Friday Finish!

This week I wanted to make a pillow for the chest. I enjoy making larger things to put around the house, and less little means, less clutter and less dusting. I chose a design by Cheri Saffiote, offered on the Facebook group, Quilts by Cheri. She is another person who will never be forgotten and sorely missed.

I added some halloween scraps to make a border and antiqued it, to give it a grungy look. It was fun to make and I like how it looks with my halloween cat, which is sitting on the other side. It measures about 14".

I also needed something to decorate my halloween tree. I have fall leaf, lights and I wanted something more prim, but easy. I found some fun vintage designs online and I printed them on card stock, then threaded a piece of pearl cotton to make a hanger. I also found a fun owl for a topper, I reduced the size to fit the tree and printed that on card stock, as well. I threaded through a small area, so I could tie it to the top and it won't fall over. I think I need some more decorations, so I will have to see if the store has any mini ones.

Ignore the horrible wall, I know it needs to be repainted. We finally painted the walls with a grayed down white and I love the color, but it was too flat and peels off with the rug tape, so we need to get a better finish, that stays put.

Here is a place where you can get a lot of vintage designs, to print out, for free.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. We have some hot days coming up, so it looks like beach days for us.

Friday Finishes!

This week I was able to spend more time working on my projects, so I was able to finish one, make a quick one and start a new one. It is nice to relax a bit and just enjoy the season and make a few new things for fun.

I finished the pillows, a pattern from All Through the Night. I love the preprinted fabric, but find it a pain to sew on. But, it is still worth it, love how the prints look, behind the stitchery and wool. I realize that they are not all the same size, guess I should have trimmed by measuring from the cutting line.

The snowman was a free pattern and I changed it a bit. He looks good sitting by the box and just the right height to be seen. The original was actually a floor size, but I like the smaller version. I also found the Christmas box at at the craft store and like how it looks with the pillows. The dividers make it hard to display them nicely, I may take them out for next year.

I also started something new. I still had leftover gift money on etsy and finally used it. I love Michelle Palmer's designs, she is the one who offered the free fox. I fell in love with this design when I saw it and it is so fun to punch. It is large, 11" x 8.5, so I am not sure if I will finish by Christmas, but I am taking my time and enjoying the process and later if things need fixing, I can change them. Not sure on some of the shading and detail on areas that need more definition, but I can wait to see how it looks, all together.

And here is what I have done so far, using what colors I have and added some height to the cuffs and areas around the hat. I am thinking this would be fun to mount on a peg board, that I can use to hang stockings from, for next year.

I finished decorating but seem to see things, I just have to have. Last week it was another church, a prim tree and a snowman piece, I really need to stay out of stores, lol. It is just too fun to decorate for when the boys come over, Alex is at the age where everything is magical.

Here is a little of what I have around the house.

I also like lights and a bit of glitter. The house is on top of the kitchen cabinet and the creches are on my other shelves. Please ignore the beehive cookie cutter, I forgot I put it there, it goes in the craft room. I have an idea for it, with needle felting, another project for next year.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and a week filled with joy and peace.

Christmas at my House!

This weekend we got out, mostly shopping and a drive, but it was way too cold to get out for walks. No new projects to show, a few I need to finish before Christmas and a few to start.

I tried taking photos of some of my Christmas decorations with the lights on, but hard to get, since light ruins the effect and dark, you cannot see anything. Not the best photos, but I thought I would share a few with you.

This year I went with more lights, I love having them, it warms up the house and has a calming effect. I also found some clear plastic trees that have changing lights, great to put with groupings. This is my nativity, we bought it a few years after we got married. It came from a discount store, plastic pieces that cost a dollar a piece, so I could only get so many, lol. Now I wish I had bought a lot more, it is hard to find this type and size, but I have found a few animals over the years.

A shelf my husband built, sits on the wall above the dining table. A nice place to decorate for the seasons. Some day we will tear down the wall with the odd cut out, to make room for an island. The cats tend to move things around, so most of my decorations are crooked. The 3 larger stitched pillows are gifts from my friends.

I found a new christmas piece in our local consignment. I love nativities and this church has the nativity, going around each side and you can put a battery candle to light it up. I do love a bit of folk art too.

Above my larger windows, I have garlands, angel lights and a banner that says Joyeux noel. This year I want to make a long banner quilt, depicting the nativity, to hang here.

A find this weekend was this cute snowman that holds photos. A fun piece that I can change out each year, with new photos.

I hope you enjoyed seeing a few of my decorations. I wanted to put out more items and fun ones for when the kids visit. This winter we will be taking everything off the walls, time to repair all the damage and repaint.

I will leave you with one final photo, my son and grandson Alex, he is such a happy baby and I can't wait to start taking him on adventures with us.

Weekend this and that!

can't believe Christmas crept up on me again. This year is the first year I felt like decorating more and I love having the house lit up, especially when the kids come over and see it. I got a pencil tree this year, since a large one would get in the way of the tv, lol. I also have smaller trees around the house, as well as garland and string lights.

