Good King Wenceslas

I had a pretty good month for finishing quilts, especially those of the USO (Un-Started Object) kind. This is number three, the sister to Santa's Power, which I made in December 2022. I bought this wonderful border print, 2.5 metres of it, close to 20 years ago, knowing I would somehow design a quilt with the same Ohio stars pattern as in the king's/Santa's coat.

And, there it sat, for the next many years until I pulled it out in 2022 and made Santa's Power. I loved how it turned out; I had even bought the trees print in the same line to use as backing, and even bound that quilt with it, using it up completely, hooray.

Happy Christmas!

I debated for some time, well the entire time I was making this and starting this post, what to call this quilt. In the end, because the centre block is English Wedding Ring, I felt that I needed a nod to English Christmas, and there they say, 'Happy Christmas', not 'Merry Christmas' so that is the quilt's name. But, as is often the case with my quilts, there's a bit more to that name than just the English Christmastime greeting.

I was at first dismayed, but then pleased (almost always a silver lining) to see that we had a skiff of snow this morning. Perfect background for a new quilt!

Merry Grinchmas!

Late last fall my cousin Susan sent me a photo of a Grinch quilt she had seen online somewhere and asked if I could make this for her and she would pay me. She watches my Etsy shop and has bought a makeup bag from me, and I sent her a mug cosy as a surprise a while back. I said I believed I could but it would take a bit of time… Christmas was coming and all that that involves.

Well, I’m very happy to have finally fulfilled this request!

About as Christmassy a picture I can get in front of our cedar tree!

Christmas Garland Runner

I seem to be on a roll of finishes this month, and here is another. Dayna made several requests last summer and I do believe I've now fulfilled them all, though in the other day's conversation mention was made of her needing a heart quilt... She had requested two table runners, one in pink and another in traditional Christmas colours. You've seen the flimsy in the pattern release post. Well, here it is complete.

Dayna loves it. Mission accomplished!

Christmas Tree Farm Quilt

Last fall I made the Patchy Pumpkin Farm quilt for my eldest daughter, Brianne, who lives in Alberta. When Dayna was out there visiting this fall, she fell in love with the quilt and asked if I would make her one. No problem. However, I thought, why not see if she'd like the Christmas tree farm version, same truck just with trees as opposed to pumpkins. She did, so I purchased that pattern from White Plains Quilt, and here it is, ready before Christmas!

She wanted it in traditional Christmas colours, so I asked her if she wanted all forest green trees or some forest green and others a celadon or tarragon green as in the original quilt. She liked that, and lo and behold, I had one in my Kona stash, but no clue what name it is, as I never used to be bothered keeping track of the shades I'd bought. I had enough to make all seven of the trees.

Santa's Power

Well, I did it: I finished another long-standing USO (Un-Started Object). What's the difference between a USO and a UFO? In my mind, a USO is a project that you bought the fabric for, maybe also the pattern, maybe not because the design is in your head, such as Santa's Power, and then you never did actually start making it. A UFO is one you have actually started, but stopped due to life, other projects being due, or squirrels, or loss of interest.

This is Santa's Power, and I am wrapped in it as I type this post. I just love it! That's an odd name for a quilt, yes, but read on and you'll find a cute story as to why it got this name.

Grandma's House

Quilt names don't usually come easily to me, but sometimes they do and this was one. I am excited to share my original design, a bench pillow, with you today!

It is one of four projects in my newly-released pattern, 'Rainbow Neighbourhood'. Did I mention the pattern is on sale all week? 25% off. It's a pretty darn good deal if I do say so myself: $10.50CA which is $8US for four projects, two of which are a throw quilt and a twin quilt, each with a completely different layout, a 22" cushion cover and this 20" x 36" bench pillow. 

Rainbow Neighbourhood Pattern Release

It's been a long time coming, but I'm thrilled to finally have my houses pattern together and released! You'll be seeing more of it all week, as the pattern has four projects within it: a throw, a twin sized quilt, and two pillows, one of which is a cushion and the other a bench pillow. I made the throw using the original blocks I made back in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge of (would you believe) 2017.

