My Cup Runneth Over

Happy 2009 Everybody!
Wow, amazing how fast time flies... seems like only yesterday it was 2008... (That's a little joke!)


Hope everyone's holidays have been lovely, meaningful, renewing, inspiring and enjoyable. Ours has been all and everything mostly due to watching and caring for Mo. I am so grateful to say that she truly has been our Christmas miracle, defying all medical prognosis and teaching us that we really don't know a damn thing! She has gone from laying at deaths door to carry in the morning newspaper through our front door, (something she use to take great delight in but hasn't done in sometime, so seeing her do it once more the other day was extremely heart warming.) I do not know if it has been the power of love, everyone's prayers and good wishes, the St. Francis charm around her neck, or just her invincible spirit that keeps her going. Maybe it's all of it combined. Suffice to say, my cup runneth over with gratitude.

Dolly Madison Star

I wish all a Happy New Year!!

One last finish for 2008. With this quilt I have made my goal of 12 with a few hours to spare even. I love this quilt it is so bright and cheery. And all from stash. Assorted printed muslin for the back grounds and assorted yellows for the stars. For the back I used up 2 odd pieces of muslin like fabrics I inherited from my mother. The light floral is part of a sheet. And the center gold fabric was a fabric I really like it went so well with the quilt I had to use it. But because I pieced it with other fabric I was able to save most of it.






The quilt is machine quilted and measures 72 x 72. It is made with 16 - 18" blocks I thought with only 16 blocks the quilt would go together fast. But it takes longer to make bigger blocks.

Dolly Madison Star

I wish all a Happy New Year!!

One last finish for 2008. With this quilt I have made my goal of 12 with a few hours to spare even. I love this quilt it is so bright and cheery. And all from stash. Assorted printed muslin for the back grounds and assorted yellows for the stars. For the back I used up 2 odd pieces of muslin like fabrics I inherited from my mother. The light floral is part of a sheet. And the center gold fabric was a fabric I really like it went so well with the quilt I had to use it. But because I pieced it with other fabric I was able to save most of it.






The quilt is machine quilted and measures 72 x 72. It is made with 16 - 18" blocks I thought with only 16 blocks the quilt would go together fast. But it takes longer to make bigger blocks.

Cheers to You!

As I sit here and realize that today is the very last day of 2008, I can't help but be grateful for everyone and every thing that has touched my life in the past year.

To those of you who read my blog, whether regularly or irregularly, you should know that I feel so blessed that you would find my silly ramblings and the art I love to make worthy enough of your visits. Thank you!

While this seems to be the time of year when a lot of you start planning out next year's goals, I usually just skip over that. I have tried in the past to write out my goals for the new year, but it seems that they usually fall by the wayside and I then feel guilty about my lost intents. So I've stopped doing that, although I still have goals in my mind.

My main goal with today's post is to wish everyone peace, good health, happiness, and the ability to reach your goals. Cheers to you!

Birth announcement block

This was a joy to work on because I love pink and because it is for my first granddaughter Brynn, born just 6 weeks ago in Quebec. We were introduced to each other at Christmas and she is the sweetest little bundle.It's a 14" inch block. Most of the seams are part of the 100 details in 200 days which I participated in to the very end. The photo is on very fine cotton, which I provided to a copy shop, and they transferred the photocopy onto the fabric. I have tried to use the special liquid and do it myself, but I haven't had great success. I'm going to persevere because this is only the second of several that I will have to do.

No Photos

Here's what I did today...I didn't have any new photos to share with you, so I found myself playing with some cool online gadgets from this site.

First up is a photo that I added some wording to using the LolCat Generator.


And here is a mosaic I created of some of my art.

Chicken Scratch & Dotee #5

I did get the wrapping done, and of course, there was time for one more dotee!!! I'm fascinated by this "chicken scratch" embroidery on gingham, and you'll see that #5 Dotee's body is all that. But before I started her I did a bit of practice using different colour threads (all #8 perle), and using the white square on the gingham as the centre the first time, and the darkest pink square the next. I tried white, pink and darker pink threads.My favourite is the top right where I used white thread and the white square was left open.The one next to it, top middle is my second choice: white thread and the darkest pink square was left open. The two pale pink tries don't have much impact because the colour of the thread matches the colour of the pink gingham. The darker pink thread - the two samples on the right - give a nice impact too. It worked up very quickly, and I found that it was much easier and neater when I used a small hoop.

The Daydream

The art quilt above is my contribution to Collage Mania 2009. You can read all about this event here. I've named this quilt The Daydream. It measures 8" x 10". The female face is free-motion stitched in black thread on a collaged fabric background.

