Ten...

(a) Ten snowmen dancing? (b) Ten gingerbread men in need of baking? Or (c) Ten medical play dolls waiting? Ding-ding-ding-ding.....yes, C is the correct answer!

A group of us at church have been making Medical Play Dolls for a local children's hospital. These dolls are used to help hospitalized children express their feelings. The poly-filled fabric dolls have a blank face and body to allow the children to draw on them.

Apparently, the hospital uses about 50 of these dolls per day and was completely out when the group leader contacted them. We worked on the dolls some at church (which was especially fun) then took some home and we'll finish up any that are left this coming Sunday.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Another set of ten...

"I Heart Zines"



From the time I mailed off my swap package of ten zines, I started looking forward to the day when the box of zines from ten other swappers made its way to my doorstep. It arrived on Christmas Eve and what an incredible gift it is!


"Oddball Charm No. 6" by Alma Stoller, whom I consider to be queen of the zine!


"Greetings" by Emily S. Pruitt


"Time Management for Creative People" by Rose Momsen


"Angels on Fire...a Zine of Art Sundries for the Eccentric Artist" by Stephanee


"Gang of Happiness...a know-how manual to create and construct creatures making you happy" by Beate Knappe, complete with a quilted cover!


"Stationary and Envelopes Zine" by Lisa Schramek and Shalene McCollum


"Shape" by Deborah Boschert


"Gypsy Dreams, Paper Trails" by labluegypsy


"Gesso, Issue 3" by Sally Duncan


"Workbooks - the Zine" by Secret Terrabite

Am I going to be in reading/art heaven for a wonderful while?!!

Marilyn

Oh, Christmas Tree...

I love when Christmas continues even after the actual day has passed!
This oh-so-sweet mini quilt arrived the day after Christmas...


...from Wendy all the way from The Netherlands!

She also included some gorgeous fabric charms that I'm anxious to turn into something:)


And both were wrapped so nicely in adorable polka dot paper (which I will definitely be using in some project one of these days).

Wendy and I were swap partners for the December Swap Til You Drop. This is the mini I made for her...


The theme this month was "Quilts Go Green" and we were to *re-cycle* something in our creating. Wendy made her mini using vintage sheets and vintage buttons. I used fabric scraps from previous projects and vintage buttons (great minds!)

Sending extra goodies with our mini-quilts isn't required but I always like to send a little something...


...and couldn't resist a literal "go green" on the socks!

Marilyn

A Happy Christmas to All!

Out of deep Longing
and stilled mysterious nights,
God fell into our midst
like a small star twinkling in the dark.
May Christmas fill you with an awareness
of how God is fully in our midst.


"Night Sky" photograph and message by Carol Smith, CSJ
E-Greeting courtesy of Ministry of the Arts

Marilyn

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

In the midst of Christmas busy-ness, it was fun to have a craft day at Karla's yesterday. What better time of year to be with good friends!

Even Karla's dog, Twinkle, got in on some crafting fun with Beth!


Add in a very nice lunch and an ornament exchange and I'd call it a party!! I brought this ornament...

(front)

(back)

It went home with Beth...and I got Karla's...


AND one from Beth, who brought one for everyone:)


I adore both of them--there's nothing like a handcrafted Christmas ornament!!

Beth also brought two pages for my Round Robin book...talk about feeling like Christmas!!





On the way back home, I made a stop in downtown Lawrence...


"City sidewalks, busy sidewalks, la la la la la la"

Marilyn

Christmas Joy!!!

Our beautiful new grandbaby!

A boy, Liam, born Friday, 18 December 2009 at 1:41am
7 lbs. 2 oz. ~ 20 inches

SWEET SWEET BABY !!!

Marilyn

Mini-Quilt Swap or Santa?

