Happy New Year!

You have all made my year special and each day a celebration of friendship. May God bless you and your family with Love and Health in the coming year!

Stray kitty who has been sleeping in my basement stairway, the last two days. If you would like to decorate your own photos, you can visit Art.pho.to for free editing effects.

Free stitcheries and thrift finds!

If you enjoy doing stitcheries and learning new techniques and stitches, you should visit Mary Corbet's blog. Her posting are full of inspiration and tutorials and she offers free patterns. Last week she did a Christmas piece with the word Joy and I just had to try it. I love how it looks and it is a great gift to make ahead for next year.

I made mine into pillows, but I did not stuff them. I might add balsam to mine, so I will leave them as is, then I can stuff them next year so they will have fresh balsam in them. Another idea for those of you who like to send items with a card, is to leave them flat with an opening so they fit in the card. Then the recipient can stuff them themselves.

For the backs, I used the fabric, Christmas Traditions that I got with my gift certificate from This-n-That  Fabrics. I love how it looks and it is great for pillow backings to give it that added touch.

Another thing I love to do is shop in thrift stores, you never know, what you will find. I found these three patterns, only .99 a piece, not a bad deal.

And I found this guy on a shelf, love the raggedy look. I assume he was left in the sun and it faded his mail suit, but I like the dull color and the worn look. Something fun to sit on a bench. We are finally getting snow, lots of it and everything is covered in white, I love it.

Christmas Goodies!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday and are safe from the storms that are hitting everyone. We are getting wet snow tonight, so not as bad as most areas. Good weather to stay in and work on projects and with all of the goodies from my friends and wins this year, I will be keeping very busy.

My friend Kelley, With Hook and Needle sent me a wonderful box. She made me this beautiful snowman rug, I love it, her work is amazing, she has a gift for prim hooking and her color choices are wonderful.

She also sent me a package of the woolie flannels, I love those and I can't wait to make a quilt with them. A fun new pattern to make for next year and she even included a beautiful print for the piece. I love this wool, a real treat for me, have never had hand dyed wools before and I will use them in a special project. She also made me a wonderful christmas pillow, but I forgot to take a photo of it. I am looking forward to finishing projects and starting new ones this year.

I was also the lucky winner of a bag from the Green Bag Lady. The bag she made is beautifully made and I love the fabrics. She makes bags from recycled fabrics to use for shopping and gives them away, as long as your promise to use that instead of plastic. I think it is a wonderful idea and a wonderful cause. I decided to give mine to my DIL and put her gifts inside the bag and then she can use it afterwards for her shopping trips. This is Ivy holding her new bag and carrying my grandson in that little belly, lol. Be sure to visit the Green Bag Lady and see how you can get a bag of your own.

If you haven't placed a vote at This-n-That Fabrics yet, there is still 14 hours until the votes close. They are also holding another contest today for a free year of The Quilt Show, so be sure to visit.

Merry Christmas

Egreetings - The Spirit of Christmas

Free Christmas Stitchery!

I wanted to try something quick and simple, so I made a little christmas piece.
Nothing fancy, but if you need something for a last minute gift, this works up quickly.

I did the snowflake with silver glitter floss.

I messed up the drawing, and reversed it, so it came out a bit funky. But, it is simple enough to move the letters or change it up a bit. Also, I realized I forgot berries on the tree, duh.

If you are still in the mood to do some stitcheries, Christmas Coloring pages has a variety of prim stitcheries that are free to use.

Christmas Pillows From Free Designs!

One of my favorite places to visit is Dearie Dolls. She has been posting her designs for free and this past month has put up a lot of wonderful Christmas designs. They are fun to make and a lot of them are in series so you could make a whole quilt with a set of them. You can also do a search for a particular type, try typing in snowmen, enough to keep you busy all year.

This one was from her series, twelve days of Christmas, he is two turtle doves. There were some extra critters in the design, but I kept it simple. The snowflakes are done with a gold glitter thread, I wanted to try a little sparkle.

I added a hanger since this is for residents, I wanted something they can hang on a door or their bed.

This one was a fun one to stitch, it just says happy and makes you happy as you stitch it. She has silver glitter thread for her snowflakes.

VOTE NOW! The voting has started at This-n-That Fabrics for your favorite Christmas quilt. Be sure to visit and cast your vote for your favorite quilt, lots of wonderful pieces.

Wacky Angel Quilt!

A few years ago, Jan Patek had a free pillow as part of the Christmas blog hop. Of course I had to mess with it and make it into a quilt. I finally finished it, though I am beginning to wonder if I should redo her hair and I am not pleased with the layout and how the letters sit above her. Usually I would antique something like this, but I might change some things, so I will leave it for now.

I went back to the page for the pattern, but it is no longer available. A good thing to remember when you see something for free, get it while you can.

I wanted to add the word peace and keep it simple. Then I decided to add hair, she does not look too peaceful now, lol. I think she needs a new hairdo;)  I did a black outline stitch on the borders, then I decided to use my wool aurifil to do a stitch around the angel and then rays going out from that.