Can't see the forest for the Trees...

Hey everybody,has your week flown by too?  Have you started to think about your Christmas Card List yet?  Well if you haven't,I have a super cute idea for you!  This would be a great memory making project for you and the kids/grandkids.

All you will need are 4 items/supplies to craft up some homemade Christmas cards!  You could do anything from trees,snowmen,santa,stars,bells,gingerbread men,or any other Christmas shape you can think of.

Supplies needed:

• card stock
• glue/glue sticks
• pinking sheers
• scraps of Christmas fabric

Fold your card stock in half,or if you would like smaller cards,you could cut it in half first,and then fold each piece in half.  Then let the kids/your imagination go :)

My cards are all trees,because the scraps used were all triangle-ish shapes.  As I am sure you have noticed,they are also all wonky trees,or you could call them Charlie Brown Trees :)  Yes,I planed it that way,since nothing in this world is ever really "perfect".

A close up for you!  With Christmas Break/vacation coming up,you will be having to think of projects to keep the kids busy.  I would love to see your handmade Christmas cards :)

Meet the PineCones

Hope everyone had a great ThanksGiving and weekend too!  Not talking about that Black Day...

Early this fall,when Mr. P and I went to checkout the turning Aspens,I picked up some pinecones at one of the places where we stopped and got out.  These guys are so ugly they are cute :)  Their hats are the corners of some bags/totes that were made this summer,the eyes and noses are buttons from my stash!  I still have about this many more to make up yet,and since they do not want to stand up very well,they will probably get hung on the tree.

I also made up a few lanyards this weekend,the package of hardware had enough to make 25,so there will be more of these in the future.  They are really pretty quick and fun to make up.

This little stack is a sneak peak of something that is in progress at the moment...more on that soon!  Hope you have your craft on,as Christmas is fast approaching!!!

I am Thankful.....

I am Thankful for...

• A family ~ that loves me for who I am :)
• My friends ~ some of whom also happen to be my family,and some who are virtual :)
• our Troops ~ Who provide for our  Freedoms Every Single DAY
• my God given Talents 

There are a L O T of other things I am Thankful for like,a roof over my head,a job to pay the bills with,and buy fabric with!  Food on my table,clothes on my back,a car to get me from point A to point B.  Eyes to see the beauty of the world with,hands to sew things with,and the sewing machine to help me make those things.

My little furry friend Midas,who loves me unconditionally,even if I spend hours on end sewing,instead of petting him.

For all of you my followers,who make me smile daily with your Sweet comments :)  The list goes on and on,but I won't bore you  with a post a mile long.

May your ThanksGiving be filled with friends and family ~ May you Remember Today and Everyday all the Blessings that have been bestowed on you.

Mini Flying Geese Block tutorial

Recently I posted about my baby geese row.  While I was making/sewing my row I took some photos for a tutorial...

These blocks are a great scrap buster!  You will need to different squares,which will give you a total of 4 mini geese blocks.  Your first square needs to measure 3 3/4 inches square ~ your second block needs to measure 3 1/4 inches square.

I hope you do not get confused,as I used a lot of different prints in this tutorial,since I was making my geese.  So if I end up confusing you,I am sorry... but feel free to ask questions if you need to.

We will be marking stitching lines on the larger square (the 3 3/4 inch square).  The smaller square will not need stitching lines.  If you have a 1/2 inch ruler,center it diagonally on the wrong side of the square.  Now mark a line with a pencil or fabric marking pen,on either side of the ruler.

If you do not have a 1/2 inch ruler,use a quilting ruler to mark a line down the center from corner to corner.  Next mark a line 1/4 inch out from the center line.  Do this on both sides of the center line.  So instead of having two lines like I do in the photo above,you will have three lines.

Rotate your block and repeat the above step.  Again if you are not using a 1/2 inch ruler,you will have three lines on the backside of your square.

Now that we have marked our stitching lines,we will be cutting our square into 4 smaller squares.  First we will cut the square exactly in half.  So measure in 1 7/8 from one side and cut the square in half.  Now you will have two rectangles that measure 1 7/8 x 3 3/4 inches.  Note that my smaller square is still untouched.  We will be using it shortly.

Now take your two rectangles and cut them in half,measure in 1 7/8 inches and cut.  Now you should have four (4) 1 7/8 inch squares.

Now,we are ready to use the smaller square.  Take two of the 1 7/8 inch squares and place them right sides together.  Just like in the photo above.  Making sure to line up the stitching lines (they will overlap a little at the center)  Sew on the lines you marked,which are a 1/4 inch away from the center on each side.

