Merry Day After Christmas!

            Hope you had a Merry Christmas!  We actually had a white Christmas here and now the day after it's coming down like gangbusters!  Hopefully I can get outside later and show you all a picture.

            This is our mantle this year.  My first needlepointed stocking was the teddy bear for my son when he was 5.  He is now 23 and still loves it.  Then came the one for my daughter, the white one with the roses, then my mom, dad, hubby (who was my boyfriend when I made his), finally mine.  Next came the ones for the dogs (don't ask) and then there are several more for family members who live out of state.  So over the years I have made more than a dozen.  I just love making them but unfortunately they are getting harder to find.  I always line them and they have a velvet backing and cord that is hand stitched around the front at the seams.

      There are a few of my Christmas Barbies too.  Unfortunately in this house it's hard to display them so I just swap them out when I am in the mood or for a holiday.

Catching Up!

Hello Bloggers,


My mom has been in the hospital, well, actually 2 hospitals, and will be having surgery on December 28th so to say things have been a little crazy around here is an understatement.  I did get some sewing done and experimented a little with the lace stiffener (more about that next time) so I thought I would post a picture of my Bonnie Hunter mystery pieces that I have done so far....

It has been so much fun.   And obsessive as I am, I discovered that on Thursday night, well Friday morning really, at 2 am I can get the next clue and at least read it before I go to bed.  It's like peeking at your presents before Christmas when you were a little kid!

Here's hoping your holidays are much calmer than ours and that you are having fun.  We are still managing to fit some fun in between all the mess.  ;  )

NEWEST CHRISTMAS STOCKING...

Hi!

Just wanted to post a quick message showing my newest creation.  I usually only make needlepoint stockings for family members but when my hubby asked me to make one for his best friend's little boy I could not refuse.  So here it is!

I just LOVE snowmen and this one is so bright and cheery!  It's getting harder and harder to find needlepoint kits.  I have 2 more stored away for the future, one with bears all over it and one that is victorian style.  The bears are for a future grandchild?  Maybe someday...

EASY STREET....STEP ONE

Hi All!

So hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving weekend, I did.  Did a little shopping and some sewing and spending time with my family so for me it doesn't get any better.  I think I was lucky cause hubby and I went out Friday morning and the traffic wasn't bad and the places we went were not crowded.  Everyone was pleasant too.  To finish it off we went to Denny's for breakfast and I had french toast.  It's not the best in the world but not bad either, and I am a french toast snob and have tried it almost everywhere we go.   But onward, so after my nap on Friday I started Bonnie Hunter's Easy Street and here is my Step One finished:

192 four patch units!  Well, actually I have over 200 because I plan on making the quilt larger but I am not sure how this will be done so I would rather make some extra now and take the chance that I won't have to go back a make a lot later.  Clear as mud?

The ladies in the Yahoo Group have been posting pictures of their finished patches and we have a festival of color going on over there and it's been a blast to see.  Bonnie will be having a linking party Monday so if you want to see what's up, take a look at her blog.

Talk to you all again soon!

Getting Ready for Easy Street...

Hi!

Well I have my second pincushion done, except for the rhinestones which are coming by mail.  So, onward to my next project, getting ready for the Easy Street Mystery with Bonnie Hunter.  Bonnie is an amazing quilter, teacher and has published books, articles, patterns.  Her blog and website, Quiltville, should not be missed.  I also have rarely seen such a famous quilter be so generous with her time and give so much of her patterns.  Someday I hope to be able to attend one of her classes.

Back to Easy Street!  The Mystery begins the day after Thanksgiving and I am hoping to go bigger and make this pattern fit my king sized bed.

I changed 3 of Bonnie's colors, so starting at the top my background is creams instead of Bonnie's white with black, Bonnie's constant is grey and mine is copper, I am using turquoise and lime green same as Bonnie, and I am using blue instead of Bonnie's purple.

This will be my first mystery with Bonnie and the Yahoo Quiltville Group and I am very excited!

LITTLE CURVES

Hello All!

 I went to JoAnn's big Veteran's Day Sale and bought lots of stuff but they did not have the purple  rhinestones I needed for my next velvet pincushion.  So....online ordering here we come!  That put a kink in my plans but, hey, I am nothing but flexible. ; )
 Alternate project here we come....

I am a big fan of Karen's Sew Many Ways blog and she had recently posted this idea for her ribbons and I decided to do use the idea for my crazy quilting threads.  Don't they look great in my box now?  Of course I still have about 20 more to do but I did learn a few things.  One being not all playing cards are the same.  The first old deck we had was so flimsy that I  had to use 2 cards for each color.  Then I learned that I REALLY wind tightly and need to loosen up! ( Possibly in more ways than one.)

Going turkey shopping tomorrow.....

Kudos to JoAnn's & My Lace Came.

Hello All!

Well the first thing is Kudos to JoAnn's for sending this out in the mail the other day:

This was part of their ad that I received in the mail and I am so happy!  My DD worked at Michaels a few years ago and had to work on Thanksgiving and what a pain it was.  My opinion from what I saw was that they had no respect from their employees.

So now on to happier things... I received my lace from Patchwork Panda Trims.  I had never ordered from them and I must say they are great and I would order from them again.  The lace is wonderful, the prices are great and they were prompt with my order.

So I have almost all of my supplies, just need the rhinestones, but I can put most of it together without them.  Here's a peek at the before:

Have a great weekend everyone.  Talk to you again soon.

What am I thinking starting a blog right before the holidays?  Well, that's just the way it goes.  Today I wanted to share my pincushion creation, hopefully the first of many.  I need to state that I LOVE velvet, it is the most sensual of all the fabrics to me.  So I have been scouting the thrift stores for velvet shoes in decent shape and found 2 pairs.  Now because this is a pincushion I have also restricted the size to a 6, for practical reasons.

So I had a plain black velvet shoe and first I covered it with black venise lace.  Loving it even more now.  Then I picked a vintage piece of red velvet for the pincushion part.  But it needed something more, a little bling!  I also love bling.  So dark and bright red rhinestones here we come.  My end result is this:

I just love it!  The pictures just don't do my little creation justice.  I am going to get a little crazy with the next one and have ordered purple lace and am using a piece of hand dyed velvet I bought from a friend.  So check back again to see my next one.