What's on the tree?

I'm going to replace "What's on the line?" with "What's on the tree?" for the next four weeks. Each week, I'll share an ornament and a pattern or tutorial for how to make that ornament. Today, I'm sharing this heart ornament ................

You'll find the pattern page here.  It's a very simple heart ornament, made with one red wool heart on the front and a plaid wool heart on the back. I designed the ornament for a class at The Knitting Knest here in Henderson. There were students of all ages who enjoyed learning tips on how to work with wool, then stitching their snowflake and adding the blanket stitch to finish off the heart.

The first thing you need to do is cut your two heart shapes, then with a pretty white wool yarn or Perle cotton, you will stitch your snowflake to the red heart.

One of the tips I offered in class was to position the paper heart over the red wool heart and stitch through the paper using the dots on the pattern as your guide, then tear the paper away.  

When the snowflake stitching is finished, then pin the two heart shapes together and stitch around the edge with a blanket stitch or for a quick finish, just use a running stitch.

You will leave an opening of about an inch, so that you can stuff the heart with a bit of cotton or poly batting.  Then you'll add the final stitches and add a loop for hanging and your ornament is ready for the tree!

Everyone finished their ornament during class time .............

and that made students smile....... and me, too!! These hearts would also look great as a decoration on packages and gift bags. If I get busy stitching, I might even get a few made for my gifts!
Here's hoping you have a good day and a great start to this first week in December!!
Sandi

Over the river and through the woods........

............and off to New Ulm, Minnesota! That's what we did yesterday. I convinced my husband that a good way to celebrate our 44th anniversary (it was November 24th) was to take a day-out and visit New Ulm. The weather was very mild and so that's just what we did!  We only live an hour from New Ulm so it was a short trip across country. Our first stop when we got to New Ulm was at the Convention and Visitor's office where we gathered up lots of goodies for other day trips. :-) Then we went around the corner to the Brown County Historical Society. It was very overcast so not good for taking a photo in the morning but if you go here you can see what a lovely building it is and it's history. We were interested in the exhibit on the 1862 Indian Uprising and also found the Century Farms exhibit very interesting. And because it's Christmas, the display of the Menzel Christmas village was just lovely!!

Many shops and places of interest are within walking distance around New Ulm.  The German heritage of New Ulm can be seen up and down the street............

And for lunch, well, of course, we chose .............

If I remember right, this restaurant has been run by the same family since the 1930's. For a moment, we felt like we were stepping back to one of our trips to Germany several years ago! I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich and added the "house barbecue" sauce to it. Very yummy! Steve ordered up a Reuben and we both enjoyed a leisurely lunch.

 

After lunch, we took a walk up the street to the Glockenspiel. It sounds so lovely when the bells chime their tunes. I took a picture of Steve taking a picture of it...........

Here's the info on it.............

As we were looking up at the tower, a gentleman approached us to ask what brought us to New Ulm this day. He said his name was Fritz Busch and he was a reporter for the local New Ulm Journal. So we answered his questions and I'll share the photo if it makes the paper. ;-)
With the German Heritage in New Ulm, there are, of course.........Christmas goodies and ornaments to shop for and this little place was a delight! It's another business that has been around since the 1930's!  Earlier, we had bought a little gingerbread ornament at Lambrecht's but Steve was looking for something a little more special. He walked around Domeiers again and again, then finally spotted the ornament that he thought was perfect. And yes, he really did walk around the store three times to find the perfect ornament!  I was impressed!

Our last stop was at the Herman Monument ...........

It was closed for the winter but we're coming back in the summer or fall so we can climb to the top and get the panoramic view out over New Ulm and the Minnesota River Valley. Here's the details on the monument...........

Now you'd think that when reporter Fritz took our photos for the newspaper that perhaps we would have asked him to take a picture of us together. You know, so we would have a record of our day in New Ulm. But no, neither of us thought of that until we were several miles on our way home. So I told my husband that when we got home, we'd take a picture of each other hanging the two ornaments we bought. And so, here he is with the perfect ornament he found at Domeier's............

It's a delicately cut wooden angel in a star and he hung it on the gold and silver tree in our living room.  He's pointing to it so you won't miss it.  :-)
And then in the family room next to our kitchen, I hung the gingerbread ornament on the little tree next to our fireplace.............