It is so good to see these fun spectrum of houses finally 'grown up' into a quilt. The pattern, which I've named Rainbow Neighbourhood, is on sale all week for 25% off. You can get it in my Etsy shop, SandraJaneQuilts. 

Joyful Star - 12 Days of Christmas in July

I was honoured to be asked by Sarah of Confessions of a Fabric Addict to be part of her hop this year. Despite already having two rather major commitments within six days of each other, I said yes, adding a third! I work well under pressure, always have. Well, I'm pleased to report all three commitments/deadlines have been met. I am now going to have a relaxing August once this post is done! So welcome, and I hope to inspire you with not one, but three little projects!

First of all truth tea: I never, not ever, think of, or make stuff for, Christmas in July. I am a summer-loving girl and thoughts of snow and cold are no part of my July soak up the sun time! However. I made an exception this year. Because? 

Well, Sarah.

And - 

I had a pattern that was almost ready to publish, that would work beautifully for a Christmas quilt. I'd even had that thought percolating.

And it is published! And it's on sale 30% off for the duration of the hop! You can snag a copy for yourself for just $7.70CA in my Etsy shop.

So.

Exceptions had to be made, I mean really! And I'm so thrilled with how it came together.

So cheery! So... joyful! The red fabric is even called 'Joy' by Kate Spain.

Shine: Benartex Christmas in July Blog Hop & Pattern Release

Welcome to my stop on the Christmas in July blog hop with Benartex Fabrics. I had the pleasure of working with Nancy Halvorsen's newest line, Better Not Pout.

As with most of my quilts, this one has a little story to it. It is my own design, and yes, there is a pattern for it, and yes, it is available today!

I tried for a bit of a Christmas vibe against our neighbours' cedars and trumpet vine and other vines-covered fence. Christmas isn't snowy and cold in a lot of the world, right? Christmas is about gifts, and so there is a giveaway in this post...

TBT #25 - Floral Stars

I hosted the Throwback Thursday Linky party for the past two years, but I am no longer doing it. However, I still have several pre-blogging quilts, so you will see them on the first Thursday, or thereabouts, of the month. This one has been on our bed for the month of December, and still is there. I've shown it before on the blog in Aha! Moment Tip #3: Stick it to Ya, where I discussed the value of using quilt basting spray. My blog was only a few months old then.

I had the lights on in the greenery on the stair rails for extra Christmassy effect. We had got a skift of snow two days ago when I took these, and you can see a bit left on the right side of the sidewalk. This is another Stack 'n Whack quilt (I was the queen back then in my guild, lol), made with fabric I bought at my then LQS, Lori's Country Cottage in Sherwood Park, Alberta.

TBT #15

Welcome to another edition of Throwback Thursday. For those who may be new to my blog or who are not familiar with TBT, it is where we pull out, photograph, and tell the stories of quilts or quilted projects we've made before our blogging life! Mine today is another Christmas quilt, this one a little over 17 years old, and with the snow that fell on February 27, the day before this photo shoot, it is rather fitting!

I had a very curious, and somewhat annoying helper that morning... He's still alternating between sweet and a turd. And yep, MacGyver got the gate done (isn't it fab?) so no more baby gate on our doggie playpen, er backyard deck!
Here's a full-on shot:

Yes, he still managed to get in on the action. This was a 9-patch exchange I organized, and was a part of during the year 2001 in my then guild, Fort Saskatchewan Quilt Guild in Alberta.

TBT #13 Stars Upon A Christmas

Welcome to the first edition of TBT, Throwback Thursday for those quilts you made before you started blogging. This way we can record them, their makes and stories, because every quilt has one, right?

Today's quilt and a few ornaments were made quite some time ago, and are Christmas-themed. I don't know about you, but although I have taken down our Christmas tree, I still have several Christmas items around the house. This tablecloth is one.

The glass tree in the centre of the table is new, as are the vine and berries wreaths in the windows. I was on the lookout for them, as I had a lonely one, and saw this look on either Pinterest or an Instagram account I follow, and wanted to copy it.

