Vintage Christmas Decor

 I was invited by my "fancy" friend Joni Hilton, author, playwright and friend extraordinaire!, and much, much more, to Terry's home.

She decorates for every holiday and her decor is candy to the eyes!

I toured Terry's workroom a few years ago, you can see it here.

 This antique quilt is beautiful, and many names were hand embroidered onto the white squares.

At first, I thought they were ladies in a quilting bee, but there are too many names for that.

Maybe they are names of ladies in a service group, during the War...

Red and white, the most beautiful color combo for Christmas.

I never would have thought of putting mason jars in a gorgeous gingham bowl!

In the background, you can see antique Santa mugs on an antique cup holder.

Nothing in Terry's home is a reproduction, everything is genuine!

Everything was so warm and inviting, Terry had all the candles lit.

The little red banner in the basket with the clocks, said it's Christmas Time!

I love the cardboard doll house too :)

That's a genuine Norwegian crown, and the girls who wore them would get wax in their hair....

 I just love Terry's sense of creative style!

Her red and white polka dot toadstool tree :)

Terry even has a Pinocchio tree, she and her husband and children lived in Germany while he was an officer in the military.

Terry "snuffed" out the candles on this wreath because they were getting low and she was afraid they might burn the greenery and start a fire.

Most people blow out their candles, but Terry "snuffs" them out with a special antique snuffer, she has a collection of them :)

 Terry made us some sweet little treats, so precious!

I thought this was hot cocoa, but it was mint ice cream with whipped cream! 

It was yummy too!

Here we are, Terry's guests....Debbie, Joni, me and Rhonda.

 Here is Terry herself, the dearest, sweetest, happiest, most creative lady :)

Thanks for sharing your beautiful home and decor with us.

Snapshots QAL finish!

I finished my Snapshots quilt, yay!

It all began with choosing my fabric for each block.

I used all of Bonnie and Camille's fabric, but they were from lots of different lines.  

They all go together so well!

I love this little "bug"!  

I decided to make this quilt for my new daughter in law, Kari.

I knew that heart had to have some embroidery, and so I did :)

I really love all the colors in this quilt, red and aqua, with touches of green and orange.

Don't you love the bicycle?

I fashioned it after my own...

The bicycle block is to remind Kari that she still needs to learn how to ride one, lol.

I know that Kari loves soft!

I put a beautiful soft aqua minky on the back.

My friend Cindy, did an outstanding machine quilting job!

She is very talented.

You can see the machine quilting a little better in this photo.

The hot air balloon represents travelling home to Costa Rica, to visit.

That's where Kari's from, only a year ago!

I sewed the camera label on the back.

Here's the closeup :)

This quilt took me a year and a half to make! 

It was hard to give away...because I love it so much.

I embroidered Kari and Sean's wedding date under the cake.

I had the best surprise on Christmas eve!

I was expecting a friend to come over any minute, to borrow some tape.

I was walking toward the front door when it opened.

I thought it was strange that my friend would walk in...

I said come in, and then realized it wasn't my friend's husband, it was my son Sean!!!!  and Kari!!!!

What an incredible surprise!

I was the only one who didn't know, lol!

It was the best gift ever!!!

We were also blessed with a visit from our daughter Lindsay and our son in law Jeremy and their 4 perfect kids!

My father in law spent Christmas with us too, and that was wonderful.

Here is Kari with her quilt, she loves it too!

Little Red Riding Hood, and a Doll Bassinet

I made a doll bassinet for one of my grand daughters.

I've made a few of them, they're pretty easy to sew.

You can find the tutorial here.

I added a little "Merry Christmas" tag,  just because :)

I want to show you a close up of the fabric, it's so cute!

Pictured are Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel, Goldilocks, and the Three Little Pigs.

Here's Little Red.

I made her recently for another grand daughter.

 Little Red is a panel by Moda fabrics.

The panel has the doll, Mr. Big, a pillow and a quilt.

You just have to cut and stuff :)

I just love the little quilt!

I added a table, "PS. I Love You", my little grand daughter is named after me and she's pretty special :)

All of my grandchildren are special!

 I might get a photo on Christmas day.

If I do, I'll share it with you.

Have a fabulous week, hope you get all your Christmas sewing done :)

Coral, Queen of the Sea

This is Coral, Queen of the Sea!

I made her from a panel of fabric.

She is designed by Stacy Iset Hsu for Moda fabrics.

The panel comes with the front and back for the doll Coral, and little Sea horse, pillow, quilt, skirt and mermaid fins.

She's as precious as can be, all you have to do is stitch, stuff and assemble.

My grand daughter really wanted me to make Coral for her, but she doesn't know that I did :)

Shhhhhh.........

Matching pillow Cases and Lined Travel Bags

I made 3 little pillowcases to fit 12" X 16" pillow forms.

I wrote a tutorial on them, and you can see it here.

 I love this fabric!  

I made these pillowcases for 3 of my little grand daughters.

We are taking a trip to Africa together, tomorrow.

Our plane flight from Atlanta to Johanesburg is 17 hours!

I hope these pillows will bring them sweet dreams on the airplane.

 I also made Neo, Kylie and Isabel, a lined travel bag that matches their pillows :)

It's just as much fun choosing fabric for the lining as it is for the outside of the bag :)

 I know that Neo (6 years) and Kylie (3 years) will be fine on the plane, but not quite sure how 18 month old Isabel will be!

I filled the bags with some books, pencils and treats, to help keep the girls interested throughout the trip.

I'll post some photos when I get home :)

Lined Drawstring bags full of treats!

I made 7 lined travel bags, from the tutorial at In Color Order.

I have made a countless number of these bags over the years.

I finally bought the pattern, there are 8 sizes of bags available, and Jeni even gives you the formula to make a bag with your own dimensions!

 I'm leaving for Africa today, I made all these bags for gifts.

My daughter in law Mabulane is from Lesotho, and I will finally get to meet her family!

These gifts are for her dad, 3 sisters and 3 brothers.

Each bag will hold a bag of pistachio nuts (they don't have them there) and Bath and Body hand soap.

I hope they like them!

Teeny Weeny Bunnies

I've wanted to sew some cute little animals to fit into Altoid tins for a long time.

First I had to buy the Altoid tins.

I shop at a great site in China, called aliexpress.

I searched for hinged altoid tins, and found some for 75 cents.

I decorated them with scrapbook paper, lace, ribbons and buttons.

Inside each one is a treasure!

A teeny weeny bunny named Betsy, all snuggled up in her blanket.

I glued scrapbook paper to the lid, using a tacky glue.

Betsy just woke up, and she's ready to play!

Inside this little house is Bailey.

Bailey just had a long nap and is ready to run around!

All that running around made Bailey tired again...

I found the patterns for Betsy and Bailey in this little "Cute Book".

It really is cute!