A Favorite

Years back, I made ornaments and things to sell at Craft Fairs.

I DIDN'T make this one...


...but he HAD to come home with me from one of the shows! A woman across the aisle made this little clay elf, along with a whole collection of cute animals and other friends. I saw him hanging on her painted branch display, and as the day went by, I worried someone else would buy him. But I was in luck, and he made it home with me! His happy look of holiday surprise just brings a smile to my face every time I look at him.

Smile today and make someone's day wonderful!

Helen's Quilt

Love this quilt by Helen, one of my quilt group friends. I love how the borders make this (to me anyway), a "crossover quilt"- a modern sensibility with lots of scrappy tradition too. (The white outside bit is the batting that will be trimmed when she sews on the binding.)


The fabric is a bit brighter than my bad photos portray. But check out the interesting quilting by Barbara, Helen's go-to long arm quilter.

I'd love to see this bound and then crinkled from the dryer, but it's going to be mailed off before our group meets this Friday.
(Helen didn't use a pattern, but if you need one, you'll find a similar design for the inside blocks in the book, The Modern Quilt Workshop, by Ringle and Kerr. You're on you own for the borders! )

The Stockings Were Hung

Our Christmas Stockings have special meaning to me. A LONG time ago, when my twin sister and I were in the second grade, her teacher drew her name for the Christmas gift exchange. (Yes, back then we had Christmas trees, Santa, and all that in school.) Her teacher KNIT her a stocking, and personalized it with my sister's name at the top. My mom, a talented knitter, counted the stitches, made a pattern, and then knit me one so we'd both have the same big stockings with a tree on one side, and Santa on the other.

My mom passed away before I married and had my family, but I have her pattern on graph paper. My mom taught our whole Camp Fire group to knit when I was 9, but unfortunately, I'm not skilled enough at knitting to tackle this detailed work. I've found a couple of people over the years who were willing to make these for our kids, and now for our grandkids. I really should try to learn to make them myself, but for now, I just love pulling these out each year, thinking of, (and missing) my mom. She'd love to have seen all the stockings hung by the chimney with care!

Crisp and Clear

Have a Wonderful Day!

Yarn Folks

These were fun to make- traditional braided dolls from cotton yarn.
The boy has a wool hat with a few tiny dried flowers to decorate it, and whole cloves for eyes. Rafia finishes the hat and necktie.

The girl has a yellow yarn braid for a "St. Lucia" type of look- it circles her head, and then hangs in a long unbraided ponytail in the back.

The brown teddy bear has a wool scarf, and whole allspice for eyes and nose.

Make it a wonderful day!

Winter Carrot Soup

Another orange soup- though no pumpkin in this one. Instead, lots of carrots, a yam, and even some orange juice!

I improvised this with what I had in the fridge, but we liked it so much my husband asked me to write it down so we could have it again.

Winter Carrot Soup10-12 large carrots, peeled and sliced
1 red onion, chopped
1 shallot
1 large leek, light to medium part sliced thin, divided
1 yam, peeled and cubed
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
2-3 T olive oil
2 Tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
6 Cups chicken or vegetable stock
Juice of two clementines
Juice of one lime
Fresh grated nutmeg
1/2 to 1 Cup half & half
salt and pepper to taste

In large pot, saute carrot, onion, and 1/2 of leek slices in olive oil until onion is soft. Add shallot and cook for another minute. Add stock. Add yam cubes, ginger, garlic, salt and pepper. Simmer and stir occasionally, partially covered, until carrots and yam are soft. (About 15-20 minutes)

Remove from heat and use blender or food processor to puree in batches. Return to pan over low heat; add orange and lime juice. Slowly whisk in half & half to desired consistency. Garnish with remaining sliced leeks and freshly grated nutmeg. Makes 6 servings

Santa's Hat

I love working with felted wool. This is a little picture I made a few years back from recycled wool clothing, old buttons, jewelry findings, and seed beads.

I wash the wool items in a hot washer, dry in a hot dryer, and then deconstruct. The picture is stitched with regular sewing thread using a running stitch. I'm always on the lookout for unusual colors, and the yellow green skirt I used in this is one of my favorite finds.

I Chose Wisely

Have a Wonderful Day!

One Thing Leads to Another...

Our quilt group had a sew day last winter to make sock quilts. Everyone brought fabric to share, and we made a zillion socks- raw edge applique. We took our socks home to finish the top with our choice of arrangement and borders. I'm sorry, I can't remember who designed this pattern.


The sew day was at my house- that meant itty bitty scraps wound up in my trash. But not for long! I pulled them out, and made a bunch of scrappy abstracts, cut to 3.5 inch finished blocks.

I hung onto the blocks for a while, before deciding what to do with them.

Maybe with yellow to brighten them up?

Or with black for drama?

No, white won't work.

I'm liking this mustard yellow.

Or maybe tomato red...

I decided on little black frames for the "abstracts" along with the red. (Not as orange as this photo...)

I think I may hand quilt this- one more added to my tops-in-need-of-quilting collection!

Make it a wonderful day!

Art Club draws a few more...

We're still working on our Aboriginal inspired paintings. We had parent teacher conference days and the Thanksgiving holiday, so we didn't meet this past week-but I have a few more drawings to share with you.

This owl is in pen only. I love the way she filled the page, and created texture with her lines.

The eagle is pen and colored pencil. He did a nice job on his shading.

Love the cat's fur in this, using markers.

This feathered friend is rendered in colored pencil and pen.

I think these kids do such great work!