You may remember that I was working on a banner for Christmas in which each participant had a letter of the word welcome. I had the O. I received the complete set of banners in the mail yesterday. It was so much fun to open them and see what everyone had done. Below are some close-ups.
It's very festive — can't wait to hang it up!
Recently the very talented Nancy Maxwell James, a member of the PaperWhimsy design team, created some Christmas cones and a pdf tutorial explaining how to do it. (Click here to see Nancy's scrumptious cones.) I instantly fell in love with them and knew I had to make some. About the same time I was rummaging through my fabric stash and found this long-forgotten but really pretty Christmas fabric.
Rather than making cream-colored cones as Nancy did, I decided to use this fabric. This is such a fun project. I've made two of them today and plan to make more. So you can see more of the fabric in the cone, here is the back of the cone pictured at the top.
And here is my second cone. I handled this one a little differently in that I free-motion quilted the fabric before rolling it into a cone.
You may remember the fall welcome banner I did a few weeks ago. Well this is part of a welcome banner for Christmas hosted by my friend Kathy McElroy. Once again, I have the O. Each participant has a different letter of the word "welcome". I like getting the O. It seems to have the most creative possibilities. Last time I did a pumpkin, and now I thought a wreath made of old buttons would be fun. My fall welcome banner is hanging in my foyer, and the plan is to replace it with other banners marking the seasons.
I prefer the word autumn to fall. It's just a lovelier word. Each year I look for pretty leaves that have fallen on the ground. (Slows the pace of my walk down since I keep stopping to turn over promising-looking leaves!) I bring them home and scan them so I'll have them forever. I found the two beauties above lying on the street a couple of days ago. I've done this since 2001, I believe. A few years ago, I printed some of these out on fabric and made a quilt. I gave it to my sister. I'm thinking I need to make another just for me!
Warren and I took a little shopping trip to Home Depot today. I have these jack-o-lantern luminaries on our front porch.
Each year I put little tea lights in the luminaries and worry about the trick or treaters catching their costumes on fire as they walk up the steps. So while at Home Depot we bought some of those little battery-operated flameless tealights. We get home, I start opening the packages and dropping them into the luminaries, and I accidentally drop one. There's a very small chipmunk hole next to the steps, and wouldn't you know it? It falls right into that hole! Warren had to dig it out for me. What a good husband!
Here's a recent photo of my 2-year-old grandson Bobby taken by his mom. Isn't that expression priceless?
My friend Kathy is sponsoring a fall banner swap, using fabric and spelling out the word W-E-L-C-O-M-E. I have the O, and I decided to use a pumpkin to represent the O. I can't wait to see what the other players come up, and I look forward to receiving all the letters so I can hang up my banner.
Over a year ago, I joined in with almost 100 other artists to collaborate on an art doll to raise money for ovarian cancer research. Each of us made a charm or decorated a man's tie, and Jan Brown put together a gorgeous almost life-size doll that was raffled off. Later my friend Aileen Roberts created a beautiful and inspiring book about the project, and, once again, all the proceeds from the sale of the book go to ovarian cancer research. I purchased the paperback version, and I treasure it, but I wish I had bought the hardback version. You can see the book — inside and out — and find out how to buy it here on Aileen's blog. It would make a loving and meaningful gift for someone special or for yourself. After all, you're pretty special!
I am still on my sewing kick with another large quilted handbag and two smaller purses. Here is the large handbag, a good size for knitting or for a day trip. I love this color combination although I'm not usually a pink person. The button is shaped like a rose, a recent eBay find of mine.
Next I made a dressy little black bag decked out with feathers (imagine that — I used feathers!) and a sequin trim.
Finally, I dug into my fabric stash and found this fabric which has a southwestern look to it and added a wooden and glass bead trim.
Why am I making so many of these? Stay tuned!
I've turned my attention to textile arts recently. This is the second quilted handbag I've made. It's a large bag, perfect for knitting or a travel bag. Inside there are lots of pockets. I filled it up with some of my knitting stuff. Here's the inside.
That's my precious Misu helping me show off the bag. Actually I think she was hoping there was some candy or breath mints in there.
Ciao!
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