Needlework 12 Days of Christmas - 10th day...

On the 10th day of Christmas...


...family inspirations! I come from a family that was always busy doing some kind of handwork. My grandmother, aunts, mother, big brother, sister... I suppose that is why my own stitching and quilting takes a huge place in my life.

One year for Christmas, my dear aunt sent me this child's hat she knitted for Christmas. Not when I was a child but as an adult. She often sent me her wonderful knitted or crocheted dishclothes and edged hand towels but this time it was this hat. And a very special hat it is too! It is the same pattern she used to make me a little green hat when I was a little girl. That hat we no longer have. My mother has a picture of me in it somewhere but we talked about it and my Aunt Janey made me another one.

This was not easy to get a good photo of as I cannot fit it on my head obviously. I hope you can get an idea of how cute it is? It is very special to me. My aunt passed away a number of years ago now yet I think of her often. I put this hat out during January along with my winter decorations.

Needlework 12 Days of Christmas - 9th day...

On the 9th day of Christmas...


...SALing. Now I have stitched along with online friends but for the first time I am am doing a SAL with two of my quilt sisters. We are getting together for a playdate to kick off each pillow of this project so it makes it so much fun! Bep (no blog) and Saskia are ready so we have to set out next date and start on the next section of this pillow Christmas tree. You can read more about it here.

I am using some of the homespun fabrics I bought from my friend's shop which I talked about in this post. I am going to finish each pillow as I go. The trick is getting it filled but not too full so it hangs well when they are all connected. I am anxious to get more of these finished. Shall we set our next playdate Bep and Saskia?

It is never too early to think about Christmas projects. *wink*

Needlework 12 Days of Christmas - 8th day...

On the 8th day of Christmas...


...mystery novels with a needlework theme. They are another fun passion of mine. In 2010, my online friend Joanne mentioned that Terri Thayer's quilt mysteries where a favorite of hers. I ordered the books but never made time last year to start on them. So this year, I am resolved to read these.

I really enjoy reading books with stitching, quilting and knitting themes in them. My love affair started with these kind of cozy mysteries back in the 90s when Monica Ferris wrote Crewel World. I was even able to get my mother hooked on them. *grins* We love Monica Ferris (needlework), Maggie Sefton (knitting) and Laura Childs (tea house and scrapbooking) for their handwork cozy mysteries. We also love reading Joanne Fluke (cookie) and Joanna Carl (chocolate).

Another favorite of mine is the Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter by Susan Wittig Albert and I would love to make time this year to reread them again starting from the first book. Yes...they are that good!

Any cozy mystery fans in blogland that balance reading them between stitches?

Needlework 12 Days of Christmas - 7th day...

On the 7th day of Christmas...

...a cup of tea? *grins*

My mother got the Prairie Schooler chart called Button Up from me and I keep pestering her to start stitching it. She never did but sent me a card with this one section of the chart stitched up. She stitches me things and gives them to me to finish myself. I do have a rather silly mother. *wink* She had done this but the sky was not stitched. Since I knew what I wanted to do with it, I told her she had to stitch the sky in a grey blue for me while she was visiting in November so I could finish it.

I used a small unfinished wood box I already had in my stash which I treated with antique wax. I then glued the stitched on to the front of the box with a trim around the edges (also from my stash) and I now have a cute little tea box to sit on my drainboard for my winter afternoon cup of tea.

Care to join me for a cup of tea?

I was looking back at my list of finishes for 2010. I lost time during September, October and November due to moving but am still pleased with what I accomplished this year. I set out to get 6 UFOs finished but finished 11 in total among the new projects I did this year. I am continuing with the same idea in 2011. I am going to review my UFOs tomorrow to set a new goal for which ones I want to finish within that year. You will hear more about that in the future.

