A Crafty Week

 We are in the "between the holidays" period right now...I love this time of year...quiet after the busy-ness of Christmas and before a new round of activities start up in January.  I have been spending my time reading and crafting and watching movies with my husband and daughter.  

I have one more gift of Christmas to share with you...  I made this vinyl fronted zipper pouch for my daughter for her crafting projects.  As you already know, she is an avid crocheter and embroiderer/cross stitcher so this pouch will be put to good use.  I picked some library themed fabric from my stash.  She noticed the book card for Anne of Green Gables right away...one of her favourite books. I added one of my "Yo Mama made it" labels to the back of the pouch. 

I only added a few stitches to my cross stitch funky chicken this week.  I spent several hours working on our family Christmas album instead of stitching.  I started the album early in our marriage and do a two page spread of pictures from the holiday season for each year since then.  At one time, I did a lot of scrapbooking so I have all the tools, papers, stickers, etc.  Somehow, I got behind and the album was only completed up until 2014.  I had pictures for 2015 to 2023 printed last year and finally got around to working on it this past week.  I have completed 2021, 2022 and 2023 so far...I'm working backwards in time. I hope to get the rest of the pages done soon and have promised myself that I won't get behind again.   This is why I did not do much cross stitching this week. 

Someone decorated an evergreen tree along the trail where I walk each day.  It had rained overnight and the water droplets added sparkle to this tree ornament. 

Santa brought Finn lots of treats and a new Christmas bandana.  

We had an ice storm on Boxing Day so we stayed warm and cozy inside. After having a mostly white December, a thaw and rain before Christmas resulted in a green Christmas. 

We are all avid readers in our family and books are a very popular gift.  Here is our Christmas book stack.  These should keep us all busy for the next while!  

I will link up with Kathy and Frederique as soon as I hit the publish button.   I hope to do a quilts of 2025 post soon. 

Two Gifted Pillows and some Cross Stitch

Some gifts have been given and opened already so I can show them to you.  This first pillow is for a friend who just retired.  I made her a wall hanging a few years ago out of these Christmas FQ's that I have in my stash and decided to maker her a co-ordinating pillow this year. The backing fabric was not quite wide enough so a strip of brown was added.   Also, you will notice that the trees are green on one side and brown on the other.  It all co-ordinates!  There is a zipper under the flap on the back. 

The wreath pillow was finished this week too.  The fabric that I ordered was not an exact match for the fabric on the front of the pillow but it looks fine.  The store said this was Essex linen but it doesn't look like what I have purchased before.  Does anyone know if they have changed the way they make Essex linen???  Anyway, I now have 2. 7 yards of this new fabric.  I will use it for something. The young couple I gave this pillow to were very happy with it. 

This cross stitch is going to be a Satsuma Street Funky Chicken.  I will do all the stitching first and then make it into a 3D chicken.  I'm running out of the darker orange colour and will need to buy another skein of it.  

A few years ago, I made some cross stitch ornaments with old wooden spools.  I made three more this week to be given as gifts. 

Finn says he had to wear his booties again this week.   Sigh. 

Here are the little sleighs before they got put onto the spool. 

 Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, Everyone!  I hope you get some quiet moments during the holidays to stitch, or knit or crochet or read or just relax. 

I will link up with Kathy in the morning and Frederique now. 

Christmas Activities and a bit of sewing.

This has not been a particularly productive week with my sewing projects.  I started making a pillow for a friend as a housewarming gift but ran out of the Essex linen fabric I am using for the background--I want to use it on the back of the pillow as well.  I called 7 quilt stores before finally finding it in the right colour at a store two hours from here.  I ordered what I need and they will ship it out early this week.  It won't take long to install the zipper and finish off the pillow.  The recipients like earth tones rather than bright colours, hence the colour of the wreath. 

It has been a snowy week in Finn's neck of the woods, and here as well.  He loves to stick his face in the snow.  He is not so fond of his coat and booties that he has to wear if going for a walk.  Finn had a haircut this week so he really does need his coat on when he's out for a walk. 

I added more stitches to my cross stitch project this week.  Can anyone guess what this is going to be?

The local railway museum's second annual Christmas tree display is open on the weekends and we went to see the trees on Friday night.  The local Rug Hooking Guild decorated a tree with hooked ornaments made by their members.  I would like to try making some hooked ornaments...maybe for next year. 

There was also a Lego Christmas village, complete with a Christmas train going around the village.  

I will link up with Kathy and Frederique.  I hope to get more stitching done next week.  We will see.  It's a busy time of year with lots of commitments. 
 

