Knit One Quilt Too

So Many Santas

Okay, these are the last of the Santas (and elves and dwarves) for now!  First are the soft Santas that I've collected over the years.  I made the three on the right, but I think my favorite is the white one in the middle made from an old quilt.

This is my whole collection of these cross stitch Santa kits.  These are all done on perforated paper.  These appear to have been distributed by Yarn Tree, but the bottom two on the right were designed by Sandra Cozzolino for the first Olde Time Santa Ornament series.  There have been several more series since then and I guess that's where the rest came from.  All the other series were designed by Beth Johnson at Yarn Tree.  I can't find any photos of the rest of them online.  Sandy has continued to design similar Santa ornaments over the years and I was able to find a good collection of them from Mill Hill.  There's even an ebay store for these, so if you're interested you might want to check out Beading Betty.  I have to admit I'm seriously thinking about getting a few more of these kits.  They're so darn cute!

I almost forgot to show you our Christmas card this year.  I think this is the first year I've used Ryan's art for it.  He doesn't really do much art, so it's never come up before, but when I decided to use this plate design on a mini quilt (scroll down) for Ryan, this idea came to me as well.  I transferred his design to some easy cut block and spent a rather long time carving.  I was so pleased with these and I hope all who received them realize how rare they may be!

This has been a quiet week for me.  The kids had several play dates and sleepovers (for Chloe) and I didn't go anywhere at all until this evening when we went out to dinner.  It's been so nice!  We've also been getting quite a bit of snow lately and that's always a treat.  I've had lots of time to work on a project that I started 5 years ago!  Here's a sneak preview:

One of my goals for these next few weeks will be to work on some of the large projects that have been sitting around for a while (sometimes a rather long while!).  However, I had a post-holiday studio cleaning and couldn't help taking a look at a book that's fairly new, Art Quilt Workbook by Jane Davila and Elin Waterston.  I've had it for a while, but have just now really read through it.  There's so much in this one!  I think it's really worth the price.  I also just discovered that both artists have blogs.  Check them out at will.love.logic and Chary Sprouts. 

The book really energized me so I spent a little bit of time today playing around with batiks and I'm planning some fabric postcards for the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show's Wish Upon a Card this summer.  They will be collecting postcards to auction and sell for charity.  Last year they had 500 postcards donated and raised $6000.00 for a local charity.  This year they hope to get over 1000 postcards and will donate the money to Wendy's Wish Appeal, which is a charity in support of St. Charles Cancer Treatment Center.  I'll be starting my radiation treatments there in a couple of weeks.  If any of you have a chance to make postcards for this very worthy charity it would be great!  You can read my little tutorial from last year for some inspiration.

Speaking of the quilt show, if you are interested in entering the quilt block contest this year, the info can be found here.  Well, that's it for now.  I'll be back soon hopefully with some older finishes and some new inspiration!

A Handmade Christmas- Part 3

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope 2008 is the healthiest, happiest year yet!  I'm feeling great after my surgery which was done on an outpatient basis.  I took a nap after getting home and was able to join in for an evening with my parents.  They brought dinner over so it was perfect!  Thank you for the encouraging comments, they really mean a lot to me.

I thought I'd pop in with some of my Christmas knitting.  This was the super secret stuff I was working on.

First off the socks for my beloved.  As you can see they weren't quite finished in time for opening.  But I was able to finish them by the end of the day so I think that counts!  On his lap is another one of the handmade gift bags.  This is the Log Cabin Sock pattern from Handknit Holidays, knit with Rowanspun Aran.  I think the pattern is quite nice and would have been a much quicker knit if I didn't have to keep it secret.  Once I could work with everyone in the room it flew by!  And here they are at the end of the evening.

Here are Chloe's mittens, also unfinished.  These took a bit more time to finish, but were done two days later.  This is the Selbu Mitten from Folk Mittens, knit with Blue Sky Alpaca sport weight.  I liked these, but had a bit of trouble with getting the proper tension with the stranding.  The first mitten is a bit tighter than the second, though they both fit her fine.  I think I'd go with an overall pattern for a beginner rather than the snowflake pattern which has long sections of one color.

