Ballet Angels

My daughter and I made these little ballet angels and she gave some of them to her ballet/dance teachers. I had most of the materials here at home and they went together quickly. Underneath is just a short dowel with a wood bead on top for the head. The arms and legs are binding with a knot tied in the middle for the hands and a knot at each end for the feet. The dress is a piece of lace and the wings are made from some wired ribbon I had around the house or you can use some light tulle. At the neck, we hot glued a little rose bud from some wedding type ribbon. The hardest part was working with the glue gun and lacey, dainty objects. After a couple minor burns, I switched to the low temp gun. It worked beautifully and my fingers were much happier.

Stockings galore!

I don't remember why we got started with this, but my husband and I both needlepointed all of our family Christmas stockings. We bought a kit one day after our first son was born and just plowed through it. It was actually very relaxing back in the days of our sweet and simple early married life. Then we ventured into the world of painted canvases and haven't looked back since. They are so beautiful, expensive, but beautiful. There was a lot of detail on each canvas and these stockings took hours. My husband made mine by himself and I made his, but we both worked on each of our children's stockings. We bought a book with hundreds of different stitches and believe me, we tried many of them. I love how they turned out. They are truly one of a kind, all six of them so far. We are now slowly working on the last 2. The enthusiasm for the project has waned a bit and the eyes are not as sharp, and I've even rationalized my way out of it by saying I'll make a beautiful quilted stocking for each of them, but I just can't quite justify that, so where there's a will... Wish us luck.

Burritos and Lists

The burrito pillowcases are quite addicting and I find myself making more and more. Today I made 2 more, this time with the accent trim. These are going to my missionary son in Argentina. He loves music, so I couldn't help using the fun black and white fabric. This method is so much easier than the traditional method of pillowcase making. I mentioned before where I found the tutorial, but here it is again. Google the words "Designer pillowcases" and it should be the first link that pops up. It's a pdf file from Univ. of Utah.

My youngest presented me with her Christmas wish list. She has high hopes for someone so young. It all looks as I expected until I got to #9...where am I going to find a real elf??? The only one I thought of was Will Farrell and although he'd make quite a funny addition to our family, it might feel a bit awkward. So for now, I'm on a quest, a Christmas mission, to find a real elf. Craig's List perhaps??? Any help or leads would be appreciated.

Scrappy Wreath

Just brought this out and put it on the wall. I made this wall hanging a few years ago and have taught classes on making them too. It is another project from the snippets method from Cindy Walters which I talked about in a previous post. I love using up scraps and not having to use templates of any kind. All the strips are just cut randomly with scissors after placing Steam-a-seam on the back of the fabric. Then place your strip on a background fabric. It's a little sticky so it stays where you put it and it's also repositionable so if it doesn't look good, lift it up and try it somewhere else. It doesn't become permanent until you iron it. Endless possibilities!

Burrito Pillowcases

These pillowcases were the easiest yet to make. They're called the burrito style pillowcases and I made them to give to my son in Argentina so he can give them away to kids down there. I made 4 in an hour and I've also made one with a 3rd trim on it. I found a great tutorial download by googling "designer pillowcases" and it's a download by Utah State University coop extension. I had to see the pictures in order to understand it and this download had good pictures.

Tall Paul

I love snowmen and when my quilt group decided to make these Tall Paul wall hangings, I was more than happy to start another project. This went together quickly and of course, it got cuter as it went along so I was motivated to get it finished.

I'm slowly putting things up around the house, putting up a little here, a little there, a little today, a little tomorrow (some years I get it done faster than others. For some reason, this is a slow year). Today my wall hangings went up and Tall Paul has his place front and center in the dining room where his smiling face is there to bring a little cheer.

Show and Tell

My quilt group, Material Girls, met today for our annual Christmas luncheon. Fun, food, gifts, gabbing, showing and sharing...

So Full of Thanksgiving, but Loving It

Our Thanksgiving came and went almost like a blur. Can you believe it's already December? Maybe our global warming is also speeding up time. I wish we could at least have our holidays with our families in slow motion. My brother, Steve, came with his family and #1 son came home from college with his girlfriend. We only had 14 at the table this year. I say "only" because that might be our smallest group yet. Coming from a family of 12 children, I seem to need large groups around me at the holidays. We had a wonderful time though eating, talking, playing games, watching movies and eating some more. We had tons of great food prepared by many hands. Thank you Steve for making the trip here. It means a lot. My heart (and stomach)are full of thanksgiving for such bounteous blessings and I know they come from a loving Heavenly Father. He loves all of us unconditionally and that's probably the greatest blessing of all.



In the midst of all our fun I received a prize in the mail from a giveaway(Yeah! I actually won something!) by Melly & Me. It's the cutest pattern. My daughter has already declared ownership of it and wants to make them. Melly & Me has lots of cute patterns, go check them out.