Even More Christmas Stuff

 I have more Christmas things to share this morning. I have been very busy, sewing and stitching and baking. More baking to come, as I am making Stollen today. The dough is in the kitchen rising even now.

First of all, my Christmas quilt top is done!!! It came out measuring 61 x 63.5 so a good lap size. I think I know how I want to quilt it and I am busy getting the backing together. The backing will be a Christmas Washi Tape fabric that I got from Cindy at Live a Colorful Life last year when she was destashing.

There are these adorable tiny tomte on the green strips. The pattern if from Moss and Lotus on Etsy. She has many cute tomte patterns. These littly guys finish at 2 1/2 inches.

I finished this stitchery from BeCo Productions.  Hers was  all green in ombre fashion. I decided to do the french knots in red and the stars in yellow and I am very happy with how it turned out.

Another picture of the tomte. I alternated one tomte and then two on each of the green strips you see in the quilt.

This is a mini quilt I made a few years back with the tiny tomte pattern. In this one each little tomte is wearing a different pattern. The tiny trees I drew up myself to fit the spaces. This is all paper pieced, but oh so very easy.

This is my French hen from the twelve days of Christmas patterns by Larissa at MmmCrafts. I haven't decided how many I'm going to try to make this year. So far I am happy with all the birds, as that is how I've chosen to decorate my tree, with most all bird ornaments.

I had some blank gift tags, so I am sewing scraps to them to customize gift tags. This is a very easy project. You can cut your own tags and use up some of those Christmas scraps.

Last one, the back side of the French hen. Those little chicken feet just slay me. So, I'm off to bake and sew some more. Have a great day and a wonderful weekend.

We Need a Little Christmas

I was listening to that song just the other day. "We need a little Christmas, right this very minute!" Now, I have sort of a weird relationship with Christmas. I can't call it love/hate. That's too strong. But, when I'm feeling it, I am all in. When I'm not, there is nothing to be done but to fake it as best I can. The last few years have been more fake it than anything. Now, there are a few moments here and there that I feel good about it, but few.

This year, I seem to be all in. Part of it is just being home again. North Carolina is home and it feels right. The other part is being in our own apartment, with no other family member living here except the two of us. We see the kids regularly, but this is our space.

 This is a first for us. A small, 4.5 foot tree, artificial. It seems that we are finally ready to be done with the messy mess that comes with a live tree. To be sure, we miss the smell, but we plan to get a wreath for the door that is live, so that will help. An, I set this baby up before Thanksgiving. I have NEVER done that before.

I put just the white lights on it, and left it at that until after Thanksgiving. I had my hubby get down all the Christmas stuff, so I could go through it all. I had already given the girls all their ornaments collected over the years. But still, I have a lot of decorations. I spent several days pulling out an ornament here and there. I wanted to keep it simple.

I started making the MMMcrafts twelve days ornament series. I bought the pattern last year.

                                         This is the front of the Colly Bird.

And, of course this is the partridge and the pear. I put these on my tree first, and little else. I started going through and finding all the bird ornaments. I found quite a few. I decided to do a mainly bird tree.

I apparently forgot to take a photo of the full tree, but I added the bow from my Advent calendar to the top of the tree. I will get a photo and include it in the next posting I do. Much more Christmas to come.

Happy weekend.

Christmas Time is Busy Time

Lots of sewing projects going on here. I scarcely have time in the day to work on all of them. I guess it's good that I keep busy, though. And holiday cookie baking begins today. So, let's see what I've been up to.

 First up is my Dear Dottie quilt. I made the baby size in a quilt along with Rachel of Stitched in Color. I do plan to make another in a limited pallet soon.

 I am doing some very dense straight line quilting on my Dear Dottie. I am almost finished with it.

And here is the back. I don't think I could ever do this much quilting on a larger quilt, but for this size, I am loving it.

 And all these next photos are my Tomte blocks from the sew along with Sue of Moss and Lotus. All the patterns here, plus some new one are available in her Etsy shop.

 They have been so much fun to make. They are all paper pieced, so if that's your thing, go check it out.

 I made a new reindeer head for my middle daughter. I got this pattern years ago. It is still available on line, but the links with the directions are nowhere to be found any longer. It was a bit of a challenge to assemble, but since I had made 3 of these in the past, I finally figured it out.

 I bought a bunch more tiny bottle brush trees to add to the holiday decor. I love these cuties.

 I got myself an early gift of some LED lights for my sewing machine and all I can say is WOW! They sure do make a difference. They weren't too expensive either, so I can't believe I waited this long to help out these old eyes of mine.

 And here is the first of 4 Santa ornaments I am making for the grand children for next year. It is the Twelve Days of Christmas ornament from Mmm Crafts. I figure I can work at a slower pace and do it right. No rush. That will make next year even easier for me. Yay!
Well, lots to do today, so I gotta run. Talk to you soon.