Christmas in August?

Who doesn't love Christmas?  I don't think I've ever met anyone who didn't....and some people must love it a lot because every once in a while I see Christmas lights still up on a house here and there, even in August!   Now one part of me tends to think maybe they just "forgot" to take them down, but that's the Grinch part of me.  The Christmas Spirit part of me prefers to just think they like lights as much as me.  :)  Wouldn't you know it though, when I wanted to take some Christmas pictures of my Ho Ho Ho projects, I couldn't find even one of those houses!

Back when I signed up for this blog hop I thought Christmas was forever away...but here we are at the first week of August and it's right around the corner.  I'm going to be ready ahead of time with a couple of gifts, or at least I'm going to try!  A couple of months ago I feel in love with a Kathy Schmitz BOM and just couldn't wait to stitch this one.  It's entirely possible, even probable, that this will be a gift for me.  :)

I tried to get a little closer so you could see the quilting....some of it is straight line but I put stars in the brim of his cap and swirls in his beard.

Isn't this the cutest face you ever saw?  Each of these 12 patterns has a small printed piece to applique on, each one is embroidered with one color (in my case I used black Finca #12), and each has a pieced border.  It was total head-over-heels love for me!  I'm working on a second one now that's a sunflower....too cute.

My second project is a wallhanging that I saw at a friend's house a couple of years ago - a pattern by Art to Heart.  My friend loaned me her pattern and I bet she'll be glad to get it back.  Actually, since it's been a couple of years she might not even remember she loaned it to me!  In fairness to me, she told me to keep it as long as I wanted because she wasn't going to make it again.  I doubt she thought it would be two years!  Another cute face, don't you think?

This one is also a mixture of embroidery and applique.  I used a bit of fake fur for the pom pom on his hat and buttons for the holly berries.  I quilted a few swirls on his beard and mustache and echo stitching on the background.

And my third and last project, at least for today, is another cute Santa face.  Hmmm, wonder if this could be called an obsession?

This pattern is from Bee Tree Designs - another favorite designer of mine.  I love redwork embroidery and it's usually my go-to project when I want to stitch and watch television since it doesn't require a lot of thread changes.


There are so many cute things to see on this hop...don't forget to visit the other bloggers who are posting today; their links are below:

Quilt Doodle Doodles

life, quilts and a cat too

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Ridge Top Quilts

Editha

Stitchin By the Lake

Quilts, Fabric and Thread Tales

Sew Many Yarns

Kwilty Pleasures

Kris Loves Fabric

52 Quilts in 52 Weeks

Robin’s Fabric Nest

Thanks so much to Carol, who is an incredible, organized and gracious cheerleader for our hop and Madame Samm who stirs our creative juices and gets us to thinking and stitching!


Blessings, Marlene