The Holidays Are Over?

I still have my tree up and I know that some, no many, of my FB friends have taken down their trees and decorations already. I'm just not ready. Getting there but not quite yet. I rather like being near my cutting table with the tree to my right. It's so twinkly and sparkly.

The welcome distraction is even more fun at my desk. I always wanted a white feather tree and I finally bought one for myself. I love it.

I don't want to get rid of my little reindeer, yo-yos and trees yet.

Maybe I'll take everything down this weekend. Then I will put up some hearts and Valentine's things.

Just before the holidays, I worked on some designs for my buddy, Mark Lipinski's magazine, Christmas 365. It should be out soon so check out this issue. I only have this small photo. That's my garland on the front. There are a couple of other small projects of mine in there too.

I am working on some work things this week but I am distracting myself with some fun too. I used to like calligraphy a lot and although I think that I have nice handwriting, I wasn't always that great at writing with a nib. I decided to give it another try when I saw this set at a local fine stationary place, The Write Touch. I'll have to see how it goes. Do any of you do calligraphy?

I'm making my mom a simple quilt for her sofa. She wanted simple and she wanted lavender and beige. It's a first for me! I haven't laid out everything yet. We'll see how it all works out in the end. It's pretty though.

We are expecting a snowstorm here in the northeast. Stay warm and stay safe!
xo, L

1.1.11

Happy New Year!! Wow, last year sure went by so fast! I hope that you enjoyed your holidays! We had a crazy few weeks leading up to the holidays. We sent off our letters to Santa in town and then we relaxed for the rest of the holidays.

We played with Legos and did some crafting too. The kids and I decorated these fun houses. Big A decorated the one in front, Little A decorated the middle one and I decorated the pink one.

They were meant to be Magical Spring Houses since we didn't have time to make them until yesterday. However, the boys had other purposes for the houses. Here's Hagrid leaving his hotel.

The hospital for the bad guys is heavily guarded. 

The secondary hospital, the one that's used in case the first hospital is bombed, is so pretty.

Here's Indiana Jones' house. So colorful!

Alas, all of the silly fun must end because now it's back to serious fun and business again!

Tomorrow afternoon, join me when I visit my wonderful friend, Pat Sloan, on her radio show, Creative Talk Radio. We met a long time ago and she's energetic. We've been on a few blog hops together too.You can go and listen live and also get the podcast afterwards here. Check out her radio show page here for information on Creative Talk Radio. I will be offering a stack of fat quarters of my latest line, Hugs & Kisses, in a giveaway on her blog.  I'll be on from 4-4:30 p.m. Call us and join in on the fun!

I hope to hear from you tomorrow! xo, L

Happy Holidays!!!

We wish you a very Merry Christmas! I hope that you've all been good and that Santa brings you whatever you wish for!

We are going to have a very relaxed holiday. The only excitement that we are going to have is a visit from Santa tomorrow night. He's going to be visiting our neighbor Mr. Frank and I've been told that he's asked to see the kids.

Meanwhile, my little one wanted to make some nature scenes for the holidays.  A couple of weeks ago we dropped by Pottery Barn and Michael's. He saw these adorable squirrels and raccoons and asked if he could have them to make a "nature scene".  Of course you can. 

He even used his trucks to carry the berries to the scene and to fill the vases with some snow.

He was so proud of his display! Mommy was impressed too!

Happy holidays!

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

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