I have to thank Jan for her tips on these folk mittens.  She's got some lovely ones she's knitting up right now too.

I've already showed you Ryan's mittens but here's proof he liked them!

I got a last minute idea that I would try the Fiber Trends Felted Clogs again and make some for my mom.  These are knit with Cascade 220 and the newer pattern which is slightly narrower than the original.  I made the bumper on the bottom edge, but I don't think I would do that again.  I'm not sure I like how it looks.

This was the big present for my parents.  The tree is hand appliqued onto linen, then I embroidered the swirls and took some big quilt stitches around the shapes with size 12 perle cotton.  You might not see it so well, but the perle cotton is hand dyed and has some nice color variation.  I also did the button back so it's easy to take off for cleaning.  This is my own pattern.

In our family we have a gift system where one family gives to only one other each year.  This year we gave to my parents and my sister gave to us.  Cheryl of course had some lovely handmade gifts for us.  Chloe got this super cute kitchen set.  The apron is so sweet and it's even reversible.  She got some cookbooks with this as well to feed her passion for cooking.

This is the gift for Mark and me.  Isn't it amazing?  I love the large size and the uneven edges.  This will take center stage in our dining room.

 

I'm getting ready take some more Santa photos before they get packed away.  These next ones are soft Santas and the cross stitched Santa ornaments.

More Santas

It's been a very relaxing week here.  We spent the days after Christmas lolling around, reading, sledding and just generally taking it easy.  We are getting ready to pack Christmas away, but I have some last few Santas to show you before we do.  My favorite gift this Christmas is this Santa made by Chloe!  She carved it out of maple with a simple pen knife.  She got the piece of wood from the garage and was carving in secret.  If we'd known I would have recommended a softer wood.  Anyway, it's just marvelous and I was so surprised!  He fits right in with the other Santas.

This Santa is a gift from my sister-in-law and is wonderful for the quilt imagery.  He looks great with the collection.

We picked up this tall Santa at a craft fair this fall.  We met the artist and found out that these are made from huge cedar logs that wash up on the beach along Puget Sound.  The husband carves them and the wife does the painting. 

This is my favorite stocking of all the ones we have.  I started this for Ryan when I was pregnant, but finished it just in time for his first Christmas.  I have many cross stitch Santa and Tomten patterns, but this is the only one I've done.  Maybe I ought to make another one.

This is another one of my favorite gifts this year.  This is a hand painted cheese server that my sister sent me.  She didn't make it, but she bought it at a tiny shop in the San Bernardino Mountains.  My sister went back to the shop after the fires there in October and this shop was still standing while the lumber store next door had burned down!

Isn't this guy's beard marvelous?  I love it!

Tomorrow's a big day for me.  I'm having my lumpectomy surgery.  I hope to be back here within a few days.  Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care and Santa has come and gone.  May you have a joyfilled day with your families!

A Handmade Christmas- Part 2

A Very Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Macaroni Angel made by my mom.  These have suffered from attrition over the years.  I think this is the only one we have left.

Needlepoint snowman I made several years ago.  I finally got all the rest of them finished up this Christmas.  Several people have gotten these as gift tags this year and Chloe and Ryan will get one too. This one is mine to keep!

I made this orange and clove pomander at a homeschool gathering this month.

My sister made one of these for each of us last Christmas.  These are some of my favorite ornaments.  They sparkle so prettily in the sun.

A Handmade Christmas- Part 1

Secret Christmas knitting continues here, but I thought I'd show you some of my favorite handmade ornaments in the meantime.  While our tree is not exclusively decorated in handmade ornaments, the ones made by hand by loved ones as well as skilled artisans are some of my favorites.  Enjoy!

Cross stitched Santa on perforated paper, made by me.  I've made a bunch of these and hope to show you more.  The felt mitten was made by my mom.

