favorite things

I think my singular favourite thing about the holidays is tradition.  It is the repetition of acts, from year to year, generation to generation, that I hold the most dear.  And nothing makes me happier than when my children see the value in those things as well.  This year, as we scanned our very over scheduled calendar to try and find a few hours on a weekend when we were ALL free to go to the country to the usual tree farm to get our fresh tree, there was no time to be found.  When I suggested we instead just pick up a tree in the city, the kids protested.  Together, they decided to make some sacrifices, skip some activities- ringette, hockey, dance classes- and MAKE the time to maintain our family tradition.  And so we did.  Sure, it was literally -40 degrees on the day we chose, but we bundled up and still merrily chose our tree, went on a sleigh ride, and drank hot chocolate as we do every year.  

It was magical.

I also love digging out the Christmas decorations every year.  Ornaments the kids have made, pictures with Santa, and some of my favourite Crafts of Christmas' Past.  

Like the Best Tree Ever hoop and Merry hoop.

My quilted tree wall hanging made by my friend Cherie.

My hand quilted star table topper.

My Retro Christmas Quilt!

 (to name a few).

Whatever the holiday season means to you, I hope it is filled with love and joy.  I recently asked LBNL if she knew the "true" meaning of Christmas.  She replied, "Of course!  It's about baby Jesus, friends and family!"  May your holiday be filled with all of those…and maybe throw in a few fabric presents ;)

See you in 2014!

shine a light for peace

Today I thought I would share a video clip from my children's recent school Christmas concert.  As usual, hundreds of proud parents, grandparents and relatives stuffed the school gymnasium to beam and cheer as their wee loved ones performed.  This year, Last But Not Least was chosen to do a solo for the final song, where all of the students came together to sing.  The song is called "Shine a Light for Peace," and given the events in Connecticut this weekend, and that it is sung by children that same age, it is all the more poignant to me.  Plus, I am an extremely proud, gushing mama :)  Hope you enjoy it!

Wishing you all Peace.

Christmas quilt

It is that hectic time of year, where we crafters play elf and try to make things for all the people we love.

I am in that group, of course, but this year, I took a little time to make something just for me and my family.  It's been awhile coming!  Two years ago, I bought a kit for this quilt from Amy at Diary of a Quilter.  she recently made another herself, which you can see here.  Last year I started piecing it, and this year, I finally finished it.  And it was worth the wait.

A simple pattern, but so cheery.  It makes me smile.

I quilted it with swirls, my first time venturing out into this kind of FMQ, and after a wee issue (well, a third of the back was a mangled mess and had to be ripped out), I got my groove and I love the result.  Perfect match for this quilt, me thinks!

I look forward to pulling this one out for many Christmases to come for my family to enjoy.

And one last fun shot- my reflection in my house window as I was walking through the yard, "wearing" the quilt after finishing photographing in the snow :)

And this quilt is my Friday Felicity!  Have a great weekend, friends! And take time to give someone you love a hug...especially your kids, after the terrible tragedy this morning in Connecticut.  May our kids never experience such horrible violence.

you gotta love the minds of kids :)

Driving to school, I told my kids that I saw a deer on my morning run. This created quite a lively debate between the three of them:

"Maybe it was a REINDEER!"
"Maybe Santa is checking up on kids to make sure they are good!"
"Did you see a red light?  Maybe it was Rudolf!"
"No, Rudolf does, like, ALL the heavy pulling on Christmas Eve, he is probably at the North Pole resting up."
"Maybe it was Dasher!"
"Or Dancer!"
"Or Prancer!

Then The Middle Child piped up, "Or maybe it was just a regular old deer named Brad."

merry and bright

We got our tree this weekend!  We went to the usual tree farm and took in all the annual traditions.  The sleigh ride:

Hot chocolate and hot dogs and snuggling by the fire:

And scoring a tree, of course :)

We finished decorating it Monday night.  The Hubs and I laughed about how, for so many years, we had clumps of ornaments, 10 or so per branch, all along the bottom and a naked tree top.  Now, it is all about the ladder for the kids.  They want to go up HIGH.  They even started scaling the walls to deck the halls :)

Crazy kids! And of course there was some rocking out to Harry Connick Jr. Christmas tunes (in pajamas apparently 3 sizes too small)....

....and other horsing around, too.

But the final result was, once again, the best tree ever :)

twinkle :)

Finished up my circle of stars mini quilt/ table topper!

I decided to do some hand quilting...I think it finished off the project perfectly.  I practiced using a couple different kinds of stitches...french knots, crosses and so on.  I just let it evolve and had fun. 

While I was stitching away, I was in my glory watching this movie.  Do you know it?  Classic stuff.  One of my favorites from the 90s....toe pick!

The plan is to use this as a table topper, but in case I change my mind down the road, I added these triangles on the back for a dowel so I can use it as a wall hanging as well.

And now it has a place of honour on the table for the holiday season!

 

I am so pleased with how this came together.   Sharing over at Quilt Story.

