Thursday, Nov. 13
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Monday, November 10, 2014
Twas The Night!
I love, love, love the holidays! I love seeing all the decorations....trees and twinkle lights, Santa faces, reindeer, candy canes. And the scents of Christmas at our house - cinnamon and cloves, cookies baking, a turkey roasting - bring a smile to my face. That's why I wanted to be a part of this blog hop! Twas The Night says so many things to all of us, not matter what our faith. The night before a holiday, the night before a birthday, the night before a wedding - the anticipation of that event makes our hearts skip a beat.
Thanks to you Madame Samm for the creation of this hop and for the way you continue to inspire us and coach us and love us! This hop was a bit different from others because we included a gift giving part to it. Everyone in the hop sent a gift to someone else in the hop....and I was so blessed to receive a gift from Cori (Creativity Amongst Chaos) She sent me the most amazing pincushions and the sweetest pins to go with them!
Not just one pincushion but three! And those sweet pins...made by her daughter! :)
I tried to pick a favorite, really I did, but I just couldn't! Cori, thank you so very much....pincushions are something I never make for myself and these are going to be everywhere in my house. One on my sewing table, one on my cutting table, and one on my chair in the sunroom! My friends are going to be so jealous. :)
This hop has inspired me. Really, it kinda made me crazy! I kept thinking of all the things you could do in a night, or a morning, or just a few hours....like appliqued tea towels.
I do machine applique using a blanket stitch for tea towels like this since they will be washed many times. Find a coloring book or look for coloring pages on the net and you'll find a million shapes!
Or fussy cut some fabric and stitch some ribbon around to frame it.
Or make some Christmas coasters with fussy cut fabrics.
Or maybe you like zippered bags.
One to hold a ruler or two, needles, pins, etc. and a matching smaller one for the little rotary cutter.
Or one to hold a pair of scissors.
Now these...yes, there are eight of them....are for sweet sisters of the heart. My high school girlfriends - go Zebras! - will be getting one of these.
I bought the pattern for my zipper pouches but there are tons of free tutorials on Pinterest. Here's one I really like at Sweet Verbena.
This might be my favorite thing I made. Lavender scented drawer liners and sachets.
That's really a lavender bush they are laying on!
I hope my "make it in a night" gifts will inspire you to get started on your own gifts. I keep a basket in my sewing room with all kinds of things in it. When a birthday rolls around, or some other occasion like a baby shower or a friend who is down in the dumps, I pull something out and send it off. It's so nice to have a little stash of gifts put aside.
What's my next project? Well, this isn't a quick one but it is a fun one. After 25 years away from it I'm starting a counted cross stitch project. I bought a kit of Anne Hathaway's Cottage while we were in England.
I do my hand stitching at night sitting in front of the television. The chair where I sit is in a dark corner and no matter what I do I can't seem to get enough light there. So here's a tip from me to you...Beam N Read! :) See that light right there next to my project?
Just look at how it lights up the whole area! Most of the time I wear it around my neck but sometimes I clamp it to the side of my hoop with some clothespin type clamps I found at the hardware store. It is truly amazing! It's battery operated or you can use the USB cord they include but the battery seems to last forever. This is actually my second one....the first one I had I literally wore out. Oh and there was the little incident of forgetting to take it off and dropping it in the dishwater. :) If you are interested you can find it here. It is so perfect for sewing down bindings, a little hand embroidery or sewing on a button. I bet you'll be like me and wear it all the time. Just don't forget and go do the dishes.
Thank you so much for visiting and commenting on all the blogs today. Go see who else is going to make you say, "oh I want to make that!" today.
Tuesday, Nov. 11
Sunday, November 9, 2014
T'was the night Schedule
Anticipation....you may not know the dictionary definition of it but you definitely know the feeling you have when you're waiting for something! Waiting is the hardest thing we do sometimes. Waiting for a new baby or for a birthday or a phone call or a loved one to come home...or for a holiday, we all share that effervescent feeling of anticipation . No matter what holiday you celebrate or when you celebrate it there are always gifts involved. The T'was The Night hop is just what we need to give us wonderful make-it-in-a-night ideas!
Welcome to T'was The Night....here is the schedule of all of our ladies in this hop who are going to be bringing you some brand new ideas, and a few old ones, for your holiday gifts. Be sure you visit each one on their assigned day - some will have tutorials, some will have giveaways and some will have something you absolutely, positively cannot live without!
Enjoy the season and be sure to cheer them all. YOU will touch their HEART as well as your own!
