the art of joy

This months featured Etsyblogger is The Art Of Joy, and what an awesome shop it is!

It is the creative shop of Joy, who lives close to my neck of the woods in the Capital region of Upstate NY. It is full of really lovely stationary just waiting to be personalised, anything from calendars, to invitations, to notecards. My favorite is the kokeshi dolls, but there's something for everybody, check it out!

Joy also has a supercute blog, where you'll find some lovely free printables, I can't recommend it enough, so go see already! ♥

Meet Amelia ♥

Shamefully, I've had her almost a year, but only displayed her out of the box prior to last week! The reason for my hesitancy was my fear of washing her hair! She came to me as an ADG Roaring Red Blythe, who has very tight ringlets piled up on her head, not an everyday look for sure. Last week I read through the 'This is Blythe' forums, and braved it! It went much easier than expected , and worked very well. Her hair is long and a little wild, but I'll brave cutting it later I think!
Yesterday, she braved the snow outside, but decided that she'd really rather be quilting, haha!

Have a wonderful weekend! ♥

{ holiday traditions }

{ building snowmen }

{ putting out favorite decorations }

{ mixing handmade and bought treasures }

{ wreath, birds and jingle bells }

{ the best tradition of all, decorating the Christmas tree }

There's nothing like the tradition of decorating the house and tree in preparation for the holiday, especially with small children, their joy and delight is a pleasure to watch. We got our tree yesterday, and tonight we will be getting out all the familiar ornaments from years past to trim it with. Another tradition is receiving a new ornament each on Christmas morning that can then be added to the tree, fun indeed to see what Santa brings.

Here's to the Holidays, whichever one you celebrate, it certainly is a magical time of year! ♥

It's my turn again, woohoo!

It's my month in a quilting bee, and it's soooo exciting! It'll be like Christmas all month long, watching the lovely members of the Bee-Stitched quilting bee posting my blocks. I decided on a simple, but lovely, nine-patch half-square triangle block, using kona espresso as my background, and the lovely Innocent Crush in Petal palette from Anna Maria Horner's latest line.

I'll post another picture when I've got them all back. It's going to be a huge quilt, for my hubby and I's bed, the first one I'll have made that size! I may have to pay to get it quilted, we'll see.

I'm also making two more quilts, one for each of my sweeties. My son's is also a half-square triangle quilt, in kona ash and various green prints, and is looking lovely so far. My daughter's is going to be a pink and orange fairytale quilt, but haven't yet decided on the perfect block.

Happy Sewing! ♥

Scrappy Mug Rug rec'd!

Rec'd my holiday time mug rug from the lovely Anita {aka - rhubarbpatch}, along with yummy fabric and holiday tea, and how cute is the postcard she sent too, lucky me!

The scrappy mug rug swap on flickr is such a fun swap, you get to use up some of your smaller piece scraps to make what is effectively a mini quilt, then you get one back to put your mug on! Got to love that! If you're interested check out the link to the right ----> and sign up for the next one, in the new year. ♥

Featured Etsyblogger for December is...

...Pruitt Hand Crafts!

Congratulations Linda! Not only has Linda got an Etsy shop, but three no less! There's PruittHandCrafts, where you can find "all things fabric and fun", like ornaments, aprons and cup cozies. Then, check out her jewelry, like the pieces featured above, in her second shop, PruittDesign. And, then last, but not least, is PruittSupply, a shop absolutely chock-a-block with all the supplies you could need, like paper, beads, yo-yo's and fabric, a treasure trove indeed.

Linda is a lovely and supportive member of this team. She lives in the very creative Portland, Oregon, and is a breast cancer survivor, and a Grandmother to an amazing 24 grandchildren. An amazing lady indeed! So go check out her shops and then her blog and stay awhile. ♥

Handmade Holidays ♥

{ handmade ornaments }
These were great fun to make! I sent these out as part of the Trim the Tree handmade ornament swap on Flickr! I found the great pattern in one of Tilda's lovely holiday books! ♥

{holiday mug rug}

This was sent out to my partner in the Scrappy Mug Rug 2 swap. She loves hexies, as do I, so I thought a little holiday hexie flower was called for! I also added one of the ornaments, I hope she likes her goodies!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! ♥

November's Featured Etsyblogger is....

....Devine Designs Jewelry!

Congratulations! A whole month of lovely, and deserved, admiration from the rest of the Etsyblogger's.

Devine is from Florida, and fave place to be would be on a "desert island with a cool breeze, sitting under a palm tree on a soft cool sandy beach watching the beautiful colors of the sun as it sets and turns to nightfall." Sounds idyllic doesn't it?

In her daily life though, she happens to make beautiful, and unique, wire jewelry. My faves are the copper, but there are silver pieces also, check out her shop to see them all, still can't decide? Don't worry there are gift cards too, available in the shop as well.

Enjoy, and have a wonderful weekend! ♥

holiday potholders sent!

{ the total package }

{ the cute owl ornament }

{ one of the bear claw holiday potholders }

I had so much fun , as always, with this swap, Potholder Pass 5. It is the holiday themed version of this ongoing swap, so we also had to send along an ornament with our usual two potholders.
I was a little afraid of making such small bear claws, but using the Eleanor Burns method made it a lot easier. The colors were chosen by my partner, but happen to also be my absolute faves for this season, I'm feeling the red and white, and sometimes linen, of a Scandinavian Christmas.

It was hard to part with my little owl too. I have admired this particular Saffron Craig fabric from afar for a while, until another wonderful swap partner made me a mug rug using it, and sent me an extra owl along with it. But it went so cutely with the color theme, and the potholders. Such a fun swap, and now onto the next one! ♥

saVvy seasons sent and rec'd

{ mini quilt rec'd }

{ awesome package rec'd }

These are the handmade lovelies that were sent to me by the amazing {Safieh}
She sent me the most beautiful mini quilt using the Lumiere de Noel line from French General that I love, and in fact I have a jelly roll of it to make a holiday lap quilt with, how perfect is that?
Also, she sent a supercute bunting, and the most adorable embroidered hoop. Lucky me!

{Christmas tree table runner}

{total package sent}

To my partner, the lovely Erin, I sent a Christmas tree table runner, a hoop tree ornament, and a holiday mug rug. My inspiration for these were Erin's mosaic and preferences, she likes simple, modern lines, and trees! I hope I nailed it.

What are you making for the holidays?

recent bee blocks sent out!

{ the Fussy Cut Bee - October }

{ the Fussy Cut Bee - September }

{ Sew Fun 2 Bee - September }

Scrappy Pincushion swap

{ embroidered detail }

This was my first time in this swap, and it's second round. It was fun to make a big pincushion, especially with one of my fave AMH fabrics, and it's so nicely weighted. I had no idea what really went into these things, according to the swap rules, one of the best fillers is crushed walnut shells. I had to go find a bag of them, and who knew, it's lizard bedding!? Now I have a 5lb bag of it, so I better make some more pincushions! haha ♥

what I've been making lately......

{ my first mug rug }

These are such fun to make, I see many more in my future! I'm not sure who came up with the idea, but how awesome. A mini-mini quilt with a purpose, love it!

{ embroidered detail }

My last potholders to be sent for the Potholder Pass 4, you can tell I've been a bad blogger since I'm about to send out my holiday potholders for PP5!

What have you been making lately?