We had a lovely day on our trip.........over the river and through the woods.......to New Ulm!
So, that's the story of two new ornaments added to our Christmas goodies. Today, I'm going to set up the tree in our basement family room. More ornaments, more memories, fun way to spend the day.  Happy Sunday!
Sandi

Good morning, December!!

Tis the last month of the year, the lovely month of December. For some there is the celebration of Christmas, for others it is Hannukah and then Kwanza.  It's a time that brings families together in many corners of the world. 

Here in our little "corner of the world" in Minnesota the weather is unusually mild. Today the temperature will reach near 50 degrees and a little rain is predicted!  More often at this time of year, there is a blanket of snow on the ground but not this year. There was no snow at this time last year either!  I guess I wouldn't mind if Mother Nature waited til Christmas Eve to add a dusting of snow for that "white Christmas".  But I would wish for just a dusting so that travel is not affected. And, oh, if it was only that easy to wish and it would be so!! Life is so often full of ups and downs, some expected, some not, some work out, some not. Just last year at this time, I was having a bit of "down" time with unexplained health issues (got answers in the spring and doing well now). At the same time, I was having an "up" time because I was busy doing my Christmas decorating, something I just love to do! It's a time filled with so many memories as I get out special arrangements, decorate the trees, and read familiar stories. Doing all those things was extra-special last year because as I shared in this post, our Christmas trees and decorations were to be featured in Womeninc magazine. Late this fall, though, the magazine "took a break" and the December issue will not be published. I'm hopeful the magazine will return soon but in the meantime, editor, Kay Sauck posted the article and photos at the Womeninc website. Just go here and read the article and you'll see the lovely photo of the tree in our basement family room. It's loaded with 40+ years worth of ornaments.

I'm thinking that I will share the story of some of those ornaments in the coming days. If someone asked me, I could probably tell you exactly where each and every ornament came from or who made it or gave it to me. I smile just thinking of all the family and friends and memories tied to those ornaments.
And now, I had a thought.........I wondered........would you like a chance to win one of my handmade ornaments? I would love to surprise one lucky reader with one of my real egg ornaments (like the one with the little blue angel in the first photo above). All you have to do is leave a comment and tell me your favorite ornament and why it's a favorite. I'll need your name and link back to your blog or your e-mail address. You'll have until December 8th at midnight CST to leave your comment. Now it's time to get out the Christmas tunes and enjoy this festive season! Have a lovely day!
Sandi

Giveaway winners and.........another giveaway you could win.......

Yes, I have the winners of all of the giveaways from last week and I'll tell you about another giveaway just as soon as I share those winning names.  Here they are...............

All those lovely fabrics from Jacquelynne's  "O Holy Night" collection go to...........

Winner of Day 1 Giveaway (November 19) is.....
Happy*Cottage*Quilter

Day 2 winners (my Hostess Cupcake day) are..........
Cheryl's*Teapots2Quilting and Mary*on*Lake*Pulaski

Day 3 winner (Counting blessings) is........
Christine at MacDonald's*Patch*Blog

And the winner of Day 4, my Thanksgiving left-overs, is Marie at The*Watermelon*Diva and she lives just down the road in St. Peter so I can deliver her left-overs in person!!

Day 5 winner of the panel and fabrics is blog reader Gale, Kentucky Quilter.

And the final winner of the stocking panel of Day 6 is Kate at By*the*Babbling*Brook !

Whew! That's a lot of winners! I have all the fabrics packaged and ready to mail so as soon as I hear from the winners, I'll get their fabrics in the mail!

And now, if you'd like a chance to win the items you see in this photo, then you must go to Jacquelynne's blog and check out her great giveaway. Just click HERE and you are there!

Thanks to everyone of you that entered the giveaways. I enjoyed reading every comment and am still answering them!  Thanks to Jacquelynne for sharing her fabrics!
Next post..........crazy quilting!!
Have a great day!
Sandi

What's on the line?

It's a re-run "on the line" today. I figure if Jay Leno can do re-runs, so can I.  :-)

I've been very busy packaging the fabrics from last week's giveaways and doing Christmas stuff and cleaning.  I've been so busy, that yesterday afternoon, I had to take a nap and I never got out to the line to take a photo.  This is not a large quilt, but I posted the photo large so you can see the detail of the little quilt which measures about 15" square. It was about this time last year that I posted this quilt. Just go here to learn how you can make the little quilt.