Popstar

Better late than never, right? Here we go...again! This is one of my goals on my Q2 FAL list.

April's challenge was to create a new, modern version of a vintage quilt or quilt block. I love stars; it's no secret they are my favourite block along with the schoolhouse one. So I knew I wanted to do something with stars. The gorgeous rich batiks were provided to me by Island Batik, the threads by Aurifil and the batting by Hobbs. I just love working with these fibres!

Throwback Thursday #2 Tree Skirt

Welcome to TBT... on Friday this month. Last month it was the second Thursday because of just getting it up and running again, and this month because of the New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop that opened for registration yesterday. Here's to TBT on March 1!

I am somewhat limited for pre-blogging quilts here in Florida, limited in number, and limited because I've already done a couple TBT posts on two of them, Indianapolis and Frostbite.

This tree skirt is not just pre-blogging, it's pre-quilting life! It was the first time I used a rotary cutter and ruler.

Back in about 1993 or 94 (I will have to go through photo albums when I am back home to determine the year; I did not put a label on this!) my friend Jenny wanted to take the class to make this tree skirt at the local small business fabric store that had just opened. It was soon to blossom into a quilting only store, and eventually made Quilt Sampler in 2012, Lori's Country Cottage in Sherwood Park, Alberta. We had no clue about quilting, and the teacher did not offer much in the way of how to choose fabrics. We both had sewed all our lives, and I remember Jenny saying, "Well, apparently in quilting you can mix prints no problem..." so off we went to Fabricland to find some Christmas prints we liked that would go together. A discussion in class of a log cabin style block did not occur, nor did any information on putting lights and darks on opposing sides of your centre diamond... LOL

All that said, I do love this tree skirt, as do the cats we have had since the first Christmas it was under our tree. There is rather a lot of cat hair on it to prove my point. As I was laying it out to photograph for this post, I started to pick some of it off and then thought na, it's part of why I do love it.

True to form, and true to the love my cats have had, and Bella continues to have for this tree skirt!

I tossed it onto the floor after pulling it out of the closet and went to grab my phone to take some pictures. I returned less than a minute later to find Bella snuggled on down in it, happy as a clam! Not happy when I scooted her off it...

We were encouraged to find a print that would work for the centre of each diamond.

This Old World Santa is my favourite

I wanted a solid frame around each of the focus diamonds. Another favourite print in those I bought is the interesting blue you see a glimpse of there, not a midnight, not a navy blue, kind of a deep aquamarine or teal blue, with those gold stars and magical Santa in his sleigh racing across the night sky.

I loved that print so much that I made the ruffle with it.

You can see the backing here, a sweet angel no-so-great-quality fabric. It has held up very well. Oh that ruffle... yards and yards and yards. I remember Jenny taking pictures of us gathering that ruffle, pinning and pinning, pulling the threads some more, evening out the gathers and then finally carefully stitching it to the right side of the tree skirt. It took us hours and we burned the midnight oil. This may have been one of those times when it was going on 10 pm and I was about to drive the couple miles home and she said,  "Why don't you just sleep over? Then we can keep working..." and of course our girls, then between the ages of 5-9 (she had two as did I) were ALL over that suggestion! We had some wonderful times, she and I, and our four girls.

I remember being perplexed as to what to do at the top. Again the instruction left a little to be desired. In retrospect, I believe it was an inexperienced instructor, and an infant store, not a quilting store as of yet, that all were in play here. But it's all good, as look what I ended up with, and have used it every year but two since! So here's what I did at the top, which was where you turned it right side out.

I stitched this pretty lace, good quality(!) around the top opening. It's left over from sweet little dresses I'd made my girls. I then sewed the lamé ribbon at each end to tie the skirt around the tree trunk. Just look at those rich gold glittery fabrics! Those are of excellent quality, also bought at Fabricland; I've used them in a few projects.

We used 100% poofy polyester batting that was stitched between the layers (a turned pillowcase technique), and then once the skirt was right side out, I quilted between the second and third round of the diamond. It has stayed in place extremely well! Then again, outside of cats and presents on it for about a month or so each year, it doesn't get a lot of use.

