Frogs On A Log and A Raccoon

I am loving this series so far....'Frosty Forest'.  Here is 'Raccoon Cabin' finished ... adorable, right?! 

I love the raccoon.

I'm not using the buttons so instead I stitched a Bluebird where the bird button would have gone. 

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Now that I stand back and look at it, I see a few mistakes that I need to fix but those will have to wait because I've received #2 'Snowy Deer' and can't wait to start it. 

Designs by Country Cottage Needleworks

Stitching on 36ct Edinboro Pearl Grey

The new quilt I am starting...

Scrappy Frog and Toad

I found the pattern in a book someone was giving away. It's called 'Quilts for Kids' by Carolann Palmer. I don't know if you know but I am a big frog and toad lover, so when I saw the 'Frog Pond' pattern I grabbed it up.



I am going to try to use as much of my own fabric as I can (scrappy).  So far I've made 3 frogs. The crazy cutting and angles make the blocks a little time consuming but they are turning out really cute.  There are 60 frogs/toad to be made sooo I'll be working on them for awhile. hahaha



I hope everyone had a lovely Holiday! We sure did! I think I will keep our tree up a bit longer... it's so beautiful I hate to take it down just yet. Truth be told, I was still listening to Christmas music yesterday ( the 27th) while working on my Project Life. 

Some Handmade Goodies

I'm going to show a few of the Holiday gifts I've made 

because I am pretty sure these people don't read my blog.

First is the Tardis potholder for my son's teacher.

He says she is a huge Doctor Who fan. She even has a Tardis sitting on her desk at school.
I've never seen Doctor Who (this may shock some) so I had to google what a Tardis looked like.

Next is a little 'Peace' ornament I made for my best friend. The pattern is a free one over on 'Krissy-Cross's' blog.


I know my best friend doesn't read my blog... I am actually pretty sure she doesn't know I have a blog (this may shock some too). LOL  But we are more like 'camping buddies'.  She doesn't sew and when we get together we talk about where and when we're camping next and what the menu will be.

I am about 99% sure my daughter doesn't read my blog... so here is a peak at her chemistry / math love pillowcase...


She loves chemistry and math and is studying it in school.  It will go with the 'Keep Calm and Graduate On' quilt I made her. She keeps the quilt on her bed at college.  The body of the pillowcase is a math print called "Back to School" by Timeless Treasures.
 I had my husband google chemistry things and draw them up for me. I then took my handy dandy light box and traced the images onto what fabric, then embroidered them in black.
The two chemistry glassware have colored  fabric fused on them, then I machine stitched them down.


The molecule is Caffeine... she loves coffee.



Lastly... is my son's Horned Owl...

His favorite!
I will be making this sweet owl into an ornament for him.
The pattern came from the booklet 'Woodland Birdies #3' by Victoria Sampler.

So there are a few of the handmade goodies I've been working on.  I'm still working on some and others I can't show yet. teehee hee

In My Hoop ~ and lots more

I can't show you all the things I'm working on because most of them are Christmas gifts...

but here is my start on 'Frosty Forest'. 

I had to work my way down to the raccoon because I couldn't wait to stitch him.
LOVE

My recent purchase is 'Woodland Birdies' by The Victoria Sampler.  If you didn't know, I am a little bird crazy / obsessed.


I am going to try to stitch the owl for my son for Christmas. His favorite owl is the Great Horned Owl and this little guy looks like one!

Back in November I entered a blog give-away over at 'A Whole Lotta Latte'. Jacki likes to scrapbook and stitch too and she is very sweet and generous. She gave away 4 pieces of 40 count linen.
And guess who won...  me.


I'm so happy! I can't wait to stitch all kinds of things.  Hop over to Jacki's blog (she's also on instagram)  and check out her stitching. She is working on a Quaker Christmas design that is so gorgeous. I'm going to need to stitch it too one day.

Our Family Tradition
Every year we go fetch our Christmas tree in our 1958 VW Delux bus.


This year the kids talked me into letting them have a bigger tree. It's twice as big  as the trees we usually get. The deal was that they had to put the lights on because that's usually my job (and taking them off).

They did great!!

In my backyard,


My sweet girl! Isn't she beautiful?!

