.....it all began with one thread....















Saturday, January 30, 2010

OLIVIA

Number 15!!  Wow! I can't believe that I have done this many of these little fairies!

Here is "O for Olivia"....pretty in purples.

Now I may try and finish up my Two Turtledoves I started last week.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Words


Odd picture, no?  This is only one of the words I am currently stitching into the outer borders of my reindeer quilt.  I guess I really should say "quilting" the words into the border.  I am using #8 perle cotton to help make the words a bit more noticeable than if I used quilting thread.  Oh, and yes, those stitches are much bigger than I would normally quilt. :)
Words, you say, what words?  Well, from The Night Before Christmas, of course!
"Now Dasher, now Dancer,
 Now Prancer and Vixen!
On Comet!  On Cupid!
On Donner and Blitzen!"
and the line
"Now dash away, dash away.
Dash away, all!"

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Reds


New red fabrics and lots of pretty reds and salmon colors used in Le Jardin's Block #2:











Here are the new red and cream fabrics I purchased for my Snowbound Irish Chain blocks:  I strip pieced the little nine-patch squares:.s  You might think that these reds do not go with the blue background fabric for my snowman.  The design shows a blue background for all the snowmen with a red Irish Chain having cream colored backgrounds.  When I placed my Block #1 with the fabrics, it looked fine.  The reds in the block pick up the Irish Chain red.






Sunday, January 24, 2010

NINA

All done!  All her sparklies have been added....she was one of the quickest letters that I have stitched, so far.


Saturday, January 23, 2010

Cutie!

OMG!  Look what came in the mail yesterday!  She is a pincushion/fob for your scissors (although kind of large-about 6" tall)  She is weighted so that you can sit her on the arm of your chair or sofa. She is holding a little crocheted basket with a tiny crocheted scarf inside!  The end of the strap has a nice Velcro piece so that you can attach your scissors.  Those are my 6" Gingher trimmer scissors I use for my quilting.


Thursday, January 21, 2010

Moderation

Just a quick note....I took everyone's advice and enabled comment moderation. :)
Let's see how things go for now.

"Nina"

Nora Corbett's Letter "N" Fairy - Nina. Yep....started another letter fairy, finally. Nina is the fourteenth one! She is one of my favorites - her dress is purple and I love the gold beads that go down the leg of the letter "N". Here she is, with the fairy done (except for her beads) and the first half of the letter N stitched:
Plus, a little fairy close-up:








































*** Note....I may have to stop my little game with the one word titles for my posts....It seems that they attract more unwanted attention, for some reason....if my problems with undesirable posts continues, I may have to resort to restricting the comments that are allowed.***

~ And, as the saying goes (and one I follow when posting on others blogs, if you cannot say something nice, then say nothing at all!~

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Sprinkles


Yep, sprinkles....I put little pink and white sprinkles on my chocolate cupcake! My first block is done for Snowbound.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Special

As soon as I typed the word "special" it made me think of the Church Lady from Saturday Night Live..."isn't that special?"....lol:)) But it's really the word in my Lizzie Kate piece....
What is "special" is there is another reindeer/Rudolph!! Can you believe it? I think now the little guys are looking for me! Here's Rudolph's close-up. Isn't he "special?" Look how little he is...and yes, there is a red little nose, too!

Since I needed a little break from all the "big" projects I was working on, I pulled this one out and did a few letters and Rudolph.



I also wanted to take a moment to explain the end of my last post. I have been getting a few unwanted replies on recent posts as well as past posts. Sorry, if I sounded a bit abrupt...but I honestly don't want to be the vehicle to sell other's products or read derogatory comments. If I do not recognize your post, (most Anonymous posts) I will probably delete it. My blog is meant to be a "happy" place....stitching, quilting, pets....fun things. If a post makes me unhappy, I reserve the right to get rid of it! OK - time to jump down from that soap box!

Have a great weekend!

Friday, January 15, 2010

Empty


Funny word to start, isn't it? On my reindeer quilt I have two "empty" boxes. These were created by trying to make everything fit together with all the different size reindeer and the sleigh. There is one next to Rundolph and one at the upper left. I decided to add a few words in those boxes. Here are the ones next to Rudolph.

Lots of backstitching, but I like it. I was originally going to use a reddish thread, but thought that there was so much going on already in this quilt to make it a bit more simple and (not quite) blend in with the overall quilt. (I did try to erase the pencil lines with a fabric eraser....looks like I have to try a bit harder!)


**Just a note - If you want to leave an "anonymous" post....at least have the courtesy to sign your name. If not, I will probably delete it. I really do not want to have to resort to restricting who gets to comment. Thank you.**

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Odd

  • Odd that I am stitching this particular design at all.
  • Odd that I am stitching this design, and am not sure I like it.
  • Odd colors for a Christmas tree ~ red ornaments, yes....red tree....hmmmm
  • Odd, but as an avid collector of Mirabilia Designs, only bought this to put in my collection, and now I am stitching it.
  • Odd that is has less actual stitching on it, compared to the ton of beads, larger beads, marguerites, teardrops and braid.
  • Odd, but it did not receive the rave reviews that Nora's designs usually do.
  • Odd, but can you tell I am having fun with these little "bullets?"
OK, OK, enough with the "oddness"....:)) Here it is, my progress on Mirabilia's 2009 Christmas Tree(the urn below the tree is also finished, just not pictured):

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Ornaments



First, let me apologize to Anne Marieke. She sent me this gorgeous ornament as a Christmas present. Beautiful, isn't it? I totally forgot to post a picture of it when I got it, as I wanted to hang it up where I could see it right away. Thank you, thank you so much,
Anne Marieke!








Second, my first ornament of the SAL with Anne Marieke, Ineke, Isabelle and Giovanna is from Little House Needleworks. It is the first in their yearly series, called Fa La La. I have to find some nice red beads to attach, which are the final touch for this one. :)
(Plus, I may take out the red French knots for the mouths....as I am really not happy with the clowny look they give the little girls faces.)

Monday, January 11, 2010

Done!

My Vintage Christmas quilt top is done! I'm pretty pleased with how it all came together.
Here are a couple of views:
It is quite difficult to get a picture of the entire thing....
But you get the general idea. :) Time for a Happy Dance!

Thanks for coming by and having a look!

Friday, January 8, 2010

Fused

OK ~ I thought it might be fun (for me at least) to try and come up with one word titles for my posts....Let's see how long I can last.;^}

The reindeer border for my Vintage Christmas quilt is "fused." Now all I have to do is attach everything permanently! The border is quite long, so here are a few little pictures of the different sections...each a bit bunched up, so as not to show all the fabric between each reindeer.

You can also see where I will have to embroider the antlers and the ribbons. Once all the embroidering and attaching are done, this is the last part to be attached to the quilt!

The star blocks are the top corners.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Fairies


My cross stitch "fix" ~ I worked on my Fairy Garden Mandala for a while the past two days. Made a little progress on one corner. No dragonflies yet..;) But if you look carefully....you can see where one is getting ready to "hatch."

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Yes!

Almost there! Here's a shot or two of my Vintage Christmas quilt. The top border and the bottom borders are not attached just yet. The top one will have three reindeer and a sleigh with presents appliqued. The bottom has to be sewn together with the star corner blocks, then attached to the main portion of the quilt.
Thanks for coming by!

Monday, January 4, 2010

Vintage Christmas


Yeah!! The final block is done! Now it is onto the borders and corners. There is some applique in the border, as well.