Secret Santa.... fooled you!

I must admit, Christmas is my favourite holiday! I am such a big fan of Santa. He's my all time favourite!

I would like to share with you some of the goodies I received in the mail. My Secret Santa present came in the beginning of December. It came as a total surprise. I must tell you a funny story regarding my secret Santa package.

I have a very good friend by the name of Cheryl who lives in Oz. She often sends me packages throughout the year. She is such a generous and kind soul. So, in the beginning of December, the postman delivers a large envelop from Oz. I can always tell an Oz parcel due the colour and design of the package.

Dd says to me "you've got a package from Cheryl! Can I open it?" I remembered Cheryl writing that she would be sending a package and not to let dd look at it because her Christmas gifts will be in there. So, I told DD no, I'll take care of it.

I look at the front of the envelop, hum..... strange it's not Cheryl's usual signature. Okay, I figure she probably had someone else go to the post office for her.

So, I proceed to open the envelop and pull out this cute little pouch with a bag of Koala caramellos and some papers underneath! Oh, no photos of the koala caramello, they're all gone! Yum, yum, they were delicious!

Hum.... by now I'm pretty puzzled! I can't seem to figure this one out!

I turn over to the papers to see what the heck Cheryl is up too!

So I glance at the picture sheet that was enclosed and say to myself "Gosh, Cheryl's garden is strange, so different from what she's been showing me. Hum...... okay read the letter for more clues.

Click it all falls into place. I started laughing!

The package was not from Cheryl but from my Secret Santa!

In the fabric pouch was this cute little ornament!

I love Santa! Okay, so I'm repeating myself! lol

And..... this beautiful table runner!

Gosh, I was so clueless! I never expected that my Secret Santa would be from Oz.

Thank you again Dale from Oz for the wonderful gifts. And thank you once more Donna for doing this!

Merry Christmas everyone!

I'm back with lots of little goodies!

We made it back from Massachusetts! We drove back in fog that was as thick as Pea soup! Thankfully it subsided as we drove out of New Hampshire!

The Yankee swap was a blast! I have attached a link for those who would like a bit more information about the game.

I feel I made out like a bandit! I was number 10 (ten), out of 11 (eleven) people. Of course number 1 (one) is the best number but 10 (ten) isn't too shabby!

Here are my little goodies! Don't you just love that little guy?

He's technically called a USB HUB MAN. He's the cutest little guy and so functional! He gives me 4 (four) more USB ports! No more reaching in the back of my laptop.

The bright object on the left is an "Office Glitter Rocket", a sort of lava lamp that connects to your computer. It plugs into a USB port, so my little guy takes care of him.

The Glitter Rocket sort of reminds me of a disco ball but in miniature! lol It's actually relaxing to look at!

I also had an opportunity to go shopping at my favourite quilt shop, The quilted Crow.

I fell in love with these fabrics. They are so delicious!

The large print is from Purely Provence created by Renee Nanneman of Need'l of Love.

The picture really doesn't do it justice to the fabric's beauty. The colours are so rich! Oh, and so nice to fondle! ;o)

I do have a project in mind for these that I will share with you when I'm more organized. I feel the need to complete something before I tackle a new project! Perhaps this will be a great motivator! lol

I also bought these little goodies!

I purchased the charm pack Urban Indigo a fabric line from Fig Tree Quilts to use as a guide for a quilt that I would like to to make from a book by Acorn Quilt and Gift Company - Comfort & Joy. Darlene tempted me last summer! So many quilts I would like to make out of that book! I never get tired of looking at the pictures!

Yes, it's another hand embroidery pattern and I confess I'm hooked on embroidery!

Speaking of embroidery, I have finished one of the panels for French Cottage Garden quilt. I decided to leave my mum's embroidery stitches! I really had to tame the perfectionist in me! My mom even suggested that I rip them out and I said "no way, they're staying". I want to give historians something to ponder! ;o)

Wow, this turned out to be a long post! Thank you for stopping by! Have a great day!

I'm off to see the wizard!

It sounds much better than "I'm off to Massachusetts", don't you think?