Here is the list of my finishes for 2011:

2010 Quilt/sewing finishes

• Sewing bag with spool pincushion, scissors and fob for Bep
• Wool felt scissor holder and fob for Marsha
• Blues large friendship bag for Marsha
• Eliza Jane's Nine-Patch doll quilt
• Pumpkin Fields quilt
• Strawberries, Cupcakes and Sweets needlebooks - giveaways
• Strawberries, Cupcakes and Sweets quilt
• Large friendship bag for Caroline
• Wool felt scissor holder and fob for Jenny
• Blue star needlebook - giveaway
• Little cottage thread holder
• Teapot Wallhanging
• The Hand Me Down doll quilt
• Friendship bag - blue/brown fabrics - giveaway
• Pollyanna's Pinwheels doll quilt
• Friendship Bag - summer fabrics
• Becky's Block doll quilt
• Pride and Prejudice Quilt - top finished
• Nutcracker tree
• Two By Two - Noah's Ark

2010 Stitching finishes

• Button Up tea box (stitched by my mother and finished by me)
• Winter Comes Gently
• Santa Button sampler
• Ambiance Jardin
• Nobody Loves Me sampler
• Good Morning pillow
• Peppermint Twist
• Autumn Quaker Row sampler
• Makkum Flower Sampler
• Pursue Your Passion saying
• French Abecedaire sampler
• With My Needle sampler
• Enjoy Your Time saying
• Morton Salt double sided pinkeep

Needlework 12 Days of Christmas - 6th day...

On the 6th day of Christmas...


...stitching what you love! I was just emailing with Jenny (no blog) about a shared love for things with an alphabet and/or a house on it. Can I add one more thing to that list Jenny? A cat! Last year, I won Olga from Deborah this year and saved it for 2011 since I also got the The Goode Huswife's Book of Designs Vol. 2 for my stash also. And what charts are in this book? Cat and cat samplers. Just adorable...

After all, most days I am stitching with Dagi on my lap so he needs to be honored with his own wall of cat samplers, right? He has been very patient and accepting moving house last month. He is happy now in his new home and wants to spend his days cuddling away here. Yes, that is my cat laying on my couch under my quilt with his head on my pillow. He is a little man with fur. Great personality and a great companion.

I am looking forward to starting this major project of a cat sampler wall. Humm...I think I might have to start looking for more frames. It should be a purr-fect year full of cats.

Are you planning any major stitching projects to start in 2011?

Needlework 12 Days of Christmas - 5th day...

On the 5th day of Christmas...


...quilting friends. I could not make a list of things about this year and my needlework without including my very special group of quilting friends that meet once a month here in my home. We have become a family and I love each one dearly. This past summer they started working in secret to make a house block for me as a surprise. In November, with our first evening here in my new home, they gave me these blocks.

I spent some time pondering what I wanted to do with the blocks. I wanted to set them up in a way that was more interesting that just sewing them together for a house quilt. I finally came up with an idea. Here is a sneak peek with more to come later in January...

"A friend is one of the nicest things you can have, and one of the best things you can be. "

~ Douglas Pagels

Needlework 12 Days of Christmas - 4th day...

On the 4th day of Christmas...

...planning, research and sewing. Does that sound strange in relation to needlework Christmas thoughts? This is always a very busy time for me. I start the new theme for my quilt group each January. Once our annual Christmas party is over, I go into full swing of preparing for that first month's new theme. Now I love connecting historical themes to my quilting as you have learned reading this blog regularly. It is logical that I try and place that in my newsletters for my group as much as I can.

This year, we are going to all become farmer's wives and create the sampler from this popular book. Everyone is going to put their own twist on it and I am looking forward to seeing how the quilts turn out. I am choosing two or three of the letters from the book each month and we can make one block or more a month to create our quilt by the end of the year. I will be including lots of fun facts about farms in Holland in the newsletters throughout the year. I am spending time doing research now.

I am testing the blocks by sewing those included in this coming month's newsletter. Here are the first few blocks. There are 7 for this month. I decided to start out this sampler with some fabrics I received as a gift from two of the ladies in my group. I will pull more from my stash as I go that work with these. I am going with a combination of browns mixed with blues and pinks or reds. Normally I would mix either the pinks and reds or the blues with brown and not all together. I thought this would be fun to do both and help them to work together by using dark brown later with my sashing. After all...the life of a farmer's wife is never dull I am sure and this represents her many talents.


Farmer's wife in the Veluwe by Edzar Koning