PIF

Just a short post to let you know that I am participating in the PIF Program and here are the rules...
I promise to hand make three of you a little gift that I think you will like and have it to you within the next six months. In return each of the three of you will promise to do the same to three others. Easy peasy...so please let me know if your are interested by leaving me a comment. I will be taking the first three that specifically mention that they would like to participate in the PIF Program;)

Happy Holidays To ALL

Where Does the Time Go???

I can't believe that it's been weeks since I've had the time to do some blogging. With all of the hussel and bussel of the season and all of the added things to try to get done time has just flown by. I have a lot of catching up to do---so let's get to it.

I've been involved in several swaps and am receiving some really fun goodies in the mailbox Isn't it the most fun to open the mailbox to find goodies from some other part of the country or even the world. I love the thought that there are people all over the world with whom I can share the things that I love to do and that make me happy. I love checking in on all of your blogs and seeing all of the lovely holiday goodies that you are making and receiving.

I'm not even going to try to do these in the order done or received...

This is what I came home to on Friday...

With the ever present warning...

Can I just tell you...this is killing me...good thing I'll be going to Arizona later this week so the temptation to ignore the warning and open this package will wane, even if just a little. That is if I can make it to Thrusday.

Here's just a little hint of what I made for my SSCS partner...

Sorry about it being sideways--thought I fixed that. These are some of the other things I used to make ............





...I took some of this...


















...and a few of these...

...and one of these...

...and a whole lot of this...

I have more pictures but they will have to wait until I hear that it has arrived at it's new home far, far away from here;)

Another swap was ALQS. Has anyone ever quilted with metallic thread??? That was the challenge that I took on. I don't recommend it. The pictures that I have don't hardly show the quilting or the large seed beads that I added for bling, but I had fun making this little gem...

You can see a little of the metallic thread along the back of the snowman on the left and if you look really hard you can see some of the seed beads.

As hard as it is to see the details in this little quilt when the light hits it the look is just what I was going for. I hope that ____ in____ likes it.

One of the RT's that I work with raises alpaca. This yarn is from some of the animals that she owns. I can hardly wait to start knitting with it, but that probably won't be until after the first of the year. I would also like to try some dying...

A week or so ago I came home to this...

...all the way from Teresa in Whales...
There are 4 little maple leaf buttons that are just adorable and the colors are very just beautiful;)

She also sent along these yummy little goodies ...

...and as you can see ... there aren't many left;p

Thanks sooooooo much Teresa the little quilt is just as cute as it can be and the candy has been enjoyed, as you can tell.

I made these today...They'll be heading off to their new home in a few days...along with some other holiday goodies...

When I was a little girl one of my great-aunts gave my brothers and me a very special Christmas Pillow Case. I remember hardly being able to wait for December to put my Christmas Pillow Case on my pillow. I left it on clear through January because I wanted a special pillow case for my birthday and that was the only one I had.

Well, this has turned out to be longer than I had planned and I still have more...I will be heading off to Arizona on Thursday to visit my oldest son and his family. We have an annual ornament swap each December that my dil's mother organizes. It's fun to get together for a night of girl stuff, yummy food, and ornament swapping.

I hope that you all are enjoying this holiday season. Until next time...

Enjoy

I Love to go Thrifting

My dil and I went thrifting today. I love to make something new out of something old. I spent less than $20 total and this is what I got...

I'm not sure just what I'll do with this piece yet, probably dissect it into a lot of small projects. I love the little mittens along the bottom border...it's 4 times this size and cost $1.

There are 3 place mats for $.75, 3 hoops for $.75, some RED crochet thread that will not be used for crocheting for $.50, the little doll was $1.19, but she only cost me $.25, and 3 pieces of woven cloth each about the size of a fat quarter +/- that cost another $.50.

The light fabric here is 3 yards of knit, good for t-shirts or jammies (the colors are a little washed out in the picture) for some little girls I know. The next fabric is also a knit and there's about 2 yards there. It's pretty stiff so I'll have to wash it before I decide weather it's soft enough for jammies. If not, then it's t-shirts for this piece. The next piece is one yard of flannel. No plans for that one yet and then a one yard piece of baby gingham in pink (I can think of a zillion projects for this piece). Who knows what I'll do with the little burlap bag, but for $.50 I just had to get it.

A variety of patterns for just $.25 each

This is a "book" of fabric samples for only $4. Each piece is 10" x 5" and there are 62 pieces in every color, texture, and pattern you can imagine. I know that there's lots of potential here...so if you have any suggestions, I'd love for you to share them with me;)

All of my Christmas Cottage Blocks for the swap over at Freda's Hive are done now and ready to go to their new homes. I have had so much fun making them.

I may have shown some of these before, but they're just so darn cute. This will be a fun quilt to put together, especially because each block is made by somebody different;)

I hope that you all have a great week;)

Enjoy;)

Eye Candy

Went to quilt guild meeting on Wednesday. We usually have some sort of class before our meeting. This month it was on Sewing Room Organization. Many great ideas were shared there as well as where to buy some of the organizational items. We also learned a few quilting techniques. Good time;) Our meeting started a little after 1300. After all of the business was done we had our "sharing" time. I love this part of our meetings. We get to see what other guild members have been working on. After sharing we had several different members showing different applique techniques. Each presentation lasted about 20 minutes and we all got to choose 3 to go to. I only got to go to two because I had to leave early and go to work. All I can say is fun fun fun.

Here's the Eye Candy

Quilts from Guild Members

3 D Applique

This was one of the applique techniques

we could watch being demonstrated.

