Homemade Christmas Gifts

The girls are both back home safely and I have more computer time, so my next posts will be of some of the neat Christmas presents I received.
Jenny made me a table runner using my favorites, purple and leaves. It will look good on the table any season of the year.





Ang made jars of Roasted Garlic & Onion Jam and Pear Butter to give to all the family. She has a tiny kitchen to work in, but still managed to can the jars of goodies. Unfortunately because of weather problems in Chicago, Ang's flight from New York was delayed a day and she missed Christmas Eve with one side of the family. We were going to give her gift out later when we saw family members but again the airline wrecked the plan. Most of the jars unsealed during her flight, so only the family she saw on Christmas were able to receive the jam and butter.

Mighty Nice Mice

For my birthday, Jenny made me two cute mice pictures. (I like mice in pictures, photos, ceramics, but definitely do not want the real animal in my home.) Since I didn't have a good spot to hang the crewel work, I told Jenny that I would make some pillow using them. While she was home for Christmas, Jenny decided they could be made into a table runner. She bought some fabric to make a braided back and frame the mice. Jenny finished the runner before she left for home. She did a very nice job. I will enjoy the mice on the table, but will turn the runner over when I serve food to protect them.

Little Red Riding Hood

At Thanksgiving when Ang was visiting Jenny she bought a hat-scarf-mittens. When we went to Fabric Fair shopping after Christmas, she decided she should have a red hat too. She picked out red wool and fur for the inside. After she made a pattern from the purchased hat, Ang asked me to sew it together. The hat-scarf turned out reversible. We didn't add the mittens at the end of the scarf. She was happy with the finished hat. It will help keep her warm on her walks to the subway and bus in Brooklyn and Manhattan.

Michigan State Santa

I made a MSU Santa wall hanging for a Christmas gift. None of my immediate family attended MSU, I graduated from CMU, my husband - Ferris and the kids graduated from Kettering, EMU, UNC and WMU. However family members on both sides of the family graduated from Michigan State and are still MSU supporters. I used the Clover yo-yo maker to make the beard and trim the Santa hat. To make the patchwork hat, I used 2 in Quilt Fuse, which allowed me to lay out the pattern and move squares around. When I had the arrangement I liked, I ironed the pieces to the grid and then sewed the vertical and horizontal seams. The fusible grid is designed for watercolor quilting.

Snowy Day Baking

Friday we were snowed in. Luckily Jenny made it home before the snowstorm. We baked some White Chocolate Dipped Cherry Cookies. They are a shortbread cookie with white chocolate and maraschino cherries in them. Jenny, the cookie visionary, had the clever idea to add some red sparkle on the white chocolate.

The adorable salt and pepper shakers were my mom's.

I also made some peanut brittle in the microwave. The first batch was brittle brittle but I made two more batches that had the airy sort of texture that I intended.

Fabric Fair

The nicest fabric store in Bay City offers a discount if you use a shopping bag with their name on it. I was very green and used a free tote with a logo I covered up. Then I used old fabric scraps to make a frame for store's name. I used print shop and a Print 'm Press transfer to do the center.

Table Runner

In November, our quilt group made blocks by cutting nine patches into four and resewing them in a new way. I made a table runner out of some of my new squares. We have glass on our dining table and I use a table runner to put serving dishes on. I line my runners with Warm and Natural and a layer of Insul-Bright, that way the glass is protected from the heat of a hot dish.

I have enough fabric left to make another runner but I'm not sure if my fabric choice would make for a good gift. I like critters but know that not everyone does.

Snowman Wallhanging

Linda asked me to post a picture of my snowman wall hanging. I made it a few years ago. I didn't use a single pattern but put bits and pieces of different patterns together. We enjoy watching the birds at the bird feeder and until recently I had a cute birdhouse my dad had made near the bird feeder.

Quilt Group Squares

Our quilt group met today for our December meeting. We exchanged 12.5 inch blocks. One of the two I got, has an appliqued poinsettia on it. The applique was done by hand using a blanket stitch. The other block was made using the arrow star pattern. Both are very nicely done and will look great in a Christmas quilt in a few years. I'm not sure about blog etiquette, so I cover up the name of the lady who made the arrow star pattern.

Cottage Pillow

My friend, Linda emailed me a picture of her grandchildren. I thought it might be neat to have photos in the windows of the cottage block. I made the completed block into a pillow.

Cottage Blocks

For my quilt group we are exchanging 12.5 Christmas blocks at our meeting on Wednesday. We are to take two and get two in return. I made one for myself too, figuring in about 5 years I could have 15 squares and make myself a Christmas quilt. Jenny suggested I make cottage blocks. She follows a blog and they were doing a cottage block exchange. I've also been watching the blog because the author (Nanette) is always making neat quilts or showing unique fabric. Nanett's blog is http://fredashive.blogspot.com/ . She had a pattern for the cottage block and a tutorial. I had to alter the pattern a little so it would turn out a 12.5 in square.

Addition to the Birdfeeder

Monday when it was snowing the birds were hanging out in the tree in the backyard. This blue jay really stood out in the white snow.

The chickadees are really cute and have been spending time at our feeder. This chickadee was standing on the shepard hook holding the thistle seed.

A few years ago Jeff built me a birdfeeder for my birthday and set it up near our bay window. So we get to enjoy watching the birds eat close-up. Tom put an additional platform feeder on the one Jeff made. The mourning doves and some of the other larger birds had trouble eating from the smaller feeder.

I haven't figured out how to post my photos and description yet. I lost the photo with the mourning dove, this one has a blue jay and woodpecker.

Snowy Day 2

After playing with my camera I couldn't resist posting another photo.

Snowny Day

All the kids in the area are happy today.....no school. We got a lot of snow yesterday and overnight. This morning the trees looked beautiful so I had to go out with my camera.