Tis the Season...

I did not get my hands on any crafts yesterday, aside from opening my spectacular package blogged about yesterday. Why, you ask? Because we finally put up our tree!

Some pictures (before I realized I should turn the tree lights on):

Some of my favorite ornaments:

Tree with COLORED LIGHTS on (note that I DESPISE colored lights, but this is my husband's tree from before we got married, so this will be our last year with colored lights. I like the ornaments shining and colorful, not the lights:

More favorite ornaments:

(the Christmas pickle)

(more owl!)

(our Jim Shore nativity)

(our little snow owls)

Notice that in the pictures of the Christmas Tree, there is no tree skirt or Christmas stockings.... hmm...I feel guilty about this. My husband will be away this weekend, maybe I will stay holed up in our apartment and get to work!

I really like these stockings @ Simplify blog.

xoxo
Lauren

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

For those of you who keep up with Ashley over at Film in the Fridge, I won!

She had a giveaway courtesy of the cutest Fabric & Yarn shop in Burlington, VT called Nido. It is my understanding that the store front has been open for a while now, but the shop just launched their online site. Ashley just announced that I am the lucky winner of a fat quarter bundle of Heather Ross's Far Far Away II fabric in the Meadow colorway. 


Guess what I got in the mail today? I bet you can't figure it out!

 (anyone who knows me, knows that I love love love love love owls, so I think that this fabric is soo cute!)

What to do with the wonderful fabric? No idea. It isn't quilting weight cotton, more of a home decor or weight or heavier linen fabric. So that takes a quilt right off the list for me. But what else is there? Maybe I will just reference the bucket list..... 

• Little girl dresses
• Little velcro pouches
• AMH's Multi-tasker tote (which I am hopefully getting for Christmas, hint hint)
• Stuffed owls
• Pillows for our spare room
• Make the ultimate wallet

The possibilities are endless. However, I have other items to finish first. I have about 1/2 of the mug rugs quilted and I need to finish a few projects (and Christmas presents) before I start up with anything else!


xoxo,


Lauren

As promised . . .

I hope that everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving. I am still full!

Here is an update to the Anna Maria Horner Good Folks double hourglass mug rugs (whew!) started here. 

The strips were pieced and ready to be cut into these beauties:

(waiting to be pressed before the final sewing)

  (all pressed)

(in the sewing queue)

 (8 fully pieced double hourglass blocks, measuring about 8.5 x 8.5)

Then, I trimmed up all of the blocks to measure about 8.25 x 8.25 inches:

 (Notice the change in pattern here? This was a major woopsie, but I ended up really liking it, so I may be doing a quilt using this pattern)

 

(Notice the SECOND change in pattern here? This was another "WTF, really Lauren?", but I ended up really liking it, so I may be doing a quilt using this pattern as well)

Then, I cut 9 pieces of batting to measure 9 x 9 inches (I used Warm and White 100% cotton batting):

Lastly, for today anyway, I basted the mug rugs. I used 4 pins per block and thought that was more than enough. For the backing, I used a 9 x 9 square of the Good Folks fabric on the front of the block. I forgot to get a picture of that, woops!:

Overall (so far):

I am happy with them so far. However, it does take a long time to get everything together when you are improv-ing. I should have planned better so that I only had to pull out the cutter once. I also think that I need to stop ironing so much. If I am having a quilting afternoon, I will literally have the iron on for 6 hours and be using it throughout. Maybe OCD?

What's next? Quilting and binding. I am going to practice stippling (meandering) because I have never used that stitch yet. The thought of it makes me start to sweat a little bit with fear. This should be interesting. I am also going to try machine binding. I think that these little mug rugs will be a great tool to try out stippling and machine binding. Hopefully I will have more to report soon!

xoxo

Gobble Gobble!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Because I am married this year, we have to start sharing holidays. So last weekend, my husband's family came to our apartment to celebrate Thanksgiving a week early. This involved me cooking my first turkey and an entire dinner (except the stuffing) from scratch.

Here is a picture of the gorgeous 22lb turkey:

The meal consisted of the following: a pretty turkey, mashed potatoes, stovetop stuffing (I literally cooked everything else from scratch but this), cranberry sauce, apple sauce, peas and onions, butternut squash, homemade butter rolls, and amazing gravy.

Now, on this Thanksgiving Day, we are headed to my grandfather's in Staten Island and ready for food fest #2 of the holiday.

xoxo

Wordless Wednesday

Or one sentence Wednesday? Needless to say, I am an accountant and I was in 20 hours of conferences recently.

I'll consider it a success

Remember when I mentioned that I taught a knitting class back here? Well, one of my students (my neighbor below me) showed me her completed work and I am sort of PROUD!
My neighbor Tara was at the knitting class and she was was one of the students that caught on quickly. This is her sheltie Riley who we a.d.o.r.e. I must say, he makes a spectacular scarf model:

 (his eyes really aren't that creepy, he is a gorgeous dog)

I hope to post more progress photos from my other students once I see their results. Oh, any my finished scarves whenever I get around to them.

xoxo