holiday fun

I got to spend yesterday with two of my favorite people...Pam and Alex were both at my house for a visit.
Much fun was had by all but it is weird to have people aiming cameras at your stuff!

Alex had a new camera to play with and you know Pam ALWAYS has her camera with her.


If you want to see a few good photos, head on over to Pam's.

This is probably it for me for a few days...the house will once again be filled with extra noise and testosterone, so I've got lots to do to get ready for that.

I hope everyone has the merriest of Christmases!

thank you!

I've never been so happy to stitch a label on a quilt as I was yesterday.

I want to thank everyone for participating in the auction...even if you just left a sweet comment, because those are always appreciated too!

A special thank you goes to Liz for her generous bid. The money is already in Ireland and the quilt will be on its way to its new home this morning!

Dolly Dresses + You

So here it is! My version of the Dolly Dresses quilt. I'm so happy that Holly asked me to be a part of this fun event. I really liked the way Holly's panel did so much of the work for me, so I kept the center of the quilt very simple, using her preprinted sashing.



Some of the dresses sport rickrack, others have ribbon, but every dress has a yo yo. I've been loving scallops lately, so it was a natural for me to applique rickrack trimmed scallops onto the border.



The quilt finishes at 49" x 60" and is backed with the same snowy white dot as the border.

Darla Padilla of Wildflower Quilting did a lovely job quilting it for me.



I hope you've been enjoying all of the wonderful projects created by the other designers. Some have provided kits, some just plenty of inspiration. Mine's a little different...

If you've followed along with me for awhile, you may know of my love for Ireland. I've had two brief visits and both times wanted to stay...like maybe forever! Maybe it's a sort of racial memory, but both Ireland and Scotland somehow feel like home.

Recently there has been terrible flooding in Ireland. Epic flooding. And there are many people there who need some assistance.

Sherry, the editor of Irish Quilting Magazine, has been doing a lot to get the word out about this cause. You can click here for more information on how you can help.

Here's what I'd like to do:

The dolly dresses quilt pictured above will be auctioned off, with all proceeds going directly to help the people in Ireland.

The auction begins right now and will close at 9:00 pm, Pacific time, on Monday, December 21st.

To bid on the quilt, leave a comment with your bid amount. The winner will be the person who has left the highest bid.
The winner will be able to send the money directly to Sherry via the Irish Quilting paypal account, and I will be standing by to race to the UPS guy with your quilt the minute the money is sent.

And please, spread the word! I'm hoping this little quilt can provide even more warmth for the people who could use our help.

is this what it feels like

when you're ninety? Seriously! This month has just not been going the way I'd planned. My sinus infection has left me so tired that it feels like every day I'm moving at half-speed. So obviously some of the many things I'd planned to make will be a bit delayed. Like maybe months delayed.

But that's not the end of the world!

I've still managed to get one of my favorite Christmas quilts hung...

and bits of the upcoming holiday are showing up here...


and here...

and here...

and even in the downstairs bathroom, which I'd show you but can't figure out how to take a picture in there.

I'm trying to save my energy for finishing my Dolly Dresses quilt...my day is coming up next week and I hope you'll come back to see the quilt and hopefully participate in what is being planned for it! And if you haven't been following along, you need to see what the other designers have done with Holly's doll dress panels. There are some awfully cute projects out there.


So there's really lots more to get done around here...but all I really want to be doing is what he's doing.

sweet (and not so sweet) distractions

It was great to have the whole family home for the long Thanksgiving weekend...and the family grew by one member when Middle Son and his girlfriend adopted a 4 month old kitten. I'd like you to meet Olive!



She's such a sweetie and I love her to pieces and miss her ready purr already. When she was taken to her new home on Sunday I'm told she fell asleep on the center console of their car for most of the hour-plus ride home.



Yet ANOTHER sinus infection has made sewing difficult,(so I'm way behind where I'd hoped to be at this time) but gluing stuff onto other stuff is always manageable. I loved these little snow guys I found at Target...but a bit of seam tape and some millinery flowers makes them sweeter. I'd figured on having guy-girl couples, but the boys just seem so naked now...so they've come back upstairs to be prettied up a bit.

Got out for the first time in AGES today with Pam...she took me to a super cool antique shop and I'm pea green over the shelf she got! With SCALLOPS. Be sure to ask her to show it to you. It's amazing.

So that's it for today...now that the super sized antibiotics are kicking in, I should have more Christmas stuff to show you really soon.