A small finish is better than no finish at all...

Finally!  A Christmas finish to share (never mind that it is only 4 inches square...but it is hand-appliqued and hand-quilted). I love the back fabric on this ornament...the Santas are perfect and they came from my stash, which makes it even better.  Any time I see good, "concentrated Santa" fabric, I pick up a little.

The idea and pattern came out of this book by Nancy Halvorsen.

I was also inspired by my friend Julie Hacala's beautiful Christmas tree to make this silly little ornament.  I was careful this last week to crack the breakfast eggs VERY CAREFULLY so I would have some nice egg shell halves to paint.  I used a high gloss red craft paint and yellow pom poms.  I wish I had used smaller beads for eyes, but this is what I had on hand.  Thanks for the inspiration, Julie!

 

They aren't very Christmas-y, but they sure were fun to make!

I made these ornaments for our annual Sit & Stitch potluck and ornament exchange, which was held yesterday at The Quilting Season (thanks for the group picture, Ellen!).

 

We had a smaller group than usual due to illness, etc., but those of us there had a fabulous time.

 

Ellen, Beth, MaryLiz...

...Ursula, Margaret, Barb, Margit, Cheryl...

 

...Marilyn, Debby, Mary, Judy and Chris.

The pot luck food was awesome and the ornaments were all secretly stashed in identical plain brown bags in anticipation of us drawing numbers and playing our little selection game.

Lucky me!  I received a lovely reproduction log cabin ornament, made by Margit...

...and this cute Santa Claus, so cleverly made by Ellen.  I look forward to this ornament exchange all year, and I love putting up my tree and seeing all the handmade ornaments from years gone by.

Two or three posts ago, I showed this beautiful quilt made by my friend Mary Jones.

A few of you asked about the source of the pattern.  I dug around in the quilt cave (finally!) and found the right Nancy Halvorsen book..."Tidings."  Sorry for the delay in answering your questions.

The Christmas season seems a little "off" this year to me...anyone else experiencing the same thing?  We finally decorated our big indoor family tree last Sunday night.  After years of harvesting our own fresh tree, we bought an artificial tree last year.  It didn't seem right, but we suspect I have an allergy sensitivity to live trees.  This was the second year we struggled to put the 9-foot monstrosity together.  Finally, by 9:00 PM that Sunday night, the ornaments were on and everything all cleaned up so that we could just turn the lamps off and enjoy it.

Something didn't look quite right after about on hour. It looked like we didn't fluff the limbs enough or something. As I started fussing with things a little, I noticed a gap had developed between the middle and bottom tree sections.  Upon closer inspection, I discovered that the limbs had either broken or stretched the plastic that was supporting them.  I have a lot of ornaments on my tree, but they are mostly lightweight.  The plastic was almost stretchy...what a crappy tree!

Monday it was worse, and on Tuesday, I "undecorated" the tree to reveal this:

The lower, splayed branches were "pancaking" and sagging toward the floor.  We bought this tree because it wasn't very dense and could accommodate lots of ornaments, all through the tree.  So I drove to Plymouth to buy a NEW artificial tree...one with METAL HARDWARE and a WARRANTY.  I came home to a message on my phone that the store had loaded the wrong tree in my car and that I needed to come back for a swap.  I came home a second time, removed the rest of the ornaments, and kicked the old tree to the curb.  The old tree had LED lights that were too stark, the lights were only at the branch tips and they didn't have the charm of the older lights.  The new tree has more traditional lights and also has a slimmer profile, so it fits in our house better (still 9 feet tall!).  I ended up driving 140 miles to get the new tree, return home, get again and come home again, and I spent the rest of the day trimming the tree...again.  It's funny...now.

MUCH better!  I had never heard of a tree actually failing before.  The branch-looking things at the top are sprigs with leaves and red jingle bells...ho-ho-HO!

It just seems like everything is harder this Christmas...schedules are harder to pound out and coordinate, small tasks are taking a long time to accomplish, people are grumpier and some people are downright SNARKY!  I hope things get better for the last 2 weeks before Christmas.  When out in public, I'm trying to smile more, be more patient, open doors for people, put more money in the "red kettles," and try to "pay it forward" as much as possible.  I think the bad economy and uncertain times are affecting everybody.  I think we all need a big "group hug!"

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)

Homemade ornament exchange (first post)...

One of my favorite things about Christmas is my Christmas tree...there are so many lovely homemade ornaments adorning it.  So small, so amazingly detailed, the one above was made by my BFF friend, Ola.  Favorite. Ornament. Ever.  I've shared her larger dolls with you before. 

This is a patched heart made by Cheryl.

This cute little mock Christmas ball was made 

by my friend, Jo.

My friend Margit made this cute little log cabin

ornament above and the beautiful Christmas star below.

Barb N. made these cute little guys...they are

both only about two inches high!

This is a Christmas cardinal made by Marilyn.

Judy E. made this labor-intensive cute 

little stocking...she's off to Florida for 

four months...I will miss her!

These is a very special origami ball made for me by the wife and children of someone I used to work with in a research lab, Chen.  They are very special to me.  I wish I had watched them do all that paper folding!

Mary Liz made this cool folded ribbon/fabric ball.

Sandi made this tiny little paper-pieced 

pineapple ornament...it is only about 

two inches wide.

Here are a couple of snowmen 

made by my best buddy, Ola. 

Here are some I made...first, a unicorn for my daughter.

I made this Santa ornament from recycled 

Christmas cards...thanks to Martha Stewart

for the fun idea.

This wreath is made from yo-yo's...

I will stop for now on this post and post more later!  I just love the yearly ornament exchange!

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)

Friday inspiration...

As the Beatles say, I definitely "get by with a little help from my friends!"  December is a zoo-y month for me with my music job responsibilities, so I get my sewing thrills vicariously through my talented quiting friends.

Last Friday at "Sit & Stitch" at The Quilting Season quilt shop, we had some exciting show & tells.  I love this black/white/bright quilt top by Kathy (holding on the right side).  When I first saw this quilt pattern, the picture on the cover did not speak to me.  But then, Kathy uses her excellent eye and color 

sense and knocks my socks off!  The picture does not do it justice.

Judy (in the center) was binding this beautiful treasure that will go on the wall above her bed.

Barb was putting the finishing touches on three little purses for granddaughters for Christmas.

Ellen was showing off one of her "liberated ladies" - she and Kathy are challenging our group to a swap of these stylish little ladies after Christmas (more on this exciting project in a later post).

Good luck in getting all your Christmas projects finished before Santa takes flight!!

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)