sweet houses

Aren't these fun?

Kathleen, Sue, Sara and Kim.....

Your houses look so great together!!

See what good neighbors you are???

I can tell just by looking....you get along!

Here are some more from Tara.

Fun. Fun.

Rachael went a little crazy.....

Yippee!!!

Look at these beauties!

By the way...

She's got a great giveaway going on RIGHT NOW!

Scrappy blocks that some lucky quilter is going to win!!

Well. I'm sure having fun over here...

Checking out the houses.

ACTUALLY...

I'm really trying to keep them all straight!!

I don't want to get the names, addresses and houses

 mixed up before I begin to

put them in groups and distribute them January 1!!!!!

Since some of you are sending more than one block...

There will be MORE winners!!!

Woo HOO!!

You are the sweetest bunch!

I haven't even mentioned the little gifties that some of you include

in your envelope!!!!

DO you KNOW all the warm fuzzies that gives me???

Well. IT DOES!!!

 We've been making some little houses here too..

The SWEET KIND!

Can you see that roof sagging on the left????

The two little ones thought decorating these was GREAT FUN!!!

The two big kids thought we should probably try to

FIX that sagging roof....

A hair dryer????

Hmmmm......

red and green

Now I've got a little red to go with my green!!

:)

Just a HOP SKIP and a JUMP

(hand sewing the binding)

and this quilt will be ready for Christmas!!

Let me tell you...

I was so proud of my quilting on this one.

I wanted the family to NOTICE it last night.

I was hiding all the long thread tails as we talked.

Guess what???

No one said anything!

I thought I had done an outstanding job (for me)

on all that quilting.

By the way...it took ALL DAY!!

I stipple quilted green in the green areas,

creamy snowflaky looking designs in the cream centers,

red thread in the yellow and red flower areas,

and then white feathers around the outside cream areas.

Well. I was proud.

THEN....

I saw Victoria's quilting this morning and was totally

HUMBLED!!

Maybe I'll have to invest in the book she recommends!

I know she got a new camera recently too...

but even in real life...my quilting does not even come close!!

Well.

It's good to be humbled once in a while!

I do hope that's the last humbling experience of the day.:/

Here's the lovely linen back.

I found two curtain panels and thought they were

PERFECT for this quilt. :)

They were also the RIGHT price! ($2)

I should rename my blog...

The FRUGAL quilter.

I love a good deal!!!

Green

Sitting pretty with some green.

Threading with some green.

Quilting with some green.

Is it snowing in green too????

stitch doodling

I went to visit my sweet Mother-in-law yesterday.

I always have a nice time visiting...

but I do like to sew a little something while I'm talking.

I'm so glad I had this old velvet skirt.

(purchased..you know where...the thrift store!)

I'd been dreaming about turning it into a pillow someday

and had already cut a nice 15" square out of it.

I picked it up as I ran out the door

And when I got to my MIL's

I began to doodle.

Sewing and talking...

Sewing and talking....

Very nice.

This little project requires so little.

fabric. needle. thread.

It was kind of fun too!

See those little french knots?

When I sat down to visit yesterday I noticed

the fabric had some faint bleached spots!!

Oh NO!!!!

So necessity became the mother of invention!

I began covering them up with knots!!!

The fabric told me what to do!

And...

I like it!!

Now the question is...

Should I keep going with more doodling?

OR

Leave it AS IS???

Hmmmm.......

I also did some doodling last night.....

Getting ready to quilt another quilt.

Thought I'd goof around for a few minutes and

dream about possibilities!!

Dreaming

and

Doodling.

What a great pair!!!

house update.

Houses have been arriving.

I see we have a few animal lovers in our midst....

NO SURPRISE!!!

Keep 'em comin'.

January 1, 2011 is coming up fast!

Thanks to

Janet , Linda, Karen,  and Margaret (no blog)

for these great houses!!

What a great neighborhood we live in!!!

Harmony!

My LONE caroler can now sing in harmony!

I was hoping it would happen...

and IT DID!!!

The girls were even given MUSIC!

Now they can really sing!!!

It won't just be fa la la la.....

It might be something really amazing like....

The Hallelujah chorus!! With parts!!!
Have you seen this video???
It made me cry!
I soooo wish I could have been there and
heard it LIVE!!!
I would have been singing along,
OF COURSE!!!!

I deviated from the pattern a bit.

I embroidered the faces before stitching them together.

I made the bottom circle bigger...

that worked best for me.

And...of course...

the arms and music were added.

;)

Now...
I'm going to sit back and listen to
Josh Groban
sing me into the Christmas season!
So nice!!

p.s.
My older daughter just stopped by for a short visit.
guess what???
My little singers found themselves a NEW HOME!!
My daughter thought they were so cute...
She took them home with her.
THAT made me.....
ONE. Happy. Mama.

this and that

Just plugging away over here...

Doing little things.

I can't believe I didn't make one of these hexagons

for myself last year!!!

They are so easy and I made so many last year...

I can honestly say.....
"I can sew them in my sleep!" :)

For the one above I enlarged the outside two strips to 3"
instead of 2 1/2".....

hoping I'd be able to get those snowmen in!

I was afraid of losing too many if the strip was too narrow.

It took more fabric that way and it's a little too big for my taste.

Oh well..

Live and Learn.

Then I added a little excitement to...

This dress...
That came from the thrift store. ;)

 It's amazing what leftover beaded trim

and a few simple buttons can DO!!!!

 Our Christmas dress is now ready for
some action!!!