That's looking up from beneath the tree I wrapped it around! I never tire of palm trees. Funny, all those years ago when I made it, little did I ever imagine the tree skirt would 'live' in Florida from 2007 on, when we started spending all our Christmases down here!

A couple of quick notes:
1. Yesterday was the opening for registration for the 2018 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop. If your blog is more than 2 months and less than 3 years old, and you're interested in getting some tech help, improving your blog, gaining like-minded friends and making long-lasting connections, then you might want to sign up for this worthwhile event. Go to my previous post for more details and the sign-up form. Alumni of former hops, please spread the word on your blogs! Readers, get ready to meet some new bloggers, and oh yeah, enter to win some pretty sweet prizes over the months of April and May when the hop runs a couple weeks during each of those months.

2. Come back tomorrow for the post outlining the details for this year's 30 Quilt Designs Challenge2018 that I'm hosting on Instagram, as well as a couple announcements on upcoming QALs.

All right! Grab a comfy chair, maybe a hot drink or a glass of wine and visit some of the bloggers sharing their trips down memory lane. Quilt stories are the best!

An InLinkz Link-up

Kringle Trees - H2H Charity Quilt

Woo hoo! First finish in the new house, new sewing loft!  This quilt fulfills two obligations: Hands2Help at Confessions of a Fabric Addict and my May goal for OMG at Elm Street Quilts.

I won this fabric, the post is here, "Kringle Krossing" by Shelly Comiskey for Henry Glass Fabrics, in December, right before Christmas.  So far, I've made 3 projects using the fabric: Holly the Christmas Hound, Jingle, and this one, all three given or to be given away.  This one is one of two quilts I pledged to make for Sarah's Hands2Help charity quilt drive.  It will go to the Windsor Sexual Assault Centre, a quilt for a child who should not have to ever deal with such trauma.  Hopefully, holding onto and keeping this snuggly quilt will help comfort and heal.

Jingle

So did you know that Henry Glass + Kate Spain = baby! Of the ornament kind that is. 😉

Guess I'm still not quite done with Christmas.  This is due in part to procrastination as well as to the win from Henry Glass Fabrics right before Christmas.  You can see the fabrics here.  Funny, one of the little Kleenex pack covers I made and showed in that post is going to the same person as this ornament is!

This is a paper-pieced little pattern from Lori's Country Cottage I got, oh about a century ago. Ha! Maybe about 1/5 of a century ago? Yee-ikes!  How it ended up in with my stuff to take to Florida i have NO clue, but it did, and it grew up from paper to finished quilted ornament. Magic!

Here is the flimsy. At 3.5" square with 3 sections, it gave me a full-quilt-size of trouble.  Trying to line up the angles of the green and the side seams...let's just say I did a whole lotta rippin'.  I settled for this in the end.  Along with Kate Spain's 'Jingle' fabric scraps, I used a scrap of lime from Paintbrush Studio's 2015 new block bloghop fabric. My block is in the very first Quilter's Planner, Nov. 21 week. The stocking cuff is a scrap from a little pillow, Bundle Up!, I made with fabric from a quilt shop I visited while at the Sisters Quilt Show in Oregon!

I quilted it with Sulky Holoshimmer in gold. Wonderful thread for wonderful fabrics.  The back is another print in the Shelly Comiskey "Kringle Krossing" line.

Couldn't get much more perfect a backing!

Here is a closeup, trying to catch the elusive shimmer and sparkle.

Quilt Stats:
Pattern:  Paper pieced single block freebie from Lori's Country Cottage
Size: 3.5" square
Fabric:  scraps and leftovers, except for the stockings Henry Glass Fabrics "Kringle Krossing"
Batting: Pellon Nature's Touch 100% cotton scrap
Quilted: on my Bernina
Threads:  pieced with Gütermann; quilted with Essential from Connecting Threads and Sulky Holoshimmer in gold 145-6003