I want to thank all of you for the awesome comments during last weeks giveaway days. Jacquelynne's fabrics are very popular. There is still time to enter each giveaway. Winning names will be drawn Tuesday evening, November 28th at about 8:00 p.m. CST.

 

Your advice on my border problem for my tabletopper was very helpful. I almost left the corner as it was but then I kept changing my mind. I didn't like the corners as they were but I wasn't crazy about the green squares either. And then, I took the border fabric and laid it at the corner.........

I cut a small piece, folded over the edge, and pinned it across the corner....

then stitched it in place and I like the way it looks. Now I need to decided if I will add more poinsettia fabric or another border strip.  I'll share again when I make that decision.  :-)

On another subject.................

I thought I'd share that I have been reading a really good book recently. Have enjoyed a chapter every night before bed and was almost done.......when............ Kaiser the Wonder Beagle seemed to think there was nutritional value in my book and ripped it to shreds and then ate almost all the cover............

 

Oh, yes, he did and oh, yes, I was not happy! Fortunately, he ripped up the first 68 pages and not the last pages in the book. I have just one more chapter in the book and will finish it tonight. It's called "Ciao Bella" and is a story of a young woman and soldier in Italy in 1945. The author's are Gina Buonaguro and Janice Kirk. I bought the book at the Dollar Tree store for just ........ one dollar.  It was a great buy! I was planning on sharing it with my daughter so guess I'll check the Dollar Tree and buy a second copy. Kaiser took lots of outside reading breaks today. ;-)  I'd like to think he won't do this again but he seems to be going through a "terrible two's" stage. However, he's "four times two"!  I'm beginning to think I need a baby gate to keep him out of my stuff. I hate keeping the doors shut to every room just to keep him out of trouble. Closed doors in the winter months, mean cold bedrooms.  :-(

 

That's all for this Monday. Hope your week is off to a good start! I'm going to be doing some more Christmas decorating. Love, love, love this time of year! 

Sandi

 

Time for a rest!

 

After six days of giveaways, I am taking a rest. Church this morning and then I'm going to come home and relax with the Sunday paper and a cappucino. Then it's time to gather up the remaining fall decorations and replace them with Christmas greens. And then.................. I think I will make another quilt block similar to this one.............

 

A little over a week ago, I sent this one off to Victoria at Bumble*Beans*Blog.  She had a bunch of these vintage Santa's and offered to send two each to anyone who would take one and make a block to send to her (the block is 12-1/2" square but I cropped it to the size above). I love that Santa is whistling while he works.......or is he just whistling and twiddling his thumbs instead of working?  Who knows? Anyway, I used some vintage green print to surround Santa and then the red and white polka dot fabric is actually a border print that I cut and mitered just right to frame Santa. The green polka dot has been in my stash for many years. I've always thought it would be a fun thing to make Christmas blocks from my stash of Christmas fabrics and maybe if I make a block with the extra Santa, it will be the start of those blocks I need to make a Christmas quilt.  Do I need to start another project? Well, of course, not. Do I want to start another project? Well, of course, I do!  Be sure and check out Victoria's blog in the coming weeks because she will be sewing her blocks together and quilting that top before you can say "Santa Claus is coming to town"!!!
Wishing you all a quiet, relaxing Sunday!
Sandi

An Anniversary Giveaway!

Today is our 44th wedding anniversary. I thought I'd add one more giveaway to this week of giveaways in celebration of this day!  This is another panel and fabrics from Jacquelynne's fabric line "Joy~Peace~Love~Noel". It will go to one lucky winner..........

Last summer, I gave one of the stocking panels to my quilting friend, Jackie, and here's what she made for her grandson, Baxter.............

It's adorable, isn't it?!! And all you have to do for a chance to win the stocking panel and fabrics is leave your name and tell me this...............if you had a pet reindeer, what name would you give it?  If I had a pet reindeer, it's name would be Lizzy. That's right. Lizzy. Now get busy and leave a comment with your pet reindeer's name. I'm looking for some good humor here.  Good Luck! Winner will be announced on November 28th about 8:00 p.m.  ;-)
Have a good day!
Sandi