The Letter M

M is for "Merry" Christmas? M is for "Michele?" M is for "many" projects? or M is for "May" you have a Happy New Year? ;) No, no, no....(but it does make me think of the Cookie Monster's (Sesame Street) "C is for Cookie" song....)

It could be that M is for "my" new/old project.....the Letter M fairy from Nora Corbett. She is the halfway point through the alphabet, plus she is at the"midway" point. ;)

Take a peek:

You know how it is with the New Year approaching...looking back, setting new goals, etc. I was trying to see what projects I had that I might be able to get done this year. Of course, I would like to be able to finish all the letters, but half way's not too bad.

BTW - this is another set of designs that I had originally thought of using in a quilt....the one for which I already purchased some of the fabrics....;)

Fabrics, Floss & Trim

That was part of my Christmas present from Isabelle. Beautiful fabrics (I love the toile), some Christmas colored floss, plus some DMC Satin floss, and a beautiful trim that reminds of icing on a cake!
But the most gorgeous part of the gift was a hanging ornament from the first block of Christmas at Hawk Run. Now - since my pictures are not usually the greatest...I am going to link to Isabelle's blog, where she has an absolutely wonderful picture.

Present (ooops! here's a link to the front page of Isabelle's blog....Isabelle

Fantastic, isn't it? Isabelle's work is always perfection (just in case you did not take a look around her blog.) I also want to take this opportunity to thank her for all the wonderful gifts she has sent me. All are truly appreciated. Thank you, Isabelle!

Now up next is another picture...this one really is not very good...but it is difficult to get a picture of a quilt. This shows more of the fabrics I used, plus the perfect fabric I found for the border at Bears Paw Fabrics (although you can only see a very little bit of it.)

Le Jardin

Bunny Hill's newest design - "Le Jardin", with very pretty fabrics from the French General line. This is the first block. Another Block of the Month (BOM). Hopefully, I will be able to keep up with this one. ;) The little bunny gets an embroidered ribbon around his neck, which also flows out into the background.

I hope everyone had a very nice Christmas and received some nice "stitchy" gifts from Santa.

Three French Hens

Cross Eyed Cricket's Three French Hens from the Twelve Days of Christmas series. (I have completed - and gave away- A Partridge in a Pear Tree.) The tree topper and two turtledoves in also finished, and actually made into ornaments! Now to complete this one. At this rate it will be another ten years before the others are done.:))

I have been busy trying to get ready for Christmas this past week. There probably will not be much time left over for stitching, which may be the reason I become a bit scarce over the next few days.

I just want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for coming to visit and leaving me wonderful comments, which encourages me to keep going with so many of my 'various' projects. Thank you all for a great year of blogging! I wish all the best for a wonderful and happy Christmas for you and your families.:))

Glimpses

I have been working on my reindeer quilt. I thought it would be a lot more difficult than it has been (so far...knock on wood...don't want to jinx things now!)....That linen color (twilight blue) is a sort of gray blue...there's no green in it and it is not a true blue....finding something to match was not going to happen. So, I decided to try and focus on "similar" colors instead. The bottom is a bit darker, with the middle getting a bit lighter and some bits of "snow." After that it lightens just a bit, but becomes dark, once again. The red border actually looks great! I thought at first I must be crazy for even considering red. But I found just the shade of fabric in my stash. Now the only problem is the final outer border. I think I am going to strip piece some of the fabrics that I have already used for that one. But here are a few peeks at it so far....remember, most of it was done without a pattern, just a concept in my head.The bottom darker fabric has sort of an "aurora borealis" look to it...

**(edited for Missy Ann) Ok...I have finally picked myself up off the floor from laughing (at myself, mind you). I knew someone was going to ask me about a "pattern". Unfortunately, "by the seat of my pants" was literally how I did this one. Lined up the reindeer...put a border on the top...tried to line them up evenly...you get the idea, here. But there were a few measurements...basically the strips of fabric...cut into two inch strips out of the sections of McKenna Ryan's fabrics that I thought would work. I really only used two different fabrics for the blues. There are actual "sections" in her fabrics that allow you to sort of pick and choose which part you want to use. The outer borders were five inch strips...and the red one..another two inch strip. That's pretty much as exact as it got. I trimmed and cut until I could get everything to sort of fit. Now remember, too, I did not stitch the borders on my reindeer. Sorry for the rambling...but it was pretty much how it happened. Cut the fabrics, stretch them out with the blocks on the back of my sofa. If I liked it, I sewed it. It just sort of all fell into place by itself. I also know that I will probably never be able to do this again...although I am kind of hoping for my Nora Corbett Letter Fairies....I have had the fabric for that one since my older son was in his last year of college (going on two years now) ;o)

In the works

I pulled out all my McKenna Ryan fabrics today. I arranged and rearranged...thought I liked it....changed it...only about a dozen times. Well, I finally just decided to wing it (no pun intended). I started joining all those reindeer and the sleigh together. Nine reindeer and one huge sleigh. Not an easy thing to come up with a nice layout or plan for them. But I started anyway, sort of flying by the seat of my pants (with a little reindeer help, of course!). So far, so good.

