Christmas Events and Preparations!

This has been a busy week with lots of special Christmas events to attend and decorating being done at home. I added a few more stitches to my winter cross stitch picture, but not as many as I had hoped.  I don't have a deadline for this project so that's ok. 

Last night, the hiking club we belong to hosted a Spirit walk at a local conservation area.  My husband and I were tour leaders and lead groups of visitors along a candle lit path to see a magician, a children's choir, the Grinch, a singer, a hot chocolate and snack station and, of course, the jolly man in the red suit.  We had some snow this week so that added to the atmosphere! We were dressed warmly and enjoyed the evening.  

The sunset was spectacular last nigh--it looked like the sky was on fire!

We went for a walk one evening this past week to see the neighbourhood Christmas lights in the snow.  One of the houses had laser lights on a tree in their yard--I did a self portrait!

The snow is so pretty on the trees in our backyard. 

Our daughter is working on the next border of her crocheted Christmas blanket.  Finn approves!  He says its quite cozy...

I hung up my snowflake quilt in the front hall.  We have snow inside and out!

One of our favourite events at Christmas is the annual carol service at the Old St. Thomas Church.  It features church shaped cookies and apple cider, lots of singing accompanied by the Salvation Army band and a message from a local minister.  The church has box pews and the organizing committee always decorates it beautifully.  

After the church service, we went to Backus-Page house where dinner featured recipes from the 1850's served by appropriately costumed volunteers in the candle-lit dining room. Christine and her husband came with us.

The Elgin County Train Museum has a display of 300 Christmas trees decorated by local businesses and organizations.  It was spectacular! 

There was also a lego village featuring a train carrying gifts and Christmas trees, and of course, Santa.  

This week, I really must get back into my sewing room!  I still have Christmas sewing to finish!

I will link up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers as well as Frederique.  Have a wonderful week!

Another Secret Project Reveal and Retreat Report

There was no blog post last weekend as Christine and I were at a crafter's retreat at Camp Kintail.  There were other people sewing, knitting, crocheting, paper crafting, card making, painting, rug hooking, etc.  Lots of interesting projects to walk around to look at when I had been sitting for too long! I worked on several projects, one of which was a gift and will not be revealed until after Christmas.  I quilted two baby quilts--one of which you can see in the picture below.  It is not quite done yet and I hope to finish it off this week. 

Christine also worked on a baby quilt among other projects.  We both had a very productive weekend!

Christine made us friendship bracelets which we both wore all weekend. 

Here is part of the back of the baby quilt--I used some flannel chunks in my stash to create this backing. 

I added solid green binding this week and the hand stitching has been completed.  

The camp has a silent/live auction and fundraising dinner every December and I made this zippered pouch for the silent auction. 

We got together with my cousin and her husband today for lunch.  I gave her the quilt that I made for her over the last little while. She told me her favourite colours are brown and teal. Again, I used the potato chip block as the basis for this quilt.  All of the brown fabrics and most of the teals were from my stash.  I had to buy a few FQ's to add some variety to the teals.  The backing was also purchased. I quilted this with the walking foot on my DSM. I'm happy to report she loved her quilt!

My cousin with her quilt:

My friend, Pat, has been making quilts for her grandchildren using leftovers from pyjamas that she made them over the years.  This one is for a grandson who just started college in the fall.  He is very athletic and likes to participate in lots of different sports.  The red and white four patch/binding fabrics and the blue border and backing fabric were purchased. I helped her pick out the pattern (Bonnie Hunter's Bricks and Stepping Stones) and showed her a quick way to make the four patches.  The quilt was quilted by a local long armer. The backing is all flannel and is pieced to use up all the flannel chunks. 

My daughter has been working on her Christmas crochet along blanket parts and is just about done all four peppermint corner blocks.  The peppermint stick part of the border is done too.  She's hoping to move on to the next part this week. 

With all my sewing, I have not had much time for cross stitching in the last couple of weeks. I'm hoping to so some more this coming week. 

Finn likes to relax while touching our daughter.  We call him the velcro dog...

Such a cute little face!

I took this picture on the hike on a foggy day from two weeks ago. This is a gingko tree.  

I will link up with Kathy and Frederique. 

A Busy Week

 It was a busy week with lots of activities happening, but not a lot of time for sewing.  I managed to make some progress on my cross stitch project, adding more trees, border stitches and starting the snow at the bottom of this section. I'm hoping to finish the mushrooms in the forest this coming week and move on to the next part. 

The church bazaar was yesterday.  Here are the three pillows that I made for the sewing table.  We had a family wedding to attend out of town yesterday so I only had time to stop briefly at the church.  

My daughter also had a busy week so not a lot of time for crocheting.  She started the next part of the border--it looks like a candy cane. 

Finn finds the balls of wool make wonderful pillows. 

Christine and I are going on another quilting retreat next weekend so I need to get my projects lined up this week.  I have some gifts to make!  I will link up with Kathy and Frederique.  

Retreat Report

 I had a very productive weekend at the guild retreat last weekend.  It was glorious to have three full days to sew--meals provided and no dishes to do!  I added binding to two quilts that are gifts so I can't show those yet, but they are both hand stitched now and ready to gift.  I quilted the table runner I showed last week that will be for sale at our church bazaar next weekend and added the binding this week when I got home. I hope someone will like it enough to purchase it! I also worked on three pillows for the bazaar but forgot to take a picture.  I will do that for next week. 

I also finished off the last of my 12 placemats for Meals on Wheels.  Our guild is collecting them and they will be presented to a representative from MOW at our next meeting. 

And here are all twelve:

I made the scrappy square blocks a couple of years ago for one of my rainbow scrap challenge projects and then turned them into churn dash blocks a few months ago.  At the retreat, I added sashing, cornerstones and borders and it is now a quilt top, ready to be quilted.  I made blocks for three baby quilts at the retreat as well but can't show them here yet. 

My Winter Woods cross stitch now has some mushrooms in the woods--more trees and another mushroom  still to add. 

My daughter is making good progress on her Crochet-a-long Christmas blanket.  She is on step two of six.   Finn was oblivious to modelling the sections she worked on this week. 

The lavender in my garden is still blooming despite having several hard frosts. 

The fothergilla bush in the backyard is putting on a show right now too. 

I was happy to see that my butterfly weed has decided to plant a few seeds in my garden.  It is one of my favourite plants with its bright orange flowers. 

You know Finn and his love of sunbeams!

I will link up with Kathy and the slow Sunday stitchers, Frederique and the Rainbow Scrap Challenge folks too.