XMAS Stocking Gift

I made the cutest XMAS stocking today for a friend, and I can't identify her, but I thought I would post it. I used all Michael Miller Fairy Frost and some really lovely XMAS fabric. I machine embroidered the stocking with a Loralie design, and it is being mailed tomorrow to a secret destination. Anyway, here it is!

Last Push Quilt-a-thon and Move to New Home

Nicki from Az is having a Last Push Quilt-a-thon on December 13th at http://pumpkincountry.blogspot.com/ . If you are completing all those last minute Christmas projects, like I am , then join Niki and all of us to show off our completed projects.

I am slowly but surely completing all of my Christmas gifts for friends and holiday projects for my family. Today, I finished a stocking for my friend , and then I headed to the quilting bee to cut out all the strips that I needed for the sashing, borders, and binding for our XMAS House Block lap quilt...Then I have to make Joe his stocking, so I am super busy.

In the midst of all of that, Joe , the two doggies, and I are moving to a new home...our final home for the rest of our lives. We have been looking for a quiet, lovely place, and we found it in Dunfanaghy...also near the sea, and we move into our new home in four weeks time. So you know with all of that, I will be super busy. This is going to be a holiday season that we will never forget. Wish me luck!...I will need it with all that I have to do! LOL We are calling our home "Heather Cottage", so we will have to buy a plaque with that name to hang up above our door. Of course, I will be planting pink and purple heather around the house, and I was thrilled that we now have a fenced in yard in the back, and the doggies will love that too...That also means lots of plans for gardening and buying a picnic bench for lovely dinners outdoors. It's all very exciting!

Maureen's Fabric Postcard and the Knitting Saga Continues

I received a lovely fabric postcard from Maureen, who is in my Arts'n the Mail Group. It was for the "w" swap , and she made "w" represent "weaving", as you can see by the pic. I loved the colours that she used and the embellishments. Thanks so much!

As to my knitting, I am having a blast with it!! I am doing a wonderful long scarf using a beautiful wool and nylon yarn that I got, and it is going along so well. I am doing the ribbed stitch throughout the scarf...Knit 2 and Purl 2...The book Stitch 'N Bitch really is a great reference book, but I got a wonderful dvd in the mail that I have been using called "The Beginner's Guide to Knitting" by Nici McNally. It is awesome! Since I picked up the knit and purl stitch so well, and I have the speed and gauge right, I am moving on to the dreaded sock.LOL It was recommended by a friend that I get the dvds made by Nenah Galati whom you should check out at http://www.knittingkorner.com/ I am going to get the Sock 1 Kit which includes the dvd, yarn and turbo needles. I hear that it is a great dvd. Well, I am eager to learn how to make socks and hope that it is not too bad with the circular needles and Nenah's dvd.

This month, I am ordering Denise's Interchangeable Needle set at The Knitting Parlour in the UK which you can see at http://www.theknittingparlour.co.uk/ . I am getting it in pink and it gives you needles in sizes 3.75-10mm, which makes either circular or straight needles. Also, I have some crochet hooks to get, the Clover Knitting Kit, and some yarn.

I am known as the sock lady , as I am always wearing very unique socks...funny ones, like the ones I am wearing now, which have pink pigs on them, so I can't wait to knit my own socks! What can I say? Knitting is very addictive!

Blogging Friends Forever Award

I woke up this morning to a wonderful email from Anna in BC, who gave me the Blogging Friends Forever Award. Anna. I want to thank you right back for a wonderful friendship that we have developed through our letters to each other. You can visit Anna's blog and share her wonderful journey at http://quiltmomsjourney.blogspot.com/ . I really needed that, as it has been a bit of a difficult week, and it was very welcoming to see a friend think of me with such kindness. I also went to Pam's Pages at http://pamcave.blogspot.com/, and I found out that she gave me that award too, and even though I thanked her on her blog, I wanted to tell her again how grateful I was that she included me on her list. I didn't know at the time that I was supposed to paste it on my blog, but finally figured it out with Anna's email. I guess that I am a newbie to all of this stuff. Thanks again Pam!

