Happy New Year

This has been a very busy year. Not so much with my art and business ventures but with house renovations, packing up the house and moving to Nova Scotia in October. Our house in NL sold in November and closed just before Christmas so that was one of the best gifts we could have received. Since the move, I have visited Espanola, Ontario and taught there at the Fibre Art Festival. Of course, the very best thing, we get to see our family all the time, as they are just a 10 minute car ride away!
 
I managed to get to a few stitch days during the year with friends but not as many as I wished.
Thanks for your friendship as it means a lot. Thank you for following my blog posts and to those who leave comments. I may not respond to all of them but they are read and appreciated.

My main goal for the new year is to have a fully functional studio where I can create new fibre art. I have some new yarns and I'm just itching to try them out! 

I wish you health, happiness, time with family and friends, and lots of fun in 2018!

From my house to yours:

Happy New Year! 

Ornaments

I have two new stained glass Christmas ornaments for my tree. These are Newfoundland Mummers. For those of you unfamiliar with mummering, check the link above.

My brother, Don, made these, as well as the cat with the Christmas Ball. The cat was made many years ago and is meant to hang in a window.

Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of you. I hope your Christmas and New Year is full of joy and laughter with family and friends.

Thanks for following my blog and reading / commenting on things that interest you. It is very much appreciated.

Today we put together a gingerbread house. After several flops, as icing was very soft and didn't stick the house together very well, it worked! Lots of sticky fingers but everyone had fun!

 

A Surprise!

It was my sister, Joan's birthday on the 18th. She certainly got a surprise gift from me, my hand embroidered / quilted 'Snow Happens'. It had caused me some frustration as I had difficulty with the blue blocks on the border and of course, I ranted about it last year to her. So when she opened her gift, she wrote right away: (we talked later that evening).

YOUR blue snowman embroidery!

I can't believe you gave that away - you did so much work on it - and actually I was thinking

about it a few days ago - how much I liked the blue embroidery and maybe after

Christmas I'd get a pattern and work on one!

Thank you soooo much - it's beautiful.

Isn't it nice to surprise someone!

Enjoy, Joan!!!

Christmas Trees

It has taken a week, but my Christmas tree is up and decorated. I had lots of help from my granddaughter, Gale, on Sunday. She also finished her smaller tree. It's suppose to go in her bedroom but this is as far as it got. 

Gale made some of her ornaments and also chose ornaments from the boxes. She selected most of the birds and a few cats! Like me, she loves glitter and had to have the silver tinsel garland. Needless to say, we had fun.

Gale's 4 foot tree

• Past posts referencing Christmas Trees HERE and HERE
• Feels Like Christmas Mug Rug 
• Stitched Christmas Trees   
• Plaid Tree Cross Stitch  More HERE on Pinterest  
• How to Crochet a Tree 
• No Sew Quilted Christmas Tree      

Enjoy!!
       

Finished Project

My Celtic Christmas Tree - in Sashiko, from Indigo Niche Designs, is finished. It was a relaxing project to stitch. I decided to mount my tree on a canvas instead of quilting it.

The pattern suggested adding beads to the finished tree. I used gold seed beads which don't show up in the photo. However, when the light shines on them, they sparkle. It was worth the extra effort of stitching them on as I like sparkle!

Enjoy!

 

Happy is Hand Made!!!

The only tree we have up yet is the small tree I use at shows. It's covered in Shimmers! The main tree will be put up later this week.

There's still time to make a few Christmas Ornaments. Check these out:

• Felted Christmas Ornament  (Try out other shapes using this method)
• Woven Hexie Ornament 
• Felt and Pine Cone Elves 
• Easy Ornaments (lots there)
• Interesting Tree Mobile  
• Hand Made Ornaments (scroll down)   
• Fabric Origami Ornament Tutorial 
• Reindeer Ornament         

Happy Crafting! There's still time.
Enjoy . . .

        

London-Wul Fibre Arts Studio

Usually by this time of the year, I would have created a whole bunch of new Fibre Lace Scarves for the two fairs I attend in St. John's, NL. Because of our recent move to Nova Scotia, all that was put on hold. I have spent four weekends checking out the various Christmas Fairs in Halifax and thinking about what I might like to do next year.

However, my mind is still in planning mode. I have been visiting yarn and fabric shops as I never know what might trigger an idea. A couple of weekends ago, I visited London-Wul Fibre Arts Studio which just opened in Mahone Bay. This store and studio is owned by Heidi Wulfraat of Woolworks Studio. If you are interested in yarns, fibre and fabrics (small collection), then this is a definite destination to make in Mahone Bay.

Here's what caught my eye and is now added to my ever growing collection of yarns:

These will eventually be used in Fibre Lace Scarves, Needle Felted Pendants and Needle Felted Ornaments.

Enjoy!

Crazy Quilted Post Card

As I posted on November 27, I won a gorgeous crazy quilted postcard from Magpie's Mumblings. It arrived a few days ago and is lovely. The button embellishments are quite tiny and the beaded stocking is very dainty. Thanks again, Mary Anne.

• Crazy Quilted Christmas on Pinterest HERE.   
• Christmas Crazy Quilt  
• Christmas Stocking  
• U Tube how to sew a Crazy Quilted Stocking 
• Crazy Quilt Embroidery Stitches  
• Crazy Quilting at Needle 'N Thread       
• Tutorial from Pin Tangle  

I also added Sharon Boggon's Visual Guild to Crazy Quilting, to my library.  In this book, Learn crazy-quilting techniques with colorful photos that show every detail. Sharon combines fabric, embellishments, and 35 stitches as well as endless variations of these stitches to create stunning crazy quilts. This is a 'must have' if you like making crazy quilted projects.

Enjoy!1