Sweet Home Quilt Co....

..is giving Cinnamon away....and if you breathe it in, it won't even make you sneeze.! LOL

Have a Brooklyn Revolver?

And I'm not talking guns.....LOL
Pictured below is my Broolyn Revolver that I use ALOT! It's a turntable - cutting board on one side and ironing surface on the other.
I put a piece of rug "no slip" underneath to give it a little extra stability when cutting and turning.
It's the same concept as the green, 12" square Olfa cutting board that turns but I like the Brooklyn Revolver so much more.
Don't worry - I don't carry it in a holster...........

You've Got Mail

Isn't it fun getting mail? Look what arrived at my front door yesterday when I got home:Some Essence (by Sandy Gervais) Charm packs along with a couple pieces of yardage from that line, 2 Wiscasset (by Polly Minick & Simpson) charm packs and a piece of yardage to go with it and the following Schnibbles' patterns:

Picnic (the pattern this month for A Year of Schnibbles)
Houseboat
Good Fortune
Ballet Slippers
Dow Jones
Lincoln (Wiscasset is for this pattern for SIL)

Quilt Hollow

You shouldn't miss Mary's blog, there's something special in the air over there!!

Book Winner

Congrats to Joyful Quilter who is the One Day book winner. Please email me your address and I will gladly get your package in the mail.

One Day...

Giveaway.... to say thanks for everyday.

Simply...
Leave a comment
You get a number
DD picks a random number tonight
Winner announced Friday morning when I turn on my computer

Granddaughter's Coat

Another Christmas project completed:
Katie's Coat - size 6.

The fabric is sherpa suede. I used tissue paper to help the fabric slide easily when sewing. I'm just not as pleased with how it turned out as I thought I would be. Maybe once the suede "sits" sewn for awhile....

I see I need to turn that middle button - just a hair - it says "I love you".

More Christmas Past

I've made several of these wreaths - styrofoam inserts, no pattern - just "pushed go". I have them made for different seasons. Right now I have Fall ones around the house.


Another wreath of a different kind - these are felt bears and candy canes all attached to a wooden hoop.


And I took the felt bear idea another step to make ornaments:

Light Snow

This is a Schnibbles pattern called "Betsy" that I have renamed "Light Snow" because that's what we get here in Mayer, AZ.
This is totally "out of the box" for me - using light colors in a Christmas quilt so that's where the "light" comes from as well as actually already getting some "Light Snow" here a few days ago.

I do tend to do things the hard way, LOL. What I mean by that - the snowflakes were embroidered in the red charms after the quilt top was done. Yes, I could have, should have, but didn't do them before the top was done. But, to be honest, I didn't know I was going to embellish the quilt top with anything when I started. The nine patches, red charms and bigger border are all from the Basic Grey Figgy Pudding line while the triangles all around are from Jim Shore's "12 Days of Christmas", a line from a couple years ago that was in my stash. The white inner border and binding is also from my stash - it has snowflakes on it as well but it's too hard to tell in the photo.

Halloween Things

My hat for the festivities:

I used fusable Peltex for the "cone" of the hat and two layers of heavy weight fusible interfacing for the brim.

My T-shirt for the festivities: (Also made one for the hostess)


This is an embroidered applique design from Embroidery Library.

Jackie's Great Giveaway

Canton Village Quilt Works is having a fabulous giveaway. Jackie is really doing something special. Thank you, Jackie.

Christmas Past... more

This may not be the most "brilliant" or perfectly painted Manger Scene but it's dear to my heart. It was "HAND MADE" in Egypt at the "Mud Shop"....literally made from mud, hand shaped, then hand carved and hand painted. The tools used to create this wonderful Manger Scene are not what you could even imagine. They were "blades", chisels and cloth - all used for years and resharpened on stones time and time again. I would go to the Mud Shop just to watch the craftsmen.

Below is a close-up. Nothing is perfect and that makes it perfect to me.

And, the Santa, on the far left is also from the Mud Shop.

Memories.
to be continues....

Christmas Past

The Cross Stitch above was done in 1991 while we were living in Cairo, Egypt. I used to sit by the hours on the patio (we lived on the 10th floor) and watch everyone crossing the Nile River. Memories.....

And this ornament was also made while living in Cairo. There were some wonderful engineers working for hubby at the time. One of them used to cut "woods" for me to decorate. He cut out several of these gingerbreads for me with my request of leaving a hole in the center for me to insert designs. Memories....

Mantle Santa of Years Past

Our "Mantle Santa" from many Christmas's Past

Remember many years ago when you'd find stamped patterns on cotton - at Walmart, the old Grant City, TG&Y's and the old small Mercantiles? Well, this was one of those stamped cottons. This Santa has graced our home for 25+/- years (too long for me to even remember..LOL). He's been played with, dusted and kept primped for a very long time. Doesn't he age well?

I love "memories" and our house at Christmastime is all about "Memories". Infact, to this very day, when hubby and I do something "new", like our RV trip to Yellowstone in September, we call it "Let's go make a memory".

It was suggested a few years ago to start taking photos of ornaments and decorations that were made from years past so you'll see different dates on photos. No digitals "back then".

to be continued...

Brenda, from Pumpkin Patch Primitives Quilt Shoppe is having the MOST fabulous Halloween Giveaway. Her blog is so wonderful - but those of you that know me know I love pumpkins. LOL The FQ Bundle that she is giving away to a lucky winner is just great - Red Rooster's Pumpkins & Spice Fabrics by Whimsicals. This is a GREAT line!