This-n-that

Hi! I hope you enjoyed your holidays! Things are finally returning back to normal around here. We finally just got the tree taken down yesterday, and the furniture put back where it belongs :) 

We've been "enjoying" a bitter cold snap around here for the last couple of weeks. It never seems to get above 20* - and the nights are absolutely frigid in the single digits. Not so normal for Colorado! We'll generally get two weeks of super duper cold - but not until late Jan or early Feb usually. 

But hey... gives me a good reason to wear my mittens and scarves and boots and different jackets! :)  We don't usually get enough COLD weather to warrant them!!

So in the midst of trying to stay warm, and tidying up the house I realized I hadn't blogged for a while!

Here are a few pics of things that got made before Christmas. All the other things I made and gave as gifts didn't get pictures :(  

Here is where I am at so far on my Doll Quilt Swap quilt... now just to quilt it! My (secret) partner loves blues and greens. And after stalking her blog, and her flikr photos, and her favorites, this is what I came up with!  A curved spider web!  Now, don't judge! LOL! I've never seen one done like this? So, I set about giving it a try! It took a couple trials before I came up with a template that seemed to work ok. I pieced a few with yucky fabrics to see if I could acheive the results I was looking for - and they worked! So dug in to the blues and greens and set to work!

The only thing I'm not sure I like is how the center pieces are offset and the outsides aren't.  I used different parts of the curves that I had cut out.. to not waste fabric of course! With the intention of them being offset! But once I got everything together, much to my surprise the outer curves weren't very offset and the middle ones were only slightly - so it looks more like a woopsie, instead of an all over intentional - know what I mean? I'm an all or nothing kind of girl! LOL!! So I'm hoping my partner will comment on it over in flikr.. and then I'll know if I need to start over or not! :)

Here's a pic of all the nativity pieces the family made before Christmas...

We didn't manage to get the camel or the manger done :(    But.. maybe we'll send those pieces next year! lol

 It's amazing how LONG these all took to make!! They look so simple! (and they are simplistic) but mannn...  hours and hours and hours!! We would sit down with great intentions of finishing a bunch, and 3-4 hours later, we have 4 figures done! LOL! 

Well it was a fun project for the kids, and there was lots of laughter and love happening during the process - and that's what counts, right? :)

 I made about ten sets of mittens this year. Super warm. Woolly mittens! Did I mention how cold it's been here? 

 Perfect for sledding, or cleaning off the car of snow, or hey... just walking outside in 3* weather! lol

 And the coolest part, everyone that I made them for fell head over heels in love with them :) That really surprised me for some reason! I think we're all kids at heart, and slipping on a pair of warm woolly mittens immediately makes a person smile!

Oh! And I just joined up to participate in this block of the month club! I am still a newbie at paper piecing, and would like to learn more and get better at it. So when this BOM showed up this week, I doing the happy dance! I'm really excited about furthering my skills in this area!

                              
This picture is linked to Don't Call me Betsy's blog intro for the block of the month... click it.. you know you want to! :)

There are several other ones just starting up right now as well. Check them out - maybe one is right up your alley!!

Here's another that I might follow along with

This one sounds interesting too

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And Amy over at Stitchery Dickory Dock has a darling block of the month club that just started as well!

Maybe one of these will light your creative fire and get you going for the new year!

Bright blessings!

xo

Bren :)