Sewing Room renovation

While the sewing room is undergoing repairs, I am updating some supplies.
Top basket is old striped pattern, bottom basket is the new updated version.

A lovely Surprise

Debbie who is a member of our monthly cottage swap sent her fabulous cottage along with a great and useful gift.
I like how all the members of our swap have kept their end of the deal and have made wonderful cottages. Debbie made her sky look like snow and all the other cottages also have unique sky's.
Well we only have 4 more cottages to go and we can put our blocks together.
Debbie also gifted me a lovely apron. I remember commenting when she made them earlier in the year and I am really happy that I have received one. The waist has a nice wide band which camouflage's my bodily imperfections.
I needed a Christmas apron since I only have a summer and thanksgiving one.
So, the apron will be put to use real soon.

Our Christmas tree and a blog prize

Finally the house is decorated. I actually did not go overboard this year so as to not stress myself with the clean up process. I actually purged some things which was nice.
Yesterday I received a blog prize from Amanda
It is a Canadian quilting magazine and I look forward to reading it soon. I asked Amanda if she would send me some small scraps for my hexie charm quilt and she sent me this cute bundle. Some of the fabrics in it are from her grandmother. So now my charm quilt will have fabric from Canada. Yay!
Thank you Amanda.

Another Finish-Kelly's gift

Completed the gift I received from Kelly.

Seasonal Tags

I picked these up at a local holiday craft show and though they are commercially made they kinda look like quilted postcards.
I am going to use them as quilt labels when I make something seasonal.
I would love to try to make these. They are cute.

Sewing Room renovation

This is what my sewing room looks like now.
As a Christmas gift my husband is remodeling the room with Koala cabinets and a brand new floor. Soon I will be able to have my three machines in one room instead of having to go to different areas of the house to sew , embroider and quilt.
I am so excited even though everything is now piled up in the guest room.
It is going to be nice just to be in one central location.

Cathedral Windows tote bag

I said I would make a Christmas tote bag and that I did.
Well this is one of the few I actually have in mind to make before the holidays..
This was not an easy bag to make and I actually had to finish it by hand since the thickness of it kept overloading my sewing machine engine and I broke off several needles.
A cathedral windows by nature is thick but making it into a bag had its challenges.
I could not box off the corners because I did not want to cut off the bottom cathedrals so the bag is not roomy but it is roomy enough to carry my school books.
I had to put the trim on by hand because it was too much thickness for my machine.
Overall I am pleased.
Though I felt that the handle should be a cathedral windows handle, I did not feel like cutting up more squares so I made a quilted handle like the ones I make for my other bags.

Day 1 of 25 days of Christmas

I have been working on these ornaments for the past few weeks for my daughter's first Christmas tree.
I even made some John Deere ones for her boyfriend.
Eileen gave me permission to post this tutorial so if you are interested click on her name for the link. They are definitely a lot of fun and I had to keep a few for our tree.

Advent swap received

My partner Shiree received the package I sent her. I can't believe how fast she got it. I sent it priority to New Zealand and she got it in less than a week. Now that was fast.
I forgot to take pictures because I really wanted her to get it in time and totally forgot about pics.
She was kind enough to post a pic so I could see everything wrapped up.
I am looking forward to receiving mine. Just 8 more days and all the advent swapper will be hopefully sharing their treats in blog world.
This swap was hosted by Fiona
I will be taking a blogging break until my package arrives so I can blog about the goodies I get. I will continue reading blogs though.
I have a few Christmas presents I need to get done so I do not have any new projects to share.
Happy Thanksgiving to all my cyber friends.

Giving Thanks

My daughter and I needed a Thanksgiving wall hanging.
I found this pattern in the "Heart to Art book called Acorn Hollow".
It was just a small mat size so I took it to school and enlarged it God Knows how big on my overhead projector. So it measures about 42x42.
You cannot see the stitchery in the center because of the bright light but it reads "Give Thanks".