Wrapping it up

Besides not doing Christmas "theme" decorating, the other thing I don't do is wrap gifts elegantly. I think beautifully wrapped gifts are, well, beautiful. I didn't get the gift-wrapping gene. I think my dad has it. He didn't pass it on to me. But when my brother and I were little, I still clearly remember a gift wrapped by him that looked like a little train engine, complete with wheels made from old ribbon spools.

At our house, all gifts have been opened already and I'm pretty sure no one is going to have a warm fuzzy memory of anything wrapped by me. The thing is, I don't actually wrap. I "bag." Put the gift in a bag, cover it with tissue paper and call it done. This year we didn't even buy cute little Christmas bags. We used what we had (bonus points if the tag was still on it from last year and had the correct recipient's name!) It's all about reducing, reusing and recycling, right?

Now Mark has some different ideas about wrapping gifts. I'm here to testify that sometimes opening a gift from him can be a real challenge. For a time it was pretty easy--he used maps or the Sunday comics. Then he graduated to the gift wrapping "big time." I have received a gift that was wrapped in a whole ball of string. Yep, a whole ball. Another time we had just pruned a tree and he took the time to cut a skinny branch carefully into 2" pieces. He cut a piece of wood a little bigger than the gift (which I can't even remember), nailed the little branch pieces all around the bottom piece of wood, stuck the gift inside, and nailed another piece of wood on top. Imagine the gift being held hostage in its little wooden jail--I had to use a crow bar to free it. Then there was the year of the duct tape. What guy wouldn't think THAT was a great wrapping idea? And last year my ipod was wrapped in wire mesh with a lot of wire "ribbon." We had to take time out to find the wire snippers.

Well, he couldn't let this year pass by without continuing the tradition. The gift he wrapped for Charlotte was in a big ball of bubble wrap. Lucky her--he is starting her wrapping adventure with little baby steps. But she and Levi both better be prepared...and have a big variety of gift-opening tools available.

Favorite (Christmas) things, Part 2

The plan was to post one of these favorites each day until Christmas day, which clearly didn't work out. So I'm bunching them all together today, a rainy Christmas Eve with Christmas music playing in the background.

This was our very first Christmas ornament. We received it from a very dear friend even before we were married. She made it out of a cookie cutter and it is very precious to us.

In a prior artsy phase, I was a china painter. I could do a really good forget-me-knot and some pretty passable pansies. But faces? Forget it. We had an absolute china painting genius in our church. I had purchased this really beautiful nativity set with the idea that I would make an heirloom set to be passed on. I started on the camel robes and then looked at all the faces and knew I was in way over my head. Bettie Wilmoth graciously agreed to paint the whole set for me. And it definitely IS an heirloom.


This cute little nativity set was handmade by a local artist and I collected a couple of pieces each year. When I started collecting, we had very little money to spend on decorations. I started with Mary, Joseph and the Baby Jesus and added to it little by little.

Okay, the lavendar-hued lightbulbs on this chandelier in our dining room are a little disconcerting. Fortunately the lavendar hue goes away from we turn them on. But anyway, each year I hang these really beautiful ornaments from it and it is always the last thing I take down after the holidays.

When I was a little girl and we lived in Oklahoma, where my father was a pastor, a lady in our church made a red felt Christmas stocking for me and my brother. I have always loved it. So when Mark and I got married, I made a similar one for him. And then Aaron, and then Christa, and now each of the grandchildren.

This was a Christmas card we received years ago from our good friend, Dotty, a fold-out card that I just love to put out every year.

This set of angels was made by Mark's mother, Esther. All white, no gold highlights. They are just beautiful in their simplicity and elegance.They have always been very special to me. She passed away this past May. I don't know if the other daughters-in-law were fortunate to receive a set as well, but they hold a very special place in my heart.

So there you have it. My favorites.

And Jill, thanks for these yummy cinnamon rolls. My brother wasn't here to fight me for the middle piece, something he and I always used to do whenever my mother bakes her really great cinnamon rolls. Okay...so we still do fight for it when he is home for Christmas. But he isn't here this Christmas and Mark wasn't home either, so what was I to do? I brazenly went right for the middle piece--always the best!

Merry, Merry, Happy, Happy!!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and most joyful New Year!


Christmas 1968 at Grandma's house in Catonsville, Maryland. That's me, age 5, in the homemade apron, along with my parents and big sister Jean.

I'm taking a little holiday blog break, but will be back bright and early in the New Year!!

Until then, much love, good wishes, and peace. xo Victoria

Dotee 3

Well, this has to be the last one, I need to wrap presents now!

Merry

Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas!

