11 and 12

and here are the final two:

On the eleventh Baa! of Christmas, the shepherd gave to me:  11 Pretty Presents.

On the twelfth Baa! of Christmas,, the shepherd gave to me:  11 Peppermint Candies.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!  WISHING EWE AND YOURS A VERY WONDERFUL HOLIDAY SEASON!

The Twelve Baas! of Christmas

I brought these out again this year.  They do make me smile!

On the first Baa! of Christmas the shepherd brought to me:

One tall, green Christmas tree.

On the second Baa! of Christmas the shepherd brought to me,

Two woolly mittens.

On the third Baa! of Christmas, the shepherd brought to me,

Three Christmas wreaths!

See you next time for a few more!

A Bridge and a Few Swans

Let's start with the swans.  I have been working on Curtis Boehringer's 12 Days of Christmas designs, off and on, for a while.  I decided to stitch with wool felt on a cotton background.  Here is Seven Swans a Swimming.  (That's a lot of necks!)

Seven Swans a Swimming

I have also finished Block 3, Packhorse Bridge, from The Raspberry Rabbits.  Lots of specialty stitches added to this one.  The sparkly threads for the water are one of my favorite parts.

* ~ * MERRY CHRISTMAS!! * ~ *

                                Wishing everyone joy and peace for this Christmas season.:))

No place like....

'gnome!'  Ha! Ha!  Here's a picture of a small Christmas mouse gnome design I drew.  Backstitched and colored with crayons..

Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Spirit

Well, for the past several years, it seems as though my Christmas spirit had gone AWOL.  And yes, I know...a little bit early, since Thanksgiving is next week. But for some reason, while playing around with a pattern I was drawing, I was feeling a bit silly and came up with this.  Another quilter's version of The 12 Days of Christmas.

(I will start backwards to get all twelve days.)  :)

On the twelfth day of Christmas I purchased this for me:

Twelve quilting needles,
Eleven yards of fabric,
Ten brand new glue sticks,
Nine pieces of wool felt,
Eight marking pencils,
Seven spools of thread,
Six hand-dyed fabrics,
FIVE GOLDEN THIMBLES!
Four bags of batting,
Three bottles of glue,
Two pairs of scissors,
and a brand new rotary cutter for me!

Silly, right?  But...at least I found my Christmas spirit!  ;))

Something small...

Only 3 1/2" tall, but too, too cute!  My little Annabelle Angel Christmas ornament.   I'm pretty pleased with how she turned out.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Here it is!  The last block for Shabby Fabrics Country Cottage BOM!  I have started the assembly of the entire quilt, with only the outer border remaining to be attached.  Done just in time for the Christmas holidays!


(Not sure why my camera is making all those lines appear....)

The last one

Here it is...the very last block for Annabelle's quilt.  I have called it Santa's Helper because little Annabelle is wearing an elf outfit.  She is putting the finishing touch on her Christmas tree, a tiny bunny angel!

I used a chain stitch on the tree to resemble those old-fashioned paper chains, everyone made as children.

If you are interested in seeing more of Annabelle's Christmas, send me an e-mail at xstitchalley @ gmail. com (no spaces) to join Annabelle's  private blog.

"Dear Santa"

Originally, I had called this block, "The List."  However, my friend, Anne Marieke referred to it as "Dear Santa" after I had shown her the sketch for it.  I thought it was a much better name for my second Annabelle's Christmas block:

 

A bit of a close-up of her dress and hat:

 

 

And the entire block with a few squares and a pinwheel:

 

 

My favorite holidays

Halloween and Christmas!  Well, at least as far as stitching and quilting are concerned, they are. :)

I forgot to post a picture of my Lizzie Kate Mystery Sampler progress.  I am actually up to date on this one! Part three is out and should be arriving at my doorstep soon.  Here are parts one and two (no charms or beads have been attached yet.)

Now for Christmas!
The next block for The Wish Quilt by Red Brolly has Santa, his sleigh and reindeer in the sky.  There are some appliqued stars and cute little houses.

