Merry Christmas to all... and to all a good night!

Wishing you the merriest of Christmas and the happiest of New Years! May all your wishes come true tomorrow morning... ;) And go ahead and eat that second piece of pie, it's Christmas!

Busy Bee Buzzin Away

Now that I'm fully "on my own", having the luxury of sewing and quilting whenever I need to is just about the best thing there is. As we all know, some days are good sewing days and others aren't. So when the good days come along it's best to just take advantage of it!


Here is a new quilt that will be the focus of my Beginning Quilting class that I will be teaching this Spring at the Calico Cat here in Auburn, WA. I have been itching to use this lovely white floral fabric for ages and just never found a home for it. Admittidly, I may have been guilty of coveting said fabric, but hey, I'm only human.

Now, if it were only quilted too... Guess I know what I will be doing tonight! :)

Dare ya not to smile!

{An Upside Down Christmas Tree? }

This fun picture comes to you courtesy of Freds World - talk about cramming a little holiday cheer into every nook and cranny. Take some time and look at all the lovely Christmas decorations. As I have done ZERO decorating yet, I'll just live vicariously through Fred.

Handmade for the Holidays

There has been a lot of chatter on the the blogs I read about "Handmade for the Holidays". I love the idea that handmade gifts will be making their way to peoples homes and hearts this Christmas. While I haven't officially taken the pledge I have made a personal pledge that all gifts given this year will be "useful". I can't make all of my gifts this year - I already know of several gifts on my list that I'm just not about to try making. Electronics are out of my reach! But a majority of the items on my list are things I am going to make. Hopefully I'll be able to post a few pics along the way without spoiling any surprises!

To get the ball rolling and in case you're interested in a few ideas, Sew, Mama, Sew! has put together this fabulous collection of ideas for making gifts for everyone on your list. At the very least, it's a great source of inspiration.

For all you lurkers and non-lurkers alike out there I would love to hear your ideas for a handmade holiday!

A Pie Lovers Tale

Now, I'm not a girl who much likes chocolate which I'm sure will leave many of you aghast that the words were even uttered in your presence. But give me a cookie, pie or cake and I will practically swoon. Seriously... I heart pie. As a pie lover, we make at least two at Thanksgiving. My first love Pumpkin and this year I made apple pie too. This recipe has been tested several times in my kitchen and never fails to please, but somehow this year it was extra scrumdiliumptious!

Enough so that my beloved pumpkin pie still had one sorry piece left in the fridge uneaten. The recipe hails from a book called "The Perfect Recipe" and we have followed it with the following changes. Use good 'ol Pillsbury ready made refrigerated crusts and for us this year it was half Granny Smith apples and half Golden delicious. YUM!

With Christmas coming up my husband has pleaded with me to make a cherry pie (which makes me gag - I don't heart cherry pie), but I will do it for him because well that's just what love is all about. But I think there will be another apple pie in there somewhere next to the feast that is our Christmas dinner.

Why does cherry pie make me gag you might ask? Well, I had a seriously serious case of icky tonsils when I was a youngster and in the 70's every children's cough medicine on this planet was cherry flavored. I have been scarred for life by cherry flavored cough syrup! With that said, cherries have been given a slight reprieve in my adulthood.... Fresh cherries are now okay in my book. Plus they are just so darn cute in a quilt... ;)