As 2007 is beginning all around the world, I wish you a very happy New Year! May your resolutions for this year include finding your creative muse and inviting her to come in and stay for a while.....
Using a theme for a Christmas tree is lots of fun. This is a photo of my mother's tree. Originally it started with her stuffing all her snowmen, of which she has hundreds, into the tree. Later, it developed to the snowmen ornaments, snowflakes and small snowmen that you see here. I made her the snowman tree skirt using wool felt and some red quilt farbic. I even used make-up to give them rosey cheeks. (Don't forget to click on the photo to enlarge. You can really see the snowman on the tree skirt when enlarged.)
This was an adorable freebie from a French site that a friend (hello Francoise) shared on one of my lists. I wanted something easy to stitch during the long Christmas weekend and this seem the perfect thing. I used DMC 321 and unbleached linen for a simple, festive look. 
A Christmas candle is a lovely thing;
Yesterday, I had to run to the garden center to buy a couple of gifts to take along with my to Brugge on Tuesday. I wanted a little something to give the owner of the B&B. While there, I found some beautiful ornaments and tinsel for myself that I could not resist and inspired me to come home and create this candle arrangement. I had the candles and plate already. I am really pleased with how this looks. It gives the prettiest glow in the evenings.
These are the beautiful ornaments that Nancy stitched for me. She says she picked these patterns because I quilt and the Ohio Star as that is the state I am originally from. 
I had a fun thing happen tonight! I had received a gift in the mail from an online friend, Nancy, and had made her one also. We arranged to wait until we both had them in the mail and open them together. We got on IM together and opened the gifts at the same time. It was such fun! I will show you her beautiful gifts she made me tomorrow.
Here you can see the quilt I made for her. I was inspired by the photo of her pinkeep during our SAL. The glass bowl she used to display her pinkeep resulted in this quilt.
This photo shows the metallic gold quilting thread that I used for this quilt which has been quilted by hand. I had this thread for a while now and this is the first quilt I used it on. It works very easily which I was concerned about and I loved the results. I will be using it more often in the future.
This is my lace corner for the holidays. I love making bobbin lace ornaments. There are also a few ornaments made by my mother on her embroidery machine and a crochet ornament given to me as a gift by my niece. 
The lace tree lit up in the evening gives a really romantic look. The lace catches the light beautifully.
Some ornaments take days of work while others can be made up in just an afternoon.
I used an ivory linen thread combined with various thicknesses of metallic gold thread for my ornaments.
This is actually to wrap around a candle but I loved using it in the tree. It was made with thick metallic thread. 
...or I have really good friends...or both! Look what the postman dropped off at my house. I feel so very spoiled with all this wonderful stash as a Christmas gift. It was so fun to go through it all. Thanks so very much to my friend Joni! I am so glad we 'met' on our stitching list and proud to call you a friend.
"In the glad morn of blooming youthThis weekend, we drove the 'DrentsRondje' while at our cottage up north. It is a route you can follow stopping at various beautiful farms and old houses. Some of the homes are lived in by artists which open them to the public each Christmas to view their works. There is a wine tasting at one farm, a B&B open house, homemade ice cream, etc..
We visited two places, one being a historic farm that has been turned into a museum. There were a number of beautiful pieces of needlework hanging there. They are part of the museum's collection. They also had an exhibition with various examples of clothing, lace and needlework. There were four ladies doing their crafts.
I wanted to share one of the needlework samplers hanging in the museum. This is from 1853 and depicts a hunter holding his bounty, swans, various angels, flowers and birds. There is no verse on the sampler but it contains a number of intials.
I designed this quilt for a workshop quite a number of years ago. It was fun to make and gives a whimsical place to hang all my Christmas cards.
"Christmas is forever, not for just one day,
for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf. The good you do for others is good you do yourself."
~Norman W. Brooks, "Let Every Day Be Christmas"
My husband has a day off today so we went to the city of Utrecht for a while. We have not been there in 3 or 4 years. I was disappointed to see a number of the shops I loved going to were no longer there. Fortunately, there are two great shops that still exist. I first went to a shop where they sell only trimmings and tassles. I found some great glass head pins and trims for future pinkeeps. I then went to a very old needlework shop where I bought two small cuts of Jobelan fabric and charms (stock scissors, 3 snowflakes and 3 stars). We did not really want to go in any of the many clothes and shoe stores so we had an Italian sandwich by the canal and then coffee and a pastry in a shop before heading back home.
I can now share this gift I made for a friend. She emailed me that the package arrived. Joanne is my autumn sister on one of my Yahoo groups and we have enjoyed this glorious season together writing each other. She has two loves that I share with her ~ the autumn and all its beauty and Christmas. 
In these busy days, it is harder to put much on my blogs but I do try to keep up. I wanted to share a patchwork tree skirt I made two Christmasses ago. We had just bought our tiny cottage and I was creating a tree for there. I had a pencil pine tree and needed a tree skirt that was in proportion to that skinny tree. I sewed a single quilt block and cut into the center where I carefully cut out a circle to fit the tree. I cut the block into a hexagon shape. I was very pleased with how it turned out. 
"Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving." 
This is a Slovanian type of lace called 'Idrija'. It is a kind of tape lace that is made using only about six pairs of bobbins. I really enjoy making this kind of lace. The pattern meanders back and forth until you come back to where you start and bind off.
You can enlarge to photo to see the lace closer up.
Just wanted to share a finish with you again. I was able to make this pinkeep today. I stitched the design 'Dress Warm' by Heart in Hand (Mother's Wisdom) over the weekend. It is a fun winter pinkeep.
