This is a kit I got from Temecula Quilt Company. They offered it on their blog free if you placed a $10.00 order.

Of course I cut the first piece wrong. Sometime after the first of the year I must call them about getting more wool.............. It is a delightful little kit that came in the brown paper bag with the snowflake stamped on the front. Even included a peppermint candy cane......


Yesterday and today I have done some re-arranging in the studio. I moved out the top layer of baskets and put the fabric boxes on top of the baskets under the cutting table instead.


Lem wanted to go out for air for one of the tires before the predicted snow came along. I asked if he would stop at the Christmas Tree shop if I went along........

I found this delightful little casserole dish for $4.99........... I am going to try to make a chicken pot pie in it tonight for supper.

I found these travel mugs on sale for $1.00 each. I have a few people I want to make Mug Rugs for and these will be perfect to go with them.



Temecula Quilt Company is offering a free pattern. I found the first block HERE. Of course I printed the first installment. I have been wanting to learn how to do the freezer paper applique they mention and I just might give it a try with this project.


I want to make some purse accessories for my friend Lu. This is the fabric I selected.



I have been working on the free Tea Towel offering from Bird Brain Designs..........


I have my Schnibbles fabric all ready to go...............


And of course the kit with the Opps............



At least the Schnibbles project is on my UFO Challenge list...........

I am going back to my tea towel embroidery. It won't be long before I have to go downstairs to cook.

Thank you Alan...........

We were supposed to get a light dusting yesterday but someone where along the line the weather went in another direction..................

It snowed all day yesterday. Just a nice steady snowfall.......... I came home early because the mailman said that the roads were bad. He was so right. There were plows out but none of them made much contact with the pavement. Just macho men driving around with their plows up. Men sure are strange.............


Lem got some pictures of the front yard...............










And I tried a few out of the windwo upstairs...............






Then in the late afternoon we started getting the big ocean effect flakes that cover the ground quickly............















Six to eight inches I am told.........

Just before four this morning I heard the pleasant sound of a snow plow in the front yard and the sound of a shovel clearing the walkway. Alan's crew had arrived to plow us out............. They plow the drive, shovel the porch steps and walkway and clean around the car.......... All set for me to head out in the morning.

This is the scene out of my studio window this morning. We were fortunate to get a light dusting. Not enough to keep me from going to work and packing tapes.......................


If I live long enough to retire these are the days I will enjoy making a big pot of soup and a loaf of bread and staying in all day.


Peg made everyone a notebook cover for Christmas. It covers a wire bound notebook.........






Since I am on this Tea Towel path I have made a list of everyone I want to make a Winter Tea Towel for.



These will be a bit shorter than the last ones. I did not add the scallop edge to them but put in a deeper hem on the front.


This is the free design from Bird Brain Designs............ I made several copies and cut them apart. I wanted to get as many as I could on the sheet of Transfer Eze.


All hemmed and ready to stitch...........

Finished....................

The last tea towel is embroidered......................... and wrapped................

Most have been delivered. Only three more to give out................

Our office is moving.......... Doesn't that sound like fun?

I found out Wednesday that the office is moving and we have to be out by Dec 31. My boss was a pack rat and there is lots of stuff to be tossed. Not to mention all the product (think mostly books) to be packed and moved and set up somewhere else.......... And the new space is 1/4 of the space I have now................Did I mention that I am the only employee? And that my hours are being cut to 10 hours a week?

So for the next two weeks I will be working extra hard to get everything done. I had put my blogging on hold because of making Christmas gifts............. Now this............... At least there are some holidays in there so I can catch up.

I have been giving thought to the upcoming New Year and what I will be doing then. With all this work ahead at the office I should have lots of time to think............

All the mug rugs are finished at last.......... I can soon start wrapping up Christmas. Perhaps then I can bet back to my regular stitching.

I think it might be a good thing to hang on to this years Christmas list and to start early. That sounds good but we know it never works................


I finished two more hats...... These are going to Jason and a friend of his.......... Lately it has been colder in NC than it has been here in Massachusetts............

Now to wrap some of the gifts that are being mailed....................


Write out a few labels...............


Place tea towel between two sheets and stitch all around making sure you catch the string on the label in the stitching............ It is all ready to slide into an envelope and mail.

If I had more time I could cut out little shapes and ornament the front of the package but frankly right now I will be glad to see them wrapped and mailed.

