a merry christmas

  I wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I am taking a little blog break to spend time with family, create a little, and recharge for the new year. Thank you for your sweet love, inspiration, friendship, and support this year! You have truly blessed me! Wishing you a most lovely holiday season! See you in 2013! 

"But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord..."Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rest." Luke 2:10,11,14

quiet...

christmas hexies and quilt

Happy Sweet Friday!!

Hope that you have had a lovely week, and are enjoying this Christmas and holiday season! I have been working away on some projects this week and hoping to get them all done before Christmas. I do love creating handmade pretties this time of year!

One little project that I am almost finished with are these Christmas hexies. I used some of my favorite red and green 30's reproduction fabrics, and just love the vintage feel the prints gave them! 

 They will be made into coasters, and I have been wanting to make some for awhile, so what better time than now. I just need to sew some batting and felt to the bottom, and they will be ready to bring some prettiness to Christmas.

The sun came out a little bit today to take some photos of my Christmas quilt. I used a charm pack of the sweet Cherry Christmas by Aneela Hoey and bordered it with the two grey fabrics from the line. I do love that pretty grey!! ;) 

For the quilting, I tied it with white yarn, but when I washed and dried it, the yarn frizzed like crazy. So, I had to remove the yarn, and tie it with white embroidery floss. Have you every tied a quilt? What yarn or thread do you like using?

 Another sweet Christmas quilt ready to bring some warmth to those cold nights!

Last week I was a lucky winner of these adorable miniature pink and aqua Shiny Brite ornaments from the most lovely Jean of Ruby and Arthur!! 

Aren't they so beautiful and cute!! I can't wait to add them to my small tinsel tree! Thank you so much Jean!

Wishing you all a blessed and joyful weekend!!

good-lite

Happy Wednesday!

This week has been quite busy, and I can't believe how close we are to Christmas! I truly love this time of year, and only wish it went a little slower. I finished my Christmas quilt last night, and when I wanted to take photos of it this morning, it was dark and rainy outside. So, hopefully the sun will shine later this week for me to take a few to show you. 

Awhile back I bought this sweet Good-Lite Christmas light set at an estate sale. When taking out my Christmas goodies to decorate, I thought I would plug them in and see if they worked! Well...

 They do!! So neat! It is a small strand of 6 pretty bulbs that I hung on my vintage coat rack. 

 They only get turned on for a few minutes when I want to look at them, because I don't trust leaving them on all day. They do make me so happy, and wishing I had more! 

If you are still shopping for last minute gifts, I am having a little Christmas sale in my shoppe before I take a break for the holidays!!

Wishing you all a cozy and creative day!!

I am linking up with the sweet Sue of It's A Very Cherry World for Rednesday! Head over to see more Christmas reds! 

christmas carols and the simple life

Happy Friday!

 Awhile back at an estate sale I bought this vintage Christmas carol booklet. I just fell in love with that adorable santa and that pretty holly font. There is something about 50's fonts and graphics that I adore!

It was published in 1953, and I am thinking these were maybe given out to customers at the Security-First National Banks? How neat would that have been!

 A few months ago I saw this tutorial from the Dutch Sisters on how to crochet pretty scallops around Christmas cards. I have been meaning to try it, so when getting all my Christmas decorations out, and some inspiration from my dear friend Gina who was going to make some with cards, I thought these sweet carols would be perfect. 

I intended to do a pretty garland with them, but have decided to make them as gifts for Christmas. I still need finish making a hanging loop for each them, and if I have any left over, I still might make a Christmas Carol garland. How lovely would that be!

 I copied the carols onto heavy card stock, and then followed the directions from the Dutch Sisters. If you would like to give a try, you can print this carol and just follow the tutorial. They are so pretty when finished, and would even look cute as ornaments, too! 