Now this is not going to be your ordinary four by five block kind of quilt, mainly because of all the different sizes of the reindeer blocks and that sleigh. Granted it does have some sashing right now. But it is only half way there. We shall see....;)

Won't you guide my sleigh tonight?

Are you singing it??? Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer, had a very shiny nose, and if you ever saw it...(which you can see here)....you would even say it glows. (I ran out of DMC 839, so there are just a few little stitches missing until I get another skein.)

Yep, the last one....all nine reindeer are done! Woohoo! Now Santa is another story....

The sleigh and the reindeer are ready....now what to do with them, what to do? I was planning on combining everyone into one quilt....Just have to figure out how I want that quilt to look first!

At least Rudolph is ready to lead the sleigh for this Christmas in all his sparkling splendor.

Well, that took a while

...didn't it? The "A Tisket, A Tasket" quilt top has been done for a few days. Things were a bit busy, so the pictures did not get taken. I was going to lay the quilt out on the grass in the sun to get a nice bright shot....but today....wouldn't you know, it's raining (again) of course! So the quilt got hung off the front of my refrigerator, hence the odd distortion to the shapes of some of the blocks. Anyway, without any further excuses...here it is:

A Peek

at the borders for my A Tisket, A Tasket quilt.....I put the inner borders and squares together after finishing the December block yesterday afternoon. ISn't the little snowlady cute?

I have to purchase more fabric for the outer border. The piece I have is too small, but I know this fabric is still available (thank goodness!)

For the first time ever, I had a piece of fabric bleed when I went to rinse out the water soluble marker (see that dark green candy cane?). This was an older fabric that I had...plus it is a Jinny Beyer fabric....so I was really surprised when I had blue/breen halos around it! Talk about panic....but then I did what everyone recommended when your DMC floss bleeds, soaked it and soaked it in cold water. There is still a very light halo effect around it, but it will be quilted around there, so will look more diminished.

November

...and it doesn't have a turkey! A little squirrel and a cute black crow. Now the little crow was to have a little hat....I didn't really care for the way it looked...so let's just say it blew away in the autumn winds! And....see the little squirrel's ballon? It was drawn as a leaf. But I think the little acorn balloon was just a bit more fun.
I spent some time today looking through my fabrics to see what might be suitable for the borders for all these little baskets. I think I have found just the right ones, too!

October

Two more to go! Here's October's Bunny Hill freebie A Tisket, A Tasket:

A little "sunbonnet" witch and her kitty.
I did use the word on the sign this time.

Next is the squirrelly Thanksgiving block. :)

I'll have to be thinking about sashing and borders soon!

Thanks for coming by and all the great comments!

September

Yeah!! My September A Tisket, A Tasket block is done! (Remember I said I was not stitching any words on mine?) This one originally had the words "school days" across the top of the basket handle. Plus the little dog had a blanket on his back with "A, B, C" on it. I decided after trying the little blanket on mine, that I liked it better without the it. Take a peek:I think this little block is one of my favorites. :)) The October block has a "sunbonnet sue" witch with a little black kitty (which I have already started.) ;)) Then it will be onto the "squirrelly" Thanksgiving block

The last block for December was released today....a little snowlady and a basket with candy canes! Getting close to the end!

May, June, July, August

Yep, four months....these are the four blocks for my Bunny Hill A Tisket, A Tasket freebie BOM quilt:This is not the layout for the blocks as they will be in the quilt. Plus....A few of the blocks have words that are part of the pattern to be stitched. I chose not to use the words in mine. One adjustment because of the missing words was to move my ladybug up a bit on the handle. And my July block needs one more little leaf that somehow got misplaced in the shuffle. Just have to cut out another one!

Some assembly required

No, no...it's not some toy for Christmas....:)
My Vintage Christmas blocks....they are fused together but not stitched just yet. Well, the sheep has her machine blanket stitching already. Now to finish the rest. After these two - only one more block to go...but it is huge.

I love this little guy!

How cute is this little sheep? He is a part of my July block for Bunny Hill's A Tisket, A Tasket freebie BOM.