This photo shows the stitching and placement of the squares much better.

Cut right down the middle in between your stitching lines.  If you drew three lines then just cut on the center line :)

Press each half towards the two little triangles,just like in the above photo.

Take another one of your 1 7/8 inch squares and place it like this,right sides together on each of your two pieces.  You will again be sewing on the lines you marked previously.

In this photo,you can see my stitching,on the lines I drew earlier.  Now repeat the steps from above.  Cut down the center of the block,or on the center line if you drew one,and press towards the triangle.  You should now have 4 mini/baby geese blocks!

Sew a bunch of these little guys together to make a strip like this.  You can use them in whatever project suits your fancy :)    Hope you were able to follow along,and I didn't confuse you too much!

Christmas Coasters

Hey all,hope you had a super Sweet weekend :)  I managed to get caught back up on my rows (see the previous post) and get in a little Christmas sewing too!

Here are three sets of 4 Christmas coasters made from Charms out of a Blitzen Charm Pack,that I picked up while on vacation this summer!  The plan was to get four sets done,however since someone had to cook dinner,and make cookies.....

Instead of just having a plain ole charm square coaster,I decided to cut out a small tree shape and machine applique it to the front of each coaster :)  They look pretty modern,if I do say so myself!  On the back side (sorry forgot to take a photo) you can see the cute shape of the tree.

All stacked up and ready to go!  Where you ask?  Well first,they are off to Clare's Craftroom to hang out at the Under the Christmas Tree Linky party,from there they will be going over to the Linky Party Sew Darn Crafty Lastly they will be listed in my etsy shop (which you can visit via the button on my side bar).

Speaking of party's I am off to visit some party links and see what everyone has been up to!  Have a great week ahead :)

I have something to "Crow"about (pun intended)

Hey all,hope you are having a sewing weekend :)  Mr. P had to work half a day today,so,I went to sew first thing this morning!  The project at hand was row #6 for the Bee in my Bonnet Row Along

Can I interest you in a nice hot cup/mug of cocoa?

If you want a twist I also have Mint hot chocoa,although it is pretty minty,so I hope you like mint.  This is my fave brand of hot chocolate,maybe because it is gourmet (whatever that means),all I know is it sure is g o o d :)  especially on those freezing cold fall/winter nights we have here.

Since this row is hot cocoa mugs,I decided not to take the photos outside.  Then my challenge was how to shoot them inside... I think that they turned out really good,for inside photos!

A close up of my inspiration for this row.  This little mug is what I enjoy my cocoa in every evening during the cold months!  Hope you enjoyed my little mugs :)  (all of the fabric in this row is from mom's stash)

While typing up this post I realized that I still need to take a photo of all six rows,oops!

Winner,Winner!!

Sorry,no chicken dinner tho ;)  Who wants a chicken dinner when there are coin purse patterns up for grabs,anyways?!


Before I announce who the Lucky Winners are......

The Following peeps who left Sweet comments on my blog are all either No Reply Bloggers,or for some reason I was not able to Reply to You!!!!!

• Nellie Duclos ~ when I tried to reply to you through the address listed I was unable to do so :(
• Melzie Belle ~ No Reply Blogger :(
• Quilter ~ No Reply Blogger :(
• Judy B ~ No Reply Blogger :(

So if I did not reply to your comment it is because I was not able to,which is sad :(  

Thank you to Everyone who left a comment,I wish you could all win a pattern :)

And the Winners are.....

Gill from the UK  Who said...

Great purses!]Thank you for sharing!
I'm in the UK!                 Congratulations Gill :)

Vivian from the USA Who said....

The blue one with the lady is very nice. I can see a ton of purses coming out on my stash too. USA Thanks Vivian                     Congratulations Vivian :)

I have emailed you both,so you have Mail ;)

Hope you all enjoyed the Hop as Much as I did!!!  I am still blown over by the fact that one of my precious landed in the Top 3 of the Day for my Day!!!  

Have a super rest of the week:)

UR Priceless Coin purses (Blog Hop)

My day to show off my Uber Cute little coin purses has finally Arrived!  Have you been hopping along?  If not,you have missed out on the Sweetest little coin purses E V E R :)  Really i'm not kidding,go check them out,some of them are to die for Cute, Promise!

Before we get to my Cuteness tho,I need to give a couple shout outs ;)

A Gigantic Thank You to Madame Samme for thinking up this Blog Hop full of Cuteness,and for so generously giving each and every one of the participants a Free Pattern to make our coin purses from :)  You Rock Madame ;)

Also a Big Thank You to Katherine our Awesome CheerLeader,for organizing us and being there to answer any and Every question.  You also Rock Katherine ;)  You can find the Schedule for the entire Hop on Katherine's blog on the side bar.

