I'm over it...

It's my own fault, I did it to myself...yep...I over-ed it.
I overate, overdressed, overwrapped, overdrank, overbaked, overcooked, overbooked, overbought, overdecorated, overornamented (don't laugh, it's a word). I know, I agree, I went overboard and now I'm overtired, overwhelmed, overweight, overworked, overbilled, overcome, overdosed and just plain pooped.
I'm going to take a bit of a break from blogging for a few weeks and I hope you will understand as I try and recoop, regroup, readjust, recharge, recover and just plain relax.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

This is the perfect card, don't you think for quilters and sewers? My niece Jennifer made it and sent it to me for Christmas. I think she knew how much I would appreciate the sewing theme.

More snow...bound buddies on the way

Here are the latest Snowbound snowbuddies from Bunny Hill Designs, that I managed to get finished. How does she think this stuff up?...she must lay awake at night creating. They are adorable and I need just a free afternoon to finish the last 5 of them. I've chosen white with red and white with blue polka dots for the corresponding blocks that are set around these little guys. It should look wonderful when it all gets completed. Thank you Bunny Hill Designs for sharing such a beautiful project with all of us.

Best Christmas Exchange Ever

I'd say I got the best Christmas exchange ever when I received this beauty. Lori a quilter that brings me her quilts to long arm, brought me this quilt top and another with a unusual request. She asked if I would quilt her one quilt top for free in exchange for this wreath quilt top. I had never been asked a request like that before but the quilt top was beautiful and I agreed. I think I made a great trade. I quilted and finished it sometime back and it is one of my favorites. It hangs folded on my banister year round. Thank you Lori for my special trade.

What do you get the quilter who has everything for Christmas?

What about a tape measure warmer? I found these little woollen IPod socks and again my imagination went wild. What could these little lovelies hold?...Why not tape measures? I told my girlfriend Sue about them and what my plans were for them. She went right out and got some

too. She did them up for a local bazaar she had a table at and they sold like hotcakes. I added a little quilter charm to each one and gave them as gifts to my Mystery Class ladies. These are definitely for the quilter who has everything!

Snowbound Snowbuddies

I want to thank Bunnyhill Designs for her generosity in providing these lovely BOM's for everyone to share and enjoy. I've had so much fun doing them and can't wait to get them all finished. I'm a little behind as usual and I still have 4 more to finish. You know how you just need one afternoon to yourself....I just don't seem to get that and that's why I'm so far behind. I can't wait to get the last few done, it quilted and then all the lovely embellishments added. It's going to be so cute. Hope I get it finished before spring arrives and melts all the snow.

More than these marshmallows are melting!

Frosty doesn't hold a candle to this guy! (no pun intended) I had so much fun making a pin cushion out of this tea light holder. It's amazing what you can come up with when you let your imagination run wild. I really should put a leash on it and get a life like my friend Sue says. I guess I have just too much time on my hands since I retired. He is really adorable and just in time for the winter season.

How sweet it is

I love themed Christmas trees.....can you tell? This one is really sweet, literally. It's my cupcake tree and it proudly sits in my kitchen of course. I made the little Dresden plate tree skirt out of matching pink and red fabric and one of the fabrics has little cupcakes on it. It looks really sweet at night when the red lights glow and the little red tinsel tree shimmers all over. Almost good enough to eat. Yum!

His belly, it shook like a bowl full of jelly

It just wouldn't be Christmas without a Santa pincushion, would it? I love this little guy, looks like he slipped on the ice and snow. I almost felt funny sticking pins into his belly, sort of made me feel like he was a Voodoo doll.....OMG... I hope I haven't ruined Christmas!

Should I sleep on it or eat on it?

You think your hubby doesn't notice things right?....not....It's amazing what they do notice when you don't want them to. I had wanted to do something a little different over Christmas in my kitchen. I wanted to brighten up the table and add some pizazz to the room, however could not find just what I was looking for, so kind of let the idea go. Later I was rummaging around in the linen closet and came across an unopened duvet cover in red and white that I had bought years ago for about $10.00 from Ikea. It was suppose to be for one of our girl's bedroom but never made it onto the bed. As I looked at the package, I thought that it would make a really cute table cloth for the kitchen table. It was 100% cotton, there was lots of fabric cause it was a duvet so there was a top and bottom and it had been a king size cover. I loaded it on the longarm, thought why not and quilted it in a YLI variegate of red, pale yellow and pink that I had never tried before and a new pantograph called Holly Berries that had just arrived...It quilted like a dream and I love it. While I was quilting my hubby lets me know that it's time to pick up our youngest son. I tell him that I have just a half row to finish on this tablecloth and he turns to me and says "Tablecloth? looks like an old bedspread." I thought I was going to kill myself laughing with this one. He never notices anything. I could come home and change the cut and color of my hair and he wouldn't notice or say a thing....but he can suddenly tell the difference between a bed cover and a tablecloth....LOL... love it anyway, didn't cost me anything, brightens up the room for Christmas and I love my trifle dish filled up with matching ornaments!

"Santa, I've been a good Westie"

I was out shopping recently and came across this glass Christmas ornament that looked like my dog "Jock". I couldn't resist. The resemblance is remarkable don't you think. I don't think Jock was impressed, but this new little Westie will look lovely hanging around during the Christmas holidays.

