Naughty or Nice?

Are you naughty ...or nice?

Today's Craft Idea

Sorry about the photos. We are about to have a big storm and the lighting in this place is terrible this morning. Plus, Blogger will not load my photos. Anyway, I think that you get the idea. I have the templates posted here. I cut out two 15 1/2" squares from the red felt and fused the white felt letters to each side. Then I stitched a zigzag stitched around the letters. I sewed the pillow front and back to each other and stuffed the pillow with fiberfill. Then I hand-stitched the opening closed. I made 4 pompoms and sewed them to the corners after I stuffed the pillow. So cute!

I wanted to show you some more Philadelphia. We happened upon this vintage shop called Retrospect on South Street. I loved how they grouped the items together by color. 

I adore window boxes and row homes. There are lots of these lovely places in Philadelphia.

I loved this mural painted on the firestation wall.

I hope that you enjoyed this little tour of Philadelphia! xo, L

Aren't We Clever?

Today's Crafty Idea

I volunteered to make some decorations for our school library and as I was thinking about it all, I was told that the fire inspector is making the school take down the drapes. Oh no! I had grand plans to decorate with fabric.

I've seen a lot of retail establishments decorate with yarn balls lately and when I was in Philly, there was a pretty wreath hanging on the Starbuck's door. So, I ran down to Michael's to get some inspiration and supplies. My friend, Joanne, and I made these simple but adorable wreaths. [Thanks for your help!] Aren't they cute? They're easy to make too.

First, you wrap some 2 1/2" styrofoam balls with yarn. You don't need a lot. Just wrap it so that you don't see the white parts. Make sure that you rotate the ball around and start winding the yarn in different directions along the way or else you will get huge lumpy ends.

Glue the ornaments and yarn balls onto this cardboard floral ring. We alternated the ornaments with the yarn balls. You will need 6 each of the yarn balls and the ornaments. Let dry and then hang the wreath with a ribbon. Tune in again for another quick idea.

Here's some more Philadelphia. As we were walking along South Street, we kept seeing ceramic mosaics on walls of buildings along the way. At the end of the displays, it was like discovering the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The Magic Garden is so wonderful.

Here's Jess outside the place. It is like a garden mosaic that takes up a little lot of land.

We didn't have enough time to enter the place but you can take a peek through the gates. There's a lovely path that takes you through the garden.

This is the view of the garden from across the street. You'd enter at the doorway shown at the bottom left of the photo.

See you soon. xo, L

Philly Loves Christmas

Aside note before I get into the reasons why I love Philadelphia at this time of the year: Calling all procrastinators.  Visit here this week and I will have a few ideas for making last minute presents. 

Ok, back to business. We've got Australian visitors again this year. Reno's cousin, Jessie, and her friend, Alicia, have been here for a few days. Yesterday, I took them to Philadelphia and we had a grand time. We walked and walked and walked! 

I love the old architecture here. The detail in the buildings is awesome. City Hall is gorgeous and I love the detail at the top of the building.

Right outside City Hall, there's a Christmas Market. I love the little booths and I especially love these. I reeeeeeeally wanted this one. Hey, Santa, are you listening?

The window display was oh so pretty. Sigh! There so many of them and it was tough to choose my favorite.

There were some wonderful ornaments. I managed to buy a few little ones for my tree. I'll share them in my next post. Look at these glass ones. 

These wooden ones were adorable. There were trains, toys and teddy bears.

At the next booth, we found these wonderful matroyska dolls. 

The colors are so vibrant and the detail on these were beautiful.

After the market, we walked over to the Liberty Bell. I waited outside and soaked up all of the beauty of the city while the girls were inside. 

Then we took a long walk along South Street. Tune in tomorrow for some interesting stops that we did along the way. On the way back [and it was a long walk], we stopped in at Loop. It is a beautiful and inspiring shop in Philly. Craig is super nice and I did manage to make a purchase. 

Now, don't blame me for helping you spend your money. [I did get Jessie to buy some patterns and fabric.] Right next door is the fabric sister store, Spool.

Wow, it is equally inspiring and so lovely. Check them out. Definitely worth the hike over there.

Here's Laura with a quilt that she was working on.

Santa Dropped By Clinton

What a magical night. The Town of Clinton held its annual holiday parade. The weather was a bit cool but fine because we were dressed in all of our snowsuits.  There were lots of excited little peeps waiting for the floats and special guests. The Mummers, above, were oh so sparkly. They came all the way from Philadelphia to spread holiday cheer.

Spiderman made his appearance right alongside the Polar Express. Batman swept by with his cool cape. The kids were in awe.

What sort of parade would it be without the gingerbread float?

The kids loved to meet all of the celebrities. Dr. Seuss was no exception.

Cinderella came first class in her beautiful coach.

Captain America drove into town in an awesome vintage fire truck.

Mickey was fine with the cold as was Minnie.

Who did they wait patiently for?