Is this lady talented, or what???

I am just in awe of people that can do applique work well...like here.


And now for you Dear Jane fans.........these are some of my favorites...........and remember, the finished size of these blocks is just four and a half inches........

I love this Bear's Paw..........and remember...

Only 4.5"

I have more Eye Candy, but will save it for another time.

I have tomorrow off and hope to get some sewing done. I hope you all are having a great weekend.

Enjoy;)

Angels in Blogland;)

A while back I joined a miniature quilt swap.....made my quilt, sent it off and then waited and waited and waited. To this date I haven't heard if the person I sent my quilt to has ever rec'd it, but then I haven't heard that she didn't either...I never rec'd a quilt either (boo hoo), but our gracious hostess "angeled" me out. Well, today when I got home from work guess what I found in my mail box.........go ahead, guess................................I was so excited that I ripped, yes ripped into the package that I found there...................and this is what I found..................

This lovely mini quilt full of sunshine.

I know that it will make me smile whenever I look at it, especially during the snowy winter days that are on the way.

My Angel is a lovely person by the name of Anjea from Austin.

I love the nice warm colors, never thought of black as a warm color, but I can't imagine this little beauty without it.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

ANJEA!!!

You truly are an ANGEL!

ENJOY;)

Woke up this morning to snow on the ground...talked to my daughter in MN and she said that in was in the mid 70's and my daughter in CA is enjoying 80+ degrees, but she went to AZ this weekend to visit my oldest son and his family...where they're having 100 degree days...still.

Got this idea from AJ (crazy mom quilts)...

someday I'll figure out how to do that little link thing...

Matching dish cloth and dish towel

...I hope the person getting these likes them...

Rec'd these "Vintage Sheets" from a swap that I did. Most of them will be going into an hour glass quilt that I'm working on...got that idea from AJ, too.

I hope that you all have a great week and don't forget the Christmas Cottage Open House tomorrow.

Enjoy

October is a Beautiful Month

Well, after visiting my daughter and her family in Minnesota, I'm home and ready to get back into the swing of things...ie...work at 0600 tomorrow. While I was there, my grand daughter and I made a little pillow, a dollie, and a little bag for her. I also finished knitting one sock that I was working on and started its' mate. Went to a parade (previous post) and took lots of pictures.

...the bag, pillow, and dollie...

bet ya could never guess her favorite colors...

I'm participating in the Christmas Cottage Block Swap (check out the buttons on my sidebar) and these are a few of the blocks I have done...

and a couple of them close up

Each of mine is just a little bit different
It's going to be hard to part with these...

There's a house warming for our cottages on Monday and everyone is invited...

The cottages are simple to do and very fun. Freda has a tutorial on her blog that shows you just how to make your own...they're a blast! Go on and try them...you know you want to;) Speaking of Freda, a couple of months ago, she asked us to show our sewing kits, well I guess better late than never....It's a little Double Bubble Bubble Gum Lunch Box


..this is one that I take with me when I travel.
It's very small, about 3"x4" but holds a lot

and tucks into just about any small space.

Just before I left for Minnesota, I rec'd this bag, in the mail ,from Ruth. She was having a give away on her blog a few weeks ago and I entered and won...

........this green bag........

...it's corduroy with machine embroidered flower and strawberries on it

and a pretty green button.

The hair clips are mine...that's where I keep them when they're not in use, but always at the ready.

My new bag has been used ever since I got it.

Thanks a TON Ruth! Sorry the picture doesn't do the bag justice.

Well, it's taken me two days to get this post up so I'm going to put this one to bed and get a little shut eye myself, but before I go.........we had out first snow of the season today. Not a lot, but just enough to let us know that more isn't far away. Fall has come and gone so quickly.

Enjoy;)

Plymouth Days

What a nice relaxing Sunday. I'm visiting one of my daughter's and her family in Plymouth, Minnesota for a few days and today was just a kick back kind of day. We watched General Conference via the internet this morning and after it ended I took my two grandchildren for a walk over to see the Mellinium Gardens just down the street from them. We came back, had a little lunch and then watched the final session of Conference and after it had ended my daughter and I started dinner. My daughter got a new basic bread recipe and so we tried it out. We made pizza, bread sticks, and a braid with cream cheese and strawberry jam all twisted together and then we covered it with frosting...Well, all I can tell you is that there's only about half of the twist left and that's it. Everything else is gone. Everything was yuuuuuummy! Good thing we cut the recipe in half...got to watch those carbs...yeah.....right!



I've been trying to get some stitching done while here, but being a little sleep deprived makes my eyes want to snap shut every time I sit down to start working on my stitching, blogging, etc...like right now, for instance.....it's all I can do to keep my eyes open. That's what going to bed at 0330 and getting up at 0730 will do to you.


Her are a few of the pictures that I took at the parade we went to yesterday at the Plymouth Days Celebration and a few from the Mellinum Gardens from today's outing. Have a good one and I'll post pics of my cottages when I get back:

Unicycles--looks like fun to me;)

The Shriner's precision mini cars

Pony Rides and Face Painting

after the parade

The city of Plymouth puts this parade and carnival on every year the first Saturday in October. I took the kids last year, but didn't know about the carnival part of the celebration. It' all free, unless you buy food. We had made our lunch and took it with us, so basically we had a free day of fun and entertainment. Now how often can you do that any more? Oh yeah, mom and dad were at a wedding so they missed out on all of the fun.

Here are a couple of pictures I took at the Mellinum Gardens today...

Have a GREAT week;)