier in the year but didn't want to post about them until now because I know she checks my blog from time to time.  I didn't want to spoil any surprises.  

It was a good thing I made them earlier this year, because the 4 quilt project I took on in December took up most of my craft time for the month.  It left me with hardly any time to make anything else.  I am still working on one last Christmas project.  I suppose it will have to be a New Year's Gift instead.

~~New Year's Resolution  -  Schedule my time more wisely in the coming year.~~

4 Quilts All the Same

I spent most of my December making 4 quilts for my neighbor.  She wanted a photo of all her children in the quilt and my husband suggested we add names as well.  I designed the pattern I wanted to use in November and the fabrics were delivered right before I left to go out of town for Thanksgiving.  So I had a little less than a month to get all 4 quilts cut, sewn, basted, quilted, and bound in time for Christmas.

I cut out all the fabric for all four quilts at once and started assembly line sewing pinwheels, but then I decided to work on one quilt and get it finished so my neighbor would have time to mail it out.  I finished that first one on the night of December 15th.  Since it was dark outside, Hubby held the quilt for me while I took an inside photo.  


 The last three quilts were all finished on Wednesday, December 22 and I gave them to the neighbor on the 23rd.  Please forgive these bad photos, my son dropped my camera right as I was about to take pictures of the last three quilts and the lens fell out. I wasn't able to get it back together right away, so I had to resort to using the camera in my phone.  Luckily I got a brand new Camera for Christmas which makes me want to hurry up and make a new quilt just so I can take a fancy picture.  :)

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas!!

These are a few of the Christmas postcards I sent out this month.  

Hopefully they all made it to their new homes in time for the holiday.

My daughter started the Snowman Card and I took it over for her and finished it up.

Gifts for Teachers and Friends

Today was the last day of school for the year. YAHOO!!
No more getting up at 6:30am to get kids out the door.  - well at least not till next year.  

I made jars of hot chocolate mix for my sons to give their teachers.
I only needed 4, but I went ahead and made all 12 jars that came in the case.

I put the four jars inside these cute little treat bags that my daughter helped me make.  Since 8 of the bags were for her to her friends, I really put her to work on this project.  She actually did a lot of the machine sewing and even hand sewed all the turning openings.

 We stuffed her eight bags with Monster Cookies, chocolates, and candy canes.

The pattern is from Happy Zombie and you can find the pattern here.

Mystery Challenge Postcards

Art 4 Mail had a Mystery Challenge postcard swap.  Two of these are for my partners, one is for me.  When I signed up, I had to pick 5 numbers between 1-50.  Each number corresponds to a different item that has to be added to the card.  When sign ups closed and partners were assigned, I received an email stating the 5 items/techniques that had to be on my postcards.


My assignments were:

Applique Something - I did fusible appliqué and added some green holly leaves and circles

Add Single Thread Stitching  - I used a green thread to go along with my green holly leaves and did a single line daisy stitch

Add a Sketch - the whole card is a sketch with some green shading in places to match the green holly leaves - perhaps I went a little over board in this section.  :)

Add a Strong Vertical  - I am hoping the green thread stitching, flanked by two black lines, works for this requirement.

Add Something Very Dark or Very Light (or what the heck, both!!) - the muslin background is light, and the black edging surely qualifies as something dark.

Poinsettia Postcard

It is was hard to get a photo of this card that really satisfied me.
I wanted to catch the gold thread and the glitter in the red poinsettia which was difficult.

The first image is from the scanner.


This one is outside at in the shade.

This one is in the house without a flash.

Sheen following me around while trying to find a good place to take a photo.

Winter Wonderland Postcards - Set #1

This postcard was made for the Stashbuster's Winter Wonderland Swap.
I used leftover scraps of fabric with wonder under already on them.
The white was the left over remains from when I punched out some fabric clouds with my sizzix.
I cut all the pieces into very small shapes and ironed them onto the card.  Unfortunately, it is really hard to see all the white scraps in the photo.  I scanned the first photo, and then took the second one outside, but neither setting helped improve on the detailed view.

After I ironed all the scraps, I laid down some big snowflake sequence all over, even in the white snow, then covered it with white tulle and meander stitched over the whole thing to keep the snowflakes in place.

I made two of these and shipped them out at the end of November, so they should have arrived at their destinations by now.  I have another set of Winter Wonderland Themed cards that I have to make for another group, but they aren't due till later on in the month, I better get crackin'.  :)

Butter Churn - La Petite Projects #2

Here is my version of Butter Churn for the La Petite - A Year of Small Projects Challenge.
Again this pattern called for charm packs, but I still don't own any more than I did last month. I just don't buy pre-cuts, so I used my scraps.  Some of the scraps came from two Christmas quilts I made years ago. You can see them here and here.

I did need some extra light colored fabrics though, so I cut a few 2.5 inch strips from some of the other holiday fabrics in my collection and that gave me enough to finish this top.
Now I just have to figure out how to quilt it.

Finished Fall Table Runner

Here are photos of the table runner I was working on.  It was a gift for my Mom.  I gave it to her on the Monday before Thanksgiving. I usually have my boys hide behind my quilts and hold them up.  But there really is no hiding behind this table runner.  

Close up of the back.

Sitting on my Mom's table.

Trying To Bind...

I am still working on my table runner.  I will show a finished picture of it later on in the week.  I don't want to show it all now because it is a surprise for someone.  :)

It would have been finished last night if it hadn't been for my grey cat, Sheen.  He could have just sat next to me on the table and I would have been fine, but he had an itchin' to play and he wanted to play with my table runner.  He just had to...

Play with my thread....

Bite the pins and pull them out...

And try to eat my needle.

Since it was already late, and I was tired, I decided to put it away.  Sometimes I leave my work out on this table, but with Sheen being in the mood that he was in I decided I better hide the pins.

Spare Time Spent Quilting

I spent most of my spare time today quilting this table runner.  I finished about half of it today. Hopefully I will find some time tomorrow to squeeze in more quilting time and finish it up.  This is the first time I have done such close quilting on an actual quilt.  So far I have only done it on fabric postcards.

All that practice on those small cards has sure paid off. I am really loving how it is turning out.

Do these fabrics look familiar?  I used the scraps from this project to make my fabric postcard tutorial last week. As you can see, I got sidetracked and made the postcards before I finished the main project.  I suppose I will always be that way, starting one project before another is finished.

Turkey and Pumpkin Pie

More fabric postcards for the coming Holiday.

Some embroidery designs are too cute to only stitch out one time, so I like to stitch them again and use them on my fabric postcards from time to time.  That is what I did for these two card designs.  I also added some of my own freehand quilting around the stitched out images.

This Turkey is now enjoying the Thanksgiving Holiday with my Mom.  Since it is my year to be at my in-laws for Thanksgiving, I sent this turkey to represent me for the holiday.  :)

The pumpkins below were made for the "Pumpkin Pie" swap for my Fabricards group.  I only needed one for that swap, but I made three anyway.  The other two are going to be surprises in the mail.  I love sending fabric surprises in the mail.  

The card on the right is a little blurry.
For some reason the scanner blurs the images when the items don't lay perfectly flat.