I finished my homework for the 150 Canadian Women from Next Step Quilt Designs

From top left, #22 Kate Rice, pioneering prospector, miner and a most notable woman geologist, this gal was not afraid to be alone in the wilderness for extended periods of time, think entire northern Canadian winter?? She ended up living on an island named after her, out in a lake, which is why I used a red with bits of blue in it; #23 Marie-Anne (née Gaboury) Lagemodière - so cool because the Faculté St-Jean, U of Alberta, where I did a major chunk of my schooling is on the Rue Marie-Anne Gaboury in Edmonton. She was the mother of the first legitimate white child, a daughter, born in the Canadian West, she was also the grandmother of Louis Riel; #24 Elsie Knott, another 'kickass' Canadian woman, she drove a school bus along with several other menial jobs including sewing quilts, to support her family. At age 30, she became Chief Elsie Knott of the Ojibway, a respected leader.

I chose that coral pink for Chief Elsie Knott because upon spying it, I thought of Indian beads and dreamcatchers.  For Marie-Anne, grandmother of the famous and infamous Louis Riel, I had to use the maple leaves fabric scraps in the Windfall line.  Can you tell I am enjoying this quilt along?!

One last very exciting announcement!!! Drum ROLLLL!  I have a sponsor for

(and I made a button!) Next I have to remember how to turn it into one for my sidebar...

Presenting...

Melody has had The Red Hen Shop on Etsy since 2013.  She stocks a wide variety of fabric, which includes some older ones you might not find anywhere else.  Click the link or the image to check out her shop!  We are doing four bi-weekly draws for prizes, and besides Lisa and my offerings, there will be a $15 gift certificate for a lucky winner.  And then there is the grand prize for all who complete 30 designs by March 15, a $50 gift certificate!

Although I won't be posting every one of my 30 designs here on the blog, here is #2.  Had a little issues with colouring order...made good use of my eraser!  All good.

Push 'n Pull or Aurora

I've been fascinated with 60° triangles, since my first Stack 'n Whack quilts.  When I first played with this idea, I saw it as either scrappy strings or improv slabs cut into 60° triangles.  When I played with shading, I thought I could try to bring out the hexagons formed by 6 triangles... I included a third colourway of blues, and then realized I needed to separate them so coloured in the solid greys.  Still not sure it works; maybe need the white strip across the bottom side of each triangle?  When I saw the thumbnail of that photo, I was struck by a similarity to the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, something I dearly miss from when we lived just outside of Edmonton, Alberta. I do feel very privileged to have seen them so many many times, dancing across the northerly heavens with their spiderwebs of greenish/goldish/blueish effervescence.

Now I'm taking my effervescent little person off to plan for a couple more exciting announcements coming up very shortly on the blog!
Linking up with
Sew Fresh Quilts
(looks like I'm not the only one still playing with Christmas fabric, check out Lorna's new QAL!!)
My Quilt Infatuation
Crazy Mom Quilts
Confessions of a Fabric Addict
and with
Mrs Sew and Sow for Scraptastic Tuesday

Holly the Christmas Hound

When our good friend John was last over, her told me how much he loved Myrrh, my Christmas cow.  He wanted to see her in person, and commented on the Santa Claus fabric.  An idea hatched in the back of my mind.  But then, it evolved into not making him a Christmas cow, but a Christmas dog, since he is a dog whisperer extraordinaire, and 'papa' to red-nosed pibble mix, Brandy.

The flimsy

I have wanted to make Sew Fresh Quilts Lorna's Dog Gone Cute dog blocks since they first came out, wanted to join in the QAL, but just could not squish it in.  For John?  You bet I could squish in a final project for 2016!

The stars do align on a regular basis: I won a bundle of "Kringle Krossing" by Shelly Comiskey for Henry Glass Fabrics last week.  I did not bring any Christmas fabric to Florida except for the few pieces to make Myrrh the Christmas cow.  Luckily I had enough of the Santa fat quarter left that John especially liked for Holly's face and then I used Henry Glass prints for her blaze, muzzle and background.  Just love that background fabric especially!  The dark green for her ears is triangle scraps, and small rectangles (one of which is pieced to make the 6.5" required strip) all from John's quilt I made last year for his 75th birthday.  I'm into connections, symbols, double entendres, deeper meanings, in case you haven't noticed.