Two Table Runners

I gave my friend, Pat, her Christmas gift early so that she can use it during the holiday season.  I used some more HST's from the charm pack that I found in my sewing room a few weeks ago to make this table runner. She really likes snowmen so it fit the bill perfectly. 

This past week, I quilted and bound my Tiny Street table runner-- this one is for me.  I learned how to make the tiny houses and trees in an online class through the Threadhouse Academy.  This particular class was taught by Jo Avery.  She gave lots of ideas of things to make with the tiny houses and trees (pouches, bags, quilts etc.) but I decided to make a table runner for a table in my living room. It fits perfectly and will be out on display after Christmas. I quilted it with 28 wt medium gray thread in a wonky waffle pattern.  The backing was in my stash and was purchased in Newfoundland when we were there on vacation in 2023.  I decided to match the binding to the fabrics in the runner.  This took a bit of extra effort but I think it was worth it. 

Finn wanted to show you what my daughter has been working on in her spare time...  This will be repeated three more times until the centre is shaped like a circle and then more borders get added on.  

I started a new book today.  My daughter gave me this one for Christmas last year and I want to finish it before Christmas this year.  Our family exchanges books each year and I am trying to read last year's books by Christmas.  It's a good thing they don't have a best before date! This one is set in Santa Fe, New Mexico  in the mid 1800's and is about a young women who moves to the area to work as a nurse/midwife.  I am only 50 pages in and I'm already hooked. 

This cardinal and his mate were eating the red berries off of our burning bush today. 

I continue to add some quilting stitches to my pineapple log cabin quilt each week.  I am finished the overall cross hatch and have started adding more quilting to this block.  This qualifies as slow stitching, for sure!

I started a small cross stitch project to work on during the holidays.  It doesn't look like much yet...maybe there will be more done by my post next week.  

Full confession...I hemmed a pair of pants this week that had been in my closet for over a year, waiting to be shortened.  It took me 15 minutes in the end.  I'm not sure why I waited so long...

I will link up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers and Frederique and her crew.  

 

Camp Kintail Retreat Report

This post features my projects from last weekend's Crafters retreat at Camp Kintail, but first I want to show you my finished Fall cross stitch...TaDa!  I started this project at the beginning of September and have added stitches to it steadily until this week, when I added the last few.  As I have said before, I love the transparency where the trees overlap and the bright colours in this picture.  I will have it framed shortly and hang it up for the Fall next year.   I have a couple of embroidery kits that I would like to work on next, but likely won't start them for another week or two while I finish up some Christmas gifts. 

In an effort to use up all of the HST's leftover from the Winter wallhanging, I made another placemat for Meals on Wheels.  The backing fabric has tulips on it so it can be used with that side up when winter is over. 

Christine and I made zippered project bags at the retreat. One side is quilted and the other side has clear vinyl so you can see what is in the bag. 

Christine's bag is a bit bigger than mine.  We both used my black and white striped fabric for the binding. 

Here we are with our placemats for Meals on Wheels. 

I signed up for a year's worth of online classes from the Threadhouse Academy and this Tiny House table runner was made for one of the classes.  Some people made a whole quilt with Tiny Houses but I decided to just make a table runner.  It still needs to be quilted.  The houses and trees are meant to be a bit wonky--it adds personality to the project!  I would like to live in this neighbourhood!

I made these blocks by playing with my drunkard's path rulers and partial seams a few months ago.  They have been sitting in a pile in my sewing room, patiently waiting to be put together.  I managed to get this done at the retreat. 

In yet another effort to use up my bin of 2.5" squares, I made another baby quilt.  As you have probably guessed, the bin is still full of squares...  The gray background fabric was in my stash, leftover from backing another quilt. it is mostly used up now.  I should have something in my stash to use for the backing. 

A few years ago, Christine and I met Mary, a knitter, who is also a regular at the retreats and this year, she brought her friend, Elaine, along too.  The four of us hung out together for the weekend and one of the staff members at the Camp took this picture of us with some of our projects.  

The Oxford Quilters Guild is making several Quilts of Valour for injured veterans.  I took a pile of blocks to the retreat to put one of the tops together.  I also made a few more blocks to donate for the next QoV.

Finn stayed at our house for a week while our daughter was at a conference for work.  He's a smart cookie and knows exactly what our routines are when he's here.  

Finn is a specialist at looking cute. 

I will link up with Kathy and Frederique.  Hope you enjoyed the pictures of the retreat projects.  My previous post from a couple of days ago shows the finished quilt tops from the Round Robin that I organized for three friends and I earlier this year.