I found a new thing this year, string lights with remote control, I love it. I can use one remote and turn them all on at once. No more walking around and flipping switches.

Here is my tree, I put ornaments that are more prim and given to me, by friends, over the years.

And since I do not have a tree topper yet, I decided my kitty was prim enough. When we redo the basement into a family room, I can put up a bigger tree and do a tree with all my kitty ornaments and topper.

Another thing I needed was something to put on the sled, under the buffet table. I had this puppy I got for Nick a few years ago and he loves it, so it was perfect to put there and he and Alex can play with it, when they come over. The problem is, Bean is scared to death of it, so he will not go in that area and hides by my feet. Tonight I decided to put it under the tree, he is still afraid of it, but it won't keep him from sleeping on the couch, but it does keep him away from the tree and bothering me to play ball while I am trying to relax, so a good solution, at least for Christmas.

This weekend we picked up our DVD tapes. I was surprised that we had good video still, but it does not do well on large screen televisions. Bill and I watched them when we got home and it was fun to see the kids when they were little, one had our first halloween and Christmas at our new home.

This clip is Danielle and Billy at our Neighbors, she was like a grandmother to them, but passed away a few years back. Danielle had a witch mask, but she was getting hot wearing it.

We also did a little shopping, a few outfits for the boys and a few toys, we are keeping it simple this year. One fun thing we found was indoor snowballs, so we got a small box for Nick and a large pack to give the kids who spent Thanksgiving with us. They will be spending Christmas with all of us, so I got some stockings at the dollar store and I can put snowballs and some candy in each one, a little gift for them too.

The nice thing about shopping is getting down to the beach. We were able to get a nice day for walking and enjoying the views.

We saw this boat go by and at the same time, hundreds of cormorants came flying by. I guess they were chasing a school of fish.

We watched as it went by the sun, love the effect on the boat and the colors when I shot into the sun.

This guy was by himself, the tide was out and just starting to come back in, so I caught the waves coming up on him. We walked along the rocky beach and I found a few pieces of glass, it was nice to get out in the fresh air and get a little exercise. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Time for me to get busy with cards and presents, so I can get them out this week. I have a few projects to finish, so those will be done by friday, then that will be it for gifts. I will be making things for fun and maybe a few gifts and items that I can hide as surprise gifts for those that find them.

Monday Finish!

It was a long weekend, a storm on Friday so Bill took the day off and then today we got another storm so he stayed home again. That is the benefit of being salaried, he doesn't lose money and it is not worth driving 45 minutes in this weather.

Of course that meant I didn't get much done and we did get out for a few days so that was good.
I decided to make something quick and simple and if you are looking for something to finish in a day, this is the perfect heart to make, just in time for Valentines Day.

The design can be found at All Free Crafts and it was actually a design to paint on a T-shirt, but I thought it made a nice Valentines bowl filler. I traced the design onto the backing and then went around the design to get the heart shape. When I sewed it to the backing, I used the end stitching as a guide to go around the heart. The leaves would have been nicer if i stitched them, but I was lazy and wanted to go quickly, so I used a lazy daisy stitch.

I added the stitched heart in the middle, it was an empty space and I could not find a way to fit a word, so I went with simple. I also used walnut ink and it was not working right and kept leaving large dark spots in a couple of spaces and the rest stayed light, so I had to rinse and redo a few times.

We went for a ride down the back roads and enjoyed the views of snow covered ponds and rivers. This was an old mill and they redid the area into a park so everyone can enjoy it.

Of course we headed to the stores at the south end of the state, you never know what you will find and this time I found some starfish lights. They are perfect to put in my beach room to add a little magic. I just put them around the planter for a photo, but I have another set and will be redoing the room a few times as I add new things and get a better plan on where I want things.

I hope everyone had a nice weekend and not too much snow in your  area. We are getting hit with snow this week, so a good week to stay home and work on projects.

It's Starting to Look like Christmas!

I was able to finish some things today, so I I have been able to put some things up and finish one project today.
I am keeping simple, since we know how tempting large trees, tinsels and jingle noises to certain furry kitties. I moved the three trees and put them in a corner with some furkins and things that could sit around the tree without getting ruined. It looked nice with the lights on, so I had to go with no flash. I like the dark look though, nice warm feeling. It is hard see, but yes, the toppers are all cats;)



I finished a piece that I found in the Quiltmania magazine. It is a design from Sandy Gervais. Love the issue and the special winter issue is another I want, hope I can find one in our area. I changed a few things on mine, of course. I used an old chenille blanket for the snow and added words to mine. Not sure if I should leave it, like this, or put something on the snow area? I wanted to hang it at the stairs, but I forgot wool doesn't stick to my sticky tape, so need to find a new place. I still have to finish my angel piece, so that can go on the stairs instead.