Retreat?? YES!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and enjoyed time with family and friends!!  I'm ready to get to work once again.  But as they say, all work and no play makes us all a little crazy, or something to that affect. 

Speaking of Crazy, Emily from Crazy Old Ladies is holding her very first retreat!!  Super Cool, right?  Go on over to her blog and see where this fun filled weekend will be held and get all the details. 

Here's the lodge were the retreat will be take place.

Super gorgeous!!!

There is limited space, so sign up quick if you plan on attending.

Chat with ya'll later

Happy Holidays!

It's almost a wrap

Rolls, rolls, rolls, package boxes and bows!!!! 

I have to wrap!!!!  Am I the only one?  Some friends of mine don't have their shopping done yet, so I'm a little ahead, but not much.  So the declaration today is:

The wrapping will begin! 

 I know, Christmas is only a few days away.  I may have to hire some elves to help me get this all done. Then hire some other elves to help with more baking.

For some reason all the cookies we had, have disappeared...hmm?

Good luck to us all on these last few prep days before Christmas.

Happy Holidays!!!!

Quiltmaker Count Down to Christmas

Welcome Blog Hoppers!!! 

Thanks for joining me on this "Count Down to Christmas"

with Quiltmaker.

Do you need a quick, easy gift for a friend?

I came up with something for you!

Here's what I started with

I pulled some scraps from my stash and decided to make something fast,

 festive and fun.

This is what the scraps turned into.

Mug Rugs!!!!

I was only going to make one....but I got carried away, which by the way

is easy to do when you're sewing, right??

The more the merrier!

Each Mug Rug is 6 1/2" square, so they're just the perfect size.

And since you know I love fusible applique,

I used my pattern "Santa Claus Lane" and shrunk the images

to size I needed to fit the background pieces.

To make the light bulb, you need

1 - 5 1/2" background square

12 - 1 7/8" squares for half-square-triangles (they finish 1 1/2")  --you will have one left over.

1- 3 1/2" square of red for the light bulb

 a scrap of green for light end

Steam-A-Seam fusible webbing

I did some real simple quilting on the border and in the light bulb.

I think you can give this to a friend with a fun mug and cute tag saying something like:

"You're an inspiration to me"  or

"Thanks for lighting up my life with your fun personality" 

Now for Rudolph, you need

1 - 5 1/2 background square

11 - 1 1/2" squares for borders, reds and greens

brown, tan, red and green scraps for your reindeer

one tiny red button

Steam-A-Seam fusible webbing

For the quilting, I stitched in the ditch and echoed around the reindeer.

Add a mug or a pack of your favorite hot chocolate (yummy!)

with a tag that reads:

"You're one in a million" or

"You're Deer to my heart, thanks for being a great friend"

Candy Cane is last on the list, so here's what you need:

1 - 4 1/2" x 6 1/2" background piece

4 - 3" squares for the crazy four-patch (you will have one 4 patch left over)

red, white and green scraps for the candy cane

one tiny red button

Steam-A-Seam fusible webbing

I used red thread and quilted around in the candy cane as you can see.  I also did

some stitch in the ditch on the crazy four patch blocks.

On the gift tag for this one you could put something like:

"Thanks for being such a sweet friend"

It was so much fun making these, I feel the need to make more.....we'll see.

Thanks for stopping by

Don't forget to check out the give away at Quiltmakers

Have a very Merry Christmas

Happy Holidays!!!

Christmas Poem

The Day of Christmas

 

‘Twas the day of Christmas and all through the house

 All the creatures were stirring, even the mouse.

To get to their toys after a year of waiting

A year of being good and not ever hating

They tore open presents with lots of cheer

That were delivered by Santa and his tiny reindeer

The boys screamed with glee at the loot they got

Me diving from dart guns to avoid being shot

The girls were much calmer, with make-up and dolls

The boys were still running and diving through halls

And now I’m regretting that I’d come up from bed

With all the kid’s clatter I just might be dead!

My wife just came down after resting some more

Still sleepy and tired, her limbs were all sore

The kids finally noticed her come down the stairs

Showing her presents, taking her unawares

Me and my wife finally settled them down

We were afraid there yelling will wake up the town 

Now we’re all singing carols round the Christmas tree

Another wonderful Christmas, I think sarcastically

Well, I guess this is it, another Christmas has past

364 days to go, I don’t think I will last!

This poem was written by my son for one of his school assignments.  I love it and thought I would share it with you.

Happy Holidays!!

Calendar winner!

Linda!! 

Congrats on winning the 2013 calendar. 

 It was fun to read the comments, it made me hungry for cookies, (which I still need to bake a ton of.)

Thanks to all who played and stopped by.

Enjoy your weekend

Happy Holidays!

 

Note: The "Hobbit" movie was fabulous by the way! My family and I went and really enjoyed the adventure.  We can't wait for part two.

Magic Bars

Warning: 

These are very dangerous cookies! 

You won't stop at one. 

Don't say I didn't warn you.

A must have for the holidays!!

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup melted butter

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup butterscotch chips

1 cup shredded coconut

1/2 cup chopped nuts - optional

1 can sweetened condensed milk

Mix crumbs and butter together and press in to bottom of a 13x9 pan.

Sprinkle chips and nuts evenly over crumbs.

Pour condensed milk evenly over chips and nuts.

Bake at 375' for 20-25 mins or until light golden brown.

Enjoy!!

I make these every year and they don't last long.  You can double the recipe and use a cookie sheet that's at least an inch deep. 

Happy Holidays to all!

 

Visit Mondays post and enter to win the

American Patchwork and Quilting 2013 calendar!

