Christmas Day

Merry Christmas, all.

Handmades

One of my favorite Christmas-ies made by my son when little...

Got in the Christmas spirit last night and made these cell phone bags to give to my media center student aides this morning...

Also did a pencil portrait for Secret Santa recipient for the final gift; hope she likes it:

Happy Days

Hope everybody is really enjoying the holiday season (little skier santa above is just about my favorite Christmas item). Am doing Secret Santa this week at regular work, never mind the fact that the assistant principal told my recipient the very first day who her Secret Santa was (that's just the kind of school I work at, I wasn't even surprised); here's Monday's gift wrapping (please understand that I am very rudimentary at scrapbooking so I was very proud of putting the photo corners on the picture and gluing on the snowballs :-) ),

and today's gift made from quiltsmart.com's cell phone bag pattern:

Does anybody recognize this fabric?

We had our last Stash Sisters class last night with wonderful Show and Tell. Next year that class will have a different name (Stars Around the Garden) and we will be expected to actually produce some quilt blocks for class, perhaps even one entire quilt. Uh oh, work. This is a pin worn by one classmate:

a wonderful needlepunch Santa:

an antique doll's quilt:

received in a gift swap:


Several totes and bags made for co-workers and spouses:

Swap Gifts

Last night was the annual LQS Christmas party, and I can tell you, it was a wonderful event, LQS owner, class teachers, shop workers all in attendance, and so much fun. There was a gift exchange, theme: pin cushion, sewing roll, or other sewing accessory. It was so much fun to see what everybody made and I wish I could have taken a picture of everything to show you. There was an exquisite Hardanger miniature needle book, a Renee Plains work apron (I had considered making an apron like this and still want to make one), the most extraordinary Primitive Doll by Barbara Barnes (I don't think she'll mind my using her name), a great large primitive crow on a candlestick who looked wonderfully ornery, a needlepunch needlework bag, and much more.

Here is what I made, a sewing roll. My idea is that it belonged to a nineteenth-century child, who sewed together two old stained samplers for the cover, and did various types of needlework for the inside sections. There is a stamped bit of beeswax for thread, a little journal for needlework planning, a pocket for tape measure, a broderie perse rose, etc.:

Now just look at what I received!! This certainly went to the right person, because this is me all over and I just adore it!!! Look at the flob and wabble (I don't have time to look up the right names for the topknot and chin thing) made out of pretty dark red beads....and the tailfeathers. And isn't the fabric perfect? Also love the holder for the spool. I said earlier in the day that I hoped I would get this person's swap gift. She was sitting next to me at dinner, picked her own number, and switched numbers with me, so I DID get hers and you will agree I was very lucky!

The Whole Day

Spent the entire day getting my large fabric storage closet back into order. It was fun to visit with all of my potential projects. I decided, though, that a good stash-coping measure might be to write down all future quilty purchases in a Dedicated Notebook:
Aren't we all so busy this time of year! There was something I was supposed to work on (okay, like ten things) this week-end, but oh no, the stash-straightening and LQS BOMs had first priority, so got those done:

Here are some of us lined up at the LQS Second Saturday Sampler, enthused as always (!):

A beautiful quilt shown by a fellow Stash Sisters member; this quilt is for her new English son-in-law. Aren't the colors great?

Before we went inside to hear about what's new at the LQS, we heard a bit about the new-this-year EQ6 class. Those class members are having way too much fun. They're learning a lot about EQ6 and are doing interesting things like round robin designing. Below are two quilts that were first designed in EQ6:


Hope everybody's Christmas (or "Winter Holidays" as the case may be) preparations and activities are really fun and going well.

project

Another part of the project...

Snowman

Bob Eckstein has kindly shown my snowman wall hanging on his Snowman blog: Today's Snowman (Official Site for The History of the Snowman: From the Ice Age to the Flea Market. My snowman is always happy to go on a field trip to visit other snowmen :-) .

I would like to tell you that I haven't done anything quilty this past week because of flu, but dear reader I must be honest: I slipped and fell under a large pile of stash and I can't get out.