Without further ado......

Frist up,a salute to fall,with butterflies,leaves and a sunflower button for embellishment.

A peek inside,the lining is made using the same fabrics,just in reverse order.

Purse number two is made from a scrap of decorator/upholstery fabric.  I used hand quilting thread to sew the frames to the purses.  I tried to use colors that coordinated with the colors in the fabrics and also the frames.

I was hoping to get a little more of the lady on the backside,but it was not to be.  I forgot to give you a peek inside of this one :(  It is a Essex Linen that matches the taupe color in the outside print.

My third little cutie,you know I had to make a sunflower one,right? ;)  Well here she is,the sides of this one are made with a pale yellow batik sunflower print,which matches perfectly.  Although you can't really see the sunflowers,I know they are there :)

The lining used for this one is a deep purple with gold butterflies allover!  Although I was very nervous to make my first one of these,I quickly got over that!  The tutorial that Madame Samm made for us was super easy to follow,and she was quick to answer questions :)  The only problem I had was keeping the frame centered on the purse while sewing.  Once I figured that out it was smooth sailing.

For my last one I used a Kokopelli/pottery print fabric.  Kokopelli is a Big favorite of mine :)  The sides are a coordinating South Western Print in Turquoise.

Here are all of my little pretties together,in random order.

Bottoms up ;)  If you have not yet had the opportunity to make a coin purse,you don't know what you have been missing!  Let me just say,after making one,the bug has bitten!  They are quite addicting,I was seeing these in so many of the prints in my stash....  if it were not for the fact that I only had four frames..... I Need to Buy More Frames ASAP!!!

I intended to have a Giveaway too,however I forgot to contact Madame Samm about purchasing the pattern,and then having her send it to the winners :(  So  I will still be having the giveaway,and will work out the details with Madame Samm.

For a chance to win a PDF Pattern for these Uber cute Coin purses just leave me a comment below,any ole comment will do ;)  However Please let me know in your comment,if you are in the USA or International.  As I plan to give one Pattern to someone in the USA and one to someone who lives outside the USA.  Thanks for stopping in to check out my Precious ;)

I will post the Winners on Wednesday the 14th...Good Luck Peeps!

Now that you have seen my purses,be sure to Hop over to the rest of the Blogs Posting today!  The Schedule is as follows......

Day 7 - Nov. 13

Julia P
Tina
Dachsies With Moxie
Marci Girl Designs
The Sunflower Patch  ~ You are Here :)
Wish upon a star
Mary on Lake Pulaski
Greco Mara
Linda M
Mack and Mabel
Dreaming in Patchwork
Judith Handmade Treasures
Kaydie
Caesarea Scrappers
Patchouli Moon Studio
Sew We Quilt

Row 5 ~ Baby Flying Geese !

These little,or maybe I should say Micro geese blocks took me much longer than anticipated!  Each block measures in at 1 1/2" x 2 1/2 "unfinished!

Here are some of the little guys all flying around on my design board :)

Check out this gaggle of baby honkers!  I ended up making more than required for the row(not sure how that happened) so plan on using the extras for the back of the quilt.

About half an hour before I went outside to snap a few photos of these little guys,it was blowing and snowing like crazy!  When I got outside,there was barely a whisper of a breeze,and it had quit snowing.

My plan was to get a shot of my baby geese getting in some flying practice!  This was the best I could do.  You can just see some snow dust on the steps at the right of the photo :)

Back inside,where it is toasty a toasty 65(our high temp today was 28)!  Here are all five rows that I have completed so far.  Row 6 is up,so I need to get busy on it,although it should go a lot quicker since it is the same size as the apples and butterflies :)

I also finally finished up my fall Rock Garden flag today :)  Of course I had to add some geese and since I was on a roll with the babies,that is what is flying across the bottom of the flag!

The backside is a patchwork print in fun fall colors :)  Just had time to snap these photos before dusk crept in on us.

This is one of two blocks I made for quilts for victims of Sandy,it is a disappearing 4 patch.

The second one,the fabric requested was florals,with a print that would read as a solid.  This was the first time making this block,but won't be the last :)

Now I am going to try and get a couple blocks done for Karen over at Hazel Dell Quilts These will be Wonky Scrappy Log Cabin blocks,if you have a few minutes why not whip up a couple yourself?

Hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend with at least a little sewing thrown in :)  Don't forget tomorrow is my day to post for the UR Priceless Blog Hop so stop in to see my cute little coin purses!