Awesome swaps, take 2

In addition to some fantastic pillows, I also received a second fun swap package last week, from Cherie of Sew and So Quilts.  Cherie and I met at Sewing Summit last year, and have been friends ever since.  She found some adorable slippers on Pinterest and wondered if I could make her a pair.  I did a test knit, making some for myself to figure out the process first, then made some for Cherie.  I sent them off along with some assorted goodies, many the same as in Svetlana's package (and never thought to take a photo first, oops!).   In exchange, she agreed to make me this wonderful holiday mini:

(I was too excited to iron this first, haha!)

I just love it!  I have had this pattern (from Purl Bee) on my to-do list for ages!  I love that it was instead made by a friend, so that I can smile and think of her each Christmas when I hang it on my wall :)

She did a fantastic job, I  adore all of the fabrics she chose, the quilting, the binding and backing...the whole shebang!  Now I just have to pick up a dowel so I can hang it on my wall this holiday season, and for many more to come.  Thanks so much for a great swap, Cherie!

Christmas inspiration

In terms of crafting, Christmas is really just around the corner. Looking for some inspiration for some fun Christmas crafts?


The folks at All Free Christmas Crafts have put together and eBook of some of Holiday crafts. It is a free download and can be found here. They have included my Mini Monet Christmas ornaments :) They also have a slew of other free Christmas crafts to try on their site.

Ho ho ho!

p.s. speaking of inspiration....happy birthday today to the best dad ever! You inspire me every day, Dad!

Quilting WIPs

Phew! That was a week I am happy to leave behind. Sometimes life bites you in the arse, eh? Anyways. Enough about that. Let's talk quilting!

Since I gave you a knitting project update the other day, I thought I would also give you a peek at some of my quilting WIPs (happy, Alison?). I appear to be suffering from a bit of quilting attention deficit disorder these days, with several projects on the go and lots of hacking and slashing going on.

First up- I cut up this pile that I had shown you earlier....

And put it back together like this:

I used this pattern from Four Wise Monkeys on Sew Mama Sew, which of course seemed a perfect use for my Children at Play fabric. I've decided not to stop here, though- I plan to do some calculations to add some borders to convert this from a lap quilt to a double bed size. Back to that later!

Also- am feeling a little Christmas-y....

And have also used my Go! Baby to make use of my Bonnie and Camille Ruby layer cake. I may have utilized a bit of slave labour for that one ;)


Off I go to stitch these back together again!

The Christmas Swap that never happened

Does that title sound ominous?

Well, it has been a bit of a misadventure.... Back in October, I signed myself up for an informal Christmas swap at Little Miss Shabby's site. I was paired up with an nice Australian grandmother and we were to each send "a homemade gift, a delicious treat, an unexpected surprise, some fabric bits and a holiday card," all to be sent by December 1. Due to Australian Customs, it was requested I not send food so I actually ended up doing a few homemade gifts. Anyways, I gathered it all up, took my photos and shipped it off in November so it had extra time to make it across the ocean.

Well.

It never arrived. It appears that it is lost on a deserted island with Tom Hanks or something, but certainly not at Sue's in Australia! I am kind of cheesed because I worked pretty hard on this at that crazy time of year... Anyways. And to make the whole experience that much more frustrating, I never did receive my gift either. My partner had a string of medical and family issues come up which of course have not been in her control. Last I heard, at the end of January, she was planning to mail it off "soon"... still no sign of it, though. So I guess you can say that this hasn't been the best experience. Has anyone else had swaps/bees like that??

Today I got a letter from Canada Post that the "investigation" into my package has been closed, the package officially lost, and at least I was issued some insurance money for my postage spent and supplies. So, I am closing that book but thought I would share the photos of the stuff I had made!

First up: I found out Sue was a tea drinker, and likes antiques. I thought a quaint little quilted tea cozy would be the ticket: The tea cozy applique is basically copied...I mean inspired by one I saw at Patchwork Pottery. I appliqued a little tea pot on the front, with a button knob on top. It doesn't show up the best against this busy fabric, but I free motion stitched "steam" coming out of the spout: The back sports a little string of patchwork with some hand quilting detail. I used Moda's Breakfast at Tiffany's, as her fabric preference was shabby chic and she specifically mentioned this line. Luckily, a quilt shop across town carried some, so I was able to pick it up, along with some extra which I sent in her fabric bundle. I used a little loop of this sweet lace at the top. Next up, a yarn wreath. As you may recall, I made a stack of these yarn wreaths here. Well, I was sure to make an extra for Sue, who said she decorated for Christmas in mostly cream and gold, with little splashes of red. As a little extra treat, I thought these adorable hexie cards were the perfect gift for a fellow quilter. Best of all, they were a free download, found here. I printed them onto some thick glossy white card stock, paired a stack of them with some luscious chocolate brown envelopes and tied them with a ribbon. Finally, along with a fabric bundle, I included a hand stamped Christmas card. So, there it is, in photos if not in hand. Maybe it will resurface someday??