OK - see those blue lines...those are a removable marker, by the way. I am trying to help myself regulate the size of my blanket stitches. I was having a terrible time, so decided to try anything. Blanket stitching is one of the few things I have never really done.

How about his face? Something I did not plan...those little blue polka dots were just a part of the pattern on the fabric. When I turned the fabric over, I had the perfect little eyes for my sheep!

Whew!

I love the holidays...honestly, I do....But (you knew that was coming, right?)....all the work and preparation for about everyone's enjoyment of about half an hour is just too much sometimes. Don't get me wrong. I love having my family and friends all together to celebrate Thanksgiving. It's just that "I" don't want to be the one having to do all the preparation. For a couple of years, we celebrated at a very wonderful restaurant. It was great....walk in, enjoy everyone's company, eat all the delicious food...leave the dishes for someone else to take care of...and leave! ;) This year, I left the choice up to my father as to whether we would go to this restaurant again or have it at my house. So it was at my house. It was very nice and enjoyable, and I'm not sorry I did it...but I am already thinking about next year....;) I wonder if it's too early to make reservations? ;)

Anyway, my stitching has definitely suffered a bit during this time. But....a little Christmas stitching got done (which I cannot show). I am going to try to work on something I can post a picture of...but in the meantime....something old...
These were some of the little "freebies" Martina Weber gave you as part of her mystery sign-up several years ago. Each one is from a different mystery and gives an example of some of the threads used in the mystery itself.

It's Done!!

Rabbit Run
(There will be better pictures once I hang this on the wall, I promise!)

I put the last stitches in on my bunnies this morning! They are all ready for Thanksgiving! Woohoo! Happy Dance Time!

Blocks #5 and #6....

plus more bunnies! I have been quilting on my Rabbit Run....only the two side borders to go!
(The white marks on the bottom border are from the chalk pen marker I used-it will come off with water.)














And I also finished the piecing on Blocks #5 and #6 for my Vintage Christmas:

Now you know those stray threads weren't there when I put the quilt block on the table, right? I think little gremlins come flying in as soon as they see me with my camera out! ;)
And Block #6:

More quilting

I finished the hand quilting in the center of my Rabbit Run quilt. Today I machine quilted the "brick" border. I machine stitched in the "mortar". I think I am going to machine quilt the checkerboard sections next.











Here's a close-up of the "mortar" stitching:

The big picture

Since there was a question or two about the overall quilt...here it is.
It was stretched out on the kitchen table, so a little difficult to get the entire thing in the picture...But at least you can see what will be quilted next...(probably the brownish border and the checkerboard borders..)

(I keep giving the wrong name for this one...It is Rabbit Run by Bunny Hill Designs. The original quilt was shown as being done in lavenders...I tried to use those colors, but just couldn't make them work together. Anyway...these colors are more "me.")

Switching Gears

(again!)....I have been wanting to do some actual "quilting" on the quilt tops that I have completed. Out came Bunny Run...a little stipple quilting...a little outline quilting...and some background fill-in with the checkerboard quilting....

Isn't it funny how you forget? I honestly do not know why I stopped quilting so many years ago...I do like it. Buying the fabric...all the new gadgets....the patterns...assembling....hmmmmm....maybe it had something to do with how much I was spending on it! :))

But ~ my favorite part? The actual quilting....not necessarily the machine quilting...which is OK....but the hands-on, hand quilting. Very soothing-very comforting...very cozy to be holding a nice warm blanky on your lap as you quilt it!

Another Pillow!

I LOVE my new pillow!! I was looking at various patterns when I was trying to find one for my curtains. I had seen a pillow similar to this one. I thought...ya know...I am not spending all the money for a pattern for one pillow. I knew I could come up with something on my own. I am thrilled with it. More leftover fabric from the curtains. I had purchased a rectangular pillow form in the hopes that I would be successful.

An hour and a half later and some thinking about the logistics of this one....and TA DA!! I think it took me longer to sew on the buttons than to actually make the pillow!

Here's a shot of Rusty, the new rug and the curtains. (Sorry, it's really blurry...but the others did not have Rusty in them.)
Although it does not show very well, the rug has a pattern of leaves and stems in it. And...a picture of one of the new end tables with the new lamps:
Don't ask me why the pillow is on top of the chair....I guess someone did not want to sit on it! ;)

Flowers, Bells, Present & Stocking

The stocking - a Victorian Ice Skate Stocking (Block #3) for my Bunny Hill Vintage Christmas Quilt:


The flowers, bells and present:


For some reason, Blogger rotated my second picture....hmmm....well, you can see I was busy yesterday. Two quilt blocks traced, cut and pieced in one day! Woohoo!

