Thursday, December 22, 2016

Merry Christmas!

This year's Christmas card.  



It is our mountain cabin, with a few improvements to the landscape!  Merry Christmas to all!

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Small Quilty GIfts

If you exchange small gifts or stocking stuffers with a group of quilting friends, here are some great ideas from our Whacky Ladies Christmas brunch last Friday.

From Gloria, everyone received an owl pin cushion made from beautiful funky fabrics.  LOVE!


Gloria also gave us some candy and some Mary Kay product samples.


                                       


From the Moda Bake Shop collection, a mini-charm pack of fabrics from Carol.



Great idea...Carolyn gave us a bag of S'mores ingredients with instructions!  

                                              

Also in the bag, some bobbin covers.  I had to look this one up.  It is called a bobbin clamp or tulip.  You can string them from one of those metal key chains to keep all your bobbins together.



For you stampers out there, here is a set of gift tags with cute floral decorations.




We have some clever ladies in this quilting group!

Sunday, December 11, 2016

Christmas Brunch with the Quilters

It has been a busy week with many Christmas functions and parties.  One that I look forward to every year is the Whacky Ladies brunch at Brig's Restaurant in Wake Forest.  Besides the great food, we have a gift exchange and also share small gifts with everyone.

I hit the jackpot this year on the gift exchange.

I thought Lori had made this Christmas stocking, but she says it is from Hobby Lobby.


It was stuffed with lovely gifts...the best being four yards of beautiful fabric!


There was also a very pretty journal, which I will enjoy very much.



 And stuffed in the toe, some Ghirardelli chocolate squares!


Opening all the small gifts was like Christmas morning.   I thought I took pictures of these as well, but I must not have.  I will take one of the owl pincushion made by Gloria next time- it is so cute!

Charlie and I used a gift certificate he got as a retirement gift to eat at The Angus Barn in Raleigh with our friends Ricky and Mary.  They decorate it beautifully at this time of year, but you can always count on seeing lots of quilts hanging on the walls.



I have continued to paint lots of angels, and sent this one to a relative who just turned 90.



I purchased some cards with a framed mat that allows you to insert photos or artwork.


I think that soon I will be offering these for sale in an Etsy shop to raise money for cancer research, a subject close to my heart.

I hope that you are enjoying the holiday season.  Busy as it always is, Christmas time is my favorite. I have been sharing a Bible journaling page each day of December to try to keep in mind the "reason for the season."  Here is one that I did recently.




Monday, December 5, 2016

Christmas Craft Night

A new annual tradition...Christmas Craft Night at my daughter-in-law's mother's house.  Maribeth and Emily set up stations with instructions and supplies for several fun projects.  One was to make a Christmas Count-Down plate.  Maribeth pre-painted the plate centers with blackboard paint.  Then we used paint pens, added pretty ribbon, and chalk attached to string.








Another cute project were the candy cane place card holders or labels for items in a buffet.


My personal favorite was the pine cone owl.  We used glue guns to attach eyes, beak, face and wings.


There were also pillar candles in glass containers to decorate with burlap, ribbon, snowflakes, etc.



And finally, the popular fabric garlands of lights made a second appearance.  All you do is tie strips of fabric around the strand of white mini-lights.  They look so pretty!



Maribeth and Emily searched Pinterest to get ideas for the projects.  With wine and hors d'oevres and good friends, it was a very happy and festive night!