Warm hands, warm hearts

I made this sometime back, but it's still one of my favorites. I especially like the fabric in the blue/green mittens because it looks like needlepoint and is so pretty. Each of the cuffs is done in chenille fabric so it feels fuzzy and looks like wool. The little heart appliques are a perfect touch.

We wish you a funky Christmas

Don't you just love this funky Christmas quilt...
how cute is this. It's hard to believe that this was the first quilt of a 13 year old teenager named Erica....wow...look at the flying geese!...her first quilt. She's a natural. Isn't it a great quilt for a teenage girl....just perfect. Erica did an amazing job on this quilt with a little help from Pam, her quilting mentor. She should continue with her quilting talent, and I have a feeling that in the future we might be hearing alot more about a girl named Erica when it comes to designing.

The perfect man

You can almost smell the sugar and spice, can't you. The perfect man of course would be the gingerbread man! This lovely little mini wall hanging was designed by Nancy Nigh. How sweet and super simple to make, just like gingerbread cookies. I love the matching gingerbread man hanger that goes with it. It's so much fun to get the season's special things out to display.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Isn't this a beautiful quilt. I had the pleasure of longarming this for Linda. She is an amazing quilter, pretty well self taught which is amazing. Her quilts are precise and an absolute joy to quilt. This is lovely with each wreath a different fabric and all the fabric had a beautiful hint of gold in it. I think this is a Thimbleberries pattern from one of the older books that they published, however still perfect for the season.

In the meadow we can build a snowman...

I think this is my favorite tree ever! It's my snowman tree complete with snowman tree skirt. Every ornament on the tree is a snowman or snow themed ornament collected over the years. The whole tree is done in various shades of blue, white, and silver. It looks phenomenal when the lights are turned on. Can't believe that Christmas is almost here. It's such a short time to enjoy all the wonderful Christmas things we do... make....and bake.

Let it Snow....now

Ok, now that we have arrived in Punta Cana for a week's relaxing vacation, it can snow all it wants at home. When we left it was freezing and all I could think of was miles of beach, unlimited pina coladas and not having to cook. Now that we are here, all I can think of is the kids, the grandbaby, the dog, my mother, did the kids eat, did they feed the dog, did they lock the door, did they turn off the stove, hope they didn't overload the washer, did they pick up the mail, did they set the alarm for school, did they have breakfast, did they take a lunch, are they sticking to curfew(yeah right), did Nick get to hockey ok, did they have the proper supper I had set aside, OMG....I need another drink "Camarero por favor, puedo tener otra piña colada ".
This little number was a mini wall hanging designed by Nancy Nigh. Isn't he sweet. I love the little hanger complete with it's own snowflake.

I believe in Angels

Here are my angels.....Sharon, Fran, Charlene and Nancy. These ladies took my recent "Holly the Christmas Angel" class offered at Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. It was a sculpted doll with quilting and patchwork featured clothes and wings. They worked very hard at getting her pretty little "angelic" face just perfect. (you should have heard some of the comments....the pearly gates would have closed up permanently with Charlene's alone..LOL). They all looked so individually beautiful and will be a wonderful addition to their homes over the holidays. The doll was anchored on a 1.5 litre bottle of wine which was to accompany them to class empty. I think that the ladies would have preferred to finish the bottle off during the face sculpting class instead. Way to go ladies, and thank you for making it such fun for me!

Baby it's cold outside

I received this quilt from a Elizabeth in Yellowknife, NT to long arm quilt. What a beauty! It's all flannel and the backing was this gorgeous leaf patterned flannel that looked like it was crewel work. Amazing detail on fabric. Needless to say Elizabeth is gonna need this flannel quilt cause the temperature in Yellowknife is a balmy -18 C....yep you read it correct...that's a minus 18.

Sew Christmas Tree, Sew Christmas Tree

Well I finally figured out what to do with the button ornaments I ordered from Ebay. I've created a sewing themed Christmas tree for my sewing room. It was loads of fun to make. I even managed to get the cutest thimble pot to put the tree in from Joann's. Ive appliqued a few embroidered patches as ornaments and spray painted and covered wooden spools to hang as well. I used tape measures as garland. The best though is the great button balls I ordered, I just love them and I know they're going to be one of my favorite things through the

years.

Fear Factor....Minky Fabric

I just dreaded this call...I have a quilt that I need long armed, and it's minky fabric......()*#!)(&$&%_*!_My worst nightmare, my biggest fear....the dreaded Minky.
Don't know why I fear it so much, maybe because it has a tendency to stretch a great deal, maybe because I've just not challenged myself to put one on my machine.....So I stretched myself and agreed to quilt this baby quilt for my customer...it wasn't all minky, the white is minky and the green was flannel. The challenge was not so much the minky fabric but the flannel and minky together where points did not meet perfectly and there were quite large lumps to try and quilt over. It is complete, customer pleased and one little bundle of joy will be warm and cozy wrapped in it.

A tiny cup of Earl Grey

I had quite a few of these lovely little china teacups leftover from my daughter's wedding. Her theme was " Love is Brewing" and these were the favors for the lady guests. They've turned out to be a ton of fun for me and make the most perfect mini pincushions for friends or giveaways for the quilting classes I teach. This one turned out sweet with it's little grey felted ball and the delicate beading added to the top.