Need a gift???

Are you stuck on what to get that certain friend?  Here's an idea

How many of you have my Seasonal Skinnies patterns? 

Pick an image, change the setting, add more borders, etc to make a new quilt. 

Well, I did something fun with the "Cozy into Winter".  Sometimes we need to think out of the box.  I shrank the images and created this mini quilt.

It fits perfectly on the Ackfeld wire table stand.  

What a easy Christmas present for someone on your list.  

Recipe: 

Shrink the images 60%. 

The background is cut 8 1/2" x 10 1/2". 

 Find some fun scraps for the hat and mittens. 

 You need 2 - 2 1/2" strips for the border and 2 for the binding. 

I did some very simple machine quilting, added some trim, a button and Voila! 

Tell me about your ideas

Merry Christmas!!

Count down to Christmas still going

I'm making my list and checking it twice, still have tons to do. 

Check off -- Christmas shopping, done!!

I love to shop for Christmas, picking out just the right gift for everyone on my list.  This year found some amazing deals and got just about everything on great sales.

Next on my list of things to do is... wrap, sew, bake (there's always more baking to do) and enjoy this wonderful time of year!

 

Don't forget to comment on Monday's post, you could

win the 2013 American Patchwork & Quilting calendar

 

Happy Holidays!

American Patchwork and Quilting 2013 Calendar

Extra! Extra! Read all about it

The 2013 Calendars are here!!!!! 

The Better Homes and Garden

American Patchwork and Quilting

Calendars

 Hot off the press, and they are fabulous!

12 great new quilt patterns all in one calendar,

 It's pretty sweet deal

I'm privileged to be part of this collection of quilters for this calendar too.

(So I guess I'm a "Calendar Girl" now, grin)

- This is the back cover -

 

There I am in the top left corner, Yes, June that's me!!!

The whole quilt, this was my first quilt in batiks.  I really loved working

with them too.  

OK, Who would like one of these calendars for Christmas?

 

***That's right it's give away time***

To win a copy of this calendar just do 2 simple things

#1 - leave one comment on what your favorite Christmas cookie is

#2  - be a follower, if you're not become one.

(please leave only one comment)

 My favorite Christmas cookie is Gingerbread man.

 

I'll randomly choose a winner on Friday, Dec 14th

Best of luck to all and to all a good night!

Candy Craze

Candy galore!

When I was young, every year we would make a "Candy House" at Christmas time.  It was never out of gingerbread, it was made out of wood.  My grandpa made a wood house for us and my mom would cover it with white frosting,

then all six of use would go candy crazy.

We would use candy corns, peppermints, M&M's, red hots, orange slices, gumdrops, hard butterscotch rounds, plus many more types of sugary sweets.  It's a great childhood memory so I try to carry on the tradition with my kids.  My dad has made me a wood house for us to use for our Candy House.  If you haven't done a candy house yet this year, well, this weekend would be a great time to do one.

Here's some fun pix I found to help inspire us.

now this is Candy World! I'm getting a cavity just drooling, I mean looking at this. Yikes!  it's soooo amazing! 

Go for the simple.... with graham crackers

 

or not.

If you're not into candy, try a felt version candy house.

keeping it simple.

However you make one, have fun!!

Happy Holidays!

Christmas Countdown Quilts

You can never have enough quilts!  Am I right?  So here are few of my Christmas quilts that I have made over the pass couple of years.

Happy Holidays!!!!

Show and Tell

Christmas Countdown Show and Tell

Crackled Ornaments!!

Here's a super easy way to use up some scraps that you might have around.  These fabrics are scraps leftover from my quilt "Christmas Sox".  I'm going to finish these blocks into pillows with a red rick rack edge.  I can't wait to get them done, I just ran out of time yesterday.  The background is a 15" square.  The circle is 10" diameter, (I use a large Tupperware bowl for my circles.)  Just sew strips together at different angles, fuse them to your background, blanket stitch around the

entire image and there you have it.

So what are you working on today?

Happy Holidays!

Let the Baking Begin

One of my favorite parts of the Christmas season is the baking.  It smells sooo good, all those yummy treats baking away. 

So today I will share one of our favorite recipes with you.

Pumpkin Bread

This will make three large loaves

In large mixing bowl add:

2 cups butter

3 cups sugar

1 - 29 oz can of solid packed pumpkin

6 eggs

3 tsp vanilla

Mix all together until well blended

Add:

3 tsp baking powder

3 tsp cinnamon

3 tsp baking soda

1 tsp allspice

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cloves

4 1/2 cups flour

Mix until smooth.  Note: you can add 1 cup of chocolate chips if you desire.  Pour into 3 greased loaf pans.  Bake at 350' for  40-50 mins.  Cool slightly then remove from pans.  Cool completely.  Store in gallon size Ziploc bags.  Freezes great.

Enjoy!!

 

 





Lights, Lights, Lights!

Deck the Halls and Spruce up the walls - DONE

Next on the list of things to do.....

is put up the lights outside for more Christmas Cheer.

(That is after I un-tangle the box of lights)

 

Christmas is coming...

To start the season with a BANG!, I thought we would do a

"Count Down to Christmas".

  Everyday or so I will post something about the holiday, what I'm doing to get ready, kind of a bucket list.   The first one is (finally):

1. Deck the Halls!!! 

I normally have it done on Thanksgiving weekend, but it didn't happen this year.  While driving around I see all those Christmas trees in windows and wreaths on doors and feel boy am I behind, but not after today.

This is what it looks like before I start, and that's not even the tree!

Happy Holidays!!!