I began my blogging journey not too long ago, and used to just lurk and read other people's blogs. I found out from Anna's post that Kim at http://kimsbigquiltingadventure.blogspot.com/ seemed to have coined the expression "AFWAB", which means " a friend without a blog." I never knew I was an AFWAB.LOL I will have to visit Kim's blog today.

When someone like Anna sends so much love out, I can only do one thing and send it back to some of my blogging friends. I have met so many wonderful and talented people through my blog, who have shared my life with me by reading my posts and responding so kindly to them.

I am giving the Blogging Friends Forever Award to the following people:

1. Kath at http://www.railwaycottage.blogspot.com/ . What can I say about my friend Kath? I have dubbed her the Elfin princess, and she is eclectic like myself, as she does tons of creative things like art, doll making, fabric postcards, etc. She is lovely both outside and inside. I like to picture her doing her crafts with her dogs lying beside her, the music in the background, and a big smile on her face.

2.Dzintra at http://dzintrastitcheries.blogspot.com/ is a marvelous stitcher who enjoys walking on the beach with her husband. She is definitely a romantic at heart. She lives in Australia, and she is recuperating after surgery...thus the name Queen of the Armchair. She is a real trooper and has a heart of gold!

3.Katherine at http://quiltergoingbananas.blogspot.com/ is a great quilter who is "going bananas" trying to finish all of her UFO's....Aren't we all? She is a lovely, warm lady, and you definitely need to visit her blog and get to know her.

4..Maggi at http://todreamtostitch.blogspot.com/ is a textile artist, whom I am so glad to have gotten to know. She is always experimenting with her craft, and I love a person who has the courage to do that!

5.Carol at http://camah3.blogspot.com/ loves quilting, but very humorously says that her purpose in life is to buy more and more fabric. Don't we all love doing that? I thank her for her constant encouragement!

6. Phyllis at http://spinknitandlife.blogspot.com/ has been an avid follower of my blog, and I thank her immensely for that! She spins and knits beautifully! Someone who read my post yesterday about my starting to knit suggested that I also spin. Well, I doubt if I ever will do that...God knows I do so much now...but even if I ever did, which I won't...LOL...I could never do it as splendidly as Phyllis does. Her yarn is wonderful!


7. Nicola at http://clasheen.wordpress.com/ is a "rural feltmaker", as she calls herself, who lives in Ireland also. She is passionate about feltmaking, and is always creating breathtaking jewelry, wearable art, and many other things that would inspire anybody. After going into machine felting, I luckily found her through Feltmakers of Ireland, and I throughly enjoy keeping up with her artistic pursuits.

8. Pam at http://pamcave.blogspot.com/ : well even though you already have an award, and gave one to me...I am sending you back one with much love and thanks. You are such a lovely person and talented quilter, so if you want some craic or fun as they say here in Ireland, visit Pam's blog.

9. Freda at http://fredashive.blogspot.com/ : I had to include Freda, as she was gracious enough to lead the Christmas House Block Exchange, and yes, Freda, I just got the blocks in the mail. I really thank you for taking this swap on and giving all of us such wonderful blocks. I will be making a lap quilt starting this week from all of the blocks, and it will be a wonderful memory for me. I will post it on my blog and tell you when it is there so you can see it. Thanks so much!

10. Anna: I am sending you back the award with love.

I could go on and on...I have met so many inspiring people through the blogging world.
Thank you all for sharing our obvious love for our crafts and most of all for the friendships that we have formed.

Knitting At Last

I have crocheted for years and years, but I always wanted to learn to knit. My friend Attracta lent me her Stitch'N Bitch book, and I dived into it enthusiastically. I worked on it the first three days for 7-8 hours straight. I learned how to cast on the stitches quickly enough, the knit stitch wasn't too bad...even got the speed down, but the purl took me some time, but now after less than a week, I have gotten it. I think that the purl was hard for me, as I have dyslexia, and you have to do it backwards, but I finally mastered it. I then learned how to increase and decrease stitches, bind off the piece, and do yarn over...I am looking at the book all the time and learning things.