Rail Fence Quilt

One more finish for 2008. This rail fence quilt sewed up quick. The rails are 1 1/2 " strips and it seamed like everything I used went together. I should of made the quilt bigger don't know what I was thinking it measures 53 x 53. A nice lap quilt.

Used up some odd pieces on the back...

Rail Fence Quilt

One more finish for 2008. This rail fence quilt sewed up quick. The rails are 1 1/2 " strips and it seamed like everything I used went together. I should of made the quilt bigger don't know what I was thinking it measures 53 x 53. A nice lap quilt.

Used up some odd pieces on the back...

Lady of Lake

I spent the first few days of the week working on string blocks. I think my strings are under control again they seem to multiply on their own some times. On Thursday I dug these lady of the lake blocks. They were bonus HST from the spool quilt I did. (PHOTO)
I followed a photo I had seen on line for the lay out on these blocks and now wish I had did it a little different but, I'm not going back now. I like that all the lights are touching the center. But I think the corners are off. I should of put squares in the corners maybe. I made this one a few years ago. On that one all the darks were pointing up the same way.


These HST where with the others so I sewed them up for a doll quilt. They got a little wonky. Hope I can fix most of it when I quilt it. Had to add a scissor so You get an idea of scale.

And over the weekend I played with some applique. Don't know what it will be just trying out some different applique methods and looks. Maybe a nice potholder.

Lady of Lake

I spent the first few days of the week working on string blocks. I think my strings are under control again they seem to multiply on their own some times. On Thursday I dug these lady of the lake blocks. They were bonus HST from the spool quilt I did. (PHOTO)
I followed a photo I had seen on line for the lay out on these blocks and now wish I had did it a little different but, I'm not going back now. I like that all the lights are touching the center. But I think the corners are off. I should of put squares in the corners maybe. I made this one a few years ago. On that one all the darks were pointing up the same way.


These HST where with the others so I sewed them up for a doll quilt. They got a little wonky. Hope I can fix most of it when I quilt it. Had to add a scissor so You get an idea of scale.

And over the weekend I played with some applique. Don't know what it will be just trying out some different applique methods and looks. Maybe a nice potholder.

Dotee 2

Annet warned me on Flickr that these little dolls were addictive and I think she's right! Here's my latest.

Happiness is a Warm Puppy Dog

Every year at Christmas time I get completely stressed out. I worry and obsess and try to create the perfect image of what a happy Christmas is suppose to be. The lights, the decorations, the tree, the treats, the presents. And I dread it. And I feel guilty for dreading it. And all of that worry, obsessing, dread and guilt wears me out.


This year though none of that matters. Life, (as well as our living room) got turned a bit upside down when Molasses entered into this final stage of her cancer. Funny thing is, I am starting to think that Mo didn't get the memo that she was supposedly on her way out, and I am so happy! As a matter of fact, this is the happiest I have felt during the Christmas season in a long time.


We joke that our blanket and towel covered living room, which I have affectionately dubbed Camp Mo, looks a bit like a crime scene, what with all of the little splatters of blood everywhere from her nose. Thankfully she hasn't had any bad bleeds in the last 2 days, but a sneeze or a simple shake of the head can send a few red droplets flying, (and we have been told that the hemorrhaging can, and will, start up again at anytime... which truthfully scares the daylights out of me.) She is more tired then usual, but considering that on Friday we were calling the Vets to make the preliminary arrangements for when the "time came", (which we all thought was going to be any day) she has rebounded remarkably well since then. Her appetite is still good, and she even gets a bit of energy now in the afternoons and plays a little with her toys.


Hubby is on vacation this week, and we now take turns sleeping by her side at night on the air mattress, and being with her during the day. The house decor is certainly not looking very festive, the tree is only half decorated, and half of the lights are burned out! I have completely slacked on the gifts, and only sent half of the Christmas cards on my list. But the home is filled with lots of love and joy and thanks to Molasses BooDill, I have my priorities straight this year. Forgive me, for I know I am stating the obvious, but it really is all about the love. Not the lights, nor the tree. Not the cards or the cookies. And not even the gifts on Christmas morning. It is just about the love. The Who's in Whoville had it right. So did Charles Schultz when he proclaimed that happiness was a warm puppy!

Thanks to everyone for their kind and loving words. Things are looking up that Mo will make it to her 12th Birthday on Christmas Day, which is all any of us here want. (However, we did give her a few early presents just in case. You never saw a dog love to open a present more then Mo. She won't steal your food, but she will steal your unopened presents!)

I have also been doing some quilting/sewing, when not watching Mo, as it is tops for filling my well and keeps me going. I hope to post some pictures here and some new items in my shop after the holidays.

Best wishes to all of you! xoxo