Mr. and Mrs. Claus, of course.

Merry Little Garland

Update: I have the templates posted on my sidebar. Have fun making them!

I made this fun little garland to spruce up my little corner of the universe. It sits on my bulletin board above my desk. I love the colors and it is a bit modern with a tradition

al flair in its shape. Wanna tutorial? Well, here goes! [I should have the templates up sometime today.]

First, you need to cut out 7 oval shapes from white felt and 7 ornament shapes from red felt. Trace and cut out the letter applique shapes from fusible web. Fuse the letters onto the white felt and zigzag around the letters with coordinating thread.

Next, using white thread, sew around the oval with a scant seam allowance as shown below.

You will end up with this. Before you go across the top of the oval, place a piece of folded ribbon at the top and continue sewing. Make sure that the sewing goes over the ribbon.

You should have a little hanging ribbon attached like this.

Thread the ribbon through the hanger to make the garland and hang up to enjoy! xo, L

Be Merry!

*Update: I have the tree template posted there on the free patterns sidebar. Love to see what you make from it. Try the design as a greeting card, or other sewing project and enjoy!

I suddenly feel as though I have a million, no, a trillion, things on my plate. I have a few goodies for you to make as last minute gifts over the next week. Being sick set me back a bit but tell the truth, I am a big procrastinator when it comes to certain things. [Lots of us procrastinate, right? Reno can tell you that my most inspired moments happen when something is needed, like, uh, yesterday.] So, I am here to help you with that wee problem. 

I made this tea towel for a magazine but they only used the card portion of the design. I just couldn't not let the world see it. I bought an antique tea towel at my local shop of all things beautiful, Heart Strings, but any towel will do. Cut a triangle for the tree base and a small star and fuse. I printed the "be merry" wording by selecting a font and coloring it in black and white, and printing it onto a Printed Treasures fabric sheet. I fused that at the bottom. You can most certainly use any of the fabric tags that the scrapbooking companies have on the market. Then I free-motion sewed the swirls for the tree. I bought some fancy green lace at JoAnn's and sewed it along the bottom of the towel. Instant hostess gift. I'll  have the pattern posted later today.

xo, L

Round and Round

I made this wreath last year and mixed up all of these fun lime, red and multi-colored prints. I had fun making it with all of the happy colors. I'm thinking that a little ottoman/pillow [without the center hole in the wreath design] would be oh so fun in these colors too. Add a big fabric button in the middle and there you have a cozy little seat for the wee ones in your family. I can guarantee that they'll love to jump on top of it. xo, L

Only 25 more days! Yikes!

I hope that you had a great holiday. I ate way too much! Big A made these cute turkeys at his Thanksgiving class party. Aren't they cute?

We had a great time though because my sister and her family visited from Toronto. We got all of the photos with Santa taken care of and I took the traditional holiday photo of my nephew for his holiday card. Now, the crunch before Christmas! Luckily, I get the "gift shopping" part of Christmas done in November. That way I can cruise and enjoy December and make little gifts.

I designed these pillows for my book, New Noel. I love them because they're so fresh and adorable. I fell madly in love with the black/gray/cream check pattern below. I think that I bought a good part of the bolt.

I love bright, modern colors. I'm not much of a traditionalist when it comes to holiday colors. I vary from the brights to cream/light blue hues to earthy but for some reason I just don't do the usual emerald green and tomato red. I've even got a little design in progress that has incorporated chocolate colored felt. What are your favorite colors for the holidays? Will be back very soon. xo, L

Is There A Doctor In The House?

I am feeling better but I still sound like a loud, barking seal. Do I have any readers who are doctors or nurses [or anyone else with a cure]? Please, tell me of a cure for this hacking cough. I will love you forever.

I have worked through all of this though. It has been tough keeping focus on everything but I have done two interviews in the past month and I have finished two book proposals. Phew!

Have you started making gifts yet? Of course you have! (wink!). If not, then I am sure that you'll only have time for quick little gifts from here on in. First, did you check out the birdies that I designed for Quilts and More back in the Fall 2008 issue?

In the same issue there was the cool little crayon holders that I designed. I love those and plan on making a few to give away to the wee ones in my life. I used my Gardenia fabric in this one.

I also think that pillow ideas are quick and easy designs that you can make. I made the one above a while ago with my Funky Flowers fabric. It's so bright and happy. I'll highlight a few more ideas in the next few days. I have my sister, bil and cute little nephew visiting this weekend. I can't wait. I hope that you are all having fun prepping for the holiday weekend. xo, L

Noel

I thought that I'd start with a project that has been available on my web site in case any of you haven't seen it yet. You can find the pattern here. 

I love the simplicity of this stocking. I used felt for the body of the stocking. It's fairly small so put little trinkets in it or just use it to dress up a corner. Meanwhile, I will be back soon. I'm on meds right now and I can't seem to shake this cold. Enjoy and I'd love to see your work.

xo, L