today was a great mail day~!!~ full of fun and fabulous surprises.

i recently participated in a give-away from Cathy of Big Lake Quilter and low and behold ~!!!~
i actually won~!
a beautiful collection of moda fabrics as well as an Omnigrid Mini-FoldAway. i work small a lot of the time and expect that the miniature cutting and pressing station will come in quite handy. as for the fabrics . . . they are so yummy that i'm bound to find myself starting a (forbidden) new project . . . i could sure see these fabrics making a sweet little doll quilt or two . . .  hhhmmmmm . . .  maybe a great way to pay the give-away goodness forward . . .  it is about time for me to have another one i think . . .  how's that for a tease?
thank you so very much Cathy.

i also received a totally unexpected card from Jay of  Creative Crone from studio Q. she is a zentangle artist extraordinaire as well as a fellow quilter. she has challenged herself with creating regular zentangles as well as an accompanying haiku with each one.  i LOVE visiting her and seeing her newest creative tangles.
and today, totally out of the blue, i got a card from her that was full of loving kindness as well as one of her beautiful zentangles.
on the back of the zentangle is it's very own haiku written by Jay:

 "Giving is Pleasure.

No matter how large or small,

The thought is the gift."

how true and how blessed i felt to be the one thought of in this special way. thank you Jay.
btw: can you guess what proud state Jay is from? there's a clue within today's photo.

in addition to all of that goodness i received the newest issue of the Cloth, Paper, Scissors Magazine.
i've been so busy admiring my other goodies that i haven't even cracked the cover yet but am looking forward to taking it to bed with me and possibly staying up late soaking up much of what is within it's pages.
a fabulous way to end this abundant day.

today's gifts include:

• the generosity (of both spirit and gifts) from friends i've made while blogging
• a walk with River and my wonderful husband. the new hip is feeling really GOOD just lately
• the lovely feeling of excited anticipation

some (merry) christmas projects that i've worked on and finished over the last couple of months.

 these are small (approximately 3.5 inches) mitten ornaments that i made using some of the tiniest scraps that i found in the scrapbag. hand pieced onto a scrap piece of batting. simple feather stitched embroidery over the seams and a tailor's buttonhole stitch  all around.

 they are backed with a nice bright red felt. my quilt guild donates a decorated christmas tree to a local fundraiser auction. all ornaments for this tree are handmade by the guild members and these were the ornaments that i made and donated. they are quick to make and turn out pretty cute. there was quite a selection of beautiful work done for this and someone won a very nicely decked out tree this year~!

 this was a small (approximately 9 inches tall) stocking that i made using basically the same technique. fully lined and donated to the guild's annual christmas bazaar fundraiser.

i decided to use a simple feather stitch for the embroidery on the above pieces but there are many choices when embroidering a crazy quilt seam. an excellent resource for learning more about crazy quilting is CQMagOnline.

i also enjoy going to Pin Tangle for seam embroidery details and instruction.

 this stocking was a bit bigger (approximately 13 inches tall). machine pieced with the trims being added by hand. also fully lined. my wonderful daughter decided that she would like to have this one to use as a gift for a friend.

this last stocking is quite large (approximately 20 inches tall). it was made using a vintage block that i was given (one of a set of about a dozen star blocks) that didn't lie flat. it was easy to see why the maker hadn't put them together into a quilt but of course i couldn't waste them and  have begun to use them in this way.  fully lined and also claimed by my wonderful daughter for gifting purposes.

today's gifts included:

• gingerbread cookies made and decorated by my daughter ~ these were so charming to look at that i almost didn't want to eat them
• a much needed afternoon nap
• hearing my daughter's laughter

just a quick post featuring a couple of postcards that i managed to work on and finish during the last few weeks.

this first one was a birthday card. i used a bit of an old tattered hand embroidered towel (both the embroidery and the  lace edge) and a piece of my own hand dyed orange fabric. the sun has been reverse appliqued by me and i did add a few more embroidered stems and flowers.
last year i did a similar card for the same person using old linen bits (an embroidered handkerchief) and a hand dyed fabric. i think i'll make this theme a tradition for her birthday cards as she seems to really love them.

this second card was made for  a friend who has been going through cancer treatments. she will be finding out very soon the results of all of that . . . keep her in your thoughts and prayers please.
i found that skep and bee fabric years ago and because it was on sale (and i loved it) i bought a few yards. now i wish i'd bought the whole bolt~!!~


i want to thank every visitor who has returned to my blog and especially those that have left a comment. i feel such joy being back within this friendly blog world.


this morning i discovered that Somerset Studio's has a new blog. i'm a huge fan of many of their publications (and secretly dream of someday being within those pages).
are there other Somerset Studio's fans out there?


it's early yet, but today's gifts already include:

• the joy felt when i see that other bloggers out there haven't forgotten me and the sweetness of their recent thoughts and prayers
• my morning mug of hot chai tea (with it's overtones of coconut) with milk and honey added
• waking up to a newly mucked out pantry ~ organized and tidy

i've had this post partially prepared since mid september and am happy to finally get to share it.

this is a small quilt that i made for a very good friend in celebration of her birthday.
she seemed to really love it and i enjoyed making it for her.

i used a pattern called "Crow on the Pumpkin" designed by Lisa Bongean of (Primitive Gatherings) that was featured in the fall issue of Primitive Quilts and Projects magazine. it measures approximately 16" x 20". my version used a homespun fabric background as instructed but i also used cotton fabrics (rather than wool) for everything except the stem on the pumpkin. the fabrics were all within my stash and/or scrapbasket so i was pleased with myself for not needing to purchase anything for this project. i just didn't have quite the right fabrics in wool . . . btw: that wool stem was snipped out of a particularly hideous tie. it made a much better pumpkin stem than it did fashionable(?) menswear~! you should know though, that Lisa sells kits of the suggested fabrics within her shop for those wanting to duplicate it exactly. i also did not use fusible web as instructed. i needleturn appliqued it and made the necessary adjustments to the pattern provided in order to do so. i hand quilted it using a cotton variegated quilting thread in fall colors.

this is the fall issue of Primitive Quilts but their winter issue has arrived at my house and i'm inspired to try many of those projects out too. i'm a big fan of this publication and have resubscribed for another two years. if you enjoy primitive you should give it a look. i like that there are a variety of needlework projects within it's pages such as quilting, cross stitch, rug hooking,wool mats and, pillows, stuffed bears, etc.

the pattern was actually for a two piece finished project with a 'background' quilt that left a space for overlapping the smaller piece onto it. the magazine promises "more little quilts for your seasonal banner in future issues".
what a great idea and i may re-visit that idea and the upcoming patterns that are shared within this great magazine at some point in the future . . .

i LOVED the way that it was displayed and photographed in this shot~! one of my favorite things about the primitive look is that it's always warm and comfortable looking.

today's gifts included:

• a short walk with River
• a slice of my daughter's homemade persimmon bread (still a bit warm from the oven)
• time to hand quilt
• finally being able to post on my blog  :-)