Let It Snow, Let It Snow, and ...

it did! Wow, we had a huge snowstorm this past weekend. Although I didn't need to shovel the snow because we have people who come by and clean out our driveways and walkways, I did. I loved it. The boys went sledding and made snowballs. When I went to put some groceries in the freezer today, I saw two snowballs in there. They pleaded for my husband to keep them in the freezer. So funny.

Afterwards, I got down to business. I had to design the craft project for the little one's class. What do you think? I do like my snow globe ornament a lot. I hope that you're enjoying the holidays. Only a few more days and Santa's coming to town!

Thank you for the comments, e-mails and FB notes to me regarding my little guy. I really appreciated all the love!
xo, L

I Believe In Santa Claus!

Remember that Designer Blog Hop that we had a little while back? It was fun and I so loved your company. I have a little non-quilty story and I'm only sharing it because I am overjoyed beyond belief.

On the last day of the blog hop on my featured day, while I was enjoying all of your attention, I received a phone call from my doctor. It was one of those calls that a mother dreads and I must admit, it had me slightly paralyzed in thinking, in working and in enjoying the holidays since then. My baby had a test that came back with potentially devastating results and I had to wait three weeks to do another test to confirm or reject the results. I only wanted Santa to bring me good news. I tried not to be crazy and I succeeded for the most part but it took a long time to get to yesterday. I am thankful that I got my Christmas wish. 


I believe in Santa Claus. [Good thing too because now I can focus on creating the craft idea for the little guy's holiday party.]

xo, L

Catching Up

How are your holiday preparations coming along? I've been busy with little bits of this and that. In the end, though, it seems to add up to a lot and I often wonder where does the time go? Have you been busy sewing gifts? I have to start soon! All of the ideas have been swirling around my head but I haven't actually done a lot of sewing. I mean, I have done some sewing but not enough for my liking. I did sew that little wallet up there with some scraps that I had around. I'd never drawn up a pattern or sewn anything with a frame before so that was an experience.

Mostly, I've been busy with some background stuff and with the kids' school activities. It is that time of year that everything seems crammed into a week or two, doesn't it? This was taken at the Holiday Table with my little one, his best buddy, Aidan and his mom, Joanne. It's a fun holiday thing that we do at school. The parents get to come in and have lunch with their kiddos and friends. My big guy had 5 boys at his table and it was madness.

Last week, Little A's teacher had a craft day so Joanne, my hubby and I volunteered to help. My station was the beaded ornament station. Well, I had as much fun and even made a couple of snowflake ornaments while I was supposed to be teaching the kids how to make them.

  

Then there was the grand gingerbread making adventure of 2009. Ok, Joanne and I are quilters, not professional gingerbread house makers. It all started off well buy after a while we needed to support the roof because it was sliding off. In the end it was all fine. The kids, of course, wanted to eat all of the gumdrops and icing.

Joanne's boys made these adorable ornaments. Hint: Last minute gift for the grandparents! Easy to make and cute!

Onto other quilt business news. These lovely scans came across my desk recently. The ladies from Henry Glass sent me scans of Michelle Blackhurst's new line, Fleur d'Paris. So pretty! Look forward to the release in the spring.

Happy sewing! xo, L

Oh Deer!

After drooling over the photographs in my book yesterday, I found out that my friend Toby from Kindred Quilts is heading to Istanbul for the holidays. Jealous? No comment! Lucky girl!

Today was just one of those days where everything was off. We started with three phone calls from the school to tell us that there was going to be a delayed opening. [Note to self: I have to inform the school that I don't need three phone calls.] Then there was the storm and a doctor's appointment. Not fun but I still accomplished a lot.

I was wide awake by the end of the calling spree. What did I decide to do? I  designed a holiday card. Pop-up style, of course. It was fun to work out the details. I made the shape smaller and added a bit of color to add a lot of spunk to the design. What do you think?

