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!

love and marriage

I wanted to make a little something for a sweet couple who recently were married in Mexico.  It had been awhile since I had played with my hoops (you can see some of my faves here, here, here and here) and I was itching to be stitching, so embroidery it was.

Unfortunately, it seems I only took this one crappy iPad photo, but you get the idea.

I used this pattern - and I used her pattern transfer tutorial, too.  I happened to have one of those Frixion pens and it worked FANTASTIC!!  I shrunk the pattern down to 70% to fit my hoop, then added my own personalization in the centre.

I am really happy with how the floral part came out, it was my first time doing something like this, but I used too many strands for the lettering, so those are not as perfect as I would have liked.  But, overall, I am really happy with the quaint feel of this.  I must get back to more needlework!  So relaxing.