New Year’s Eve

I spent a few hours today on a fun machine sewn project to complete my “Hearts Full of Christmas” Advent Christmas tree quilt.
I discovered that I had red, green, and cream versions of the same print I used for the base of the tree on the quilt, so I used them, and some fast 2 [...]

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A Little Practice Makes a Big Difference

Speaking of taking out and starting over, on Friday I picked up a project I had begun this past spring, but after taking it out several times finally put aside.
On a day trip to Williamsburg, VA (when I still lived in VA Beach) I visited a great knitting shop, Knitting Sisters.  I knew I wanted [...]

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The Fifth Day of Christmas

I think it’s safe now to show the pictures of gifts I made for Christmas, since all the packages have been opened and gifts have been put away.
For my daughter I made LaLana Wools’ A Very Nice Scarf out of their luscious Phat Silk Phat in “Hot Stuff”, a gorgeous magenta/pink.   
 
It was very [...]

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Taking Out and Starting Over

This week I nearly finished my self-fringing bias shawl.  But before I cut the fringe I tried it on and played around with it a little, and decided I really didn’t like it very much.  So yesterday I took the whole thing out.
Now I am on the lookout for a different pattern to use [...]

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Yummers!

I haven’t been working on any fiber or fabric projects this week, but I did make a GREAT cake for Christmas day.  Larissa had asked for a spice cake with cream cheese frosting and since I didn’t really have a good recipe for one I went onto epicurious.com and searched for one. 
I found Spice [...]

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The Twelve Days of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas…. Oh.  that was yesterday.  Today is the second day of Christmas.  Am I behind already?
24 years ago I began making a set of 12 days of Christmas ornaments for my daughter, one a year.  They are counted cross stitch — not my favorite to do — made from a [...]

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Merry Christmas!

The “Hearts Full of Christmas” Advent Calendar/Christmas quilt is complete with all the hearts tied onto it with gold ribbons. 
This has served as our Christmas tree this year as we are trying to better utilize resources.  It’s worked out well, although I do miss lights.
The quilt will remain hanging through Epiphany on January [...]

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Images of Christmas – Christmas Eve

I have a small collection of small crèches that I place around the house during Advent:
  This was our first crèche, purchased when our daughter was little.  We wanted one that she could play with and set up any way she wanted.
This crèche was made in Taiwan, and since Larissa was born there, we thought [...]

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Images of Christmas – 2

Today is the final day of preparation during Advent.  Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and in our house it will be the day we make our traditional Christmas butter cookies.  Last year I began adding royal icing to them, instead of the usual sugar decorations and they are better than ever.
We’ll also be making a dessert [...]

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Images of Christmas – 1

I did complete the binding on my quilt last night, so all that’s left is to pull out all the basting threads (I don’t quilt with a hoop or frame, so I baste pretty heavily to hold the “sandwich” together), pop it into the washer and dryer and then onto the bed.
Since I’m really not [...]

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