Tuesday, Nov. 11
Wednesday, Nov. 12
Thursday, Nov. 13
Friday, Nov. 14
Monday, Nov. 17
Tuesday, Nov. 18
Wednesday, Nov. 19
Thursday, Nov. 20
Friday, Nov. 21
Thursday, November 6, 2014
My Mother's Clock
I might have talked about this clock before....I can't remember. That's okay because time has passed and as it does I get older; my body has changed - not always for the better, my eyesight has dimmed, and while my mind might be a bit slower my memories are strong. This clock hung in my mother's house for as long as I can remember. When I was about 10 or so (I think) my mother was in the hospital for something I've long forgotten and my dad bought this for her as a coming home gift. When she left us to join Daddy in Heaven I got the clock. Maybe I just took the clock. :)
There are two things hanging on it that have been there so long they are faded beyond recognition. One is the tassel from my high school graduation. The other is the one and only ribbon my mother ever won for one of her quilts. She'd have won more except that she never entered one in a show or competition....I entered one secretly in the county fair and that's how she won this ribbon!
I look at it every day and I am reminded of several things. First, that she loved me so much that she kept that stupid tassel right there in sight. High school graduates were non-existent in her family or in Daddy's. When I graduated from college they were right there front and center, and when I got my Master's, oh my goodness that was beyond anything they had dreamed for me.
That ribbon reminds me that being modest is okay, but we should all have dreams. We are empowered by our dreams....moved forward by our dreams....enriched by our dreams. I'm not one to compete either; I'm so much like my mother in that way. But whether or not we put our quilts out there for competition is irrelevant. What is important is that we constantly strive to get better at our stitching, to learn new skills that showcase our ability to improve, and to pass our love of sewing on to others, teaching and sharing wherever we can. One of the joys in life is seeing something of ourselves in others, or maybe, in our case, on others. A quilt covering a newborn baby, a purse slung over the shoulder of our sweet teen granddaughter, a well loved Christmas pillowcase, or tooth fairy pillow, a quilt made from a loved ones shirts, .... I could go on and on and on.
Those of you who, like me, spend way too much money on fabric and tools and then make things you give away....you know exactly what I mean. Your heart is in every stitch. You pray over the things you make, asking for all good things for that loved one. I'm so glad I learned to quilt. I'm so glad my mother and both of my grandmothers made quilts that I can hold so that I am reminded of their dear, sweet faces. That's what I want for my children and my grandchildren....years from now I want them to pull something out, hold it in their hands, and remember me.
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
How Many Days?
How many days until Christmas? Today, Tuesday, November 4, the calendar tells me it's 50 days....only 50 days! And one week from today we will begin the Twas The Night Blog Hop! All of our bloggers will be highlighting gifts you can make in a night, or a morning if you're an early bird like me. If you don't celebrate Christmas I'm sure there will be other holidays you'll need a gift for - birthdays, anniversaries, etc. So be sure you join us to get some great ideas for those last minute things. Or maybe you want to plan ahead, like me. I'm making lots of little things, putting them in a basket and I'll be so ahead of the game...next time I've forgotten someone's birthday I'll just pull out a gift from my basket. :)
This is the perfect time for stitching here on the lake - the early morning mist on these cold fall mornings tells me that it will be wonderful to spend a few days inside in the sewing room.
Isn't that beautiful? This was about 7:00 in the morning and here's one a couple of hours later.
Brrr.....doesn't that view of a cold day just scream, "Go to the sewing room....go to the sewing room..." And that's just what I did. :) If you're looking for an idea for a quick project how about this one.
I searched the internet for a picture of a pumpkin....used some Heat N Bond (I miss my Steam A Seam!) to fuse the wool pumpkin down, did some hand embroidery with Valdani wool threads and then did just a little machine quilting. I wrote the word "Fall" out by hand with a pencil before I embroidered it. This would work for all kinds of simple motifs....a rooster or bunny for someone who collects those, a coffee cup for that coffee lover at the next desk, a Christmas ornament or some other holidayish thing. Oops, holidayish isn't really a word but I bet you know what I mean. :) You can make one of these in just a few hours - and if you do, I'd love to see it!
Isn't that beautiful? This was about 7:00 in the morning and here's one a couple of hours later.
Brrr.....doesn't that view of a cold day just scream, "Go to the sewing room....go to the sewing room..." And that's just what I did. :) If you're looking for an idea for a quick project how about this one.
I searched the internet for a picture of a pumpkin....used some Heat N Bond (I miss my Steam A Seam!) to fuse the wool pumpkin down, did some hand embroidery with Valdani wool threads and then did just a little machine quilting. I wrote the word "Fall" out by hand with a pencil before I embroidered it. This would work for all kinds of simple motifs....a rooster or bunny for someone who collects those, a coffee cup for that coffee lover at the next desk, a Christmas ornament or some other holidayish thing. Oops, holidayish isn't really a word but I bet you know what I mean. :) You can make one of these in just a few hours - and if you do, I'd love to see it!
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