I wanted to show you another card idea that I designed for Sew Sentimental . I made an ornament out of fabric transfer sheets and pinned it to a card. So easy and so adorable.

Did I ever tell you that greeting cards were my first crafty love? I had a greeting card design company, the paper gallery. So interesting how things come around again. xo, L

Mesmerized

I have always had the dream of visiting Turkey. Someday I will. For now, I love to devour the luscious photographs in this beautiful book about the patchwork of Turkey.  I bought this book from Quiltmania when I was at Quilt Market in Houston. This book is a visual delight.

Enjoy! xo, L

Quaint Christmas Charm

Last week I went to Bethlehem, PA to attend the Christkindlmarkt Bethlehem. Bethlehem itself is a cool little town. So quaint. It's also a photographer's delight. There are a lot of remnants of the old booming steel towns of the past.

The old homes and buildings are lovely and have so much character. The roads are a bit hilly and there's a little bit of winding around just to add more to the town's charm.

The one place that you have to visit is The Moravian Book Shop. It is an almost endless shop of inspiration.

I've mentionned my admiration for glass ornaments.  Well, the store offers a lot of gorgeous ornaments. Oh so tempting. I did get a couple of little ones. The large ones were somewhat pricey. At $80 -$175, I couldn't afford to have one of my little guys knock them over.

Flocked trees. Feather trees. They had practically any tree that you could imagine.

Curly toed stockings! Bright colors! Love it!

I love these white dishes with the little bumps around the outside edge.

I so want a terrarium. Aren't they adorable? They were shaped like ornaments.

Speaking of round. Look at this lovely topiary. I think that I'd love one of these outside my door!

Oh yes, back to the market. Lovely vendors. I think that I should keep an eye out for a nutcracker. I love the rodent one at the bottom.

Do you remember when I fell in love with these last year when I was in Philadelphia? I didn't see any of the cute ones that I saw at the booth in Philadelphia but these were so gorgeous.

After the show, I took some more photos of the buildings. I posted a few in my journal. Check them out here.

I love the holidays! Enjoy yours. xo, L

Oh Little Tree!

I didn't forget about you, Little Tree! I think that I need help. I am obsessed with my trees and Christmas in general! Is everyone in the swing of holiday fun? I am not usually this "domestic" but since Reno has been in London on business this week, I have been working and nesting! [No, not for those reasons, silly.]

Remember the little tree that I had mentioned in the blog hop ? Well, I decided to put it up. Isn't it cute? Of course, I had to have a crown on the little tree too! I have given up on stars at the top of the tree. Do you like the wreaths or do you still prefer the star at the top?

I have been working. The latest is updating my website. Do check out the new photos and the journal . I love the flowers. Do you have any favorite holiday flowers? I'm always looking out for the unusual.

My friend Colleen made a lovely quilt for her mother's friend. Isn't it gorgeous? Colleen, I don't know how you do it all! See you in a few hours! We have a sewing playdate with Joanne.

I LOVE the back of the quilt. She pieced letters together to spell out these words. So awesome!

Have a great day! xo, L

I Crown Thee Oh Christmas Tree!

The star on my Christmas tree just wouldn't stay up. It just toppled over. I could have sworn that it was fine last year. Oh dear! The lack of a tree topper just left the top of the tree bare. Yuck! So, I visited Michael's today and bought a bouquet of these. Oooooh, I love the red/silver combination but I love that light gold in the bottom center of the photograph.

I started with this wreath and inserted the picks all around the circle. I'm starting to like it a lot.

I continued around and around until I ended up with a beautiful red and silver crown.

It just fills up the top of the tree oh so nicely.

Meanwhile, you can see the priorities of my guys.  Santa's letter is much better than Chinese homework, right? See that blank homework page? Now compare that to the long letter that he is composing to Santa. So funny to watch them write the letter though.

We also have a winner in the Cross-Country Designer Hop Flickr Group Contest. Gudrun randomly chose the winner: bro3ther! Congratulations!

xo, L