And woo hoo!! I'm also into meeting good friends for breakfast that evolved into visiting two quilt shops! Quilt Lovers' Hangout is fabulous!  As is the Go-Go Diner for breakfast, in case you may find yourself in North Fort Myers sometime...

Despite that foray into fantastic fabrics with a fabulous friend, Julie of Pink Doxies, and despite another blip in production from the QC (quilty cat) department...

I managed to get the cushion quilted this morning and photographed for today's several Finish Friday parties.

Flat Holly

and a fitting photo resting against one of John's two potted Christmas trees, which he gave to us after Christmas 2014 and 2015 to plant. They are thriving.

Holly has an ear tattoo, not a number ID but her name, FMQ-ed with Sulky Blendables in 30-weight.

I kept the quilting simple, doing Lorna's trademark wavy lines with Sulky metallic thread.  I tried to catch the sparkle...

Actually this one shows it pretty well.

I also tried to give her eyes a little more definition by using the Sulky Blendables I used for her tattoo to quilt a spiral in each eye.  It helps somewhat.  Aren't those reindeers adorable? I made sure to centre one on her muzzle.

The back:

Envelope back with that beautiful Holly (LOL just realized it this second) on white fabric, and a label.

For once I actually remembered to sew in my mmm! quilts label before I sewed on the binding.  I used the reindeer fabric, such a great strip it has in it!

I am not a machine-binder, but I am becoming more and more of a convert, and I have to tell you that I didn't have to go back on any missed spots on this cushion, woot! woot!  I used white Gütermann on the top and red Essentials in the bobbin.

I thought I'd share a couple of tips for sewing with metallic threads that I learned in a Sulky threads class taken many years ago.

First, be sure to use a Metallica needle, no not the band, although you could be playing one of their songs; I sometimes do listen to them on a rock playlist, ha, bet you didn't think that of me!  Metallica needles by Schmetz (no affiliation) have a teflon-coated eye to reduce friction.  Smart! They also have a much larger eye than a regular needle, which is on the left, Metallica on the right.

Second, you cannot sew as fast as you would with cotton or with polyester.  Think metal on metal and what do you get? Friction.  I only had one thread break, early on, and it was because it did a coil and double-hooked itself around my take-up thingamajig.  So I rigged up my system (some of MacGyver is rubbing off on me, clearly) that I always use for Holoshimmer threads, which are flat threads and need to feed off the spool like a roll of toilet paper, from the top.

Arrows point to the cone threads guide which helps to lessen tension as opposed to feeding the thread right from the spool into the take-up guide. The other arrows point to the spool itself, lying horizontal on a child-sized knitting needle, which is propped on the finger holes of two pairs of scissors.  This way the thread feeds off the top of the spool à la toilet paper, up to the cone holder thread guide, and from there to that take-up guide at the back of the machine.  No more breaks once I did this.

John saw the flimsy on Wednesday when he was here for a dog walk and lunch visit; I couldn't wait to show him.  Now I cannot wait to give Holly to him, and I kind of have a feeling there might be an Ivy 😉 coming to my own house soon!

Quilt Stats:
Pattern:  Dog Gone Cute by Sew Fresh Quilts
Size: 18.25" square
Fabric:  scraps and leftovers, except for the Henry Glass Fabrics "Kringle Krossing"
Batting: Pellon Nature's Touch 100% cotton
Quilted: on my Bernina
Threads:  pieced with Gütermann; quilted with Sulky Metallic 142-7027 and Sulky Blendables 30-wt 733-4022

In case you haven't stocked up enough on fabric deals, remember the Craftsy one still on until midnight Dec. 31! That is an affiliate link!

Many quilt shops both bricks and mortar type as well as online type are having end of year sales.  It's a great time to pick up backings or treat yourself.