Mug Rugs Part 2

A few strips cut and sewn together...................


Instead of embroidery I used a Green Gel pen for the holly leaves.................


Add three beads for berries, batting, backing with a bit of quilting and the binding and


Voila........... A lovely Mug Rug...........


A close-up of the holly with berries...........


that matches the side of the mug...........

These mugs were purchased years ago at an after Christmas sale. I knew they would come in handy one day...............

Mug Rugs

Mug Rugs seem all the rage these days. I have been mulling them over in my mind while busily stitching on tea towels.................

I consider myself an adequate journeyman. Not much creativity here but I can follow a pattern and my projects usually turn out well.

This is the design that I finally settled on. Seems like all I can draw is holly leaves.

And since I have some white Kona and red fabric left from the tea towels...........



I can perhaps put them all together and come up with something worthy of giving.

Only time will tell.

Saturday Shopping

Well, so much for finishing a few things. Saturday I went to Heartbeat Quilts for their end of the year sale..........................

Yes, I should have stayed at home and worked on Christmas gifts but my list of necessities was growing and I needed a break.

Saturday morning Lem and I did the house blessing because someone wanted to look at the house at noon. We got that done and did errands while strangers toured our home. Then I took him back to the house and I headed off to the big city of Hyannis. Only 30 minutes away but you would think it was much farther because of how rarely we go there.....

I had a few things in my bag that I had been carrying around for a very long time while I looked for exactly what I wanted..........

One was a pillow from Crab apple Hill. I found some fabric for this pattern and if I am smart I can begin on my presents for next year.





I also picked up some fabric for Bonnie Hunter's Christmas Lights pattern.


And I wanted to make some pillowcases................ I got these fabrics


and these looked like fun fabrics for pillowcases too........................



Everyone needs a Purple Thang and of course more needles for me to lose.......


While I was waiting for my fabric to be cut I found this..................


Doesn't that quilt just speak to you........... And I have those two big bags of scrap fabrics that would be perfect for this project. I plan to look downstairs some time this week for the red center fabric. I had some last year that I really liked and I used some of it for Christmas Stockings. I put the rest away for something special and this is just the project. Yes, it will take a long time but then again it is the perfect Leader/Ender project.


And this was in the same magazine................ And I already have a drawer full of strips to make the pieced blocks.





I picked up these two fabrics for the background and the green border. Another Leader/Ender project here.

After the Christmas presents are wrapped and ready I need to start on more piecing projects in the studio. After all, I am working now on a Log Cabin quilt as a Leader/Ender and here I have two more lined up............... 2011 looks to be a great year.

Oh, by the way............. The people that looked at the house on Saturday are coming back again today for a second look. Who knows, they just might make a decent offer........

Friday night I made Iowa Chowder.......... A recipe that I got from Judy at Patchwork Times.....You can find that recipe here.


I also found a recipe for Cherry Creme Pie from Nan at Pots and Pins. You can find that here...

I must have done something wrong because mine did not set completely. Doesn't really matter because it sure is good..............

No pictures, just chat...........

I haven't been able to get upstairs since the end of the Thanksgiving Holiday. Sometimes it is like that.

It appears that I will not get to sew again until next week sometime. Well, such is life and we need to be grateful for what we have. Remember, make the most of the least and the best of the worst.

The coming weekend will be a busy one for me. Someone coming to look at the house on Saturday. That means getting it vacuumed and dusted and ready to show Saturday morning. Since the washer died last year we have to go to the laundromat so we can do that plus a few errands while the realtor shows the house.

I am gradually putting the "Act as if it is true" suggestion into practice. I have always wanted to bake bread but felt that it was too hard.......... Then I started blogging and came across Patchwork Times. With Judy's encouragement I tried to bake my own bread. It was much easier than I thought it would be and now I wouldn't consider buying a loaf of bread. Of course it cost more for me to make my own because I like to give it away......... There is something special about the look people get when you give them a loaf of home baked bread.

Hanne at Hanne's Quilt Corner gave me encouragement to finish more and start less. It has taken me some time to get my mind around that concept but I am making progress and I really like finishing. There are so many things at my house that need to be finished and I am slowly starting less and finishing more...........

I enjoy blogging........ You learn so much from others and it has given me the courage to try things I never would have tried in the past.........