I am the Frost Queen

...and I decree it shall snow!

This Frost Queen ornament was crafted recently just for Juliette. It was nice to sit down for some quiet time with just me and craft supplies and Vampire Dia--I mean Ken Burns' Civil War.

Juju's been a longtime cyber friend, and I admire (covet) everything that girl makes. She can make anything. She has a loom in her living room! Whatever she tackles, she masters. When she generously carved this feather stamp for me, I wanted to return the kindness. Juju is outnumbered by boys in her house, so I thought she needed a really girly girl ornament all her own. 

It was made using my Wee Princess Pea pattern with no mods except for the addition of the snowball scepter and hanging loop. Just thread a hanging loop through the bead before you attach the head and the glue holds it in place.

My favorite part is her icy blue hair! 

Hugs to you, Juju.

{My favorite holiday has arrived. Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Americans! Especially to Robyn, who is wizarding up an American feast for her small outpost in Rio de Janeiro. Love you, Robyn, and I'm so thankful for best friends today!

I can't express how blessed I feel to be gathered up in the controlled chaos and surrounded by the love of family today. And the food is pretty awesome too. I wish everyone the warmest (and tastiest) day today, chock full of love and the things that truly matter.}

sale in the shop! now with combos.

May I suggest a handmade gift or stocking stuffer this Christmas? My sewing patterns are on sale in the Etsy shop for 20% off through Sunday, Nov 30th, with coupon code MMMTURKEY. 

Be sure to type in the coupon code for your discount! I have created some new combo deals too:

One for all three toy-in-a-tin patterns, which includes Wee Mouse Tin House, Wee Princess Pea and TravelWees,

...one for girl gifting that includes the Felt Gadget Cozy and Flora Needle Book,

and one for my felt Christmas patterns which includes the Mistleholly Stocking and the newly released Snow Bird pattern.

Happy hand making to you! I have my own pie-in-the-sky holiday handmaking mountain to climb. I'm going to need another cup of coffee! And for those of you who have asked, I'm trying my best to release the Partridge & Pear patterns in a timely manner, but it will probably be a December hail mary type of debut.

merci, merci, Juju

One of my most favorite things -- receiving paper parcels in the mail -- combined with one of the most delightful things in life -- a gift handmade for me Just Because. I've been admiring the beautiful handcarved stamps Juliette has been showing on her blog lately. Here, here, here, here and here!

And now I have my very own Lanvers Original. What a kind and generous thing! Thank you, Juju. I'm learning to stamp nicely. I've never done it much before. There's a definite knack to this. You make it look so easy. You can see my ink selection is limited to black and white, but now I need some other colors. Like gold!

 

I think I will need to look at this tin every day this holiday season.

Snow Bird ornament pattern available!

Time to sit down with a Christmas movie and get your hand sewing on! The Snow Bird ornament is now available in both shops for instant download:
Etsy
Craftsy

I've made so many of these birds over the years, and I never get tired of it. They make special additions to your tree or lovely handmade gifts. The wool felt means they will last for years and years, if stored properly. I love to get out my felt ornaments each year. They are my favorites!

You know I like playing around with different color combos. I think it is so awesome to be able to make one to match whatever your favorite Christmas colors are, no matter how uncommon:

 I just made this retro pink one. I think pink looks so great on white Christmas trees. Some fine day I'm going to have one.

  I love gold tones too. This would be great on a woodsy foresty tree.

 Can't beat traditional red!

I always love turquoise and red together. A lot of my decorations are in this combo.

Happy hand sewing! 'Tis the season. I might be able to squeeze in a Partridge & Pear ornament pattern this holiday season too. It's my goal. I sort of lost my original patterns somewhere in the studio. I've ransacked the place and they are nowhere to be found. It's making me crazy.

my sister won a blue ribbon

I'm trying to gauge how upset my sister will be with me if I publish a photo of her with her awesome ribbon-winning stack-n-whack quilt from the recent quilt show in Huntsville. I wonder. Oh, hey, Leigh! There you are!

And here's her blue ribbon. Have you heard of stack-n-whack? I am a quilting goofus so I had never heard of it before she showed me, but the idea is that you fold fabric so that the repeat is lined up in a vertical stack, and then you cut the pieces for the quilt from that stack. So in the end the fabric you start with will be virtually unrecognizable and you will get this whole other animal. It creates a kaleidoscope effect of color and value.

Here are some closeups and you'll see what I mean. Of course, the lighting in the quilt show was dismal and fluorescent, so these photos don't really do the colors justice:

 Do you see the squares now?

 

Amazing, Leigh! Congratulations!

There were some pretty impressive quilts there. I was flabbergasted at the diamond pattern Amish hand quilting on this Baltimore Album quilt. The stitches were so tiny and regular I had a hard time believing it was done by hand. Do you see it? Click on the photo for an enlargement. Crazy tiny.

I really LOVED this Wedged string quilt pattern I saw at a vendor's booth. The dark blues and mustards are perfect together with the spiky shapes.

This wool applique quilt seems right up my alley too. Can you tell I'm attracted to brights on dark grounds? I love to applique, so this type seems more appealing to me than piecing.

Leigh has a lot of talented quilter friends and there were more quilts that really wowed me but unfortunately my camera battery died mid-show. 

It's a good thing my wallet doesn't have a battery. I went round the vendors and somehow ended up buying more fabric and buttons. I don't know how this happens.

Aren't they pretty? I thought they would make really cute doll or animal clothing.

As I visited each quilt show vendor I was given a piece of paper and after visiting them all I wound up with the complete instructions for a Mystery Quilt. So here is my stack of quilt instructions which I will never sew. It is fun to think I might though.

BTW, my Halloween follow up post is still coming. I decided to show you how to DIY the Cat Woman costume, so I'm working on the tutorial.