 A few months ago I was working on a couple of secret projects and I am so excited to share them with you today! In September, Tasha from A Little Sweetness came out with her adorable line of fabric called The Simple Life. She had sweetly emailed me asking if I would be interested in making a couple of items to be displayed at the fall quilt market using her new fabrics and embroidery patterns. It was definitely an easy, yes!! I was beyond thrilled and so honored to do it!! 

The first project I made was a mini quilt using her embroidery pattern called, "Laundry Day".  I did a little hand quilting and adorned it with soft pink crocheted scallops. I adore the redwork, and it was actually my first time doing a pattern all in red. I loved how it came out! 

The next project was a pretty apple pillow, like the one I made for fall from the Bustle and Sew e-magazine. Tasha's fabrics were the perfect match for those sweet apples!!

 I had such a fun time creating these two projects and it was so neat to see them being displayed at her beautiful booth, which you can see some photos here. Also, to see more of Tasha's sweet patterns and illustrations make sure you head over to her etsy shoppe and blog! Thank you Tasha for giving me this amazing opportunity! :)

Wishing you a most lovely and creative weekend!! 

the golden magazine-christmas annual

 Thank you for your sweet comments on my Christmas quilt, and I am so glad you are enjoying the vintage recipes, as much as I am! 

Awhile back at an estate sale I bought this sweet magazine. The Golden Magazine-Christmas Annual published in 1966. It has such adorable graphics. 

Here is one page that I thought was cute. Can you find the mistakes? This poor family is really confused on the holiday ;) I'll show you some more pages later this week! 

 I made some pretty Christmas pom pom flowers. They are always so fun to make and just add a sweet handmade touch to a room.

A couple Christmas pillows I made last year. The dresden flower one is where my love for dresden's all started! ;) 

 I just finished making these simple, but cheery pillows. They may eventually get some crocheted scallops, but that will have to wait for now. The calico triangle one was an unfinished quilt block from an estate sale, and it reminded me of Christmas, so I added some red and white polka dot fabric and made it into a pillow. 

And, that cute Santa had to make his way into a patchwork pillow with some vintage eyelet lace. 

The beginning of another Christmas quilt. I have had this charm pack sitting around for a while, so I started sewing those pretty squares together yesterday. I am planning on doing a small patchwork tied quilt like this one I made. These are becoming my favorite type of quilts to make! 

The Christmas tree is up and decorated with all the vintage ornaments that I have collected this year. It is fun to think how many Christmas' these ornaments have been through, and I am so happy to make them part of my decorating. 

We have a small tree this year and I have always wanted to put it in a bucket. So, I piled some rocks inside and put the tree in with water. I was a little nervous it wouldn't hold up, but so far it is doing great! Yay! I think it looks too cute in it! And, added to my vintage ornament collection, a sparkly heart ornament made by a talented and dear friend, Renee of My Vintage Mending! So beautiful it is!! 

Wishing you all a most lovely and joyful day! 

a vintage recipe and christmas quilt

Happy Monday!

To sweeten up your week here is a vintage recipe for a Walnut One Egg Cake. Sounds tasty, especially with the lemon filling and icing! I think it would be good to add candied walnuts to the top of the cake after you put the icing on. Enjoy!

Last year in learning to quilt, I made this pretty Christmas one. This was my second quilt that I had made, and it was a fun process, but I was more than happy when it was finished! (sorry for the blurring photos, but it was windy today.)

 I choose some lovely Christmas prints and used this pattern from Cluck Cluck Sew. 

 When it was all pieced together, I choose to do free motion quilting. Once I finished quilting it, I swore that I would never do that again on larger quilts or until I have the proper space. It was quite an adventure. It is not perfect, but I am happy with how it turned out. 

 One of my favorite parts of the quilt is the backing! Love all the sweet wintry pink and red owls!

Isn't that Santa so cute!! ;) I just made a pillow for my couch using a piece that I had left over from the quilt, which I will have to show you later with my other Christmas pillows. 

Well, hope that you all have a beautiful and creative week!