This hand blown glass ornament was made by the artisans at Holy City Art Glass in Los Gatos, CA.  We lived in Los Gatos for many years and a holiday trip to watch the glass blowers was a highlight.  You can read about Holy City's fascinating history here.

I made this candlewick ornament when I was in college, many moons ago.

My mom made each of the kids one of these knitted gingerbread ornaments when they were little. 

My mom has made many crocheted angels over the years, but these colorful ones are my favorites.  There are also smaller ones.  Maybe I'll get a photo of one of them too.

Christmas treasures

We are the very lucky recipients of the Holiday Traditions exchange from Alisa.  I was overwhelmed when opening the box!  I hope our box for Alisa didn't underwhelm her!   Just look at the treasures we got.  First of all the lovely framed stitched quilt square.  Is that not the cutest!  I want to know how she did it and how it's framed.  Here's a closer look.

Alisa also sent these beautiful handmade journals and a great list of her family's holiday traditions.

She sent an added bonus, a box of goodies for making Artist Trading Cards!  Chloe and I love to make ATC's and this will be a wonderful addition to our supplies.  Thank you so much Alisa!  This swap was really fun to do.  I hope we can do it again next year!

 

Pecan Tassies for you

I seem to be making these a lot this Christmas.  Pecan Tassies make a great gift and work very well for potlucks too.  They taste like miniature pecan pies.

Dough:

• 1/2 c. butter
• 3 oz. cream cheese
• 1 c. flour

Filling:

• 2 T melted butter
• 3/4 c. brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 t vanilla
• 1 1/2 c. chopped pecans (walnuts will also work)

For the dough, beat the butter and cream cheese together.  Add the flour and mix well.  Wrap and chill the dough for at least an hour or overnight.  Shape the dough into 24 1" balls.  Place the balls of dough into the cups of an ungreased mini muffin pan (there should be 24 cups).  Shape them into tart shells by pushing the dough up the sides.  If you have a tart shaper that will work well.  You might also try rolling the dough out and cutting circles to place in the cups.  I would guess 3" circles would work, but I've never done it that way.  Combine the filling ingredients and fill the tart shells evenly.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Cathi in particular asked for this recipe, but others have expressed an interest as well.  My friend, Erin, who doesn't like corn syrup really loves these because they are made without it.  My traditional pecan pie recipe does have corn syrup.  I haven't tried it yet, but I've thought about making this into one large pecan tart.  Oh, and if you need to feed a crowd, definitely double the recipe.  These little babies go fast! 

Done and ready to mail

I got the second pouch done.  You might notice I forgot to cut the triangles off the corners.  Oh well, it works just as well this way.  The inside looks pretty much the same as the first.

Each of the girls is getting one of these snowman ornaments.  I stitched these years ago, but finally got around to finishing them a couple of days ago.

I also have knitted a few more votives for gifts.  I really love this blue one which was my swap gift for my homeschool group's Mom's Night Out holiday party on Sunday.  I'm still working away on a couple of super secret gifts.  Last night I spent getting our Christmas cards made.  Oh, they are so cute.  Photos to come soon.

A little Scrabble love at Christmastime

Just thought you might enjoy some photos I took of Scrabble yesterday.  He's wearing the Penny sweater from Knitty.  It's my own modification to make it in the round (don'tcha know I hate sewing up!).  He's sitting on a quilt my mom made us for Christmas a few years ago.   

To the right is one of my drawstring gift bags.  I made a few more the other day and had to go to Jo Ann's today to get some more ribbon for the drawstring.  Anyone interested in a tutorial for such a thing?  I don't know if my way is the most elegant, but it works for me and leaves no raw edges inside (is that the OCD in me coming out?).  Someone also asked about the pattern for the Little Felted Stockings.  I might do that as well, but I'm not sure when I'll get some time.  I'll let you know!

Scrabble wishes you a Very Merry Christmas and says, "Don't hate me for my long, luxurious eyelashes."