Mary's Sampler

I hope all my American blog readers had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I did!  We had Thanksgiving and Christmas on the same day with my in-laws this year. I gave them 'Mary's Sampler'.


 I participated in the Mystery stitch along called 'Mary's Sampler' over on Plum Street Samplers blog. She is a wonderful designer and I love your work. I also took another finishing class last week at my local quilt shop and finished my piece in a flatfold... I love how it turned out! My in-laws loved it too. :)

Funny story~ When I showed the finished piece to my husband he asked me why I had fling Princess Leias in the sampler. I turned it around and looked at it again... and laughed so hard. My angles do look like little fling Princess Leias. Super Cute!!

Happy Stitching Everyone!!

What's NOT In My Hoop

Santa's Village

Santa's Village is complete!
Super Adorable.
Stitched on 32ct lambswool linen.
I've changed a few things like adding a dove to month 3 and making my elf look like 'Buddy' from the movie "Elf" in month 11.
But mostly I used the recommended threads.



The design /pattern is from Country Cottage Needleworks.
There is a new series coming the end of this month and I can't wait..."Frosty Forest".
I'm an animal lover and I can't wait to stitch up cute little woodland creatures.
I am secretly wishing / hoping for lots birds and a frog,
but I'm not holding my breath on the frog since it is called 'FROSTY Forest'... the frogs are probably hibernating.
Until it comes out I'll be stitching up some Christmas gifts. I'll post photos of those after they've been given out.  I am working on an adorable gift for my daughter and I don't think she reads my blog... so in a few days I will post pictures of that.

Happy Stitching


From my kitchen window...

Do you do this too?

While I was stitching on my Mary's Sampler last week my husband and  I watched 'The Seven Year Itch'. This week when I started stitching on it again my brain immediately thinks of that movie.

 

My husband says it happens to him too. When he works on a metal piece that he has worked on in the past he'll think about what ever he was watching or hearing from way back when.

Every time I stitch on my Hocus Pocus Ville I think of Sherlock Holmes because a while back we watched that movie while I was stitching on Hocus Pocus Ville. 

Do you do this too?

Grateful For...

My goal was to finish my 'Grateful For' table runner by the beginning of November and I did it! And I love it! Here is a quick but picture heavy post of my finished table runner....

Machine stitching the binding while watching 'The Sound of Music'...

Outside on a gorgeous day (Oct 31st) hand stitching the binding on..

And here it is finished by November 1st.


I didn't have a plan for the pattern and no measuring was done while I was making it so I was shocked when I laid it on the table and it fit perfectly.
Some close ups..

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I added Alvin, the chipmunk that lives in our yard.

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And my son has named all the squirrels in our yard Jeffrey .. so I added them too.


My label on the cutest pumpkin fabric..surrounded by bees.



If you don't know the story behind my runner... last year I had my little family list a few things that they were grateful or thankful for. I wrote them on muslin and hand embroidered them. I was hoping to make them into a table runner last year for Thanksgiving but they sat in my sewing bag for a year.  So this year I was determined to get my table runner done by the 1st of November.
Done!
And I'm in love with it!


I may even keep it on the table year round. 

Buddy the Elf

Yesterday I finished up "Elves' Workshop' which is block / month #11 of Santa's Village.

 
Just in time for November and our last month.
BUT... while stitching my Elf  all I could think of was Buddy the Elf from the movie "Elf".
I LOVE that movie.
So, after I was finished I stepped back and decided I had to change him.  Call me crazy but I love him.


Yes, I frogged some of the stitches out of my elf and changed him.



Here's a photo of my whole Santa's Village so far...

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I am pretty excited about the next series called 'Frosty Forest'. 

An Autumn Ornament

I love this time of year... I love the pumpkins, colorful leaves and cooling down of the temperature. I love bats, spiders, the moon and the color orange. I think this is why I am drawn to many of the Halloween designs / patterns.  Do you remember I stitched up "Autumn Witch"? (the design is by Maja over at 'The Snowflower Diaries')  I fell in love with the pumpkin riding on the back of the witch's broom.  ... And do you remember me telling you there was going to be an ornament finishing class at my LQS?!   Well, it was wonderful!  I learned so much and had a blast with my girlfriends.   And here she is... my little witch and her sweet little pumpkin made into the cutest little ornament.

