Indigo Blue's Ornament Swap!

When I last posted it was cold and snowing. It's two days later and that hasn't changed. It's lovely snow, that soft glittery stuff of Christmas cards and Snowglobes. However, no one shovels in the cards or Snowglobes and no one has to drive in it!! Just a wee bit slippery out there and the nose gets cold really fast when I'm shoveling!! Here in Minnesota and many parts of the Midwest there will definitely be a white Christmas. Perhaps I should take some pictures as proof of this but I don't remember to take the camera when I go out to shovel or run errands. I'll change that tomorrow.
Right now, I have swap stuff to show you............

About a week and a half ago, I received my items from Janice at PugYoga. We were swap partners in the Christmas Ornament Swap over at IndigoBlue. I had a sneak peak of what she was making when I would visit Janice's blog. She did some needlefelting on the trees and then made some to go in the glass ornament. I love the little square glass ornaments and one has a tiny picture of her family in it!! The ribbons will go into the fabrics and trims I am collecting for a crazy quilted Christmas stocking and the Christmas fat quarters are going to go into a scrappy paper-pieced crazy quilt project that I want to make for next Christmas. The glass ball with the snowman face painted on it makes me smile. Thanks, Janice!!!

I didn't want to post what I received from Janice until she had received my package and I was late getting it off to her. However, last Friday she received the package and here's what she found inside. When I saw the title of her blog and photos of her pug, I was determined to find fabric that was "dog themed" to make her an ornament. As I told Janice, the first fabric I found was too white and just line drawings of dogs. Not good. The next one was little colorful dog bones that at first glance was cute but then I'd look at it and see little bows. Not good. Then I was at JoAnn's again and could not believe it when I saw this fabric. It was all sorts of dogs in Christmas hats and there was a Pug!! Interestingly, there was no beagle so I can't make one for our Kaiser. It's just a little square with triangles stitched to the corner and then I added some of my vintage white rickrack, stitched it up, left an opening for stuffing and some bells, closed it off and it was ready to hang. I love making my JOY stars so included one of those plus all the other stuff you see in the picture below. Janice has two great kids, Ms. M and Mr. L and I included some goodies for them, too. And then, I made her a Minnesota Snowman ornament that will not melt. Double-click on the picture for a close-up view. I designed the little snowman for a community ed class and kids and adults alike had fun making them. I'll be doing a tutorial on the snowman in January during the "Whirl into Winter Giveaway". Here's a tip......save the batting scraps that you snip from the edges of your quilts.

Speaking of tutorials, I promised one for the little bell ornaments that I made for our library program. Go here and you will find the tutorial. It's on the blog that my grandson, Jacob and I have set up. We like to make things together and had fun recently making ornaments with the glitzy chenille stems.

Only one last thing to share........Tonight, I sang at the local VFW Christmas program and I enjoyed it so much. I shared a little history behind some of the carols and how "White Christmas" and "I'll be Home for Christmas" (both sung by Bing Crosby) were so popular with GI's in WWII. I sang a chorus of each and then did "I Heard the Bells on

Christmas Day" which is one of my favorites. Then I led the group in a few familiar carols and that was going to be it but the food wasn't quite ready so they asked me to sing some more. :-) I loved it. This may sound strange, but to me, it was like giving a gift to my dad for Christmas. He was a Veteran and would have been so proud to know that I was singing for the local Veterans here in Henderson. The dinner was excellent (this dinner was held at "The Wild's Edge" on Main in Henderson) and the turkey and dressing was the best I have ever had. No kidding !!! Kinda nice to "sing for your supper". ;-)

Time to turn out the lights. Sleep tight and don't let the bedbugs bite.

Sandi