Another picture of Santa:

Busy, busy

Maybe it's the hint of spring in the air; it has certainly perked me up a bit.  I worked on quite a few things the last couple of days.  I finished attaching the binding for my Bewitched quilt.  I still have to take pictures, but will  have to take Blessings of Spring down off  my quilt rack/shelf first. :)

Since it's release I have been working on Raining Cats and Dogs by Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs. I am up to date on this one, with only the applique remaining for Block 4.  Here are a few pictures.  I (once again) have to apologize for the wrinkles.  I have had these put away since completing them in the past few months.  I kept forgetting to take pictures for this project.

Block 1.  I did change the style of the wording in the window and added a few little paw prints.

Block 2....love the little plaid doggie!

Block 3...another cute little plaid doggie, plus a plaid kitty!

Another update for my Christmas quilt.  I seemed to keep stalling on this one; every time I start to do another part, I change my mind about what I want.  Remember those funny little reindeer?  Now they are in their own completed block!

Another small section of a different row...my Santa key.  You know...not all houses have chimneys.  So your children will ask you, "How does he get into our house on Christmas Eve?"  The Santa key, of course!  It's the one he carrries with him that magically opens any and all doors, so that he can deliver the presents.:))  I actually bought one of these keys to hang on our doorknob at Christmas when my sons were small, since our house does not have a fireplace or chimney. ;)

Thanks for stopping by and for all your wonderful comments and encouragement.

A Reindeer

Here is another one of my little 'doodles' come to life.  I have to say I am pretty fond of this funny little guy....he does have a companion, too.  Both will be used in my Christmas quilt.

This is a 'rough' layout before any applique has been done.  I used buttons for the eyes temporarily.  I am probably going to stitch those, as originally planned.

Little more Christmas

A little bit of the top row of my Christmas quilt.....

A candy cane...a lollipop...some Chrismas lights.

More lights....a peppermint

and a cupcake!

More Christmas

The Christmas tree is always the very center of everything in our house.  With that thought, I have made my popcorn-garland, patchwork tree the center of my Christmas quilt. (This quilt definitely needs a name and nothing is coming to me now.)












And, of course, everyone has their own stocking.  I thought this one reminded me of and what an elf's stocking might look like.  (It still needs a bit of embroidery at the top.)

Now, I'm now saying we have mice at our house.....but your know how the story goes....Twas the night before Christmas...and all through the house, not a creature was stirring....not even a mouse (or two, or three). :)

So, that's my progress, for now.  A few more blocks in the works, but the central row is pretty much complete.

Thanks for stopping by!

Angels in High Heels

Remember the funky Partridge in a Pear Tree?  Well, that little bird has three companions...three singing angels...wearing high heels!  Too funny.  Block A is complete for A Christmas Story by Hatched and Patched Designs.



Christmas Angel

I have added my little Christmas angel's basket of peppermint sticks.  I have also made a change to the fabric on her wings.   She will probably have a few buttons strewn about in the background, as well.

(** sorry for the sideways picture...I was trying to get her basket into the frame on the camera...didn't realize until after, it was crooked!)

A Little More

A sneak peak at my next block for my Christmas quilt....still needs a lot of embellishment.....

I was able to purchase more of the swirly beige background fabric.  I want to use this fabric for the background in all my blocks.

Another Peek

There will be a couple more  little mice coming for my Christmas quilt.  So, keep checking!

Yesterday, I worked on the block that actually got me started on this whole thing.  This is the only part that is not my original design.  The angel is from Shabby Fabrics Blessings of Spring quilt.  I have, however, completely changed her outfit.  This block is not finished as yet.  This little girl will be holding a basket, as soon as I can make a final decisions as to what exactly is going to be in the basket.   I also have an idea for a top border, but it will extend across several blocks...at least, that's the plan. ;)

Anyway, here is my little Christmas angel on her way to delivering a few Christmas goodies!

Thanks for joing me on yet another quilting adventure!

Again?!?!

I know, I know....I cannot help myself....yet another new project.  This one is a little special...it's my own design, once again.  A sleepless night proved to be a creative flow for an idea I have been wanting to do for a while.  Something with my own Christmas design ideas, but somehow I couldn't seem to get what I liked to appear in my rough drawings.  Although this particular little block does not appear "Christmas-y", this chubby little fellow is the start of this new venture.