Hollyhocks and Doilies

....what?? Well, I started the hollyhocks in the corners of my Fairy Garden. I filled in all four corner motifs and began to move outward again. Yeah!! Those hollyhocks are going to take some time with all the color changes going on in them. But the doilies...I really do like working on them. One color thread and just keep going!


Now those dragonflies nestle in between all the stitches of the doilies.....Can I hold off much longer?
I really want to try and get at least two of those hollyhocks done, before I move on again.

Close-up of the doily:

Fairies

After working on those curtains all last week, I finally got to play with my Fairies again.

The central part is finished (with the exception of adding the rest of the crystals in the middle)

I am really, really trying to be good and not skip out to those borders with the gorgeous dragonflies....if I do, I know what will happen....the rest of the borders, corners and "doilies" will not get done....so I am saving those beauties as my incentive to finish the tedious parts. :)

Ready?

OK....finally....let's start with the pillow I made from the extra fabric. (Not the greatest picture, but you get the idea....
Now - the door:




Like my red accent wall?

















...and....ta da! the curtains.....and a little someone (Rusty) making sure he can still look out the window with the new curtains....

The curtains were supposed to be tab tops...but I changed my mind when it came time to do them. I made all the tabs, but didn't like having the red fabric and tabs on top. (The red fabric is a bit more dull in reality...the flash made it appear a bit brighter than it is.)

The curtains can be closed at night. They still need to hang for a few days....I keep adjusting all the folds, but I think I may have to get the iron out and try holding it up to them and steaming them.

OK.....where have you been?

I know that's what your saying....where the heck is she?

Well, finishing up those curtains. Sewing and cutting and pressing 7 yards of fabric. Not difficult sewing-wise....just tedious trying to maneuver all that fabric! But I finished up the long plaid pair last night.

However....no pictures yet, since I cannot hang them until Dave (my husband) puts up a new curtain rod for me. He couldn't put up the curtain rod last night, since he was painting that wall.
Tonight for sure! I cannot wait to see how they all look together.

Time for a little curtain happy dance!

Stitching?

Stitching lately....no. Sewing....yes! I have been working on my first set of curtains. We are in the process of painting our living room and I (in my infinite wisdom) decided I could make new curtains, rather than buy them. Of course, this decision was reached after looking and looking at tons of pictures of curtains. No pictures yet....but I made the curtain for the front door, as well as my first set of tier curtains for the front window! Woohoo!

Now...onto the ones that are making me nervous. I bought a very nice plaid fabric (that, of course, I have to match when sewing...) and my intention is to make them into very nice long, tab-top curtains which can be drawn together at night and held back during the day with tiebacks.....we'll see.....

One good thing about drapery fabric, it does have a very nice feel to it once stitched....now to get on with those long curtains!

Wish me luck!

A Little Diversion

I took a little detour last night from working on my Fairy Garden. I finished up the first block on my Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow! The colors are so vibrant on this...the chartpack picture definitely needs to be retaken!



After looking at several of the blocks, there are only a few that do not have a peacock somewhere in it.

Little Bits

All good intentions aside, I did not get as much done on my Fairy Flower Garden in the past few days as I would have liked. But, I did try the little Jessica bellflowers. Cute! . . . and pretty easy to stitch, too! I did start to fill in the yellow border. The chart calls for pink centers for the bead flowers, but I liked the purple centers better.

And a little closer look:


Fairy Flower Garden

Thanks, again, to everyone for your encouraging comments! Reading all of them certainly does help to keep me motivated!

Yes!!

The scrolls are done (even the missing DMC). Plus I added the next outer border.

Six and a half

Scrolls! Only one more to finish filling in with DMC 519 and then only one remains! Woohoo!



Maybe I will finally get to move onto the next border. I am waiting for the border to be in place before I backstitch any of those dark green leaves.

Well, duh!! I keep completely forgetting that I am missing DMC 807 to fill in the heart shape on the four central motifs. Once I get that thread, the motifs will be done!

More Fairies

A little more work on my Fairy Garden.

Now that the scrolls are outlined, I need to go back and fill each one in.

After seeing Ineke's gorgeous dragonfly, I am sooo tempted to just stitch what I need to make it to the outer portion where the dragonflies are. But...I am trying to be good on this one. Three scrolls are filled in now, with five more to go. The corners are much easier than the center portions, but I know how I am.

If I don't complete the middle portions along with the corners, they might just get skipped over for quite a while. ;)