Today, we are leaving for Littleton to celebrate an early holiday with Stephen's family. I'm sure many you can guess what the French benefits are to this visit! Yes mam, to The Quilted Crow I go!

Which reminds me, I do have my gift certificate to spend! Yahooooo! I cannot forget that, can I?

I will also plan a visit to Candelite Quilt Shop in Chelmsford. They have a great selection of odds and ends for gift giving. I have been informed by my quilting bee buddies that we quilters celebrate Christmas on January 25th. So, that means I have plenty of time to purchase my gifts.

Speaking of gifts, Stephen's family is having a Yankee Swap. So this is the label I made for the gift.

I would show you the gift however, I do not know if my in-laws stalk my blog. You just never know with family members. They always tend to sneak up on you when you least expect it! lol

I have also made the same gift for some dear friends of mine. Nothing works more efficiently than a production line! ;o) lol I do plan on mailing those out after the holiday rush. Besides, quilter's Christmas is January 25th, right?

Some of you have inquired regarding that little Santa quilt under the pin cushions. I made that in 1998! The pattern is from a Debbie Mumm booklet called The Magic of Santa. Unfortunately, it is no longer in print. I had forgotten about that one! I have made another project from that booklet! I guess you can see it's been a good investment! lol

For inquiring minds, the black and white picture was taken in 1991 in a park on Gouin boulevard in Montreal. I used infrared film. I have worked tremendously with that film and just love the effect it gives. That's my little sister! We had gone for a walk in the park! Of course, it was in the days when I never left home without my camera. Gosh I miss it!

Thank you for stopping by! I just love reading what you all have to say! Have a great weekend everyone!

Pincushion invasion!

I thought I would finally "jump in" and make pincushions as holiday gifts. I have seen some really sweet one's on Wendy's blog and thought I would be a copy cat and make some myself.

I used my Bernina Embroidery software to design these little gems.

I took the opportunity to experiment with the software. It was fun to try and come up with various embroidery designs that would be suitable for this project. Lots of learning was going on today!

DD fell in love with the lady bug one!

I decided to forgo the yoyos and use some buttons from my collection. I have never made yoyos and with all the learning going on today, I didn't need another challenge! lol

The stuffing used is either recycled wool or cotton batting. There's nothing like creating with the environment in mind! ;o)

For this pincushion I used walnut shells as the filling, or as the pet store calls it "Bird Litter". lol

Darlene had recommended this product a while back. This is what she uses in her pincushions. The oil from the shells conditions the needles.

I did not like how it looked with the wrapped thread. I had a difficult time obtaining a firm cushion. The lack of filling was probably the cause of funky look! So I settled for just buttons as embellishment!


Thank you for stopping by! Your comments are always a joy to read!

Lack of mojo!

Hello, remember me? I'm the one that's been neglecting my blog. I just cannot seem to get back in the groove of things. This morning, after I read an e-mail from Pam, it dawned on me what one of my problems might be.

She said "I have so many things I'd like to do but everything seems to be so disorganized right now that when I go into my sewing room I just look around in awe at what a hodge podge it is and then do nothing! Maybe I need to get that Mark Lipinski magazine and get myself sorted out - LOL!! " You and me both girlfriend!

So, after reading Pam's e-mail I walked into my sewing room and this is what greeted me!

What a disorganized mess!

Sadly, I cannot even blame it on being creative!

If that wasn't messy enough for you, to avoid any embarrassment, I took the picture after I folded the two (2) loads of laundry, one was on my cutting table (if you can believe it) and the other on the dryer (not pictured).

Here's another picture from the opposite corner of the room!

Messy, messy!

So guess what I'll be doing today? I'm on a mission of major cleaning and organizing! I've got to get my creative mojo up and running again! So many projects I want to finish!

I mean, the Winter Sentry is not even finished yet! I ran out of thread and could not find it at my LQS. Prior to making an order on-line, I always look at my supply to see what else needs re-stocking and guess what? Yes, another spool of yellow 961, the one I needed, was found in the disorganized thread box! Need I say more?

So I think I'll take Darlene's suggestion and buy my copy of Quilter's Home Magazine. It doesn't appear that my subscription will start in December!

Have a great day everyone!