Little quilt

I finished hand quilting my first little quilt. Up until now I have machine quilted. I am practicing on small quilts before I start on the red work quilt. I have another that is a bit bigger I will practice on.
My stitches are a bit big but mostly uniform.Good enough for me.

I love hand stitching. j

Fun day/2nd quilt block

We had a fun Christmas day with my family at Mom's. Presents in separate piles. Men, women, kids.
Here are the great nieces patiently waiting for their turns to choose a gift.
So fun to see them open the gifts.

I finished the 2nd quilt block from this blog. http://thepaintedquilt.blogspot.com/

Hoping to do a lot more with the dolls and quilts in 2011.

The new year is so close. How did 2010 go so fast?
Happy New Year to you all.j

Our Lord's birth

It is the reason for the season.
May you have a Joyous and Merry Christmas.
j

Our Christmas

It is over.What a good time we had.Grands opening gifts.Parents watching. I love when they are here. The room is a disaster but oh we had good time .
j
wishing you all a very Merry Christmas.

Fun finds

I stopped into my favorite 2nd hand store to leave off a gift for owners/ friends Carol & John.Of course I found a few things to bring home. The lamp Is perfect for this corner don't ya think?
The wall hanging is just the thing to hang in place of the holiday banner, after Christmas.Even has the metal hanger.
A doll maker can never have to many little chairs.I have quite a collection.
The snowman center piece was a find in the store in 2009.He is perfect for the Holiday table.
Time has almost run out the families will be here this weekend.
Looking forward to their visit.I best get busy.
j

Home made gifts/the best kind

Home made chicken and noodles.Yummy breads.
j

Cloche Christmas Party

I joined the cloche party in my last post. http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/2010/11/lets-have-christmas-cloche-party.html
Here are a couple more. As I don't have a true cloche I make due.
The Wexford cake plate holds angels that I have had for many years.
The jar lamp holds vintage celluloid angels.
I added another picture of the Santa tree. I did some tweaking to that area.The small santa on the dolls lap is one of my favorites.I love his red plaid pants.j

Christmas 2010/Cloche party

Wow it has been a busy time around here. I can't believe how long since I added to my blog.


When we remodeled the kitchen in 2007 we married a set of shelves ,I bought at an antique mall,with a newly built base. We used the kitchen cupboard doors from the old sink base. The tile was a bargain and the storage is great for dishes. I wanted to display some dishes.The only problem I needed a plate rack to stand the plates.We made on Monday night.Added a wood strip to each shelf to hold the platters to keep them from slipping. Now it is a great place to display my dishes. The original plate rail is back up and looks great.
I have collected the green Christmas pottery over the years and found another piece this year. The candle holder in the top right corner.My dishes are are some I got a few years ago. The snowman dishes were a dollar store purchase.They are mix and match. The lamp base is a ball jar.I am linking to cloche party and Seasonal Sunday http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/2010/12/cookie-exchange.html
http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com/
It is not exactly a cloche but fun just the same.
I will share the table pictures soon.












I got 4 table pieces done for friends. Always nice to have a new center piece.

The decorations are further along.Of course I am never done tweaking those. The entertainment center is the focal of the living room.The tree in the dining room is my santa tree.












The aluminum tree is so fun to have this year. Still needs the vintage ornaments go on it.

Time is short the kids and families will be here a week before Christmas.Maybe I will let the kids do it.















Some of the baking is done.More will be done tomorrow.
Still have so much sewing to do.
We are in a blizzard tonight.First of the season.
Could have done without it but mother natures had another idea.
Merry Christmas j

Christmas decorating

I have started with the decorations. I may not do as much as years past but time will tell.The first tree had to have the lights replaced so everything came off. Kind of nice to refresh once in a while. I store the trees in a closet so they are not taken apart each year. Except for the live tree.
This tree is one that has all hand made natural decorations. Beeswax candles, corn husk dolls, painted pine cones, nut stars,and acorns. It is a five foot tree.
The buffet, with the new shelf above, is in the computer room.I see it every morning and wanted things that remind me of Christmas Past.
There is the round candle my mom made many years ago.The neighbor ladies got together to make Christmas candles.They poured the centers then whipped the wax to frost the outside. I always loved that candle and a few years ago it was going to be thrown out. Not on my watch!
It comes out each year and reminds me of the fun Christmases of my childhood. Next is the Santa candle.Bought in 1964,-- one of the first Christmas decorations we had along with bubble lights and a tree topper.

The book brings back such great memories of the kids rubbing the fuzzy parts of the book,as I read each page, until the fuzz is almost gone.






Also on the buffet top are a few of my tree collection. I love this time of the year. Have a great weekend.j