Tuesday afternoon, when the weather had turned nasty and was beginning to get nastier--cold rain turning to snow--a Fed Ex truck pulled up in front of my house. The windows in the craft room face our street so I often have a little warning before the driver lays on the doorbell and drops a package on the porch:)


There were a couple of things different about the delivery. I actually couldn't recall if I was expecting anything--could be a gift--but the really unusual part was the driver was walking to the door! I'm glad he was playing it safe in the slick snow, but have you ever seen a Fed Ex driver on foot that wasn't racing?! It was a first for me.

All of that was unimportant, however, when I saw the return address on the box.....I knew chances were good it was going to be a quilt from a mini-quilt swap with John (Quilt Dad)!


And it was! And it's beautiful! The fabric choices, the design of the blocks and the quilting--I love it all!


And all of the extras he included, well, it felt like Christmas...thanks so much, 'Santa' John!


That teeny cup has got to be the cutest one ever...the little critters on it are so adorable:)




Here is the mini quilt that I made and sent to John:

(front)

(back)

I was inspired by ComfortStitching's Half Hexagon Quilt-a-Long and it was really a lot of fun.

Hope you're having a nice weekend during this holiday season...

Marilyn

Snow Scene

The season's first snow is always so pretty and, at night, so peaceful, especially from the warm, cozy side of our kitchen window. This is the view last night when the snow was just beginning...


Same view, different photo...I played around with this one to add the blue, kind of fun...


We didn't get near the amount of snow that others received just a few miles north of us...I have to admit I wasn't disappointed. I do hope for those of you that are dealing with this winter storm, that you're staying warm and safe!!

Marilyn

Ready...Set...Go!

Sooo, the holiday season has started. It began in the most wonderful way at our house Thanksgiving Day---all of the kids and kids-in-law and grandbaby were able to be here for the day. It was a fun, fun time spent with all of them:)

************************
Looking ahead to Christmas, I've decided to make a Christmas-y quilt...


It all started with a Spoonflower fabric designed by Aneela--the tea set, houses, laundry line pieces in the photo--so adorable that I had to buy some of my own! Then yesterday she posted a quilt tutorial in the most perfect style, and off I went! It's been such a fun project that I've had a hard time staying away from it:)

(2 Dec. ETA: Aneela posted the picture of my project on her blog today...I feel like a celebrity, hehee!)

************************
Also exciting, my copy of the Itty-Bitty Circus book arrived in the mail over the weekend and it's fabulous! Rhonda, the swap hostess for this round, posted a slideshow of the pages on her blog.


I'm not sure if I posted a picture of the Fairytale Itty-Bitty Book when I received it, but it's another cutie!


And so is Tea Time with it's teacup shaped pages. I didn't actually participate in this swap but received one of the books a week after my surgery from one of my itty-bitty swapper friends. It was such a sweet and touching surprise.



Marilyn

Yes, Stuff Happened

I'm guessing we all have weeks that come and go with little clue of what we did with it. Such was the case for me last week. (Week #47 of the calendar year...I googled that tidbit--I'm kind of a dork that way.) So, to assure myself that last week happened, I'll share with you some of what I sewed.....

For Jill in the Stash Busting International virtual quilting bee, I made two blocks. She requested wonky log cabins.

(10.5" blocks)

For Sudi-Laura in the Sew Connected 2 virtual quilting bee, I also made two blocks. She requested maverick stars.

(12.5" block)

(9.5" block)

And for Debbie in the Swap Til You Drop mini quilt group, I made this. I was some challenged by this one. When I looked at Debbie's blog and Flickr photos, I noticed she used more muted colors so I went that direction. My tendency towards the more saturated colors made it difficult to trust whether it was working or not. But I did hear from Debbie yesterday and she says she loves it. That makes me happy:)

(12x14 inches)

(back)

One of the little extras that I included with Debbie's mini quilt was a fabric luggage tag.


It was very easy to make and you can get a free pattern for it here along with four other free patterns for small quilting projects.

OK, before Week 48 (dork!!) becomes a foggy memory I best get on with my day... Project Thanksgiving Readiness--I'm hungry just thinking about it!!

Marilyn