I am so pleased with how she / it turned out.It makes me want to stitch up tons of 'smalls' so I can make lots of ornaments.

~~ here is a group shot... Aren't they great!  There is another finishing class coming up to make your piece into a cube...so I need to get stitching. I think once I finish my 'Mary's Sampler', the cube would make a great finish for it.   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Two photos from this week that I love... My children in the pumpkin patch hunting for pumpkins.

( my son, daughter and my daughter's boyfriend)

And the geese crossing the road as we head out for the evening...

(I'm in love)

Loving October

I got my Ghoul Tidings up by the beginning of October. I found this frame in the sale pile at Micheal's and thought it would do. It was a little too big so I added some ric rac and Halloween fabric that Barb from The Wicked Stitcher sent me. Vonna from the Twisted Stitcher (both of these ladies are amazingly talented and sweet) messaged me about trying another finish but I was too scared. I am hoping to improve my finishing skills one day. My local quilt shop is having a few classes on finishing techniques and one of them is at the end of this week... I am so excited! ~~~Here is a peak at week 4 of Mary's Sampler ... The design is from Plum Street Samplers and can be found on her blog.  I am doing both Sampler I and II.   I do love stitching this little bits every week!

Busy Busy Busy

Busy busy busy... that's what I've been.

Here is a photo of 'Gingerbread Emporium". I haven't stitched the french knots yet (which will really be colonial knots because I think they're easier to make) teehee hee.

I'm trying to take a little break from my Santa's Village so I can stitch up some Christmas gifts but it keeps calling out to me to work on it.
I started Plum Street Sampler's new mystery SAL, Mary's Sampler.
You can find the free patterns over on Paulette's blog.
There are two versions... I'm stitching both.


I am stitching them on 40ct Natural linen.
My Thanksgiving table runner has grow a little bit. I'm not using a pattern, just 'winging it' and I have found that I over think things too much. Although I am in love with it so far... I can only work on it for an hour or two at a time then I have to walk away.

  My mind wants to exploded because I'm thinking and rethinking about placement, colors, value ,patterns,  and then I found these cute chipmunks and mushrooms in my stash...


and they had to go in my runner. I watch my chipmunk, Alvin almost everyday and I am very Thankful for him!
Fingers crossed I can finish my table runner by November! Or at least the top of it. 

Thank you Wicked Stitcher

Have you ever been over to the Wicked Stitcher's blog? I love her blog, it's one of my favorite stitching blogs. Recently, she (Barb) had a 'start of Fall, Halloween give-away'.... and guess who won... me.  The winner got to choose a design from the PS Boo Moon charts.  I chose the bat. The first time I saw this design I fell in love with the bat. Barb stitched up this sweet bat for me and did the finished ornament herself. I am in love!! But wait there's more... she gave me oodles of things to go along with her Halloween theme. She gave me charts, fabrics, the cutest pair of spider web scissors, threads,buttons and trim. Can I just say she spoiled me rotten. I wish I could give her a huge hug. Thank you so much Barb for being so generous and wonderful. I will treasure my bat forever and think of you every time I use my spooky spider web scissors. Teehee hee ~~ Please go check out Barb's blog,'Witched Stitcher', you will love it too.

Behind Evinrude

I actually sat down behind of my sewing machine , aka: Evinrude, and made a little progress on two WIPs that have been sitting around for awhile. Last year I had my family list a few things they were grateful for. I wrote them on muslin and embroidered each one. My plan was to make a Thanksgiving table runner for last year.. I'm now hoping to have it done by this year... Here are some of the embroidered blocks... ~~~ ~~~ One of my daughter's... You can tell the top block in this picture is what my husband is grateful for... I also worked a little bit on my 'Farmer's Wife' quilt blocks... I stitched up these two blocks. (#27 and #32) Here is what I have so far...  The colors are a gray green and were inspired by a tree I pass by almost everyday... if I leave the house of coarse. LOL ~~~ As for Evinrude, he is my sewing machine. I named him that after the little dragonfly from 'The Rescuers'. If you've never seen it, you should... such a sweet movie.