Halloween Witch Doll

I've been meaning to post these pics for awhile now and if I don't do it soon Halloween will be long gone - actually it seems long gone already - everywhere I turn someone insists on telling me how many weeks or days there are until Christmas! Anyway - last month DD and I stopped into this store and I saw this awesome doll and the store was giving a class on how to make it! Only problem was we were there on Monday afternoon and the 2nd class was that Wednesday night so I was already behind and didn't have a lot of time to catch up. But since I've made dolls before I figured I should be able to do the initial stuff without any guidance. There were two more classes and I just love the way everyone's doll came out.

My doll is not finished yet. I still want to accessorize her a bit and with time crunch I didn't have time to collect everything I wanted. Here she is:



I also want to redo her hair. I really was not happy with the way it turned out. But all in all I am very happy with her and I love the class. I was ecstatic to learn how to do sculpted faces. I am hoping the store does more doll classes soon. The owner is an incredible dollmaker - very talented. Here is a pic of everyone's dolls together:



The one on the right is the teacher's doll - isn't she incredible?

I have one other little autumn project to show. I finished this little pillow this week despite it giving me total fits! I hate it when an "easy" project just becomes more trouble than its worth and that almost happened with this one for various reasons not worth going into. But its done!



Have a pieceful day!

I have a few more swap pictures to show. Ariane of Arianescrafts received my placemats today from the placemat swap2 on flickr. They are made of flannel. I've had the kit for these for about 4 years and they've been on my to do list for just as long. When the placemat swap came along and Ariane told me she uses placemats on her table I decided these would be perfect.



My partner in another Flickr swap received the mini quilt I sent her last week - the theme was Woodland World.



I have one more swap package on its way to my partner - my last Stitcher's Angel package. Hopefully it will arrive soon and then I can show that one.

Have a pieceful day!

It's Done!!!!

I did it! I managed to get the Halloween quilt from the swap done before Halloween was gone. I finished it about 4:30 this afternoon and had it hanging in the kitchen by 5pm. Normally I would take all my Halloween stuff down tomorrow but I think this will have to stay up for awhile longer - maybe till Thanksgiving! This really has me in the mood to get the Christmas swap blocks together this year too. I had told myself I wouldn't have time before Christmas this year but I might have to try to find a couple of days to knock it out.

Have a pieceful day - and Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to you!



This is my youngest DD in her halloween costume last night. She wanted to be Alice in Wonderland but every costume in the stores was too "slut-y" She said you couldn't even tell they were Alice in Wonderland. So she went to Walmart, bought fabric and a pattern and asked me to help her. I've never been a clothes sewer, other than doll clothes and halloween costumes. She took 2 years of Fashion Construction in high school but kept claiming not to know how to do it. So she cut it out and I did most of the rest with her assistance. Then we got to the zipper. I said "I think we need to call Florence for help, I have no idea how to put a zipper in a dress and the pattern directions sound like Greek to me" she said "oh, its easy, you just do this, this and this..." and promptly taught me how to put a zipper in a dress.

I think I've been hoodwinked! Seriously though I am just thrilled that it came out okay (if you look closely there are a ton of flaws, but it is only a halloween costume) and more importantly that it fit! I had these horrible visions of spending all these hours on it and it not fitting when we were done and then rushing to the store to buy one of the slut-y costumes anyway!

Have a pieceful day!

Christmas block swap

If you read my blog you know I recently participated in Jane's Halloween Spooky Spectacular block swap. I made 12 owl blocks and 12 nine patches and received 12 different halloween themed blocks and 12 different 9 patches. Those blocks have been assembled into a quilt top and I still have hope of having the quilt finished before Halloween is over - even if it means I am stitching binding Saturday night!

