It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Okay, the camera problem is solved.  Yes, the camera has died, but fortunately the memory card lives on and we were able to retrieve the pictures.  Yay!

What a boatload of presents!  It turns out there were quite a few Christmas gift exchanges at the restaurant that night so we felt right at home!

And here's the loot I received from Donna . . . drumroll please . . .

My, oh my, did I hit the jackpot or what??!!

There were handmade cards and a sweet embroidered snowman to add to my collection.

 There was not one, but two quilting books and a journal.



 Lots of snowmen fabric and lovely blue fabric!



 This little gem features my little snowman guys. Donna sewed snowflake buttons on at the top.  Isn't it cute?

 Potholders, coasters, bag and pinwheels . . . such talent!

 A beautiful cardinal plate with Christmas verse along with two pincushions.

 Aren't these pincushions lovely . . . a little ceramic dog and an embellished canning jar complete with blue buttons.

 Dishtowels, washcloths and lid covers all made by Donna.  I grew up with the lid covers and seeing these brought back childhood memories.  The dishtowels are so sweet and I love the crocheted washcloths.

 Red heart ornament (look closely and you'll see a deer and 2 pine trees), snowman buttons and pins.

And here Donna is opening up the little gifts in the Christmas tree I made for her.  This present was so much FUN to make!  I may have to make one for moi some day.

This is what it looked like finished.  There's a dowel rod at the top with red ribbon ties so it can be hung up.  The branches were stitched with a decorative stitch and then I added gold buttons of various sizes and shapes to represent ornaments.  The idea for this gift brewed in my head for awhile before I was able to sit down and make the vision a reality.  I think it turned out nicely.

Thank you, Cheryll for putting this gift exchange together.  What a treat it's been that my swap partner not only lives in the same state, but close enough that we're able to get together and share a meal and some laughs.  That's been the best gift!

Here's hoping everyone is having a wonderful holiday season.  Merry Christmas!!

Always Something . . .

Last Thursday night Donna and I met for dinner and had our Santa Sack Swap!  We had a FANTASTIC time eating and laughing and then opening up a gazillion presents.  On Friday I tried to download all of the wonderful pictures we took and yes, Houston, we have a problem . . . something about the hub port being in use too long . . . what???!!!  So, I've unplugged it and let it rest for several days . . . does it work yet . . . come on!  There's a ton of really great pictures in that camera and they want to come out; I know they do!!  But, alas and alack, for now I can only enjoy on the preview screen on the camera.  So, maybe later on today I will get out the bigger, heavy duty camera and take pictures of all my awesome goodies from Donna.   Sorry for the delay . . .

Thanks, Cheryll for hosting this wonderful swap!!

Vacation Sewing

I was off on vacation for awhile there and now I'm back to work.  Ugh!  But, during my work hiatus I managed to do some creative stuff.  There was quite a bit of sewing while I made more of my scrap blocks. 

Does anyone else feel like they sit at the seewing machine for hours making these things and at the end of the day the scrap pile hasn't gone down at all??!!  I guess part of that is because I started other projects which resulted in . . . you guessed it . . . more scraps!!!  Yikes!  If only these little scraps could mate at night and then I could get up in the morning and just press them and quilt them!!  Ah, heavy sigh, I guess I'll just keep plugging along.

Next up was some Christmas fabric that I quilted and turned into these little lovelies.

 There were potholders to match, but it looks like I failed to take pictures of them!

I'm in love with the quilted feel of these aprons.  It's like being wrapped in some warm, comforting goodness.

Next up was the pile of scrap charm pack squares.  What to do . . . what to do . . . ???  I'd never done a D4P so I decided to tackle that and see where it left me.



Right now these squares are just thrown up on the design wall and I'm thinking I'll add some soft yellow sashing between the sections of this quilt to make it grow!!

And to add some variety to the creating craftiness, I splurged and purchased some new wonderful pens for my journaling and envelope projects.

I'm loving these puppies!!



There was some more creating, but it's for a gift and so I'll wait until the big reveal to show you that project.

And last, but not least . . . Love it!!!  The bag is FULL!!  Donna and I will be meeting next week to have dinner and open up our gifts.  It's going to be so much FUN!!!  Stay tuned for the upcoming pictures of all our goodies . . .

Donna also awarded me the Liebster award a couple weeks ago.  I've been remiss in acknowledging this.  So, please go visit Donna at her cute blog, Donna's Lavender Nest and leave her a comment or two.  I've been hardpressed to find time to visit many blogs these days, so I'm going to hand this award out to those of you who read my blog and also have a small following.  Keep up the GREAT work.  As long as you continue to love it and are inspired, there's no reason to stop. 

Now, it's time to get back to the crafting . . . hope you're all ENJOYING your creative day!!