Linking up with
Crazy Mom Quilts
Confessions of a Fabric Addict
TGIFF at Arabesque Scissors

Santa's Still Throwing Up Christmas All Over the House

With 3 days to go, I am pretty much as ready as I'm going to get...Christmas dinner groceries yet to shop for, one last set of squares for which to make the marshmallow topping, an old family favourite recipe, Marshmallow Fantasies.  Oh.  And a queen-sized quilt to quilt.  The flimsy was finished on Saturday, the backing got assembled Sunday and Monday amid other life requirements, which, as you may recall include having Santa throw up Christmas all over my house (Dayna says she did not say "barf up") as both daughters, grandson, MacGyver and me are all here in Kingsville for Christmas for the first time (small squeal of excitement)...and so it goes, sewing and decorating slowly.

The quilt is a guild retreat mystery from 2006. Love how the blocks poke into the border, and that there are 3 layers of stars.

I pinned this to my Pinterest page for house decorating ideas probably 2 years ago.  I decided to try to recreate it.  I'm pretty pleased with the result!  Dollar Store fake twigs (which, by the way, I discovered on my walk with Rocco the other day, are exactly what Burning Bushes look like right now!), Dollar Store craft paint, wine bottles (the most enjoyable part of the process, ha) and some gold ribbon.

From left to right: first coat of paint to cover, the second sponge-blobbed on (technical term right), still wet, the third end dried product.

I made my own stencils, just printed out a J and a Y from an Old English-style font, and cut it out with an Exacto-knife.  For the snowflake, I made a beautiful one out of paper and then realized I needed it in stencil form, like the reverse image.....nvm I know what I mean!  So using a pencil, I drew the outline of a simple snowflake very lightly, and then, holding my breath, trying to be steady, I went over it with red paint and a very fine paintbrush.

Front foyer at night. Dayna gave us some of her decorations she didn't use this year.  The vast majority of my stuff is in Florida.

I bought a red towel at the Dollar Store, $1 as opposed to $3 or more for a fancy Christmas one, and used a leftover strip from Brady's stocking to decorate the towel.  I had the red tea towel with an appliqué project in mind...didn't happen yet, so I used up more of the leftover strips from his stocking and the cushion cover I made and decorated the tea towel.

Did a decorative stitch and other top-stitching in Sulky metallic on the towel.  Red Isacord on the tea towel, which hasn't been washed yet, as you can see.

The weather is not cooperating, as anyone who lives in the northern US and Canada knows.  El Niño is to blame, and I am totally okay with that!  Outside of one day where this happened:

On the Greenway in Kingsville, Dec. 19.  The "snow shower" lasted half a day with the temperature hovering around freezing.

One week earlier, we had a high of 16C/61F!!  And this happened:

December 12, dogs and MacGyver catching some rays--I even had an Osteospermum blooming still at that point in the pot you see by the patio door

Yesterday it was 10C/50F again and tomorrow we are supposed to go to 14C/58F!  Crazy.  Love it.

I won't be posting again until, well, not sure exactly when.  On Christmas Day evening, we are FaceTiming with Brianne and Brady, and that is when we are going to tell Brady that he is coming here for 8 days!!!!  This is the conversation I'm imagining:

Me:  Oh Brady, I so wish you could come to Nana and Grandpa's house for Christmas...We miss you so much.
Brady:  Yeah, me too, Nana. I wish I could dive through my iPad and land in your house. (he will probably mime diving through his iPad, as he has done in the past on more than one occasion)
Me:  Wouldn't it be cool if you could hop on a plane tomorrow morning and fly here?
Brady:  Uh huh...I would like that very much.
Me: Well, Nana and Grandpa have done that!  You and your mummy are going to get on a plane at the airport tomorrow morning and fly here!!  For 8 whole days!!
Brady:  HUH?!!  Really??
Me:  Surprise!
Then we all will be laughing and cheering and jumping around...well not MacGyver, man of restrained emotions...but Dayna and her boyfriend will be here when we FaceTime and Brianne and MacGyver and I have been DYING with excitement to tell Brady for a couple of months now, almost spilling the beans on several occasions...it's going to be an awesome Christmas!

I've been meaning to get a photo of this little sticker in the yoga studio bathroom, but I don't usually have my phone on me.  I did the other day.  It is very appropriate at this busy, busy, often-stressful season:

Merry Christmas everyone, and remember to be kind to yourself as well. :-)