So last month I was at our monthly-ish meeting of our firehouse quilters group and I was showing everyone my blocks and telling them about the halloween swap. Bernadette says "why don't we do something like that?" and I replied "we should - and you can organize it!" and she did! So 9 of us each made 9 Christmas themed blocks and last Saturday we swapped them. They all go together so well and everyone did such a great job! There was already talk of a Snowman themed swap in January. So without further adeiu, here are the blocks (only 8 are shown here - Mary wasn't able to make it on Saturday so I don't have one of her blocks yet - I have seen then though and they are great - a redwork candycane. If you check her blog I'm sure she will post a picture soon.



I made Christmas stockings personalized with the recipient's name:







Bernie made these adorable paper pieced Christmas presents:







Sue machine appliqued angels - this was her first time doing applique and she did an unbelievable job!







Florence did gingerbread men and as always they were perfect!







Priscilla did Christmas trees - aren't they great?







Ann chose a snowman from Art to Heart - I love that blue background!







Megan made stars that as always are pieced perfectly - front and back are perfect!







Talin made mittens - check out the ribbon and button embellishments!





Speaking of Talin - I've been meaning to post for awhile to tell you about Talin's new blog. Talin is extremely talented and blows the rest of us away with her creations. She makes beautiful handbags as well as other things.

Update**** I managed to get a pic of Mary's block - she hand embroidered a candy cane on white on white snowflake fabric - a ton of work and so pretty!

Have a pieceful day!

More mail and swap goodies!

More goodies from the mailbox! First up is a little gift I received from Nanette of Freda's Hive. I volunteered proofread (believe it or not I enjoy proofing!) her new pattern Kettles in the Kitchen (which is awesome by the way - check it out!) and she sent me some fabrics as a thank you. These fabrics are so cool! I've never seen anything like them around here. And check out the fabric covered button too!





Next up is a gift I received from my friend Florence. Florence, myself and three other ladies have been getting together for YEARS to stitch/craft/talk etc. and Florence always makes us the best stuff!!! When I asked her where she got the idea she told me it was on Kim's blog. Now I am a faithful reader of Kim's blog - I mean I read it every morning, and somehow I missed these! If i don't get to them this year I will definitely be making some for next Halloween!



Last, but certainly not least today I received my swap package from Ariane for the Placemat Swap 2 on Flickr. I am just so in love with this placemat! Of course it is way too beautiful to use as a placemat - it will get hung on the wall with my other mini quilts. She also sent a potholder, coasters and a little drawstring bag that will be perfect for small stitchery projects and the like.



Sorry these are a little blurry - DD took them with her phone.



That's all for today. Tomorrow I will show the blocks I got in my local quilt group's xmas block swap. There are 9 of them so they are a post in themselves!

Have a pieceful day!

Catchin Up!

Ok, I'll warn you know, this is gonna be a long one! In my last post I mentioned I've been doing a lot of stitching and got some good things in the mail - well since then I've been doing more stitching and got more stuff in the mail. Some of the stitching was for swaps so it will be a few more days to a week or so until I can show those. So let's start with the mail - both incoming and outgoing:

First is a quilt I received from a swap on Flickr - we swapped Teeny Tiny Mini Quilts - under 6 inches! I recevied this little beauty from Cindy in Texas. All of those squares are pieced - I originally thought that was one fabric!



This is the teeny tiny mini I sent to Cindy:



Another swap on Flickr that I am doing this month is the Swap Till You Drop October Woodland theme swap. Kimmie in Oregon sent me this cutie:



I can't show you the one I made for Kimmie because it was just mailed today. That will have to wait for another day!
Next is two packages from my Secret Angel in the Stitcher's Angel Swap: first I received this beautiful needlecase and then a week or so later I received the beautiful embroidered bag. I'm not really sure how my angel Drommequilten knew I've started collecting thimbles because I didn't think I had posted about it on my blog but she sent me one!





This is the Halloween Annie I made for Aunt Pitty Pat's Bumps in the Night Swap:



Here are my blocks sent to Jane for her Red and Aqua Disappearing 9 patch swap:



Seen enough yet? Believe it or not this isn't all the swaps! But I think its enough for one post. I'll post again tomorrow with more!

Have a pieceful day!