I knew I had to jump into making a project, so I have started a scarf. I found some lovely wool yarn that had the colours black, grey and white. I am using 6mm straight wooden needles, as the pattern indicated, and I am knitting away. It is very relaxing sitting in my lounge chair and knitting by the fire while I watch tv. I will post the scarf when I finish. I want to try socks afterwards, but I hear that the heels are a killer. Well, Joe and I both want socks, so I will give it a go. Any help with the socks or advice would be greatly appreciated!!!!!

Oh, UTube had tons of videos, and I have to admit that without those, I never would have learned knitting so quickly. I am determined to work my way up to a sweater soon, and being the persistent person that I am...I am sure that I will....MmMmMm....I think angora and pink is definitely a possibility.

Yeah, The XMAS House Blocks Arrived and Lace Doily Almost Finished

I was thrilled when the postman finally delivered the Christmas house blocks to me. I got 12 of them, and today at the quilting bee, I made four more. Joe took a pic of the 12 blocks as they arrived, so here they are. It is going to make such an adorable lap quilt.

I also got a wonderful gift from Dakota who sent me her first fabric postcard. She is in my Stichin Fingers Group, and the theme was XMAS...Wow, what a wonderful first attempt! You would never guess that it was her first fabric postcard. I loved all the hand embroidery and beadwork. She also gave me some embroidery thread .

Lastly, I got supplies from Barnyarns....embroidery thread and a bobbin storage case. I was just running out of the two blues that I am using to make a lovely lace doily, so thank God, it came just in the nick of time. I have posted a pic...I have to make two more sides of the doily and then sew the pieces together. I used two layers of Madeira Avalon Plus in the hoop, and I decided on making the lace in two shades of my favourite shades of blue.

I am crossing my fingers that my fabric comes from the Fat Quarter Shop tomorrow, so I can begin my lap quilt...I am really dying to start it!

More Arrivals

I received three siggies in the mail: Helen Clark, who is from Michigan, made me a lovely hand embroidered centre block, Anna Marie Rossi from Italy who made the cutest dog in her centre block, and Gracia Moro from Italy also, who stamped an angel in her centre block. Thank you all so much!

I also got a lovely Christmas block from Susan ,who is in my Sylvia Bridal Sampler Friendship group, which will be part of the double sized quilt that I will be making from all of them. Thank you too!

I was excited, because I got Carol Doak's latest book on making vests, and her dvd that went along with it, and the foundation paper. I will be ordering some lovely fabric to make my first vest. I love the idea of watching the dvd and making the vest along with Carol. She is always so through and funny. You can see everything at http://www.caroldoak.com/

A Friend and Being a Glutton for Punishment

I have been in contact with Christina Henri, who is in charge of that Irish Convict Program, and she is coming to Ireland in September before her big visit in 2010. I look forward to meeting her, as I have a great deal of respect for what she did with the Irish convicts. Hopefully, we will meet in Dublin, which is a wonderful city.

I am so busy with getting ready for XMAS! I am trying to make our home cozy and cheery for the holidays. I found Denver Fabrics on line which you can see at http://www.denverfabrics.com/ . I am ordering some medium weight velvet fabric for two more pillows that I want to make for the living room sofa. I will post the pics of the fabric when I decide on the colours. I want to do machine embroidery again, so being that it is velvet, I will have to use the solvy on top and the tearway in the hoop, and be ever so careful pulling the tearaway and solvy off afterwards, as I can't wet the velvet, so the stitching turns out well. I must be a glutton for punshment, if I am choosing silk and velvet to work with, as both of them are difficult fabrics to sew and embroider with, as my friend Mary in Australia warned me.LOL I am choosing the medium weight, as I have two dogs...need I say more? It should turn out lovely though...if I survive the process.

I am still waiting for the Christmas House blocks to arrive...they should come on Monday or Tuesday as Nanette sent them out a week ago...The additional fabric that I ordered will arrive next week too, so I can work on the quilt. It will be so cute!

I also ordered fabric for the two other stockings I have to make....well that is enough to do before the holidays. Sewing has been cathartic for me during the last few days...I can tell you that it has been making the time go so quickly.

I will post pics as the work progresses. I hope everyone is having fun preparing for the holidays.

My New Silk Dupioni Pillow

It took me two days to create my silk dupioni pillow. I did the machine embroidery on the front fabric first. I had to use vilene on the top and back of the fabric and then hooped the vilene only and carefully pinned the vilene and silk to the hoop. After stitching the design, I had to rinse out the Vilene and of course wait for it to dry. I used Vilene on both sides, as the silk fabric is very delicate. Then I made the rest of the pillow using red and blue silk dupioni. I put it on a lovely rocking chair that we bought here in Ireland. I am really happy with the results!

Siggies Arrived

I received many siggies in the mail from wonderful members of the International Siggy Swap. Thanks to the following:

Janet Davies from England, Claudia Coordes from Germany, Feys Monique from Belgium, Gerda Leenders from The Netherlands, Marjan Bijvoet from The Netherlands, Kristine Zerfuss from Germany, Carina Nordberg from Finland, Ferdinande Authuys from Belgium, Anita Claes and Vera Vaet from Belgium, and Shenny Valks-Kalkuins from Curacao.

Each block came with a lovely letter, and it is always so nice to read the letters as I sit in my lounge chair by the fire. It is so interesting and wonderful to meet all these lovely people through their correspondence. You can see all the work that went into each and every block. Thank you again so much!

I now have 65 blocks. I want to collect 165 blocks to make a large quilt for our bed.

The XMAS Decorations Have Begun

I have been a busy bee today. As you can see I have Santa and a cute doggy up for the first XMAS decorations besides the stockings that I made. I used felt and embellishments like ribbon, and of course machine embroidered the doggy and his stocking. Annie in our local shop said that she wouldn't start putting up her decorations till the beginning of December, but I am starting early, and boy am I having fun.

As soon as the fabric arrives, I will begin the stockings for Joe and the boys.
Happy Early XMAS to all!

Obama Wins!

I stayed up till the wee hours to see the election details on CNN...I finally saw Obama's victory speech, and it was very inspiring! You can see it at :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqoFwZUp5vc I am sure that many people saw it already more than once, but I wanted to put it in my blog.

It really gave me the hope that America was on the road to recovery, and his words "We can do it!" made me so proud to be an American. I didn't get that much sleep here in Dunfanaghy, because of the time difference between America and Ireland,but I thought it important to watch CNN, as my country was making history. I am sure that many people all over the world were watching it with great anticipation.

I really feel that this is a new era of change, and it is always nice to have the person that you voted for win the election, but we now have to come together as a country and all support our new president, so we can get our country moving forward. It was incredible watching Americans waiting in lines for hours and hours to vote, and our ideals of democracy shone through. I am lucky to be able to vote both in the American and Irish elections. I do in a sense have the best of both worlds. However, I do have to admit that I would have enjoyed going through the process in my hometown of Philadelphia, and I would have been proud to be directly part of such an important event, but my vote from Ireland was at least my way of being part of an historical American election where America elected their first African American President.

Micki's Christmas Stocking

Let me start off by saying that I did not make the conventional Christmas stocking colour.LOL I wanted a pink one on the one side, and made the usual colours on the back...thus two stockings in one. I have always wanted a pink stocking with Santa on it, and I went with Frosty the Snowman on the back. As you can see, the designs are all machine embroidered. There is also a machine embroidered poinsettia flower. I used Michael Miller Fairy Frost for the fabric...love that fabric!!!....and a white cotton fabric for the lining. The cuff is a pretty Christmas fabric that I found at the quilt shop.

My next two stockings will be for Joe and the two doggies. Joe wants a light blue on one side, a medium blue on the back, and Frosty the Snowman for the front and the back. I found a really cute Mr. and Mrs. Frosty for the front, and will use something adorable for the back. The boys are getting some dogs in Santa hats for their designs....They haven't told me the colours that they want....they better make their minds up soon , or I will be picking them.

Well, my stocking is hanging, as you can see, on our fireplace, with two more soon to come...a wee bit of Christmas spirit is always nice. Joe and I will be making a visit soon to the big Christmas Shoppe in Letterkenny to buy a tree and some decorations. Now, that will be fun!